Many job boards have responded to feedback to improve freelancer experience. Elance.com has just done a refresh on the user experience for their site. (Ed Note: FreelanceSwitch is in the process of updating its very own job board!) If you are in between projects, doing a bit of moonlighting, or looking at becoming a freelancer, here are a few tips to help you be successful in your next bid.

Assuming you’ve already created an account on a job board and chosen your appropriate field of expertise:

Find a Good Project

• Search for the project in your desired field.  Most job boards are broken down into categories. For example, at the time of this writing, there are dozens of jobs in the Design category on FreelanceSwitch.
• Keep an eye on the budget–know what size job you’re looking for.
• Check newest jobs first, which may have received fewer proposals. Alternately, on other sites you can choose to show only “Featured” jobs.  These folks paid extra to have their project listed, so they are probably not just fishing for bids. They are showing a financial commitment to the project, and this should work well for you.
• Check if they mention how they will handle compensation. Do they offer a down payment? Is there an escrow service?

Find a Good Buyer

• Now that you’ve got a decent list of projects, take a look at the buyers.  Many sites will offer community profiles (like FreelanceSwitch) or buyer ratings (Elance, etc). Some sites offer a lot of details. A good buyer is usually someone with a good buying ratio (12 projects posted, 10 awarded), and with a bit of math you should be able to determine what the average price they’ve paid per project (10 awarded, total purchased $2400 = average of $240 per project).  I’m not suggesting that you stay away from the people with no projects awarded, as potential great clients might be just starting out.  If a buyer has lots of projects, but very few awarded, they might choose to pay the provider outside of the job board’s escrow service.  This is a violation of some site’s Terms of Service – so be careful if you choose this route.
• When I find an interesting project or buyer, I will usually go and take a look at his/her previous jobs or comments on the forums.  If they ranked previous providers well, paid a reasonable amount for the work, and got positive feedback from the freelancer, I will usually put together a bid.  If there is enough information, I will Google the buyer to see if I can find additional info about them or their company.

Make a good bid

• Your bid is going to show your prospective client what it will be like to work with you.  Create a professional bid that showcases your skills, but most importantly, demonstrates that you clearly understand exactly what this client is looking for.  Answer the questions that the client asks in the project details.  Show them that you understand what this project needs, and you are the best person (or team) for this job.
• Include any examples of your previous projects that directly relate to this project.
• Brag about your achievements, your education, and anything that makes you  unique (well – keep it relevant to the project)
• Bidding is a tricky process.  You want to get the most payment possible, and your client wants the most quality – for the lowest price.  On some job sites, you can see how many people have bid on each project.  You can see the highest and lowest amount bid, as well as the average of all the bids.  Pick an amount that you can live with. Unfortunately, many sites are known for poor compensation.  I usually bid 75% of what I would normally charge.  75% of something is better than 100% of nothing, but do not work for free, or rock bottom prices.  There is an opportunity cost to factor in.  If you keep yourself busy working for pennies, you won’t have any time to do the bigger dollar projects when they come along.  I think of job boards as a supplement – not my full diet.

Keep in Contact

• The bidding process doesn’t end when you click on the “submit” button.  Keep in contact with the buyer.  Don’t harass them, but use site messaging options to share your thoughts or ideas with the client.  Show them that you are interested in the project.
• If you don’t get the job, see if your bid was higher or lower than the winning bid.  Sometimes you can ask the buyer what the deciding factor was; more often than not they are more than willing to share this with you.  And this is great information to have for future bids.
• When you do win the project, be clear on the terms.  This is an opportunity to show that you are a professional.  State specifically what you will provide, when you will provide it, and how much and when you expect to be compensated.  Review the terms before you accept them.

Some job boards include badges that you can add to your site to show your prowess. As you start winning more bids, use them to your advantage.

Hopefully some of these tips will help you get started freelancing, or help add a few dollars to your monthly billings.  There are quite a few great clients out there, and many of these relationships could grow into profitable ventures for you.

Good luck!

Why would a freelancer want to establish herself as a thought leader in her industry or client niche? Well even for the most bashful of us, the day often (and quickly!) arrives when pushing hours for dollars or pounds just doesn’t quite cut it anymore.

