As an amateur, you might come across some tough breaks at the early stage of your career. But once you master your skills and upgrade your potential, nothing can stop you. Finding your first client as a freelance graphic designer can be intimidating. The good news is, it’s not as complicated as you expect.

 

The trick is to choose the right approach before starting your freelance business. You would be surprised to know 90% of the designers are freelancers. Then why would a client choose you out of the sprawling professional designers? As a freelancer, you need to get to grips to find your first potential client. Therefore, it is imperative to know all the nitty-gritty to become a successful freelance graphic designer.

 

If you already lined up your profile on all social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Fiverr, Upwork, etc. you are already one step ahead! However, there’s much more than registering for the freelancing portals. Here, I’ll point out the most effective strategies to get the first freelance client. Go through our Freelance Starter Kit and learn how women graphic designers can run the show!  

 

 

Create an Eye-Catching Portfolio      

Put your first step down through an interesting portfolio. Make the best of the opportunity and showcase your talents. Your motive is to stimulate their interest in your profile. Moreover, adding a dash of social media links can do the rest.

 

So, what’s make a portfolio intimidating?

 

Conduct adequate research and find out the best layout of professional designers. The next step is to integrate your creative skill and make your profile unique. The trick is to balance the portfolio with potential designs, creativity, and technical proficiency.

 

Pro tips: Instead of confusing the clients with too many designs, feature your best projects.

                                

Want to learn the trick of creating a perfect portfolio?
Check out 3 Steps to Improve Your Graphic Design Portfolio

 

 

Do Some Free Projects

I know you might not like this suggestion! But, hold on! Let me explain the benefits you are likely to get.

 

Most importantly, it is a great way to get long-term client proposals. Yes! You heard me right. If you can start with a free project, the pay-off can be worth your struggle. You can also think about the additional benefits. Working on a full-time project poses many challenges, which are very helpful to scale up your skills. On the other hand, you will be able to collaborate with professional designers as well.

 

What if you fail to establish a long-term client relationship? It can also offer some useful content for the portfolio. Even designing only a homepage can impact your portfolio effectively.

 

However, be careful with this one and do the pro bono work ONLY if you see the benefit. If not, don’t waste your time just because you are hoping to get something in return.

 

Pro tips: Choose your first free project wisely so that it can add more value to your profile.

 

 

Keep Things Updated

Make sure your profile and social media platforms are upgraded. For example, if you are posting blogs, they should not cover trending topics. Instead, focus on timeless posts that provide value now and in the future too. Similarly, if a potential client visits your social media page, they should form a positive impression. Therefore, it is necessary to stay active and updated.

 

The key to starting a freelance business is to know about your competitors. If they are following specific trends, you got to enhance your skill up to the mark. It also goes for the contact information. Make sure the clients can easily get in touch with you.

 

Pro tips: Use your creative skills to distinguish your social media profiles from others.

 

 

Optimize Your Site

SEO can make or break your business. As a freelance graphic designer, designing your identical website is not enough. You can’t underestimate the power of search engine optimization. You must have acknowledged the value of SEO-optimized design. So, it is the right time to use that skill. Amidst the sea of web designing portals, how would the client find you?

 

Integrate user-friendly content and convert your site visitors to clients. SEO optimization plays an integral role in converting your prospects. Have you checked your rank on Google? If you can’t find a decent rank, it’s time to work on SEO.

 

It’s neither very simple nor rocket science. Therefore, focus on CTA and Google metrics to improve SERP.

 

Pro tips: You can also try out Add me to search to pursue your virtual digital card.

 

Add Value to Your Brand

To enhance your value, you need to think of your service as a brand. Therefore, you should create demo designs that speak for your brand. Check other successful freelancers how strategically they have been throughout the journey. The clients should get an essence of your professional value and ethics through your design. 

 

A designer should not only be creative; he/she has to be an expert. In fact, you can feature your expertise with video series, blogs, simple designing courses, and many more. Therefore, the goal should be to place yourself as an expert designer who can easily build the trust of potential clients.

 

So, you must be wondering how to choose the right strategy from your first project? This guidance might help you:

 

10 Steps to Become a Successful Graphic Designer

 

 Pro tips: Push all the bars and establish your identity as a trusted brand. You can start posting blogs, tutorials and create templates and UI assets. 

                                                                                                              

Use the Power of Referrals

Referrals can be your best friend. In fact, all the successful designers find their best clients from recommendations. Now, you might understand why free projects can be a game-changer! In addition, if you put your heart and soul into it, you might get lucrative deals from your first project. So, instead of fussing about money in the first place, go the extra mile for the free project.

 

Moreover, it is truly beneficial to smooth out your journey. If you do your first job right, you will be flooded with potential projects in the future.

 

Pro tips: Never hesitate to share your profile or ask for a recommendation.

 

If you want to solely focus on paid freelancing, this course will definitely help you: The Money-Making Freelance Bundle

 

 

Start Blogging

It is another way to show your expertise in the field. At the same time, blogging would help you to improve brand awareness and create a trust cycle among the readers. Using strategic blog optimization techniques, you can surely enhance your SEO rank. A rich blog can drive potential traffic and offer you long-term results. And no, blog is not dead. It works for me, it can work for you too.

 

Now, I understand if you are not a blog person. That is completely fine; I can’t expect all to be a jack of all trades! In that case, you can start with YouTubing! With helpful and informative design content, you can attract a lot of clients. Even if you get a small project, it will impact a colossal value on your career.

 

On the other hand, you can create content for others while putting yourself in the focus of more eyeballs. Again, guest writing is not only about blogging; it can be some illustrations, infographics, images, and videos too. In that case, add your brand name or logo in the credit section.

 

Pro tips: Stay within your niche and add a CTA button at the end of the blog to drive conversion.

 

Strengthen Your Online Presence

Creating a portfolio is not enough! How will the clients discover your existence? Marketing would draw the cycle full. Of course, you have no choice but to steer the ship! First of all, identify the particular social channels from where you can boost lead generation. Fortunately, there are lots of marketing tools you can use in the process.

 

Instagram is now the designers’ hub. Here you can create a professional gallery and keep the profile curated. In addition, active engagement with consistent posts would create a decent impression on you. However, the account has to be dedicated to one niche. So, the trick is to infuse adequate designing posts and give enough reason to click on the profile link.

 

Pro Tips: Post stories, reels using research-based hashtags for your niche.

 

Would you like to take some unique social media post ideas?

 

Find out 20+ Instagram Post Ideas for Freelance Graphic Designers

 

In-Person Networking

Attend meet-ups, conferences that are relevant to your field. Make sure to cater your business cards among the delegates and audience.

 

Meeting in person (or via Zoom) conveys more value than any sort of online texting. Moreover, you can build a solid impression of your soft skills and services with a single conversation. In that case, you always have to be in touch with fellow freelancers, small business communities.

 

When you choose to be your boss, you get a lot of responsibility to nurture. Keeping yourself aware of such events is one of them.

 

Pro tips: Represent yourself as a dedicated professional and a presentable personality.

 

To Wrap Up

At the primary stage of your career, it’s more about earning credibility than getting cheques. Finding your first client can be daunting. However, these nine strategies can smooth out the entire process. It might take some time; you can’t expect clients overnight. Starting a freelance business is all about building relationships. Work on these tips eventually; your email will be loaded with requests.