3 Tips For Developing a Killer Website as a Freelancer

3 Tips For Developing a Killer Website as a Freelancer There’s a lot that goes into making a success of yourself as a freelancer. You’ve got to develop a good collection of professional contacts who can confirm your credentials, you need to be devastatingly good at time-management, so as to avoid the crisis that all too often strikes new freelancers â€" the realisation that no one is going to check up on them, and the subsequent lapse into mass procrastination â€" and more. One thing that all expert freelancers will agree on, however, is that having a good website â€" a killer website, in fact â€" is critical in playing the game the right way, winning clients, and being taken seriously in whatever field you plan to work in. After all, in the digital age, a website is kind of like a store-front, a billboard, and a recommendation, all built into one. Here are some tips for developing a killer website as a freelancer. Don’t be afraid of spending money where necessary As a freelancer, you should certainly be wary of the idea that throwing money at a problem will make it go away. You do, inevitably, have to put in a certain amount of hard work in order to secure success. That being said, there are areas of your professional life where you simply do need to spend money “in order to make money”, and where trying to be too frugal can really do you harm. One of these areas is your website, and web presence, generally. It may be a good investment for you to buy network monitoring software, but it’s certainly essential that you hire a professional website designer if you, yourself, aren’t able to create a polished and professional site. Be ruthlessly honest with yourself here. An amateurish looking website can do your professional image a world of harm. Convey your message with clarity and a good narrative A website is, fundamentally, a platform for communicating directly with your target audience. It’s the first impression you make, and the chance you get to pitch them your services before they wander off to another corner of the internet. For these reasonings, crafting the right narrative on your site is essential. You need to distil your message, and put it out there, in a way that is directly appealing and enticing to your prospects. Think about what your target market wants and needs, and position yourself as the person who understands their struggle, and has the right solution at hand. Include professional photos, testimonials, and links from clients Testimonials are one of the most powerful marketing tools you have at your disposal, so you’d better begin accumulating them as early as possible, even if that means doing a free project for a client in exchange for a sample piece for your portfolio, and a testimonial from them. A good testimonial pre-qualifies you to all your other prospective clients, and helps to build confidence in you. But don’t even dream of faking testimonials, or of doing what some people do, and using text-only testimonials on your site attributed to people like “Bob”. Your testimonials need to include pictures of the people who gave them, along with their job descriptions, and links to their company websites.