5 Digital Marketing Strategies to Promote Your New Freelance Business

Starting a freelancing business is a fantastic strategy to increase income and become independent and flexible. But how do you start attracting clients and making money? 

In 2024, digital marketing is critical. Here are 5 effective digital marketing strategies to promote your new freelance business and generate revenue. 

Build a Fantastic Website … 

First, you must build an eye-catching website for your freelancing business. Whether you are a freelance writer or video editor, your website is your online home base. 

Here, you outline your services, showcase your portfolio, and let clients know how to contact you. 

The good news? Building a website is a relatively straightforward business. And affordable. Thanks to WordPress, drag-and-drop website builders, and numerous templates, anyone who can follow a YouTube tutorial and shell out $5 a month for hosting can build a primary site.

Here’s a general outline for building a fantastic website.

• Define Your Goals: Understand the purpose of your website. Is it for freelancers, e-commerce, blogging, portfolio showcasing, or something else?
• Research and Planning: Research your target audience, competitors, and industry trends. Plan the structure and content of your website, including navigation, pages, and features.
• Design: Create a visually appealing and user-friendly design. Consider factors like color scheme, typography, layout, and branding consistency.
• Development: Build your website using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and possibly a backend language like Python, PHP, or Node.js. You can also use frameworks and libraries like React, Vue.js, or Angular for front-end development.
• Testing: Test your website across different devices, browsers, and screen sizes to ensure compatibility and functionality. Fix any bugs or issues that arise during testing.
• Launch: Once you’re satisfied with the design and functionality of your website, it’s time to launch it to the public. Choose a reliable web hosting provider and configure your domain name.
• Monitoring and Maintenance: Monitor the performance and security of your website regularly. Update content, fix bugs, and make improvements based on user feedback and analytics data.

Throughout the process, keep the user experience in mind and strive to create an intuitive, engaging, and memorable website. Additionally, staying updated with the latest web design trends and technologies can help you build a fantastic website that stands out.

… and SEO-Optimize It 

A bit more of a challenge is how to SEO-optimize your website. SEO stands for search engine optimization and describes practices to ensure your site appears high up in Google search results. 

The key is to target the right keywords – the words and phrases that potential clients use in searches – and to integrate them into the text on your site. Targeting keywords that integrate their geographical location (‘local SEO’) is convenient for small-scale freelancers. 

If photography is your passion, for instance, and you’re based in the Pacific Northwest, you might want to incorporate “freelance photographer in Portland, Oregon” into your website copy. 

Here are some critical steps to optimize your website for SEO:

• Keyword Research: Identify relevant keywords and phrases related to your content, products, or services. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Ahrefs to find keywords with high search volume and low competition.
• On-Page Optimization:
  • Title Tags: Use descriptive and keyword-rich titles for each page, keeping them under 60 characters.
  • Meta Descriptions: Write compelling meta descriptions that accurately summarise your page content and encourage clicks.
  • Heading Tags (H1, H2, H3): Structure your content with clear headings and use keywords where appropriate.
  • URL Structure: Create user-friendly URLs that are easily read and include relevant keywords.
  • Optimized Content: Produce high-quality, relevant content that satisfies user intent and incorporates target keywords naturally.
  • Image Optimization: Use descriptive file names and alt tags for images to improve accessibility and keyword relevance.
  • Internal Linking: Link to other relevant pages within your website to improve navigation and distribute link equity.
• Mobile Optimization: Ensure your website is responsive and mobile-friendly, as Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites in its search rankings.
• Page Speed Optimization: Improve your website’s loading speed by optimizing images, leveraging browser caching, and minimising CSS and JavaScript files.
• Schema Markup: Implement schema markup to give search engines more context about your content, which can lead to rich snippets in search results.
• Secure Website: Secure your website with HTTPS to encrypt data transmission and improve trustworthiness. Google gives a ranking boost to secure websites.
• External Linking and Backlinks: Earn high-quality backlinks from reputable websites to improve your website’s authority and credibility. However, focus on natural link-building strategies and avoid black-hat SEO techniques.
• Local SEO (if applicable): If you have a local business, optimise your website for local search by including your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) and listing your business on Google My Business and other local directories.
• Regular Monitoring and Analysis: Monitor your website’s performance using tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Analyse traffic, user behaviour, and keyword rankings to identify areas for improvement and adjust your SEO strategy accordingly.

