When I started out freelancing, the thought of having clients was quite scary … though the thought of having no clients at all was even scarier! Something about the word clients implied that they’d be demanding, ultra-professional, and intimidating.

Of course, it was nothing like I’d feared: my clients have all been very human, warm and friendly! However, I have found that there are seven easy ways to really impress clients, and to guarantee that they’ll want to work with you or refer you in the future:

1. Dress Professionally

I’m most comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt – but when meeting clients, I make the effort to smarten up. Business people can sometimes have slightly negative stereotypes of “freelancers”, and looking like a professional is a great way to make a great first impression and dispel their fears.

Think about it this way: if you had the choice between an assistant who turned up wearing cut-off jeans, scuffed sneakers and a slogan t-shirt and an assistant who wore smart trousers, a nice shirt, and clean shoes – who would you be more inclined to hire?

2. Anticipate Questions

Once you’ve been freelancing for a month or two, you’ll find that clients will keep coming up with the same questions. These will vary depending on your industry. When I started out making websites for very small businesses, I had some clients who struggled with emails, and knew they needed a website but didn’t understand much about the process. They wanted to know things like:

• Why do I need to pay for hosting when I already have a computer?
• What’s a domain name?
• Can you put the link to our website at the top of Google?

…and so on. My clients weren’t stupid – they were successful small business owners – but they had little experience of the web. Get a feel for how much your clients typically know, and try to anticipate the questions that they might have. This will help reassure them that you have their interests in mind, and that you’re not trying to sneak in extra charges. (My clients often didn’t understand the need to pay for a domain name and hosting, for instance.)

You might consider creating an FAQ page for your website, or a document to give to new clients, which answers common questions. If you’re just starting out, this can help add credibility by indicating to your clients that you have a lot of knowledge of your area.

3. Communicate regularly

Most clients will like to be updated on a regular interval about how things are going. Just sending an email once a week to reassure them that the project is on track is enough to make sure that they feel taken care of.

Don’t send them huge amounts of detail – just keep it brief and succinct. This indicates that you value their time, and it also reduces the chances of them getting confused about any of the details and emailing you back with questions!

If you have a client who bombards you with emails, try leaving a time delay before replying. Unless it really is urgent, don’t answer till the next day: this reduces the chances of ending up in a game of email ping-pong, and it’ll encourage your client to save up all their questions for one email.

4. Over-deliver

Something that will really impress your clients is to over-deliver on what you’ve promised. They’ll be all too used to delays, excuses and problems. Give them a great experience by hitting milestones early, or by throwing in a small extra.

Clients will often be pleased if you take the initiative: perhaps mentioning something that they could update on their website, or explaining that you could help with one of their other projects, and I’ve often had clients complain about previous freelancers or employees, saying that they “never made any suggestions.” You do have to be a little careful with this – the last thing you want to do is accidentally end up slating the wonky-looking logo that the boss designed himself – but thoughtful feedback from an outside perspective are often much appreciated.

5. Go the extra mile

Following on from over-delivering is going above and beyond the call of duty. You might not want to do this with every single client – but on long-standing clients, or ones who you know will be good for plenty of repeat business, it’s a great way to win their loyalty.

For example, I’ve sometimes received emails from clients at 9pm with a small request, and have carried it out there and then. It only takes me thirty minutes or so, but it leaves the client feeling grateful! I do have core hours, and I could charge overtime, but I find that a strong client relationship and repeat business is worth far more.

6. Send a “thank you” or small gift

This is common advice – but how often do we take it? Spending a few minutes and a few dollars choosing a nice card or gift for your client is a huge step towards creating a lasting impression. Try to make the gift something thoughtful; perhaps something that relates to one of their hobbies or interests, or that will conjure up a smile.

Many freelancers like to send out holiday cards to clients, and this is another nice way to stay in touch. You may find that your card lands on the desk at just the right time, when your client is thinking about a project that they could use some help with. If your name’s in their mind, chances are it’ll be you that they call.

7. Offer a discount

If you’ve had a good working relationship with a client, let them know that you’d be interested in continuing to work with them – and offer them a discount. You might like to simply have a standard discount for ongoing work, or you might prefer to frame this as a special offer just for them (“It’s been so great working with you…” etc).

A discount makes people feel special, and it makes them feel that they’re getting a bargain. It’s also a great technique to use if you want to up-sell: telling clients that, for example, you can write a press release as well as their website copy.

How do you make sure that your clients are so impressed that they want to recommend you to all their friends? Do the above tips work for you, or do you have some of your own to add?

