Sell your Services - Step by Step

As you're probably aware, there are many more freelancers on the Net than there are employers. Consequently, freelancers often find themselves bidding for a job along with hundreds of other Web professionals. For this reason alone, some freelancers find that they have to bid so low that they can't make a living. Why not take your business into your own hands? After reading this article you'll have a sure fire method to attract clients -- so read on!

How many small businesses are in your area? The average county has thousands of small business. However, only a third of all small businesses have a Website, and only a third of these sites can carry out a sales transaction. What these businesses don't realize is that they can probably profit from a Website. They're in great need of a talented Web professional to not only bring them to the water, but show them how good it is to drink. In other words, let these entrepreneurs see that there are more profits to be made -- online.

1. Prospect

First you need to prospect local businesses to find out which ones are potential customers. Ask yourself what kinds of businesses are most likely to need a Website. Selecting the best freelance opportunities is a matter of intuition, but I've found from previous experience that the following types of businesses are excellent prospective clients:

• Restaurants
• Theaters
• Night Clubs
• Grocery Stores
• Travel Agencies
• Law Firms
• Religious Organizations
• Real Estate Agencies
• Insurance / Loan Officers
• Universities and Educational Facilities
• Local governments / County offices
• Customized Item Stores

Of course there are others -- start looking around your area for potential candidates!

2. Research Local Businesses

It's important to focus your energy where there's likely to be a need for your services. Uncovering a business opportunity often means broadening the range of your skills and services. As you're targeting all sorts of different businesses, you'll often need to learn about many different industries in order to be really useful to your clients.

You might find that you want to focus on one industry: for example, only targeting restaurants. You could create online menus, downloadable coupons, reservations, take out orders, and other innovative ideas in an effort to draw in the prospect's interest. In fact, imagination and creativity are your keys to success. The number one focus of a successful entrepreneur is profit. Your goal is to find out how you can raise the prospective client's bottom line ...and this takes creativity.

Excellent tools for researching local businesses are :

1. Yellow Pages


2. Chamber of Commerce


3. Better Business Bureau


4. Department of Small Business Development


5. Trade Associations


6. Search Engines


7. Purchased Lists

You might ask yourself what information you'll need to find out about each prospective client before you contact them. Slow down -- you have some work to do first! At the minimum, you will need to find the business's phone number, company name, and address. From this information, you can hopefully gain access to verifiable details about this business. Next stop -- the Internet. Research whether the business in question has a Website. Use every resource available to access this information. And if you can't find a Website... then you've found yourself a lead!

What if the Company Does Have A Website?

What happens if the company does have a Website? You have two choices: either move on, or further evaluate their existing site. If you choose the latter, this is what you should look for:

• Is the site visually appealing?
• Are the site's resources being used effectively?
• Are there means for a sales transaction?
• Does the site have a domain name?
• Is site listed in search engines?
• Were meta tags used effectively?
• Does the site load quickly?
• Is there essential contact information available?
• Are there broken links or missing images?
• Do you see a sales strategy that they are missing?

If you find any of the above in your analysis of the site, consider contacting the company to setup a consultation. Remember to always use tact -- never come right out and criticize anyone's site. In most cases, if the site is awful, the owner himself probably tried to build it. All you need to do is show the business owner that they're losing out on extra earnings. And yes -- there are nice words you can find to express this!