There are a lot of options out there if you’re looking to become a successful freelance web designer or developer. It’s going to require a good amount of talent, commitment, business know-how, and a lot of time. Becoming a freelancer can seem overwhelming when considering all the things necessary to be self-employed. Even with all of that, there are still many people
who become successful freelance web designers/developers.

Successful Freelance – Self Assessment of Skills and Abilities

The first thing you need to do is take a serious look at just what you have to offer a client as a freelance web designer/developer. This is a time for honest introspection and reflection. That last thing you want is to get into a situation that is out of your league and have to tell a client you cannot handle their job. Not only will you lose that client, but they will talk about you all over
town and worse, all over the web. Your reputation will likely be destroyed and you’ll starve as a freelancer.

Take a long, hard look at what you have to offer clients. You may want to start by doing an informal industry survey. Make a few phone calls and visit a few sites of web designer/ developers that are already successful at what they do. Then, find out what they offer clients and compare that to your list of abilities and services offered. If you find out you may need a little more training, take the time and do that. If you find you’re able to offer the same or more than the companies you surveyed, then you are probably ready to go into business for yourself.

Successful Freelance – Customer Service is Job One

If there is one thing that aggravates clients the most, it’s poor customer service. You can offer the latest and greatest services as a web designer/developer at the lowest prices in town. However, low prices mean nothing if you’re not good at listening to a customer’s needs, or reacting quickly to a problem.

Make it a point to under-promise and over-deliver, respond to e-mails quickly, and always deliver on time. Offer a money back, satisfaction guarantee. Offer deals to provide the best web hosting service and cheap servers. To clients, successful freelancers are only as good as the customer service they provide.

Successful Freelance – Find Your Specific Niche

When you have surveyed the existing market, you are going to find out who is doing what, in what areas certain companies specialize, and who is handling which clients. When you know this, you can start carving out a niche for the type of services you will offer. You may want to focus your efforts on small business, or certain areas of large business, or perhaps non-profit organizations. It’s critical that to where you want to focus your efforts because you are going tospend a lot of time promoting that single niche.

Self Promotion is Key

If you want to get new business or more business, self-promotion is your most effective tool. You want to put your business name and contact information in and on everything. Stationery, signs, t-shirts, e-mail signatures, websites, and anywhere else you can think of. You want your self-promotional message to inform people of who you are, what you do, and how they can
contact you.

Network regularly with professionals in business both online and in-person. Have a portfolio of your best work easily viewable on your website. Create a blog to promote your business on a regular basis by keeping people up-to-date on what you’re doing and how you have helped others. Make good use of contact forms on blogs that allow clients to send you an e-mail directly. Use FaceBook, Twitter, and any other social media outlets to contact everyone you know, even your friends, and tell them about your new business.

Competitive Advantage

Find one thing that sets you apart from all other competitors and focus all of you efforts on that one thing. Big companies have known this business secret for a long time and use it to their advantage. When a client considers using your services as a freelancer over someone else, what do you want them to perceive about your company? Are you faster at completing certain
projects, or have superior customer service? Maybe it’s your competitive prices that make you stand out above the rest. You can offer them the best web hosting packages, or other freebies. Whatever that one thing is, use it to differentiate yourself from all the others and promote it.

Freelance web designer/developers are needed in today’s market but getting a strong start in any new business may be difficult. Doing research on your particular area, finding about the necessary start-up costs, assessing your talents, and providing great service will put you on the road to a successful career in freelance web design or web development. Get started by designing your own website and volunteer to do websites for other companies for no cost or very little cost. Make these websites your online testimonials for future clients. In a few months, your freelance business will take off and you will be on your way to success.

Maintain a network

Many jobs are not advertised. Many tenders are never floated. It’s your job to learn who’s buying and from whom. And that’s why it’s essential to network. We all know that possibilities for work emerge from wide-ranging networks of friends, relatives, business associates—and even competitors! Skill and tact in approaching these people may take years to develop. But learning how to network effectively may be your most important asset in generating job leads. Your network should be strong enough to get you the leads. But remember that a network doesn’t work if you don’t share information, too; it’s a process of give and take. And generally, you need to give before you take. If you try to take exclusively, the network may work against you instead of for you.

Update your cash flow statement each month

You should track your cash flow every month to ensure that your total income exceeds your total expenses. If it doesn’t, an arrangement should be in place to cover that period using a credit facility. What can be used as a credit facility? There are a number of options. You can use a credit card, a cash-credit facility provided by your banker, a bills discounting or checks purchasing procedure, credit for exports, or many more alternatives. It’s a good policy to have two to three months’ expenses on hand. In practice, this policy doesn’t always work out. However, if your average income is usually less than your average expenses, you’re likely headed for trouble.

Know your bottom line—your average monthly expenditures. The actual figure changes every month. Track that change so that you know when you’re able take calculated risks. In certain situations, you may need to take a job as soon as you get it. But after having a few projects under your belt, you may be able to afford to wait for the larger contract.

It’s useful to remember that over half of all projects are completed behind schedule (mostly for reasons beyond a contractor’s control). If your payment is tied to the completion of a project, it gets delayed too!

Book more work than you can handle

No matter how hard you try, and no matter how good your relationship is with your clients, there are going to be slack periods in your work. Some typical problems are the following:

• Feedback is needed from a client or end user;
• A contact or point person is unavailable (on leave or out of the country);
• E-mails are not being delivered or answered;
• and something more urgent has come up for the client, so your project has been put on the
back burner.

If you’re counting on an assignment to be completed by a certain date, you can likely be sure it won’t be. In this instance, you’ll have to deal with two firm realities: (1) You may have little or no work to do until you get or generate enough input to start work again, and (2) Your payments will be delayed.

An initial reaction may be to try to get more control over the situation, such as asking the client for feedback, or asking for partial payments against work done. But these efforts don’t always work out. If you push beyond a certain threshold, you run the risk of losing business.

A smarter approach is to overload yourself to some extent. Understand that something, somewhere inside any engagement, is going to go wrong, and when it does, you’ll still have billable work in your hands. The risk you run is that if everything happens on time, you may have some peak workload periods. But that can be managed by working extra hours or by hiring outside resources. If you have a good network, you may even be able to share excess work with another freelancer.

Team up with competitors

Healthy competition helps. Cutthroat competition cuts! If you can manage to lay down some ground rules, teaming up occasionally with a competitor will prove helpful. If you team up with a competitor, many operations can be shared and standardized. Together, you can establish benchmarks for delivery, standard rates, standard operating procedures, and so on. In an atmosphere of good competition, all competitors develop, and so does the market.

Keep up the training

It’s natural to make an effort to maximize billable hours. But in so doing, everything else may be compromised. Even training! It’s advisable to consistently take the time to sharpen your skills. Your business depends on it. You should be aware of the latest developments in your industry and related advances in technology. Put training on top of your “to do” list. If possible, take
assignments that teach you something new. Favor these assignments over others. After all, you’re acquiring new skills and even billing for it!

tips for successful freelance