Remember that SEO is an ongoing process that may take time to see significant results. Following these best practices and staying updated with the latest SEO trends and algorithms can improve your website’s visibility and attract more organic traffic.

Establish Your Expertise Through Blogging 

Another digital marketing tactic to gain exposure and promote your business is establishing your expertise through blogging or vlogging. Plus, posting your content on your website is a fantastic way to brush up on your portfolio and SEO. Alternatively, you can publish social media content or as a guest author on other sites. 

Say you start a bookkeeping business. By writing a blog about topics related to your niche, you can convince potential clients that you know what you’re talking about. For instance, they could come across an article of yours comparing different bookkeeping tools on a blog they habitually read. They might see the link to your website in your author bio, follow it, and hire you. 

Build a Social Media Presence 

Next up, there’s social media – an indispensable element of any freelancer’s digital marketing strategy in 2024. However, you’ve got to be strategic about the platforms you target. Creating content for social media is a lot of work, and you will need to focus your efforts on where they will be the most effective. 

Are you a graphic designer? Then Instagram and Pinterest are your friends. 

Or do you want to get started as a freelance video editor? The way to go is to post long-form YouTube videos highlighting your skills and short-form, bite-sized summaries on TikTok and Reels. 

No matter your niche, though, creating a LinkedIn profile is a good idea. As the hub of professional networking on the internet, LinkedIn can serve as your online CV and a great way to connect with other professionals in your niche and potential clients.

Here are steps to build a social media presence effectively:

• Define Your Goals: Determine what you want to achieve through your presence. Whether getting new clients, increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, generating leads, or fostering community engagement, having clear goals will guide your strategy.
• Choose the Right Platforms: Identity which social media platforms are most relevant to your target audience and industry. Consider demographics, user behaviour, and platform features when selecting the platforms to focus on.
• Optimise Your Profiles: Create compelling and informative profiles on each social media platform you use. Use high-quality profile pictures cover images, and include relevant keywords and hashtags in your bio or description.
• Develop a Content Strategy: Plan and create content that resonates with your audience and aligns with your brand identity. Mix different types of content, such as images, videos, blog posts, infographics, polls, and user-generated content, to keep your audience engaged.
• Be Consistent: Maintaining a consistent posting schedule keeps your audience engaged and builds momentum. Experiment with posting times and frequencies to determine what works best for your audience.
• Engage with Your Audience: Actively engage with your audience by responding to comments, messages, and mentions. Initiate conversations, ask questions, and encourage user-generated content to foster community engagement.
• Use Visual Content: Visual content performs well on social media platforms. Use eye-catching images, videos, and graphics to capture your audience’s attention and convey your message effectively.
• Utilise Hashtags: Research and use relevant hashtags to increase your content’s discoverability and reach a wider audience. Use a mix of popular, niche-specific, and branded hashtags to expand your reach and engagement.
• Stay Up-to-Date with Trends: Stay informed about social media trends, algorithm changes, and new features introduced by social media platforms. Experiment with new formats, features, and trends to keep your content fresh and engaging.

By implementing these strategies and consistently engaging with your audience, you can build a solid social media presence that helps you achieve your freelancer’s digital marketing strategy.

Choose Your Communication Channels and Link Them 

Finally, you need to make sure that your clients can reach you. Choose your communication channels carefully and interlink them.

For instance, you should include your portfolio link in all your social media bios and link to your social media on your website. In your bios, make clear how someone should contact you if they want to hire you – after all, it can be easy to miss message requests if you don’t check channels regularly. 

Be careful about listing your personal contact information. Scammers are out there, and chances are, if you list your personal phone number or email on your website, you’ll get inundated with phishing attempts and robocalls. 

Instead, consider getting a virtual business phone number for a few dollars a month or adding a contact form with a captcha on your website. This helps filter out the spam and lets you focus on actual clients. 

Conclusion 

Getting started as a freelancer can be a tricky business. Digital marketing can help. By following the strategies above, you’ll be able to establish your expertise, boost your visibility, find your first clients – and start generating some actual freelancing income in 2024.