The freelancing industry is a massive one, with millions of opportunities coming and going for its participants nearly every day. Those who have been engaged in this field for long know fully well that you need to keep yourself in the eye of the public all the time. You should always be on the visibility ground if you wish to establish permanency and regular flow of income.
The competition is growing as we speak—and with competition, you can expect the clients to expect more out of you. You might have a brilliant portfolio comprising hundreds of projects to your name, certified certificates and verified testimonials on dozens of websites; however, all of this can be of little use if the client is not adequately appraised of them.
A website will offer you as well as the world a view of what you have in store for the freelance industry. In fact, the overall presentation of the website will also influence the decision of clients who might want to work with you. Thus, you should get a good, well-organized website incorporating everything essential to expose yourself to the world.
The aforementioned discussion quite precisely discusses the value of having a website, but we know many of our readers might want to know more about the benefits of the same. So, read along, as we write down 10 reasons why every freelancer should consider owning a website for his business
1. A Touch Of Professionalism Inspires Confidence
The perks of freelancing are many; so are the cons. While we are aware of the profitability of the industry, we cannot be ignorant of the lurking risks including illegitimate projects, underpaid freelancers, and runaway clients. Therefore, it becomes all the more necessary to establish confidence in this industry.
Having a website will give your profile a much-needed professional touch and make your business sound legitimate to the viewers. This will be especially helpful in case you are a fresh recruit in the industry.
By simply owning a website, you can influence the decision of hundreds of people without many efforts.
2. Reflective Of Expertise
A website offers a platform to showcase yourself as an expert in the field of practice. On your website, you will be in the position to exercise absolute freedom and able to determine the organization of various aspects of your profile. It is recommended that you first showcase your expertise in selected areas because nobody trusts a jack of all trades.
The organization of the website is an important factor that may go on to determine whether you will get a project. So, you must have a plan before you start with the website—if not, take assistance from an expert to help you systematically organize your stuff in a manner which creatively shows your expertise in your area of interest.
Do not forget important headlines on your websites such as testimonials, work samples, skills, experience, and past experience.
3. Receptive To Queries
Communication channels must be present and functional on your website.
Freelancers usually apply for jobs on various freelance websites, but the profiles are not as adequately showcased as they would be on a website. To know more about you, clients would want to talk more with you and during the course of communication, they will understand you better.
Having a website will allow clients to contact you in an environment you created and are comfortable in. The immediacy in response offered through a website will be key in determining whether you will be a receptive freelancer.
Moreover, all queries will be assembled on one platform rather on several freelance websites which create a lot of confusion and kill time.
4. Testimonials
Many freelance websites offer the option of testimonials, but the liberty is not as great as one would have on a website.
Your website will be just about you, and this will draw the attention of the viewer completely. It is a much better option because we can collect and post all the testimonials we have ever received on various freelance platforms on a single platform.
5. Setting Oneself Apart
The whole idea of beating the competition is to stand out from the crowd. You will draw attention only when you have a package of skills and other giveaways quite distinct from what others are offering. One such giveaway could be a website.
There are millions of freelancers out there and not many of them appreciate the value of owning a website. They might be working rigorously and earning huge, but they are without any identity in the freelance community. However, a website will keep in the arena all the time.
Clients will certainly take note of the fact that you own a website and that you are quite serious about your endeavors. Thus, they will be naturally inclined to hire you over those who do not have a website.
One important note: Having a website is great, but if the presentation of the website is stale and without impact, nothing good will really come to you. So, to set yourself apart from the world, do not to be casual about maintaining a website.
6. Open To The Entire Virtual Community
More than two-thirds of the freelancing population rely on the freelancing platforms out there, and many of them are not accessible to those clients who do not engage in these platforms.
If you own a website, you will offer an unrestricted access to everyone on the Internet. Thus, even if a person is not a member of the mainstream freelance platforms, but is willing to hire freelancers, your website could be a route for him to find one of them.
A website will have a universal appeal, and it is this appeal that will win you projects and get you lots of money!
7. Publicity
Blog writing is considered to be one of the most successful ways of promoting one’s skills. You can upload blogs on your website on a regular basis and cover a variety of topics. You might discuss the programmes you have done, or give some tips to the readers as to how to go about freelancing.
The idea is to establish a communication channel between you and the public. If you manage to amass decent reputation among members of general public, clients will be more convinced about your abilities. Moreover, your blog writing skills might even get you writing projects in case you are a content writer.
8. Letting The Business Grow
One of the best benefits of having a website is that you can find various other sources of income. As the viewership of your website grows, you can earn money by promoting, advertising, launching social media campaigns and what not. You will be able to increase traffic on your website which will inevitably bring you more work and reputation.
One rider though: In order to attain such feats, you will have to first work religiously on your website. You must have a foundational traffic to indulge in these activities.
Promote your website on all social media platforms and let the traffic build up. If you are not sure what more you can do, you can seek help from social media experts.
9. Luxury Of Freedom
As noted earlier, a website will offer you a much-needed freedom to tailor your profile. You can write as much as you want about your skills and achievements without any restrictions such as the number of words we usually find on freelance platforms.
If you are engaged in multiple fields of freelancing, for example, graphic designing and content writing, then you can create separate profiles for these two on the website. The traffic will be organized and divided according to its requirement, and people will save a lot of time.
