Probably the most frequently asked question I get asked from other freelancers – especially those just starting out – is: how do you find clients?
There are two aspects to this:
Getting your name in front of potential clients: You can’t win work unless potential clients know who you are and what you do.
Persuading a potential client to hire you: Once a potential client knows who you are, you have to persuade them to hire you.
There is some overlap between these two tasks, and some methods can achieve both. For example, a website can get your name out through appearing in search results, but also contain content to persuade clients to hire you.
Website and search engines
The vast majority of my business comes from my website, which people find through search engines (Google in most cases). The things I’ve found helped are:
Domain name with keywords: My domain describes what I am (phpdeveloper).
Country-specific domain: As I work with UK clients, having a .uk domain helps search engines include me in searches from UK users.
Technical blog posts: These help me appear in search results. Also, as I discussed in Why I write my own content, being able to demonstrate that I can clearly explain technical solutions – as well as coming up with the solution in the first place – is helpful for convincing potential clients to hire me.
There’s also no substitute for time – because my site has been around for over 15 years it’s generated inward links, and search engines have worked out that the content is relevant to PHP developers and people looking to hire them.
I also get a lot of traffic from people who have no intention of hiring me, such as other PHP developers who have the same problem that I’ve posted a solution for. As a result, my visitor to paid client conversion rate is less than 0.1%.
I even get occasional traffic from ChatGPT, although I have yet to find paid work via that route. However, if you ask it about me it does currently say some nice things – albeit largely cribbed from the biased source that is my website.
Referrals
Referrals are where someone else is asked if they know someone who can fix their problem, and the person being asked recommends you. How you get referrals varies, but I have found the following work:
- Giving talks at technical user groups and conferences.
- Being active (but not too self-promotional) on social media – particularly Mastodon and to a lesser extent LinkedIn.
- Organising user groups and conferences – I was involved in the UK Unix Users’ Group for many years, including 6 years on council and 4 years as chair.
- Referring people who contact me to other freelancers and SMEs (referrals ideally work both ways).
I’ve found referrals to have a binary outcome – I either get a lot of work or no work, but never a one-off small project. Also, I receive a lot of referrals for work I can’t help with – usually this is when someone who is non-technical refers me thinking that I can solve any computer-related problem. It’s nice that they have such faith in me, but I can’t live up to that expectation! Also, no developer is an expert in every area of their field, and for that reason I tend to turn down (or pass on to another freelancer) referrals for certain things such as custom WordPress plugins.
A lot of people dislike LinkedIn, and I can understand why. It’s largely full of people aggressively selling, talking utter rubbish about the latest fad (e.g. AI) or oversharing details of their personal life. There are also too many recruiters messaging developers in desperation so they can get their commission on a placement. However, it is the first place some people search to find developers (and other freelancers), so I think it is worthwhile having a basic free profile.
I often describe LinkedIn as a bit like a lottery ticket – a lot of people are timewasters but occasionally you get a big payoff. One of my largest and longest-running projects came through LinkedIn. It has also been useful for getting my name out there and building up a network of connections that may come in handy if I ever want to go back to being an employee.
I also think LinkedIn is good if you’re in certain industries (I know copywriters who do well from being on there), or if you’re a contractor (i.e. doing a fixed term full time at a single client).
I don’t have a premium account but I occasionally look at the requests list – usually they are unrealistic in timescale or budget (or both!). I’m not convinced it is worth the amount LinkedIn charge – especially when it’s really difficult to find out the monthly price when they’re pushing the free trial and annual pricing.
Sales and networking events
These are events which are setup specifically for sales and networking, as opposed to something like a technical conference where you might end up networking but the main draw should be the talks on offer. These don’t work for me. Often they meet at some ridiculously early time in the morning (I’m a morning person, but not a ‘get up at 6am’ person) and at a venue that isn’t accessible on public transport (e.g. a hotel just off a motorway junction).
I also think that some of these events end up operating like pyramid schemes – the people at the top charge for the name, branding etc. and then try and get local leaders to sign people up in their area.
However, I think they can work if you:
- Sell business to consumer, rather than business to business
- Sell a repeat purchase good or service
- Sell a commodity product
- Are prepared to go to every event – some groups will kick you out if you miss too many or don’t send a substitute
- Have a car and are prepared to get up early
As I sell business to business and my service is bespoke to each client, I’m less likely to benefit. That’s not to say I would never attend a sales and networking event, but I don’t see them as being a direct source of business.
Sponsoring events
I have sponsored a few tech events over the years, most frequently Barcamp Manchester. I don’t think I’ve ever got any business directly from sponsoring events, and it’s difficult to monitor the indirect effects such as getting my name out there to people who might hire me a few years down the line. I’m also terrible at selling myself and haven’t made full use of a stand when sponsoring – though my logo was on the Barcamp Manchester t-shirts. However, if you’re prepared to put in the time to make it work I think it can be a good source of business.
Job boards and platforms
There are plenty of platforms out there offering to link freelancers with projects and clients. However, most of them have the major problem that they are effectively price comparison sites, which means there’s a focus on the headline price rather than the value and quality on offer. This results in them attracting price-sensitive clients and cheap developers, which isn’t a pool I want to fish in.
The other major disadvantage of platforms is that they are often international in scope, so you end up having to filter out clients in other countries (I only work with UK clients for legal, tax and insurance reasons). You also have to compete with freelancers in countries with lower wages – I’ve had potential clients go to a platform instead of using me because the rates are less than 50% of what I charge.
Finally, the platforms of course take a cut for the service they provide, which can be up to 20%. That’s almost as much as I pay in tax on my earnings.
For the above reasons, I don’t use job platforms. If you live in a country with lower wages than average then they can be useful, and you might also consider them when you’re starting out and want to build a portfolio quickly.