If you’re a freelancer, you know there’s a lot of competition out there. Regardless of what field you’re in, it’s imperative that you separate yourself from the crowd. Let’s face it, a Fortune 500 company isn’t going to hire just anybody. Something about you needs to grab their attention.

Let’s put aside how you typically win business for a moment. If you met someone in the street and didn’t have a business card or a pen, would they be able to find you based on your name? If you Google yourself, what would you find?

More and more employers turn to the Internet to see what they can find on potential new hires. It usually starts out with Google and then moves over to Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. Why do hiring managers and HR personnel go to the net? It’s the easiest and fastest way to find information that normally won’t make a resume, which is a document that the person applying has full control over.

So how can you better brand yourself as a freelancer? Here’s what I recommend:

• Create a website. If possible, yours should be yourname.com. In many cases the domain will rank high in the search engines. Here you can showcase your resume, portfolio, case studies, testimonials and achievements.
• Build a blog. Preferably on your site. Write about your ideas, your experiences and your line of work. I’ll explain later how this content can be utilized for business purposes.
• Join social networks. Linkedin should be the first one you join. Place your resume on it and keep it current. Anyone you’ve done or do business with should be added to your profile. You can then expand your network. Sometimes it’s who you know that gets you more work or a job. Plus, people tend to look in their network to find a freelancer. You can also ask for recommendations for work you’ve done in the past.
• Build other profiles such as Twitter and Facebook and keep it professional. A common problem many people have is leaving these profiles public when they really shouldn’t. If you post pictures of a night out drinking on Facebook and your profile is public, anyone can see them.
• Try to use your real name or an understood variation for all social networking accounts. Using your real name in your profiles will help them to show up in the search engines, boosting your visibility. Most accounts can be linked to one another, furthering any one account’s reach.
• Socially bookmark the content you create on your blog. You can automatically have anything published on your blog sent to your Twitter and Facebook pages, especially if you use Wordpress. You can also bookmark your content to other networks like Stumbleupon and Digg for added exposure.
• Write articles about your area of expertise. You can submit your article to free article sites like ezinearticles. Use your real name so these articles rank for your name as well on the search engines. Try adding 1 unique article per site over a few sites each and every month. The more sites you hit with unique content, the more listings you’ll have under your name.
• Get involved publicly in your area of expertise. Request some guest posts or interviews from other bloggers in your field. You’re likely to get a reciprocating opportunity, furthering your exposure to their audience. Even if you don’t, most blogger will link to any off-blog o off-site endeavors they’re involved in, thereby still introducing their traffic to you.
• Try doing a podcast or video segments, which are usually free to post and cost little in the way of equipment to create. Share your knowledge by giving tips and advice.

Doing all of these things will help ensure that when someone searches for your name, they will find an array of information. More importantly, if you’re in marketing, it will help show that you’re good at what you do. As an added bonus, everything you do can be added to your resume and portfolio, making your credentials stand out from the rest of the field. It may seem like a lot of work, but if you do a little at a time and keep at it, your reputation will grow. When I started my podcast I had less then 100 listeners the first month. By then end of year two, I was receiving 10 – 12K in downloads each month.

Improve the “Linkability” of your Content
Having “static” web pages, e.g. brochure-style or storefront pages, are definitely useful for product information. But to optimize a site for social media, we need to increase the frequency and linkability of the content. My favorite method is to add a more-personal blog that shows your personality and thoughtfulness about a particular topic area. Other types of content, like white papers or aggregated selected links to related articles, are also quite useful for potential readers. Remember, the idea is to create something valuable beyond your core product offering to keep potential customers coming back.

Enable Easier Bookmarking and Sharing
Once a reader thinks your content is worth sharing, make the process as easy as possible for them! Adding website features like ReTweet and ShareThis buttons are a great way to allow your users to spread your content via their preferred channels. I also like to make sure each page has concise meta tag data (Title, Description, etc), because it will be easier for places like Facebook to import and show pertinent information about your link. As mentioned before, make sure your content is valuable and interesting because buttons-alone cannot get people to share your work.

