As a freelancer, it can be difficult to showcase your services to your potential clients and fellow freelancers without being intrusive. But you'll have a tough time finding new and better clients if you don't tell others about your skills and expertise.
Therefore, we discuss the different ways you can showcase your services online. These will not only help you land more gigs but better-paying ones.
1. Starting a Blog
One of the best ways to show your expertise in any field is to start a blog about it. This way you’ll not only help your audience but also demonstrate your expertise and skills without being pushy.
Another benefit of starting your blog is you’ll start receiving visitors from search engines like Google. By providing them with value and showcasing your services, you can convert these visitors into clients.
Through your blog, you can also build your personal brand and become well-known in the industry. If you already have your website, you can simply start a blog there or go for other options like WordPress, Blogger, or Medium.
2. Joining Online Communities
Another way to show your expertise is to join your industry-related online communities. There, you can share helpful posts, interact with other members, and answer questions.
As you keep doing so, you’ll start getting more visibility in the community and will be seen as an authority. These channels can then lead to direct clients, or you can receive referrals from any community member.
You can find a ton of online forums, Subreddits, Facebook groups, and LinkedIn groups for different industries.
3. Creating Helpful Posts on Social Media
As a freelancer, you should have a strong social media presence. Your social profiles should indicate what you do so people can reach out to you.
But to get the most out of social media, create valuable posts that help people, and solve their problems. You can share these posts on your page, your personal profile, and social media groups.
LinkedIn, in particular, is a great place to create posts, network, and get clients without asking for work. But you should find out which platform would work best for your industry.
Moreover, you can share your recent projects, accomplishments, and your blog posts on social media. With time, you'll see a rise in your followers, become more visible, and start landing clients.
4. Making Video Tutorials
If you’re good at making videos, you can make video tutorials related to your industry. With video consumption on the rise, this is a great way to demonstrate your expertise.
So you can start a YouTube channel, create tutorials, discuss industry news, and hold live sessions. This not only showcases your expertise but lets you build an engaged audience.
This is especially a good strategy for people working in the design industry, as you can create detailed video tutorials for using different software or for performing different tasks. Similarly, programming tutorials and Code With Me live sessions are quite popular on YouTube.
5. Publishing Case Studies
Publishing case studies works like a charm, as they demonstrate your achievement and the exact methods used.
Especially for anyone in the marketing and copywriting industry, creating case studies can be a real game-changer. A case study develops trust and is proof of results.
Another aspect is that case studies get shared and bookmarked more, as they contain the tried-and-true strategies and processes that bring results. By reading your case studies, your prospects get to know about your work style, processes, tactics, and ethics.
If you already have a website, you can post your case studies there or share them in different online communities.
6. Building Your Portfolio
As a freelancer, having a well-maintained and up-to-date portfolio is a must. Your portfolio should show your prospects your best work, the diverse nature of the projects you have done, and client testimonials.
More importantly, you should have a proper structure and layout to ensure that prospects don’t get lost in the jungle of your projects.
State your expertise and skills clearly and include all the ways to contact you prominently. Other than adding images and links, it’s a good idea to concisely explain each project and your contribution to it.
As discussed above, you can add a blog to your portfolio website and even publish case studies of your successful projects. For anyone in a creative field like designing or writing, having a portfolio is even more crucial and beneficial.
7. Contributing to Popular Blogs
Starting your own blog is undoubtedly a great way to show your expertise. However, it takes months for your blog to take off and begin bringing in visitors and clients.
So, another way to showcase your services and become visible quickly is to contribute to other popular blogs and websites in your niche. For every industry, you can find hundreds of websites that accept guest posts.
These blogs also give you an author byline and link to your website/social media account, improving your credibility. Moreover, the established sites get thousands of visitors each month. By writing for them, you can get more visibility and even clients.
A quick way to find websites where you can contribute is to run a Google search:
- “write for us” + [Your industry]
- “contribute” + [Your expertise]
8. Appearing on Podcasts and Online Events
To showcase your services, another way is to appear as a guest/speaker in relevant podcasts and online events. With tons of events happening online, organizers are always looking for industry experts who can provide value to their audience.
Similarly, podcast viewership is on the rise, and you can appear as guests. If you’re good at speaking, you can begin your own podcast too.
9. Genuinely Helping People
Whether you’re a part of online forums or social media groups, the best way to showcase your expertise is to genuinely help people and answer their questions.
Resist the urge to promote your services every time and try to solve the other person's problem. With time, as you establish yourself as an expert, you’ll start getting clients.
Attract More Clients By Showcasing Your Services
Working as a freelance professional, it’s important to properly showcase your skills and services. By doing so, you can not only increase your client base, but also become an industry expert.
The above-mentioned ways can help you display your expertise and skills, without being intrusive. Though these are good ways of branding and marketing yourself, if you need work quickly, you can check out freelance websites.