7 Elements of a Successful Freelancer’s Website
“The shoemaker’s children go barefoot.”
You’re not a shoemaker but the saying still fits. Between client projects, conferences, and social obligations (okay, okay, WOW clan meetings may count as social obligations), your site has been sorely neglected. A neglected website might not seem like a big deal if you’re flush with work. But what happens when, Zeus forbid, work slows? You’ll start pushing for new work, realize that your site is a mess, and spend time working on your site you should have spent landing new contracts.
As a reminder for the veterans and a guide for those just starting out, here are seven elements of a successful freelancer’s website:
Personality
Does your website have personality? You don’t need to have wild colors, say inflammatory things, or hurl curses to have personality. Dropping a few hints that will let people know you’re fun to work with and a good person will do the trick. Think of your website just as you would a big corner office. It’s your space to personalize, to enjoy, and to share with important visitors. Make sure you include some details so that visitors who stop by while you’re out get a chance to learn about you. It’s you they’ll be hiring after all. Show a bit of tasteful personality and you’ll stand apart from the rest. Without personality your site will be just another raft of half-hearted dreams in a giant sea of mediocrity.
Process Description
Can visitors to your site find out a little of what it’s like to work with you without signing a contract? Outlining your process for prospective clients gives them an idea as to what they can expect of you. Telling a prospective client how you work will increase the level of familiarity that client has with you. Increased familiarity leads to trust and trust has a way of leading to lucrative projects. You can use your process description as a way to share some of your personality. Are you a copywriter with a flair for drawing? Cartoon it up! Perhaps you’re a web designer who gets a kick out of beautiful flowcharts? Use your process description to show prospective and repeat clients just how awesome you are.
Project Examples
Do you share examples of your most recent work? A common sin among freelancers is that they get so caught up in new projects that they fail to properly display previous accomplishments. If you’re just starting out and only have one or two examples of your work, make up for the lack of volume by going into detail on your project explanations. Reference positive feedback from clients (LinkedIn is a great place to ask for short reviews) and, once again, make sure to sneak your personality into the final product!
Ballpark Pricing
Do you give prospective clients an idea of what it costs to hire your brilliant self? When and if to publish rates is for another article entirely. For now, it’s fairly safe to say that you’ll benefit from alluding to a price range. There’s no need to lock yourself into a price and clients will be happier if you let them know what they can expect to pay. An easy way to give a ballpark price is to ask prospective clients to fill out a project starter sheet that asks for a budget range. Giving a benchmark price can also work well. There are multiple benefits to giving ballpark prices. Among them, weeding out cheapskates and minimizing sticker shock. Make sure to furiously research your specific niche to find out average rates for the services you provide before plastering prices on your site. Using the hourly rate calculator is a good place to begin if you’re just getting started as a freelancer.
A Blog
Do you have a blog? If not, subscribe to this site so you’ll remember to come back and go set up your blog! If you already have a blog running on your site, have you been neglecting it lately? Just having a blog isn’t enough if you want to build a community around your site. Regular posting of useful content will establish you as a trusted expert and extend your network of trusting fans and friends. If you’re like many freelancers, you’re not the most organized person in the world. I struggle with organization at times, too. No hate here. Updating a blog can be difficult. It takes time, effort, and a lot of care to regularly post useful content and conversation-starters. The result of that blood-letting has been new friends, fantastic clients, and connections with other freelancers that I just wouldn’t have made had my site been entirely static. Get your blogging loins in gear for some extended community action and a bit of sharing with your clients. They’ll love it and you’ll get a kick out of what it does for your bank balance.
Usability
Is your site readable? Have you made sure that the text portion of your site is easily read by people and search spiders alike? Going solely on past experience, I can make three guesses about your site:
- 1. Your body text is too small.
- 2. You put more effort into pushing visitors to make your content go viral than you do hanging out with them.
- 3. You require too many clicks to get things done.
If none of those apply to your site, you’re one of the few. The rest will do well to make an effort to see their site as a visitor does. Do a bit of user testing and ask people at your local coffee shop to complete simple tasks on your site (like subscribing) or reading an article. You might think it embarrassing to ask strangers to help you improve your site. But that’s much easier than continuing as you are and watching contracts slip away.
Easy Contact
Is it easy to get in touch with you? Is your phone number published on your site? Can a prospective client reach your inbox in two clicks from any page on your site? The easier it is to get in touch with you, the friendlier you’ll seem. Remember what I said about familiarity and trust? Making a visitor dig around for your contact information isn’t a good way to inspire trust or make friends. Make it easy to reach you. Make it easy to work with you. You’ll find that clients have an easier time finding and paying you as a result! A note on contact forms: using captcha on your contact forms may save you from a few spam emails but can add a lot of frustration for those not accustomed to the process. I recommend skipping it until you’re big enough to hire somebody else to delete the spam for you.