Encourage Inbound Links
Inbound links from other blogs and websites are crucial to enhancing your search optimization and overall rankings. Listing trackbacks with each article or post will entice users to link to your site in the hopes that you will reciprocate a link. However, be aware of trackbacks from unrelated, spammy blogs or sites that are merely republishing your content without permission. For these reasons, I like to approve trackbacks manually before allowing them to enter the comments.

Help Your Content Travel
Building multiple channels of distribution for content can be a very effective way to gain exposure and attract links. Use Email newsletters, RSS subscribers, Facebook status updates, Twitter updates, content syndication, video syndication with YouTube, etc can all improve your social reach. With the number of possible channels on the web increasing, you need to make sure to stay current with popular services in the industry

Encourage Video Sharing
Online video is a growing medium, and in my opinion a rich and effective channel for entertaining, informing, or just getting a message across. If you have the resources to create compelling video content, please give it a shot. Since distribution is VERY inexpensive, especially with YouTube and embedding capabilities, you can potential receive a high return on your efforts. Encourage and embrace others who republish your videos.

Participate in Conversations
Let’s say you have a decent social presence – your Facebook page has fans, your blog is receiving comments, people are contacting you through your site. Take the time to connect one-to-one with these active readers, they’re often your best customers! Foster dialog in whatever public forums you have, but also think about dropping a quick email or note in private to create a more personalized relationship. Show your true passion for the topic at hand. You just might be connecting with a top influencer or champion of your service.

Get to Know Your Audience
As long as you understand your subject matter and that community’s interests, you’ll be able to set yourself for successful social media connections. Don’t stray too far from your niche, leverage the latest tools and industry trends, and try to stay focused on content that will drive interest in your expertise.

Thanks for taking a look at our thoughts! What tips for social media marketing and optimization would you add?

Online printing services like PSPrint.com are great for saving time and money, while maintaining quality. Their digital printing methods allow you to reduce both cost and waste with small-quantity orders. Also, those methods don’t involve as many steps as other printing processes or technologies, so less time is needed in producing your prints and the turnaround time is quicker.

Sure, you can say that many digital printers are using similar (if not the same) printing technologies. But the reason I chose PSPrint specifically, is actually the same reason why many freelancers can have lasting success. It’s due to their reputation for offering excellent and attentive customer service. In a world of comparable technologies, what better differentiator for success can a company have than to truly pay close attention to their customers’ needs?

I took a look at TaskCity, one of the newer platforms for matching professional freelancers with outsourced projects.  This free market for freelancers and employer services is focused squarely on the following categories of work:

• Web Development
• Software Development
• Networking & Information Systems
• Graphic Arts & Design

I didn’t really find any projects related to writing, marketing or administrative services, so please note that this platform is not suited to every type of freelancer at this point in time. From browsing the site, the greatest number of existing project listings appear to be technical in nature.

When you first use any project-matching service, it pays to describe your best professional and personal attributes in your profile. Promote your relevant education, training and experience, upload samples of your work, link to your portfolio, and even speak to your working style and personality. By perfecting your profile, you will increase your chances for winning your first project within the service. And once you do score that first job, each additional project will be easier to win, since you’ll have some new credibility via favorable ratings and referrals from project employers.

Once your profile is set, searching for projects on TaskCity is quite easy. From a usability point of view, the interface is clean and it provides good flexibility for searching on a number of important dimensions. Once you find an appealing project (there are over 1500 open projects at the time of writing), you can submit your bid and proposal. If all works out well, the employer will choose your services and pay through TaskCity’s escrow-like payment system. This payment method provides a level of credibility and trust to the system, and is crucial when matching people who probably have not met face-to-face or interacted previously.

There is no cost to register for TaskCity, and the only fees are related to actual transactions between buyer and seller. If you’re a technical freelancer looking for new avenues to find work, it couldn’t hurt to give this service a test run to try and win new business.