For every busy web designer and developer, there comes a moment when they want to kick the clock so hard that it stops time in its tracks. For our businesses, time is money; however, we cannot just stop taking on additional orders because we have too many- or do we? If your answer is often ”yes”, I’ll tell you something that might change your perspective for the better. Suppose, you have multiple web designs ready for coding, project submission dates are coming on quickly, and your inbox is brimming with yet more web design orders, what would you do?

Do you push back delivery dates?  That’s not so great for your client relations.  Do you divert all your resources toward timely delivery?  Clients are happy, but you increase your stress and can push back other high-priority tasks.  When situations like these happen, hiring a conversion company may be your best choice.

That’s where xhtml.pixelcrayons.com steps in with its PSD to XHTML conversion services.  According to its clientele, case studies, and my own test with them, you know exactly what you are getting, when you are getting it and how much it will cost. 

PixelCrayons is an online service that offers effortless manual conversion of static design files into high quality XHTML. Essentially, the idea is that they can return professional-grade XHTML design within 8 hours! You can send your designs in PSD, JPG, GIF, PNG, AI and even HTML markup. Here are the two coding packages they offer, in addition to the various add-ons including layout options, markup options and integration services:

The Basic Package – starting at $99

• Markups: HTML 4.01 Transitional, XHTML 1.0 Transitional
• W3C Validation: CSS, XHTML & HTML 
• I.E 6.x / 7.x, Mozilla Firefox, Safari

The Professional Package – starting at $199 

• Markups: HTML 4.01 Transitional, HTML 4.01 Strict, XHTML 1.0 Transitional, XHTML 1.0 Strict
• W3C Validation: CSS2 (Advanced CSS Code Structure), XHTML & HTML Browsers Compatibility: I.E 6.x / 7.x, Mozilla Firefox, Safari 2.x/3.x, Opera, Konqueror
• Includes: SEO Semantic Code, Load Speed Optimization, Complete Presentation Separation, Maximum Cross-Browser Compatibility

Work Process

Placing an order is quite simple, and the order form is self-explanatory. Just fill in the required blanks, and then wait for next 8 business hours for your XHTML design. You may upload your file in various formats (PSD, JPG, GIF, PNG, AI, ZIP or PDF) and can also have it integrated with CMS/ Blogging Engine/ Shopping Cart of your choice. If you want to mention specifications about your file, you can use the Special Comments Box. After uploading the file and completing the order form for the chosen package, an order-confirmation e-mail is sent to you with your order placed in the queue.

Client Support

The response time is quick and thorough. You would be asked questions regarding file related issues and other clarifications on design implementation and stuff. After a quick review of the work you need and clarifications over phone and mails, your markup will be available to you within 8 hours. They also have instant chat options where you could directly communicate via Yahoo!, AOL, MSN, Skype messengers.

Work Quality

The emailed markup is sent as a zip file that would include XHTML files and a folder containing CSS files, JS files and images. The quality of the markup speaks for itself, the coding is kept clean and semantic, and the CSS files are nicely organized.

Conclusion

Their manual coding provides cross browser compatibility, with equal clarity in all versions of IE, Firefox, Safari and Opera. The prices are economical and quality is surpassingly good. I think it is an excellent service if you need (and have the budget for) extra help in coding your designs, while maintaining the high-quality standards of your own work. So all in all, do I recommend Pixel Crayons for XHTML Conversion? Certainly yes, if you need a cost saving, time-saving and convenient conversion.

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
Have any questions or comments on what we’ve discussed today on Freelancer Magazine? The comments section is waiting for you below.

Also, please subscribe to our RSS feed for continued updates and quality articles.

A: Good question Michael! It can be tough to stand out in a crowd in any market or profession. While there is no one fail proof path to recognition, there are some steps you can take to assure you are doing everything you can!

#1. Network! The first step (after establishing your service) is to network. I’m not talking about finding anyone you can and shove your web address down their throat- but find those in your field and befriend them. They can certainly help get the word out.

#2. Don’t make customers, make clients! Treat every potential buyer as a long term client. Provide them with the best customer service money can buy (and do that part for free!). Clients will provide more clients and word-of-mouth will get around!

#3. Obsess over what you do! Keeping up with the latest trends or tools of your trade can be tough but take time out of every week (or every day!) to read up on whats going on in your field. Knowledge is power, and the more up-to-date newsbreaking type of work that you do- the more the world will start to notice.

#4. Be unique! Don’t just do what everyone else does- you have your own mind and your own style… perfect it! Brand yourself! The more unique you are, the more you will stand out!

#5. If all else fails… advertise! Yes i know, a “duh” answer… but if you choose the right place to advertise and are willing to pry open your wallet, you can soon start making a name for yourself. The truth is, the more people see your brand or name, the more popular they assume you are… and remember, advertising doesn’t only bring in clients from that one advert but it brings clients from the one who’s seen your ad 20 times and brought it up in conversation when someone needed your service.