I’m not saying everyone will be interested in this path. But if you are, then this article may just become your road map!.Ask yourself:

What if you had an additional option for making money that steadily grew over time, reinforced your freelancing efforts, landed you more clients, and required less and less of your time?

Yeah, it sounded good to me too. That’s why my client projects now take up less than 50% of my time and I focus the rest of my efforts on my own business, which includes establishing myself as a thought leader in my two primary industries: freelancing and women’s empowerment.

This dual focus has given me the success and financial freedom to travel this past year full-time and without paid work. Here’s how I did it and how you can too.

The Freelancer’s Path to Financial Freedom Via Thought Leadership

The following process will help you build a website that you can eventually make money with, either through sponsors or advertisers, or by partnering with fellow experts who have products or services they’d like to offer to your audience. (You can of course offer your own products, as well as your freelancing services, but for the purpose of this article I’ll assume you want to do as little as possible and you want to do the work ONCE and get paid for that work repeatedly, month after month.)

The key to selling sponsorship or even partnership opportunities is to build three assets: your reputation in the market, your monthly or daily unique visitor count, and your email list (and their responsiveness to you).

WARNING: Don’t expect a shiny red button here that you can push and get pummeled with cash! I’m sorry to say it but we both know it doesn’t work that way. However I’ve provided you here a steady, tried-and-true business strategy to help any freelancer establish herself as a thought leader and strategically build a platform that generates money even when she isn’t specifically working on the business.

Step One: Know What You Stand For and What You Offer

Before you can establish yourself as a leader, you kinda gotta figure out what you’re leading, right? Right.

So if you’re a graphics designer, what is your stance on design? Do you have a particular client niche you’re passionate about or deeply understand? The more focused you get (and you can extend to more than one niche over time) the better. Also consider what makes you unique in the services you provide or how you provide them. For example copywriters and marketers are a dime a dozen (and most far cheaper than I am), but I established myself as one of the only people who specialize in multi-million dollar copywriting and launch management for bestselling authors and speakers in the self-help, wealth, spirituality and female empowerment niches.

Now that is almost painfully specific. Yet it makes it easy for me to market myself, to become a leader in a niche service that nearly no one else provides, and my clients know that my skill set is designed specifically to meet their needs. This type of branding makes selling almost unnecessary. I rarely if ever have to ask for the sale.

Step Two: Create a Content Website You’d Be Proud to Slap Your Name On

First of all, it goes without saying: create a website you can be proud of. If you’re not a graphics designer or you want to save time, you can get some fantastic WordPress templates for free or next to nothing that do the trick beautifully and in five seconds flat. Also make sure the content is worth reading. We’re building a brand here and providing value, not attempting to get rich quick.

That aside, let’s say that your ideal client works in the pet niche. You love dogs, they love dogs. It’s more fun for you to focus on projects with fur and fluff all over them!

Well isn’t it likely that your ideal client surfs the net for the latest lovable canine content, interacts with fellow pet-lovers on the social networks, and just might be interested in working with a freelancer who is also considered the leading authority on pet owners, their four-legged friends, and how best to market to them (the owners, not their pets)?

When you establish yourself as a niche authority on, as an example, design elements dog owners are shown to respond to, and you start teaching those in the dog industry how to better market themselves and position their website design elements, you’re dominating a market in one fell swoop because no one else thought of it and to your surprise a lot of people appreciate your specialized knowledge.

This is what I did with launch copywriting and personality-based branding, and what I’m about to do with my unique brand of women’s empowerment that I’m about to launch.

Here’s the key though: once you build your content site, it’s how you structure and market it that will catapult you to the head of the class, or stamp you as an “epic fail.” Read on young grasshopper, read on.

Step Three: Step Into Rush Hour Traffic

Yeah, sure you can build it . . . but nope, sorry — they won’t come! Unless search optimization is your specialty you’re going to have to meet your future fans half way. There are two ways to do this, but first let me explain a nuance of thought leadership for freelancers: you can be seen as a thought leader by your target audience (other businesses or professionals in most cases), or — far more profitable — you can become a thought leader for your client’s target audience (individuals passionate about dogs and furry friends, for example).

I prefer the latter as this gives you a wider variety of content you can discuss on your website and when it comes to partnering with someone whose product you can sell, or with advertisers, 80% of them are going to want access to individual consumers, not businesses. Plus, when prospects see that you’re an authority to their target market, they will practically stampede each other on the way to your door.