It’s no secret that the internet is a very saturated place. According to Archive.com, if you are planning to put some sort of content on the internet you have 85 billion competitors! Today’s internet users are nothing like the past, gone are days when the internet was used solely for informative purposes only. It should be no surprise to learn that today’s internet users want to be not only informed, but entertained as well.

So if you would like to learn a couple of outrageous marketing techniques that can keep you afloat while others are drowning, then read this article. But if your happy with the hopeless feeling you get when you check your web stats and don’t mind sinking to the bottom of the internet ocean, then why don’t you go ahead and click the red x button in the top right corner.

1. Content

This is by far the most important aspect of getting traffic to your site, I know I know I said outrageous but before you call me a lair let me explain myself. Writing great content is marketing on its own, imagine someone accidentally stumbles on to your site and instantly like whats on it, then its referred to someone else and it starts a chain, then this people often comeback to see if you’ve posted anything to inform and entertain them again. That’s outrageous!! Remember the average internet user has no patience, so always try and keep it has short and interesting as possible

2. Ethical Mind Control

Here you simply create a top list or award in your niche, you can allocate a page for this or simply make a blog post on it. I’ve noticed that most people who write content are often focused on themselves, by focusing on your competitors you are appealing to their egos and insecurities, which they will perceive subconsciously and in return, they will link back to you in some form.

3. Start Page Programs Or Traffic Exchange

This is a technique that even experienced online marketers have forgotten about, these are free programs that will allow you to advertise your site to other members, all you have to do is view other members site. Simple enough and more outrageously its free advertisement!!

4. Killer Headline

Have you been to the grocery store lately? precisely the checkout aisle, well somewhere in between the colorful array of packets of gum and the chapstick you’ll find the tabloids.You cant miss it, glossy finish and outrageous headlines, if I could get all the money I spent on these while waiting impatienly to pay for my groceries; you probably wont be reading this. I spend a fortune on those you know why? Cause the headline gets you and you want to read the juicy details. Your headline should create the same curiosity, force your readers to read the rest of the story.

5. SEO

Search Engine Optimization, well I dont know to much about this to be honest, but the key thing you should know is always tag keywords and have a decent URL and maybe someday you’ll be recoginsed by google. Outrageous right?

The information contained in this article does not guarantee your success, it is purely a guidline to help you with your online success. Ultmately, it is you who will decide if your are to become successful or not, so don’t come knocking at my door when you end up back at your 9 to 5.

