5 Ways to Getting Design Freelancing Projects Easily

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Welcoming Angela Baker to the blog as a guest author! Read on to hear her tips on getting freelance work as a designer—covering topics on the importance of a portfolio website, becoming active on job platforms, using social media for networking, and cold emailing as a strategy for establishing new connections.

When you decide to become a freelance designer, you should be prepared to source your work and promote yourself. While this position offers you a lot of liberty, it also comes with plenty of challenges. You will be your brand, and you should put all the efforts to get more projects and increase your incomes. For a freelance designer, finding new projects often becomes an overwhelming task. You will no longer have an agency or business behind to source projects for you. The more projects you find by yourself, the more work and money you will have. So, if you still didn’t find the secret method to get design freelancing projects easily, then you should read on and discover what strategies work best for you.

1. Develop a portfolio website

What is a designer without a portfolio website? He is like a shoemaker without shoes. How do you imagine that you can convince clients to assign projects to you if you don’t have a smartly built portfolio to show them? Creating a portfolio website is the first step to help you get design freelancing projects. Instead of pitching your clients by sending them attachments with your work and risk ending in their spam folder, it is better to send them the link to your website portfolio. Thus, you will show them that you are a professional designer, and you will make their job easier by allowing them to analyze your portfolio quickly.

Apart from your previous projects, your personal website should be the crown jewel. It is your visit card and shows your clients that you have outstanding designing skills. So, you should take enough time to create a unique website portfolio, which will talk about your personality and design style. If you don’t do it before pitching your clients, you can be sure that your competitors will present their website portfolios and increase their chances to be selected. The content is also essential. Using professional writing services like Trust My Paper or Grab My Essay can be a wise choice.

2. Become active on freelance job marketplaces

We live in an era of technology where people can choose to become freelancers and easily find projects on various topics. The internet is full of freelance job marketplaces where you can access plenty of design jobs. All you have to do is make a quick search on Google and identify the most popular platforms that include freelance design jobs. Create a shortlist with three of these marketplaces and open an account on each of them. Open an account on these websites and build your profile by presenting some of your best projects.

Your profile on such platforms should be as professional as your website portfolio. Before they reach your site, your clients will first read your presentation on your profile and decide whether they should invest their time in getting to know you better. So, you should create an engaging introduction that convinces them from the first moments they read about you.

3. Networking activities

One of the most effective strategies that you can use to get design freelance projects quickly is participating in design and non-design events. Social media is a great source to find events dedicated to freelancers from various niches. So, this is an excellent opportunity to meet new people and tell them what you do. If you spend all day at home, working on projects, you miss plenty of opportunities. You shouldn’t forget that once a project is over you should be prepared to find more projects. Therefore, by organizing your time and participating in various events, you will increase your chances of having a constant flow of work.

Word of mouth is one of the most efficient promotion methods that people can use to become visible.

Even if you participate in a non-design event, you should tell all the people you meet about what you do. It may be that they don’t need your services, but the chances are that they know someone who needs you and can tell that person about your portfolio. So, you should accept any event invitation and be open when talking about your services.

4. Build a blog

“Writing engaging content on the topics connected to your design freelance projects will increase your chances to become visible and present yourself as an expert in your niche,” says Miranda Sparks, a senior editor at Studicus. It is one of the easiest and quickest ways to gain credibility and awareness. By showing your audience that you are always preoccupied with what’s new in your niche and give them the impression that you know what you are talking about, will help you win more clients.

The more people you bring on your site using keywords and ranking higher in search engines, the more projects you will receive.

You can also collaborate with other blogs, write posts for them, and create backlinks to your website portfolio. Use any blog post to show your audience more about your personality and what you are good at. This is how you will build your brand and attract people who share the same interests and would love to collaborate with you. On the other hand, you shouldn’t expect that the results appear overnight. You should organize your time so that you have enough time to write and keep your blog updated. You will see that, in time, all these efforts will pay off.

5. Use cold emailing

While many would say that cold outreach is already dead, if you use this strategy correctly, you will discover that it can actually bring results. Cold emailing is a strategy that doesn’t bring immediate results. You will need to spend months researching potential clients and preparing emails for them. If you don’t know where to start with this strategy, you can take a look on Google and search for relevant guides on this topic. An acceptable method is that when you manage to personalize your email content to your clients’ needs. Thus, you should spend time doing extensive research and identify what precisely the potential clients needs and what you can do to help him. This is the starting point to build your email and show your clients that you have the solution to his problems, and you can do something to help him. You will see how after a while you will get replies from several pitches and receive a constant flow of projects.

Conclusion

Getting design freelance projects is not an easy job. You will need a lot of patience and determination to keep searching for projects despite all rejections. You should also enjoy the liberty offered by freelancing activities and organize your schedule in such a way that you manage to combine the work with activities that involve networking and new projects’ identification.

Angela Baker is a self-driven specialist who is currently working as a freelance writer at BestEssayEducation and LiveInspiredMagazine.

Big thanks to Angela for her guest blog post! Are you looking for more freelance resources? Check out A Creative’s Guide To Getting Freelance Work, 10 Coworking Spaces for Creative Freelancers in New York, and 15 Essential Places Freelance Designers Can Find New Clients.