There are many ways to optimize your site for best performance. If you take care of the details while you’re not in a hurry, you’ll do better work and have more fun in the process. Is there anything you’d like to add? I’m glad for your thoughts.
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Ouch. Just a quick peek back at my site, and I see a couple of glaring omissions already.
*runs off to take care of issues*
*runs back to say thanks*
Great, practical principles here- thanks so much for the insights!
Excellent points, and a great reminder.
I’m one of those busy people who currently don’t have enough time to spend on my own site. Working on a big project is leaving me little wiggle room to really get down to finishing and polishing my site, and yes, I know I’m putting myself at a disadvantage for when the ‘slow’ times roll around.
For now, I think it is more important that I focus on my client’s project, and save my sanity by getting some sleep and a little down-time to minimize stress levels and onset of chronic carpal tunnel syndrome (joking about the CTS – I use a DVORAK keyboard – highly recommended!) ;D
The project examples and process description are definitely some key items here. You need to be able to differentiate yourself from your competition and the work you do and how you go about it does that. Being transparent and having excellent communication skills while creating excellent work will allow you to charge appropriately for your work and your clients to be fine with that.
Some great advice for sure. As a new fulltime freelancer, I’m starting to realize the importance of things like testimonials, personality, and prepping the client for your range of pricing before they even fire an email off to you.
There are many successful freelance designers out there, it seems to be a good idea to look at their sites and emulate.
Happy freelancing!
Simon,
Great article! I’ve actually completed quite a few projects recently and haven’t taken on new work just so I can focus on upgrading my website. I didn’t even think about putting up ballpark pricing (thanks for that tip!). I neglected my site for way too long.
I was in the same boat Anne was in; I feel you!
Sorry – meant to write Seth! Kinda put both your names into one. I apologize! See, your article got me all excited!
Both are good names! =)
Upgrading without over-complicating is a chore but I’m sure you’ll do it with ease.
Best of luck!
I think these should be elements of any service related website, not just freelancers.
Very interesting Article!
I think another important thing is to highlight the benefits a client gets from hiring from hiring you.
I find it really strange when design agencies or freelancers have big clients and a really sub-standard website. Doesn’t seem to make sense.
I think it is largely because of timing and promotion issues, wanting to use as much billable time on client projects than anything. It is an age-old problem of wanting to keep everything up-to-snuff, but also profitable. The situation is exasperated when clients find you via word-of-mouth and reputation than portfolio. Not an ideal situation for long term, extended growth, but not uncommon. :/
Couldn’t agree more! I was just reviewing some of my competitor’s websites… Yuck.
Stephen – it makes sense when you consider that many freelancers start out with an existing client base that expands through social connections rather than portfolio or blog conversions. Kevin brings up a great point that hours spent on one’s own site don’t convert directly into cash and so are really unattractive to most of us.
What’s the solution? Probably a combination of better time-management skills and a sense of urgency with regard to bringing in enough prospects so that one is able to choose clients instead of grovel for hesitant $’s.
That is what we all dream of, methinks.
I get that business may come from other places than directly through the website, but if I was looking for something to be done to boost my online presence, I would still at least glance at the website of the company that was recommended. If it was terrible, then it would be put me off paying them.
Thanks for the great tips! Definitely going to be putting a few of these into practice in the next couple days as I build a new site.
I like all of these, you make it clear how they can boost your site. I am wondering about these though,
1. Your body text is too small.
do you mean font size is small or the length of text is too short(why would this be bad)
2. You put more effort into pushing visitors to make your content go viral than you do hanging out with them.
what do you mean, and how would one go about “hanging out with visitors”?
again, very nice, synthesized article,
cheers.
I believe he means:
1. Your body text is too small.
Is referring to size.
2. You put more effort into pushing visitors to make your content go viral than you do hanging out with them.
You should concentrate more on interacting with your community then pushing them to spread the word. If they like what you have to say then they will do that on their own. Most people do the opposite.
I don’t want to step out of place and this is only my 2 cents.
It took me three years before I ever made a site for my self. I should have done it sooner but word of mouth kept me going.
Complain.o.Matic nailed it. Thanks!
Beating back the complacency demon is a constant challenge. I hope to be a pro at it by the time I’m… 59 years old. =)
Good post, I’m not sure about publishing prices no your site but like you mentioned that could be an entirely other article.
I’m actually in the process of redesigning my website. So this is a very good read for me actually.