• Web and Programming - PHP, SQL, .NET, HTML, Java, C, MySQL, CSS, ASP, Flash, Javascript, ASP.NET, AJAX, SQL Server, XML, Windows, SEO, XHTML, Linux, Joomla!, Web Services, WordPress, VB.NET, JSP, Perl, J2EE, Visual Basic, Unix, Drupal, PayPal, Apache, Adobe Flash, DHTML, Flex, Social Networking, osCommerce, Facebook
• Design and Multimedia - Graphic Design, Photoshop, Illustrator, Logo Design, Animation, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Director, 3d, Photography, Custom Illustration, Video Production, After Effects, Cover Design, Video Editing, Art Direction, Music, Premiere, Digital Photography, Cartoon, 3ds Max, Audio Editing, Final Cut, Microsoft Office PowerPoint, Creative Suite, Fashion Design, Coreldraw, Maya, Voice Over, Fireworks, Freehand, Voice Talent, Microsoft Office Publisher, Landscape Design
• Writing and Translation - English, Editing, Article Writing, Business Writing, Creative Writing, Content Writing, Proofreading, Blogs, Fiction Writing, Technical Writing, Online Writing, Web Content, Grammar, Report Writing, Sales Writing, Copywriting, Microsoft Office Word, Spelling, Newsletters, Press Release, Academic Writing, Letter Writing, Travel Writing, Non-Fiction Writing, Ebooks, Proposal Writing, Feature Writing, Medical Writing, Ghostwriting, Children’s Writing, Financial Writing, Spanish, Spanish Translation, Resume Writing, Journalistic Writing
• Freelance Tools and Software - Time Tracking, Client Management, Invoicing, Billing, Project Management, Collaboration
• Sales and Marketing - Sales, Market Research, Advertising, SEO, Marketing Strategy, Internet Marketing, Email Marketing, Direct Marketing, Branding, Public Relations, Lead Generation, Freelance Marketing, Event Planning, SEM, Telemarketing, Google Adwords, Google Analytics, Public Speaking, Google Webmaster Central
• Admin Support - Office Admin, Data Entry, Word, Admin Assistant, Computer, Research, Customer Support, Time Management, Word Processing, Typing, Transcription, General Office Skills, Microsoft Office Outlook, Telephone Etiquette, Travel Planning, Email Handling, Medical Transcription, Medical Billing, Telephone Handling, Event Planner, Helpdesk, Wordperfect
• Finance and Management - Management, Accounting, Financial Management, Project Management, Bookkeeping, Business Plans, Business Analysis, Financial Analysis, Financial Reporting, QuickBooks, Financial Statements, Payroll, Accounts Receivable, Tax Preparation, Accounts Payable, Financial Forecasting, Strategic Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting, Investment Research, Inventory Management, Corporate Strategy, Peachtree, Job Costing, Statistics, Quicken, Organizational Behavior, Business Mathematics, Lacerte
• Legal - Contracts, Legal Research, Contract Law, Licensing, Litigation, Corporate Law, Legal Consulting, Paralegal, Negotiation, Intellectual Property, Real Estate Law, Trademark, International Law, Employment Law, Patent Law, Copyright, Family Law, Insurance, Medical Law, Legal Transcription, Bankruptcy, Trade Law, Tax Law, Records Management, Immigration Law, Environment, Benefits Law, Compensation, Trusts Estates Wills, Product Liability, Consumer Protection, Privacy & Security, Antitrust, Commercial Lending, Creative & Talent
• Engineering and Manufacturing - Manufacturing Design, Mechanical Engineer, Industrial Engineer, Industrial Design, Architecture, 3d Modelling, Computer Engineer, Electronics, Electrical Engineer, SolidWorks, Material Engineer, Digital, Interior Design, Civil Engineer, Pro-E, Structural Analysis, Sketchup, Wireless, Chemical Engineer, ANSYS, Operations Research, Autodesk Inventor, ArchiCAD, COSMOS, OrCAD, Integrated Circuit, ISO9001, Rhino CAD, CAD/AutoCAD, Scientific Computation, Altium Designer, Electrical Engineering, MathCAD, AEC

First thing’s first…
There’s no point in the world trying to make an effort to grow awareness of your services in your locality without you offering damn good work so success in getting more clients at its core lies with your own abilities in whatever you’re freelancing in. If you’re a freelance designer, you need to be one of the best around, or you could choose to specialize in a certain field which also puts you at an advantage when a client comes looking for someone to work on a project within the scope of that field. That’s why I say, and I’ll keep on saying, practice, practice, practice!

Start slowly
When you’ve decided that your skills are now good enough for you to attractive some good exposure through viral “word-of-mouth” marketing, then you take the next step. Start telling your friends, family, work colleagues and acquaintances about what you do without making them feel akward. Go about it in a non-obtrusive way so that they don’t feel you’re just pitching to them; just bring it up in conversation somehow by linking it to a topic of discussion. This way it’ll be within the person’s mind that you offer such a service and therefore they will have the ability to passively tell other’s about it in everyday talk.

Do something unique
Once you have your surroundings (in terms of people) acknowledging what you do, it’s time to take a much bigger (and very important) step. This step involves doing some very unique and “attention-grabbing” (no, I don’t mean go into the middle of town dressed as a clown juggling pins). What I mean by do something “attention-grabbing” is do something that can potentially catch the eye of the local media. For example, I know a freelance artist who got permission from local authorities to do some art work using spray-paints on a wall of a building on a busy highstreet. Not only did he do one, he did many, and he garnered A LOT of attention for this and was swamped with people asking him to do art-work for them.

You could also try something like a charity event of some sort (but try to link it to what you do as a freelancer) – so you can show your support to those who are less fortunate than yourself. No one said you’re not allowed to do good on the way to freelancing success.

