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Last Updated on January 20, 2024 by Work In My Pajamas
As a freelancer, you’re responsible for all of your own marketing. There are larger firms and bigger platforms that offer the same thing you offer, and their marketing budget is a lot larger than yours is. You may not be able to pay for advertisement, particularly if you’re newly solo. The good news is that there are plenty of free methods you can use to boost your traffic, potentially putting you in touch with clients who would love to work with you.
Start a Great Blog
Start a blog about whatever niche you service. Copywriting, web design, graphic design, editing, and social media management are well established blog niches. Freelancers often look to other freelancers for helpful tips, and potential customers probably have a lot of questions about how the processes work. Regularly updating a blog will drive traffic while boosting your website in Google’s ranks, improving the likelihood of people finding you through organic search.
Encourage People to Spread the Word
People still find professionals via word of mouth. Incentivize referrals. It doesn’t have to cost you anything out of pocket – you can offer 10% off a service for every referral that ends in a purchase. You can also offer deals for people who share your social media posts or blog content on other platforms, or consider doing discounted work for a high profile client in exchange for promotion. Incentives can also be applied to published reviews and testimonials about your services.
Improve Your Social Media Presence
LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and even Instagram for designers and graphic artists, are great ways to network. If you’re updating regularly, jumping in on trending hashtags, and commenting on the right groups or pages, you’re improving your visibility. Make sure your professional profiles are up to date and thoroughly branded, so users who view you are clearly able to see what you’re representing. If you’re entertaining and insightful enough, you have the added benefit of gathering followers who may later become customers.
Provide Helpful Resources
People love learning on the internet. What can you teach them? Try providing tutorials and resources for people who are attempting to do things themselves. Infographics with data relevant to your niche are popular, and are often re-shared. Video or step by step tutorials with pictures or screengrabs are an effective method of teaching. Just make sure you brand all of your content and use watermarks. If your content travels around, people will be able to link it back to you.
Collaborate with Other Freelancers
People hiring freelancers often need a variety of services to complete a project. Freelancers who do everything well are hard to come by. Cross promote with other freelancers who offer things that you don’t. Build links with each other through blog guest posts to boost your SEO. Recommend each other to clients who are seeing relevant services. Post about each other on social media. At the end of the day, you’re all trying to do the same thing. If you aren’t offering competitive services, there’s no reason you can’t help each other out.
There’s always targeted advertisements and affiliate links when you have a larger budget to work with. These tricks will help you boost your traffic and rake in the new clients who will ultimately make funding paid advertisement a feasible possibility.