Starting As a Freelance Web Developer
So I recently came out of an internship with bad a experience and with entering the final year of my college I came to the realization that I was pretty much broke. Though I was able to cut some corners with living indoors during the pandemic, the zeal to become financially independent is quite strong within me. So I decided to try my luck as a freelance web developer until I get placed in a company. To start your career as a freelancer you can click on the following link, or the one available at the end of the article.
The first place I found myself was building small web apps for my friends and family. But they had the inherent problem of asking your family and friends for money and the problem of work getting unprofessional. The revenue generated through this is also minimal because of the
“Friends and Family Discount.”
Upwork
The next platform I wounded up in was Upwork, the reward there is amazing and more than enough for a new freelance, its interface is a bit complex but it is totally worth the work, because the higher complexity of work offers a higher reward though I was not able to make any significant progress there. I was impressed by the work I found there and their verified payment system. A quick intro to it’s functioning is that you can make your profile on the website and setup your preferences for your desired jobs and the advanced AI of company will fetch you feeds/advertisements posted by potential customers providing a previously disclosed sum of money to you, the payment can be verified by the customer so you o have to worry about not getting paid at the end, a problem that many of us are sadly familiar with.
Fiverr
The next platform that I will highly recommend to the beginners is fiverr. I switched to fiverr, to reduce the cost of sending my proposals to customers as here unlike Upwork customers are supposed to find us and not the other way round. When one signups to fiverr, one cannot help but find that the interface of fiverr is amazing, it allows buyers to find sellers with the AI just as good if not as good as it’s counterpart at upwork. Also the service is completely free so you can use it without literally any loss of money.
To sell your services on fiverr, you have to setup your profile and create free advertisements called gigs. The gig includes information about your previous works, price that you ask, requirements and FAQs about your service. Once the gig is ready you can add the keywords for the AI and search algorithms and post them on the website, initially it is advised that you make gigs with a reasonable or less amount and then work your way up. Later if and when a customer looks at your advertisement, he/she can contact you and describing their requirements and you have to deliver your work withing the promised time to better your profile. To better your selling experience and score some good work at freelance it is advised that you keep your profile simple, showcase all your skills and projects. Also try to make multiple gigs for yourself each better explaining the work you wish to perform to better the chances of you landing a successful gig.
To better understand the process and chances of making successful gigs, you can refer to the video tutorials offered by the platform. Also if you are looking for teaching, you can use fiverr to market your skills as well.