It may also be a good idea to subtly notify the local media on what you’re doing as nothing really happens without a little nudge sometimes.

Speak at events
The best way to get noticed and become an “industry expert” is to participate in local, related events in the forms of conferences, lectures, meet-ups etc. People have a keen sense of “association by face” so it’s always a good idea for you to be seen, especially at events linked to your work.

Establish a quality brand
As soon as those bundles of clients come gushing forth from your media idea, your next step is to “mould the minds” of the new clients you receive. It is of utmost importance that you and the clients you work with believe you are offering a valuable, quality service. Quality sells itself. If your clients know you offer a quality service, and have experienced that from you, there’s no doubt that recommendations will be made in your favour. Also remember though, that one bad move could quite literally crush a lot of your branding efforts, so watch out for bad clients, and always treat them well.

Continue the high client satisfaction
You’ve got that influx of initial clients, you’ve treated them well, they’ve referred excess business to you. Now, all you need to do is keep it up. Continue offering your quality service to whoever needs it – sooner or later you’re going to get to a point where you’re over-booked, and this is where you take certain economical steps such as raising prices or being more picky with what projects you wish to take on.

If your steam of clients start dying down, consider the second step again in order to garner more attention.

Live the dream
Freelancing takes a lot of effort, and with continued effort should come continued reward. Freelancers should typically be aiming for what I call “working freedom” where they choose whatever they wish to work on, when they want to, and get a rate which they choose – that is what freelancing is all about.

Don’t forget to sit back, relax, and enjoy your work freedom – you deserve it.

Questions/Comments
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The Client’s Psychology

Clients are people, and we as a people are very prejudgemental in our everyday lives, whether that be subconsciously prejudging the mindset of a person from their outward appearance, or prejudging the quality of a piece of clothing from its price tag. There are a lot of external factors that have no real effect on the issues that matter to us, but are considered subconsciously by the mind without us even knowing it. As a freelancer, you could use this to your advantage (in a non-malicious kind of way!)

Usually when a person asseses the price for a service when attempting to put a value on it, they will attempt to associate it with the “quality” of the work/product/service in their eyes. For example, if they feel that the end product(s) from your portfolio are better than the competitions’, then they are more willing to pay a premium for the service in mind. If however, they feel the end product is not of a high enough quality they will be less willing to pay a premium for it. This however, also works in reverse when it comes to the prejudgemental nature of us human beings.

Subconsciously, if we see a product or service with a high price tag, or “better” outward appearance (in terms of branding), we usually think it is because that product is of a very high “quality” (and I’m deliberately using speech marks here). This is rather deliberately triggered in our heads with all the subliminal marketing campaigns that go on in society on a daily basis. Therefore, it may well be a good idea to price yourself higher, in order to portray yourself in a better light. Pricing has a lot to do with establishing a quality brand.

So putting this all into the perspective of a freelancer, you could well be charging higher than the competition, establishing yourself as “quality” and therefore reap the benefits in terms of being able to charge more for your work.

If we further explore this mindset, you do come to realize though that your pricing also should rely heavily upon whom the client is – and not for discriminatory purposes. If you’re pitching to a business owner, then they’re inevitably going to be price-savvy and be looking for the best deal possible for work of a good standard (and that’s not to say the tactic won’t work at all); however, target the common individual and you could leverage this psychology and charge more for your work in order to increase your income and establish yourself as a quality brand.

You could also take the opposite direction, charge less, and in turn by my predictions attract a lot more business clients rather than what I’ve referred to as the “common individual”.

The Economics of Pricing

The economics of pricing is very important in the freelance-industry. Immediately, I hear you crying “but I didn’t pay attention in Economics classes!” – well, maybe you should have.

It’s a very basic concept which shows that there is a inversely linear relationship between price and amounts sold or in this case, number of pitches accepted. This means that as price increases, the number of pitches your clients are likely to accept are lower and vice versa. Simple – but again in such an industry this can be manipulated using the techniques described previously. It’s just something to generally think about when pricing as a general rule with a “bog-standard” product/service when quality of work is not taken into consideration.

