The Best of FreelanceFolder: Our Top 10 Resources for Getting Clients
Posted August 23, 2010 in Getting Clients
Nearly all freelancers face the problem of finding new clients. Whether you’re just getting started as a freelancer, or you’ve been freelancing for decades: getting clients is the backbone of any business.
Over the years at FreelanceFolder we’ve written dozens (if not hundreds) of articles on how to get clients, how to find better clients, and how to keep clients coming back for more. As our way to kick off Client Week here at FreelanceFolder, we’ve taken the best of these posts and created a list of our top 10 resources for getting clients.
Let’s take a look:
Top 10 FreelanceFolder Articles for Finding Clients
We’ve tapped into the collective wisdom of the FreelanceFolder writers to bring you the best and most useful articles we’ve published. Here’s a list of our top ten (plus) resources to help you get more clients:
- How To Build the Ultimate Job Finding Dashboard with iGoogle
The Internet is a great tool for finding jobs, but searching it can be a bit intimidating. Mason Hipp’s clever tool makes use of iGoogle to automate your job search. - How to Really Use Twitter to Find More Freelance Work
Are you on Twitter? Did you know you can use Twitter to find clients? Here’s how. - 5 Kinds of Blog Posts That Attract Clients
Do you have a business blog? If so, Lexi Rodrigo teaches you which types of posts attract clients. - How to Approach Big Clients
Big clients tend to have big projects that can keep you busy for a long time. However, many freelancers are afraid to approach big companies when looking for work. Here are some steps to take. - Five Simple Tactics to Find New Clients
Classic advice on how to find new clients. Read this carefully to make sure that you haven’t forgotten any of these techniques. - 3 Ways To Get Clients From Twitter
More savvy tips for freelancers who use Twitter from Mason Hipp. - How to Find Work Without Using the Freelance Job Boards
The job boards are the first stop for many freelancers who are looking for projects. Sadly, they are sometimes the last stop as well. Deb Ng shares various sources where you can look for freelancing jobs. - 5 Steps to Winning Any Client Project
This great post takes you through all of the crucial steps to winning a new client — from getting your foot in the door to closing the deal. - How to Find Freelance Jobs through Effective Forum Networking
Forums can be an untapped resource for finding high-quality clients. This post explains how to use forum networking to build relationships and uncover these leads. - From Budget to Quality: Transitioning to High-Dollar Jobs
High-dollar jobs are the freelancer’s Holy Grail. Everyone seems to be looking for them, but not everyone can find them. Tim Wasson explains how you can make the transition from budget jobs to high-dollar jobs. - Retention During The Recession: 20 Ways to Get And Keep More Clients
We may be recovering from a recession, but there are still things that freelancers can do to find clients. Mike Smith shares some of his top tips. - How to Use Elance and Guru to Land That Client Every Time
Bidding sites such as Elance and Guru can be a great job hunting resource if you know what you’re doing. Tim Wasson discusses what to look for on a bidding site and what to look out for.
We’ve listed over ten excellent resources from the FreelanceFolder archives, but there are still even more tips to share:
A Few Bonus Tips for Finding New Clients
Here are a few more pointers about getting new clients:
- Always put your very best foot forward. First impressions do count–that means your website, your social media presence, and any contact that you make with a potential client should be top-notch and professional.
- Persistence pays off. Getting clients is a numbers game. The more prospects you contact the more new clients you will eventually have. Sticking with it and being patient works, especially in this economy where competition for clients is fierce.
- Don’t neglect current and past clients. Time and again, one of the most effective ways of getting new clients is through referrals from current and past clients. Make sure that your current clients stay satisfied to keep your references strong.
Share Your Advice
We’ve shared some of FreelanceFolder’s best collective advice on getting new clients. What about you? How do you find new clients for your freelancing business?
Join the discussion by sharing your very best tips and methods for finding clients in the comments.
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Did you know it’s Client Week on FreelanceFolder? That’s right, in order to celebrate the upcoming launch of The Client Machine (our new client-getting product), we’re writing exclusively about getting clients all week long. Make sure you sign up to be notified about The Client Machine, and come back every day for more articles about finding clients!
Related posts:
- It’s Client Week at FreelanceFolder!
- New Partnership With FreelanceSwitch, Job Board Now On FreelanceFolder!
- I Really Need to Find It!!! Resources And Tools For (pretty much) Everything
- 33 New Design Blogs with Great Content & Resources
- New Forums: The FreelanceFolder Marketplace
About the author: Laura Spencer is a freelance writer from North Central Texas with over 20 years of professional business writing experience. If you liked this post, then you may also enjoy Laura’s blog about her freelance writing experiences, WritingThoughts. Laura is also on Google+.
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26 Comments
Jordan Walker
August 23rd, 2010 at 9:21 amReferrals have played a large part, take care of your clients and they will take care of you!
Web design portfolio
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:05 ami agree, referals are good.
great compilation of articles. thanks!
Web Designer Tom
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:08 amThank you i will be looking through this as i am just starting out doing web development as a business
funny pranks
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:17 amThe only place i get clients besides worth of mouthy is one of the largest freelance sites … freelancer.com …
zeus
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:43 amGreat post!
Referrals, word of mouth, and good customer service are some of the best ways I get new and recurring clients.
Lexi Rodrigo
August 23rd, 2010 at 11:32 amThanks for putting all this together in one place, Laura! Really helpful :-)
Johnny
August 23rd, 2010 at 3:38 pmNice roundup Laura! The only thing I would add is to make it a part of your daily/weekly routine even when you’re busy or else you lose that momentum of generating new clients.
Robert
August 23rd, 2010 at 6:40 pmI agree, the best source for me has been referrals, and I’m going to add an out of the box suggestion. I’ve set up a workflow that I have my assistant (outsourced VA for $3-5 an hour) to troll through several cities worth of craigslist for jobs that hit certain trigger words I set up the assistant to post applications for…the things I know I can do well and earn paychecks with…I end up sending out hundreds of e-mails for $50 and several quality leads… great time saver and offloads the whole other “job” of find a job
Kayla
August 23rd, 2010 at 7:27 pmVery nice post and set of resources! Checking out many of them right now. I know I need to pay more attention to keeping past clients coming back, but half the time I feel strange asking for or hinting at more work. If I could get more comfortable with that though, I think I could have a much steadier stream of clients. Thanks for the great tips again!
Laura Spencer
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:30 pmThanks everyone!
Referrals are a great way to find new clients (and one of my top methods as well). In the next few days we’ll offer a few more tips for finding new projects.
Libelcom
August 25th, 2010 at 8:38 amWow, great and useful post. Thank you for sharing!
Dolrich Fortich
August 25th, 2010 at 9:01 amWow, great post. Just finished reading the first three.
Richard
August 31st, 2010 at 4:01 amVery useful collection – thanks!
ParionsWeb
May 7th, 2011 at 6:40 pmJe me fais toujours un plaisir de vous découvrir et je pense que ce billet est très utile. Merci encore !
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