Yeah, Great article and helpful for first time
Awesome timing! I’m currently working on v3.0 of my site and these tips will definitely help!
One of the things I find frustrating when looking at a freelancer’s online portfolio (or even some small agencies) is that some of them will show far too many samples of their work. It was a mistake I made while I was in college and only began to understand now as I look at other designer’s work.
I just don’t see the reasoning behind boring me to death with 100 logos and 30 website examples. At best it might show me an evolution of their skills over the years but that’s really not what I came to see. I want to see what you can do now and I might just mistake one of your older pieces as something that you’re still proud of.
Confidence is something we all struggle with at some point or other, no? I think the bedlam-esque portfolio pages are nothing more than eager attempts to assure clients that many things are possible.
I’ve run across quite a few prospective clients who thought something couldn’t be done because an example wasn’t displayed on a portfolio page!
There’s a balance somewhere between saving other freelancers from stomach aches and being mindful of the ways clients look for proof of capabilities. Takes a bit of soul searching and perhaps some market research to find out where that balance is.
Thanks!
I really enjoyed this post and made me feel quite good that I am indeed on the right path and integrating most of these aspects into my site. Still can use some polishing as it seems like I am always tinkering with things a bit. The pricing area is tricky and still being developed and would love to see an article on “when and if to publish rates”. Sadly my blog became corrupted and died…. so now working on writing some articles to post instead.
I’m a wretched mess when it comes to tweaking or completely changing things on any of my sites. I’m comfortable working on client sites without any changes, but my own? Forget it. I love to see how content is given a different feel depending on the surrounding elements.
I’ll see what I can do about an article on rates. Should be a good discussion at minimum.
Find me on Twitter when your new posts go live and I’ll swing by for a read! I’m @sethsimonds
This is definitely something that many of us struggle with! It’s difficult to find the time to work on what is essentially a pro bono project (even though there is long-term benefit) when paid client work is available.
I’m actually working with a designer right now on a trade — I’m doing the coding for his portfolio site, and he’s helping me redesign mine. Both of our sites will be better as a result, plus we have someone else motivating us, so the project doesn’t keep getting put on the back burner…
When designers, coders, and writers work together, beautiful things happen.
Now we just need to get the marketers on board. =)
I’ve bookmarked your site. Looking forward to seeing the new design!
Love #1, “personality”. I’m a quirky individual with a large sense of humor and have been marketing myself in a similar way for a few years now. I’ve received occasional comment, “You are going to scare away clients!”, but I’ve noticed two things:
1) No one making comments against quirk has been in a position to hire designers
2) No one making decisions to hire a designer has ever made a comment against quirk.
This has held true when dealing with design firms, ad agencies, PR firms, small businesses, large businesses, fellow designers, business people, accountants… ect. I’ve long ago stopped worrying if I’m not “corporate” enough to work with corporations.
100% with Kevin M. Scarbrough. I nneded years to understand that you atract some customers for the same reasons you scare others. You better no worry and let your personality “paint” your work, because no matter what’s the end result, you’ll scare some potential customers and attract others.
Just don’t be worried all the time. You can lose the same amount of customers being happy as hell.
This is very timely since I’m thinking about putting up my “business” web site. All the items are really good advice.
The thing I would add is, “Don’t try to be something you’re not.” So many freelancers’ websites I see refer to themselves as “we” when it’s really just “me”.
Listen, my friends, it’s not a crime to be a freelancer, a one-person company. It comes across as really phony when you try to portray yourself as a firm with more than one person. Let’s face it, the prospective customer will always find out and won’t that be an awkward moment when you have to fess up? Seriously, just be truthful and don’t try to blow yourself up into something you’re not. You won’t get away with it, and you’ll just look bad when the truth comes out.
Thanks, Seth. Really appreciate these words as I venture down the freelance route online. I also loved Kevin M. Scarbrough’s comment. My website has only been live for a couple of weeks, but one of the first comments I received was: “I’m just wondering how conservative people in the business world would view it [your website] and what it says about you.” It was a thoughtful comment from someone whose opinion I value. My conclusion was, I can’t second guess what people in the corporate world would want. I decided to be myself, present my qualifications as creatively and professionally as possible, and just start. There might be changes down the track as I learn new things (or don’t attract any clients!), but right now I’m happy with what I have.
Love your site design, but I’m curious about the design of your comments section – some names are on the side and some are above the comment. There doesn’t seem to be an obvious reason for this. Can you explain why?
Okay, I get it now. The ones on the side are top level comments, and the others are replies to comments. Duh!
Ballpark pricing
Using the hourly rate calculator is a good place to begin if you’re just getting started as a freelancer.