I would put up a nice little graph to illustrate this point, but what the heck, it’s not hard to understand.

Hourly Rates

What I’ve covered so far has mainly affected the actual price you want to charge for your freelance services, but, how will you structure these charges? Well, hourly rates are a very good way to go about it. Why? Simply because it gives you a solid price structuring that you can always rely on instead of having to come up with a price per project. Again though, this has its disadvantages. In order to obtain a higher income, the only ways to do this would be to increase your hourly rate (which is a difficult step which could have great negative/positive effects) or work for longer periods of time. To me, this really goes against the “freedom” principles of freelancing if you were to take the latter step, as one core advantage of freelancing is being able to earn a good income with less hours of work in comparison to the typical 9 to 5 jobs.

Per Project-based Pricing

A lot of people think that per project-based pricing is something that is decided from midair. No. It is also based on hourly rates, but loosely. A good way of pricing per project is to first estimate how long a project is going to take if worked on at a decent speed (in hours – making sure the estimate is conservative) and multiply that by how much you wish to earn from doing the project per hour. You’d then add on certain premiums such as costs, and other extras.

What’s the difference?

So what’s the difference between per project-based pricing and hourly rates you ask – well, the answer to that is effort. When conducting the hourly rates method, you’ll be paid directly dependent on how long you took to complete the project. On the other hand though, per project is based on a conservative estimate on how long the project would take, and therefore allowing you to reward working more efficiently.

Just take a look at this example:

- John works on a fixed amount per hour.
- Linda works on a per-project basis.

John conducts his work at the rate of $40/hour. The project takes him 10 hours to complete, and therefore he sends an invoice of $400 to the client.

Linda estimates that the project will take 14 hours to complete (remember, it’s a conservative estimate). She wants about $40/hour whilst working on the project. She decides to multiply $40 x 14 = $560, and therefore prices the project at that amount. She then invoices the client at that price. Linda decided to work very efficiently and focus on the project and therefore gets it done within 10 hours.

If we do the maths, effectively Linda was paid $56/hour for the services she rendered, whilst John was only paid $400.

There are obviously a lot of factors which affect each situation that have not been considered in this case, but you get the general jist of things.

Conclusion

So, how do you think pricing should be decided upon? Do you have a particular formula in mind? Let us know your thoughts on the topic via the comments section below.

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Going back to the title of the post, the simple answer is yes, because there are a whole plethora of benefitting blogging could bring in terms of marketing to a freelancer’s portfolio.

I’m going to go into detail on what freelancers could potentially do with a blog if they choose to start one as an attachment to their portfolio.

Social Drizzle
If you like, you could take the path of total non-related drizzle. Meaning you could talk about your daily antics in the form of a blog. I know a lot of freelancers who do this, although in my opinion it should NEVER be an attachment to your portfolio. Instead, it is a blog outside of the working realm – which is where this kind of blog belongs. I’ve seen some freelancers who look to start a blog alongside their portfolio, only to realize that posting about what they ate last night isn’t going to get them anymore clients, it actually does the opposite. So I’ll re-iterate, if you’re looking to make a more social type blog, do not associate it with your portfolio.

Tutorials/Resources/Articles
At first, including a bunch of tutorials and resources on a blog which is related to your portfolio seems like a good idea, but it all depends on who you target with that information. If you’re targeting other web designers, writers, programmers etc. then it’s hardly going to bring in any new leads as they are people much like yourself who are looking to do work for other people. If you’re going to create tutorials and distribute resources of some kind, make sure you keep in mind the demographic you want to target.

For example, if you’re looking to attract web entrepreneurs to your website because you like working on creative websites, then you would probably want to distribute certain resources such as articles on the law of web business, or managing web businesses on your blog. When following such an example though, you must also keep the issue of relevancy in mind. Will someone come to a freelance-designers blog to hear about cooking? No, so a way of fixing this issue is to create a blog seperate from the portfolio on another domain, and instead advertise your portfolio on that blog.

