Hello, everyone! I have 1+ year in digital marketing and business developing, but in spite of such small experience, I gained a lot of skills. So I considered to start freelancing. There are a lot of sites, and the most popular for internet marketer are odesk, fiberr and elance (correct me if I wrong). I created accounts on that platform but I do understand - these are not enough. I should promote myself and get involved people to work with me. It's hard to find the very first client. So what should I do? May be I should find some site, make analysis, and send report what things they should do to improve conversions?
Look for clients on Craigslist who are asking for your type of service. There are a ton of people who post gigs asking for a particular service. I've got a ton of work using this resource alone. If you want to make the search really easy, get Arbitrage Underdog. Great piece of software.
Not sure from your post about what type of freelancing work you intend to do as there are various places that are more suitable for one type or the other. Lets take oDesk as a more general example as they do have a lot of different ads there. You search for a freelancer job just the same way as if you are looking for a normal job. You read ads, sort out those that you find appealing in both type of work and price and then you send them an application/CV. Now, in oDesk especially, its a good idea to do a few of their tests as some jobs requires that you pass a certain exam to prove your knowledgeability there. You will soon find that there are not that many jobs that are appealing in both work and salary so you will just keep doing what you're doing until someone shows an interest back. At first you might have to settle for a few low-paid jobs but as I always advice - try to exceed the expectations regardless of the end payment you are getting. Every client might turn out to be well connected or have something more long-term for a much better payment so any opportunity not pursued is an opportunity missed. As for the others, eLance is more oriented towards article writing and Fiverrr is ok just for very small gigs. You can also check Freelancer.com although many of the ads there are a total mockery as well
I started as a freelancer too, best place would be to go through forums hiring/jobs section.. contact the clients and let them know why you would be beneficial to their company.
Thank you for reply. I'm talking about so called growth hacking and conversion rate optimisation. I think, I'm good in these areas. As I understood you correctly, you offer me try and try and try offer my skills on every job, where I do? Sounds as I expected. Already started follow your advices!
As I said to make to these companies some work for free and show them results. Even if they are not looking for freelancer right now.
Yea use classified sites and forums to promote your freelancer profiles. Beside that you have to know how to write an effective cover letter so clients call you for an Interview and you can show your skills there.
This is one of my questions too. I have never started a business before, but I am very eager of having one someday. I think in my own opinion, in order to start to freelance, a planned out business model and spreadsheet. I hope this helps.
There are a lot of sites out there that are similar to those sites you mentioned above. It's all up to you to decide which one seems to be the "fit" for your skills.
You should instead co pete here in DP. Once you get to gain trust here, you will get more clients and will not depend on freelance sites which ripoff 10% of your earnings.
I really found this so true, thanks for the idea. I think I need to further my networking skills about this matter though.