When you become well known in your business, customers will constantly contact you, and you will not look for them. When there is a lot of work, then there will be no special need to try to sell your services.

But what to do, if only you start? Before customers begin to contact, there may be problems with what to do all day. This is the perfect time to make yourself known.

Finding customers for each is different and what works for one does not always work for another. However, I would like to share some of the ways in which I got a job at the very beginning.

Do not concentrate on freelance sites.

If you have nothing to do all day, it may be tempting to climb on freelance sites such as eLance , Guru or Freelancer . I mean, there's a ton of customers offering a job, right?
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In fact, such sites can create many problems for freelancers and therefore it is worth approaching them with caution. Hours spent on sites, participating in contests and low (sometimes too) payment, in comparison with the real value. It is much better to spend this time promoting your name.

Glows everywhere and always

The reason customers started finding me was because I seemed to be wherever they were all the time. I left comments on the blogs they visited. Then I started writing for these blogs. I tweeted helpful articles and tips throughout the day and started to run my own blog with unique articles.

I am often asked how I manage so much is online. In fact, I often go offline after work or on weekends, but continue to tweet. My Twitter account is connected to Facebook, my site, LinkedIn and some other social networks, so it seems that I am always and everywhere. Thus, the client will remember you, be considered an expert and apply with work.

Optimize your portfolio

I have a lot of interests and hobbies. When I created the first portfolio site, I placed everything I did there: print design, web design, logos, layout, photos and drawings. The funny thing is that I did not get any work, although I had a lot of talents. Customers could not understand what I was doing. Now I have a simple portfolio with the best projects in one area - layout. And customers can say exactly what I do.

Write, write, write and write again!

Customers want to know that they are best cared for in their business. If they need to choose between a freelancer that they haven’t heard about and someone who has written on several popular blogs and published a book, how do you think who they think is an expert?

you don't have to write books, but blogs are a fantastic way to make your name recognizable. Most sites will even pay for articles - and this is a great way to earn extra money.

Old-fashioned marketing

Social media will not make you rich and will not solve all your marketing problems. Sometimes some good old-fashioned marketing methods can be the best source of new customers.

• Bulletin boards - Sites in the form of job boards in the form of bulletin boards are different from freelance sites, because they only contain a brief description of the company and what they want to do. Such clients are often willing to pay fair money, rather than on freelancing sites.
  
  
• Cold letters - The best source of customers in the early days was sending them cold letters. I simply “googled” the type of clients I needed and sent them a previously prepared offer. I still receive orders from this, although I stopped sending letters more than a year ago.
  
  
• Personal communication - I know, most of us freelancers are recluses, but attending events is a great way to find local customers. Conferences such as Barcamp and Podcamp are just fun to attend and communication with other freelancers is invaluable.

Search customers from RSS feeds

On most social sites you can subscribe to RSS feeds and they can be super useful for finding new customers.

For example, if you go to Twitter and type in the search for “looking for a freelancer”, what messages will appear? What other phrases can be useful for finding customers?

See the RSS button for every search you do on Twitter, so it’s nice to follow them to track potential customers.

In addition, almost all bulletin boards usually have a mailing list. By subscribing to them, you will save valuable time, never miss useful messages and there will be no need to visit different sites every day.

Tell everyone what you are doing.

When you start, let all your friends will be aware of what you will do. There is a possibility that someone knows someone who needs your services. So be sure that everyone knows what you are doing.

Post information about yourself wherever you can

There are literally thousands of sites that allow you to post your name and link to your site. This is not only a good practice of exchanging links for SEO, it also brings us back to the idea of ​​glowing everywhere. Here are a few ideas:

• CSS Galleries
• Behance
• One thinging
• Sorfolio
• Carbonmade
• Google maps
• Google business
• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Flickr
• Codesnipp.it
• Forrst
• Dribbble

Do not despair

It is true that the more work you have (or the ability to get it), the more orders arrive. Despair scares customers away, so never create the impression that you have no work.

For example, if you have finally freed your schedule, after several months of hard work, then there is nothing to worry about reporting your free status. But freelancers who do this every week or month create the impression that they have nothing to do (they look like they know their business badly)

your thoughts

How did you find your clients when you first started freelancing?

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Original author Amber