On how to drive traffic to your new epic website:

If you’re a writer or enjoy writing: Secure yourself a gig writing articles for popular blogs and websites that cater to your target audience (such as pet or dog lovers in the above example). Make sure that you can include an “Author’s Box” at the end of your articles where you introduce yourself and mention your website (more on this further down).

HOT TIP: Do not link to your website’s home page. Instead, write a call to action that inspires the reader to click immediately to receive some free giveaway, and then link that call to action phrase to a page inviting your visitor to grab that freebie. They give you their email address and you send it their way. See my author summary at the bottom of this article for an example.

If you don’t want to write: Approach experts in your field who are good, engaging writers and ask them to write the content both for your website and for offsite columns. You can trade exposure for their content or, if you’re a handy salesman, sell them a marketing package where by providing you site content and offsite articles, you’ll get them massive exposure.

You’d be surprised how many people don’t know how to secure their own writing gigs or simply don’t have the stomach to try. What’s easy for you may be terrifying for someone else. So don’t discount the value of what you’d be doing when you create a content site, drive traffic to it, and catapult not just yourself but fellow experts into the limelight!

HOT TIP: In this case, get a one sentence bio from each expert. The Author Box would then include their once sentence bio, and the fact that they are a featured authority on the leading pet lover’s site (insert your brand here), and then give your call to action for your related free giveaway that drives them back to your website. Both of you gain exposure!

Other Ways to Step Into Rush Hour Traffic Online:

• Get on Press Notification Lists like ReporterConnection where you’ll be notified daily of publications, press and authors who need to interview experts like yourself
• Mention articles and blog posts from other leaders in the industry and give your perspective/opinion. Your link back to their site often shows up in their comments and drives traffic your way.
• Here’s a tip I got from Tim Ferriss recently: Try to write for B-level blogs and websites (in terms of traffic), meaning they might not get as much traffic but they’re usually run by one or a few writers who post once a day or less, vs. posting 10 articles each day on loosely related topics. This helps you NOT get lost in the noise and will usually translate into more traffic back to your site than being featured on the larger A-level sites.
• In addition, consider offering your expertise to bloggers in your niche as an expert they can interview (for blogs run by a single author that does not accept guest articles).
• Track news, current events and hot topics in your niche that you can post about quickly. You’ll get fast rankings in news engines because it’s a hot, recent topic and the new influx of interest will be funneled your way.
• Social media of course – but that’s a whole other conversation!
• Consider video blogging and short video clips you can blast on the dozens of video sites out there. You can use TubeMogul to easily place your video on the major (and some niche) networks. Video gets ranked quite quickly and consumed more readily by our increasingly ADD culture.

Step Four: Funnel Everyone Into Your List

Remember that freebie I mentioned above? You want to funnel all your traffic into an opt-in landing page (where the visitor gives his email address for something you’re offering) so that you capture most of the visitors who come to your site. This way you can build a solid relationship with them over time, plus you’ll have a powerful asset to leverage when selling advertising on the site later… or when negotiating partnership deals.

Here’s how to create a landing page. This is the formula I use for myself and my clients and I see an average opt-in conversion of 65%.

You’ll also want an opt in form on your site’s main page for any casual visitors.

Eventually you’ll want to market your own offers or partner offers to your list. But in the beginning you may not have anything to offer. Plus the point is to build a solid relationship with them. So right now, just notify them when you post anything new to the blog. If you’re posting every day, maybe just send an email once or twice a week mentioning the strongest article along with a secondary list of the other articles posted that week.

This will keep people engaged with your site and if you incorporate any referral mechanisms like a “tell a friend” script, you’ll grow your list and site visitors this way as well.

Step Five: Treat This Site as a Client and Build Over Time

If there’s one thing I’ve learned managing multimillion dollar launches, it’s that the epic money is never made in the big, glossy launch. Much of that money goes to the massive technology resources to pull off the influx of traffic, to experts like myself who make the magic happen behind the scenes, and to the promotional partners who spread the word and mail the offer to their lists.

So why do people still do these big launches when they only take home maybe 20% of the earnings? Because it builds them an email list, a presence, and a brand. They know however that the real money is made over the long term as they monetize those new assets.

