Recently, we have published an interesting article about how to attract more and more clients and it was highly appreciated by our readers. Nowadays, when the economical climate isn’t very positive, any gained client is vital. The design agencies and the freelancers started more aggresive campaigns to attract new clients and some of them tried even some unconventional or not quite appreciated solutions.
A job board is a website where the clients post a brief description of their projects and the designers or other specialists are bidding their offers. In the end, the client selects the winner that is now obligated to finish the project, obviosuly being paid for. Well, theoretically, it’s OK and anyone believes that these websites are in fact gold mines. The reality is crude and reveals other hidden and unimaginated aspects: the clients aren’t everytime serious, the competitors are selling their services for very low prices and sometimes they try to cheat. The main problem of such websites is the corectitudeness and the seriosity of both clients and competitors. Anyway, I personally met some very good clients, therefore there is a chance to attract ones…mostly nowadays, when everyone is triying to optimize the spendings.
Bellow is a list of some of the most frequented job boards, of course, you are free to compete wherever you want. Also, you are strongly encouraged to share with us your favorite job board!
- https://www.elance.com/
- http://www.freelancer.com/welcome_s82_PB/index.php
- http://www.guru.com/
- https://www.odesk.com/
- http://jobs.smashingmagazine.com/
Any reader has now a clear idea about what is a job board, which are the most famous ones, so why not give a chance and maybe, gain a new client? The most important matter is that is pretty difficult to obtain a project, the competition is very harsh and only the best ones have profits (and yep, some are gaining impressive amounts of money!). In order to obtain a higher income when working via job boards is vital to have many clients. In conclusion, it is strongly recommended to merely bid for new projects, but in the same time to satisfy the current ones.
#1. Be honest, fair and sincer
It seems as a very common tip that should be applied in every domain, in every aspect of life. It’s true, but its importance determined me to present it here as a separated entity. Being honest when dealing with new clients on various job boards it vital. Many competitors, in order to attract clients, are overestimating their skills and working capabilities. It might represent a strategy to attract more clients, but I am very in doubt that all the projects awarded will be finished. Once someone states that he is capable of creating amazing logos, but he is newbie in Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop then it’s practically imposible to draw a fascinating logo.
The conclusion is simple: instead of being contacted by tons of potential clients, it’s way better to be honest and sincer and fairly present what you can do. Surely, lesser people will contact you, but they are more probable to become clients.
#2. Let people know your previous works
Instead of bragging with amazing skills, a wise designer will upload some self-explicatory works that will better convince the potential clients. The huge majority of job boards allows the possibility of uploading some works to show people the real potential of the bidder. Briefly,select some amazing works and people interested will make a better idea. Don’t upload all your works, but enough projects for everyone to make a complete idea.
#3. Don’t behave as a spammy machine
Another common mistake of many designers when participating in such competitions is to treat very superficially any client. It shouldn’t be a surprise, but some of them have many templates that are simply copied and pasted on every project. Maybe, they are even not thinking, everything being automatic- pretty similar to a spammy machine. Well, nobody appreciates the spam messages, therefore why someone will take into account such a message? On the other hand, having very specific ideas, presenting a clear schedule and offering complete details will impress the ones that posted the projects.
#4. Weigh carefully the offert of the clients
I don’t want to be rude, but a significant part of the clients aren’t fair and correct. Anyone interested in getting a stabil income from job boards should perfectly know how to make the distinction between a good client and an „oportunist”. The „too” good offers should be tenfold weighted before effectly acting, else it’s possible to fall into a trap. Also, some potential clients ask for unlimited revisions and whey put the term „unlimited” they added with a purpose: they really want unlimited. I am a little bit ironical, but it might be true. There is no special tool to detect which client is good and which is not a worthy solution, it’s about instinct and feedback. Some job boards have a special sistem that allows the freelancers to offer feedback to the clients. A customer that has posted 250 projects and has a five stars feedback definitely is worthy!
#5. Avoid any illegalities
The job boards has very clear rules to follow and fortunately, some of them are simple and specially created to avoid any issue. The negative side is that they are perceiving a tax for the monitoring activity and eager people don’t want to pay it. Hence, mostly clients, but also bidders prefer to make exchange of Skype or Facebook accounts to communicate outside of the job board. I don’t recommend it because is possible to save some bucks but it’s more likely to lose some good amounts of money. All depends on each situation but…
#6. Don’t scramble if you have no client!
Everyone, but really everyone, encountered difficult situations when lacking any client. It shouldn’t be a reason to be upset or to abandon competing on job boards. Unfortunately, gaining a project, especially the first project isn’t very easy and it might pass some months until gaining the belief of a client and get some works.
I hope that all these simple tips will help you. Definitely, the tips aren’t genial or totally new, but very few people apply these. In conclusion, why don’t give a try and respect these? What do you think, would you attract more clients or not?
– Written by Daniel –