Freelance-Related Blog
If you really want to create a relevant blog on your portfolio, then there should be nothing stopping you – after all, any new exposure, whether targeted or not will benefit you in some way or another. Maybe it’ll help spread the word about your services via ‘word-of-mouth’? Even if it doesn’t, it’s always going to have some positive effect. That’s why it could also be a good idea to produce a freelance-related blog. You may want to blog about the issues that freelancers go through daily (much like Freelancer Magazine here) and then do a few link exchanges with other well-known people in your field for that extra authority and exposure. The great thing about creating a blog like this is that there are a whole ton of ways you can market them and really get traffic coming into your blog and therefore looking at your services too.

Think out of the box
Also, when thinking about marketing techniques for your portfolio, or for yourself for that matter, then do not stay within the realms of the norm. Try to think of new and creative ways to bring in your clients, that way you could find a solution that you could execute easily and works wonders for you. Also, carrying out the usual methods of marketing can sometimes be a drag, and very repetitve so diversify how you gain traffic and exposure.

Conclusion
You’re thinking of freelancing or you’ve become a freelancer because you want to get away from the norms of society, so why not replicate this in your marketing techniques also and come up with some new and creative forms of marketing your portfolio!

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The question reads:

“How can I find more graphic design work when the majority of my clients just want web sites?”

Anyway, let’s see if we can answer the question for him.

First of all, I’m going to assume that when you say graphic design work it doesn’t include the PSD designs of websites; so it only entails things like banners, buttons, headers, illustrations, business cards, posters etc.

Establishing a reason behind your situation

It’s always good to examine your current situation and try to form a rational explanation for what you’re experiencing. In this case, Mike Stone can’t find much graphics design work over web design work. There could be multiple reasons behind this, but there could also be a general underlying reason behind it. In this case, there is. Graphics design work in essence can be very closely linked to web design work. After all, web designs do use graphical buttons, banners etc. in them so it’s pretty difficult to get graphics design work only. Also, in general web design work is in much more demand as the numbers of new websites entering the websites continues to increase exponentially.

There are, however, things you can do in order to maximize your chances of hitting the right clients.

Getting into the right crowd

One reason why the clients you come across may want web sites instead is probably because you’re marketing yourself in the wrong place. Although the two are closely linked, if you’re looking for graphics design work only you should be heading for the more ‘physical publisher’ side of things. For example, approaching magazines and newsletters are good ways you could pick up more graphics design work.

If you get a lot of work online, then may be you should consider joining some graphics design only forums and getting involved in communities of that sort. A simple Google search may present you with some good forums to join.

You may also want to present your work to printing businesses whom do custom work for their clients and see if you can pick up some extra work from there too.

Making your portfolio clear

Another reason behind this conundrum could be that your portfolio isn’t clear and concise enough for potential clients to see that you do graphics work only. Now before you start screaming at me, and exclaiming that everyone knows the difference between graphics and web design, just stop and think. There are a lot of ‘newbies’ entering the field all the time, especially since we’re seeing such a rapid growth of people starting online businesses. It could be possible that this ‘newbie’ potential client isn’t fully versed in the differences and what they entail; this is why your portfolio is crucial in explaining this.

Mike Stone himself didn’t link me to his private portfolio with his own domain name, but he did give me a link to his deviantART profile which I guess probably serves as his main portfolio. Whilst we’re at it, I also recommend that if you’re serious about getting some decent clients and graphics work that you have a proper external portfolio which you can aptly show your work off at.

Improve, improve, improve

In the graphics design world, it’s extremely competitive and the talent that exists is astonishingly good. You need to be able to make yourself unique in terms of the style of your work if you want to hit any clients. Although it seems distantly attached to getting more relevant and well-paying clients, you will inevitably get more recommendations via ‘word-of-mouth’ if your work is exceptionally good.

Conclusion

So that’s my little rant in order to try and answer the question Mike posted to us. If you’d like to ask us a question of your own, do not hesitate to get in touch. Also remember to subscribe to our RSS feed.