You don’t need to carry off a big launch (though you can and I’ll share how in another article) to win the long-term game. Just remember that it’s a long-term game you’re playing and put a bit of effort into it every day. Schedule it in like you schedule in a client. Once the site is created and the initial work done as outlined above, your daily tasks are simple:

• Create new content for the site (or manage your experts who provide content)
• Create new offsite content to drive traffic back
• Monitor press opportunities and respond quickly to applicable ones
• Develop and maintain a social marketing strategy
• Attend major industry events or network online so that you can forge relationships with potential partners, experts, and advertisers
• Email your list once or more per week (the more you mail, the more they buy, but until you’re ready to sell them something, I recommend two to three times per week).

And that’s it!

It sounds like a handful, and it is. But I’ll be straight with you: as freelancers we spend our time building empires for others. Consider it an exercise in self-love to point some of your effort your own way and build something lasting for yourself that you can count on in a bind.

Good luck!

On-Going Clients

Luckily there is. It’s called ongoing clients. By this, I mean that you get several projects from one client. Clients like this are usually marketing or advertising agencies and farm out work to contractors, but they can include creative agencies that help you get jobs directly from companies. Ongoing work can also be in the form of a part-time job, work you complete on a regular basis.

Are you still a freelancer if you work regularly for a client or work part-time, but not on a full-time basis? That’s up to you, but as someone who has several clients that provide continuous work, I can tell you that using this model makes things much more financially comfortable. And because money does matter (especially if you need to make a living off what you do) it’s only practical to consider this type of work. Add it to your roster of one-time clients and you’ve got yourself a budding business.

I’m always alarmed when I hear people that don’t think this makes you a “freelancer.” Actually, I find many people are caught up in the title—and are so picky about not taking anything that resembles their old 9-to-5 gig—that they forget about earning a viable living and making a name for themselves. No matter how you get there, being practical is imperative, especially if you’re just starting out.

Here’s the kicker: there’s nothing wrong with taking this approach. In fact, this is a great way to build up your business and keep food on the table so your freelance lifestyle has a chance at actually being glamorous.

Building Relationships

Another reason why I have ongoing clients? It helps you build relationships. You may get referrals from a one-time gig, but you don’t get to really cultivate working partnerships the way you do when you work with someone regularly. Without this, you don’t prove that you can retain clients. Plus, once you work with an agency, you’re likely to get work from larger, more well-known clients, which can do wonders for your portfolio. Sometimes just being able to be affiliated with these businesses makes you look better. Also, you know what to expect from a continuing client—you learn to work well together and in many cases, that familiarity is kind of nice.

Here’s a good example: I work for one publishing industry client on a fill-in basis when their other editors are out of the office. It requires some early-morning shifts every few months, which you likely hear me grumbling about on Twitter. Lots of people may not consider this part of my freelance work, but let me tell you: it’s nice to have money you can count on. Even if I’m swamped and these “shifts” come up, I take them because I’m not in the habit of turning down good work. I’ve networked with the team and that’s also helped me to build alliances and socialize more.

A few people I know say that they would never take a “job” and prefer to “only freelance,” but I say that even something like a regular job is part of my freelancing. Not every gig is perfect, even the one-timers. Not all projects let you work on your own terms, or your own time. By turning down those that don’t fit your mold, you can be hampering your business and earning bad reputation.

For me, my occasional morning job is just another project I have—this client sometimes makes me set an alarm clock but I can deal with that because they are giving me money and letting me work at home doing something I like. Win-win.

Consider Agency Work

Agencies can encompass employment agencies, which assign you to companies that need jobs filled (The Creative Group is a good example). Or you can work for marketing/design/ad agencies that make you more of a part of their contractor team. I’ve worked with both and tend to work for smaller marketing and advertising agencies. These are a great source of projects, and can offer part-time jobs, too.

Call them what you will—so long as you’re living the lifestyle you want, does it really matter if you’re not out nagging and pushing for every client? Nope. Where’s the glamour in that? For me, the draw to doing what I want is being able to work mostly from home. Your values may be different.

So, by all means, continue to market your services—after all, you didn’t start freelancing to work solely for one client. Take on those fun projects you love, even if you never hear from those clients after they pay up. But don’t rule out the kinds of jobs that still afford you the freelance lifestyle—and help you afford it, too.