I kept getting: javascript void (false) I wasn’t able to calculate my rate with the calculator. Never got a number
Otherwise the article is good.
Very nicely written article. Thank you.
Great article, there are a few of those things I could improve on. Especially the blogging.. just can’t seem to find the time.
It’s funny how some things just happen for a reason. In the middle of finally just completely redoing my main website myself after having enough of trying to get other people that are supposed to be able to do a better job at design than myself, since I’m the entrepreneur. While I generally don’t consider myself a freelancer anymore, I will most certainly be back to read more of your articles and see if I can’t contribute something valuable myself. Thanks for the help focusing on the important aspects of my current project at hand, as I find myself right in the situation you opened this article with as the nightmare to avoid!
brilliant insight,
alot of things to bear in mind for a review of my site!
thanks
Gary
I agree totally. I created my site around September, when I had a little spare time because of slowing work. This made my business growing finally, people are reffering to my online portfolio.
I started up a small tutorial blog on Tumblr, which is also integrated to Facebook. I made it for trafick, but also to give a blink about how i wor and tech, and share some content for free. I still have to show it on my site tough
check it here: http://www.tutorialpesto.tumblr.com
Hi there! nice tips
Hugs to all the people here, i’m from Argentina, Buenos Aires
Good to see Personality up on the list! As a designer it is always fun to see the creative and visually stimulating work that other designers come up with. But as a person, visiting a web site that has a little bit of personality to it makes for a much more enjoyable and memorable experience. In the event that a client is searching for design work you have a better chance of being remember as the person with a great sense of humor or a wonderful personality than the person with a good looking web site. Especially since the competition all have web sites too!
Great article !
Where are the avatars? The comments sections is absolutely messed up in IE
Thanks! My site is brand new and I see a few things I should fix right away. Great advice and quite helpful.
This is a great article, I mad sure and gave it to all my friends in the industry. I particularly like the hourly rate calculator, so thanks for that one piece alone. The rest of the items I have covered, so I feel pretty good about that, but we did take a hit in Google recently, so I’m re-coding our site and optimizing further to gain a better ranking again.
Aaron
In germany you can’t publish your rates on website, unless you want to appear NOT professional. so this point seems to depend on the cultural aspekt.
Seth,
Your article could not have come at a more perfect time. I’m getting ready to dive into the freelance pool full-time, and I’m in the planning phases for my site. Just last night my wife and I were exhaustively trying to come up with a good direction for the site as a whole, and we were feeling very lost and very frustrated after even just a half hour (it was also 12:30 in the morning…). Your suggestions have given me some much-needed encouragement and direction, and an overall sense of hope. Thank you!
Hey Simonds, thanks for sharing such a wonderful and helpful post. I am a fresh freelancer, so its obvious that people like me need some feeding at the beginning, and this post is feeding me lot of knowledge and tips. Keep posting.
Thanks for this article! For a while I had put on my site: “a carpenter’s house is made of stone.”
Thank you! This is very helpful information to take into consideration!
Because I love FSW, I have to point out the typo in the headline…
a successful freelancers’ website
…possessive….
Not a typo unfortunately, just that the technology known as sIFR is full of fail and doesn’t display apostrophes with most fonts.
Because I love FSW, I have to point out the typo in the headline…
a successful freelancer’s website
For usability testing, there are a half a dozen good tools on my blog at the testing tools page at the following URL:
http://www.testing-web-sites.co.uk/testing-tools/
Some free and some a little more expensive.
Hope that helps.
Regards,
Tom
very nice and useful tips. thanks for the post. easy contact is the key:)
Very nice article and very useful too specially for freshers like me.
Thanks a lot
Thanks for the tips! I think I covered many of these, except pricing. I go back and forth with this one since projects are so diverse. In addition, it is hard to lock myself into a price. It may be something to consider down the road though! I also need to work on the blog portion of this site. I link to my main blog, but it may be benificial to have posts on this site as well. Are the blog posts directed at the client or other writers? Curious.
I don’t post my rates/prices/fees because they vary. I don’t want to scare off a worthwhile client by posting rates that may seem “too high” nor discourage a big-bucks client by seeming to accept rates that are “too low.”
I haven’t been able to make myself do a blog yet. I do so much interaction with colleagues through e-mail discussion lists, professional memberships and LinkedIn groups that I just don’t have the energy or time to devote to doing a blog right, and I don’t want to do it if I can’t do it right. One of these days, maybe …
I’m on target for the other points, though.
Thanks for this wonderful article. Ive just made a website and was looking for a few tips on how I could make it better. Your article did the job. Thanks!!
Yes this article has been very enlightening and is full of useful tips!