[Misc] Freelancers, how do you find work?

[Swansman]

My niche is SEO and content writing, usually in Swedish but sometimes in English.

I find work through Upwork (sort of a freelance portal) and in Swedish SEO groups and find enough clients to get by, but would like to work a tad bit more and I'm a bit curious how people do it.
I have no problems producing results that always make my clients happy (or at least they think it is good enough) but the whole "find new clients" thing really isn't my strong sides and I often keep ones who pay poorly because I can't bother the hassle of chasing... but might have to change that approach as my costs of living (rent, food, cigarettes, drugs, booze) are steadily increasing.

I've been thinking about using Linkedin to find work, is that a good idea? I've had a Linkedin account for years but never really used the site.

 

[Pavilionaire]

I admire your honesty: "Would like to work a tad bit more...as my costs of living (...cigarettes, drugs, booze) are steadily increasing"

 

[Swansman]

I admire your honesty: "Would like to work a tad bit more...as my costs of living (...cigarettes, drugs, booze) are steadily increasing"

Well, some people could quite easily reduce their costs of livings through not buying unnecessary shit (clothes, 'things', travelling), but I only buy necessities and can't reduce costs - need to make more money.

 

[Bozza]

I admire your honesty: "Would like to work a tad bit more...as my costs of living (...cigarettes, drugs, booze) are steadily increasing"

...whilst I was pleased for @Swansman that the price of pizza is apparently pretty stable right now.

 

[Swansman]

...whilst I was pleased for @Swansman that the price of pizza is apparently pretty stable right now.

I would say prices are up (here at least) like 30% since my pizza glory days two-three years ago while quality is worse (obvious that a lot are using cheaper cheeses etc.)

Terrible stuff. People need pizza. I need pizza. But I barely eat it once a month these days.

 

[Horses Arse]

My niche is SEO and content writing, usually in Swedish but sometimes in English.

I find work through Upwork (sort of a freelance portal) and in Swedish SEO groups and find enough clients to get by, but would like to work a tad bit more and I'm a bit curious how people do it.
I have no problems producing results that always make my clients happy (or at least they think it is good enough) but the whole "find new clients" thing really isn't my strong sides and I often keep ones who pay poorly because I can't bother the hassle of chasing... but might have to change that approach as my costs of living (rent, food, cigarettes, drugs, booze) are steadily increasing.

I've been thinking about using Linkedin to find work, is that a good idea? I've had a Linkedin account for years but never really used the site.

I had no idea what SEO and content writing meant, so I searched it up.

I still have no idea what it means. I get work through contacts that I've previously worked with, word of mouth and recommendations and spin off's from work. However, that is within the construction industry, which is overrun with complete fuckwits so being able to put various items of clothing on the right parts of the body is pretty much a USP within that sector. I've not had to look for work since leaving a big corporate comany 7 years ago

 

[Greg Bobkin]

I've found a few jobs through LinkedIn, but not a huge amount (I think there's an 'open to work' or 'looking for work' tag you can put on your profile.

When I went freelance, I approached pretty much all of the contacts I had for work. Some titles I still work for now, but others have come and gone. Whenever things are a bit quiet I just get on the phone – or email – and ask for work. People can only say no.

Good luck!

 

[Swansman]

I've found a few jobs through LinkedIn, but not a huge amount (I think there's an 'open to work' or 'looking for work' tag you can put on your profile.

When I went freelance, I approached pretty much all of the contacts I had for work. Some titles I still work for now, but others have come and gone. Whenever things are a bit quiet I just get on the phone – or email – and ask for work. People can only say no.

Good luck!

Which is the terrible part... but something I have to get used to.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Which is the terrible part... but something I have to get used to.

If you can put up with people on here at times (including me), you can deal with a knock-back or two, I'm sure. Also, you'd be surprised how many times those people who say 'no' now, will come back to you in the future and ask you to do work for them. Happened to me on plenty of occasions.

 

[Seagull58]

Which is the terrible part... but something I have to get used to.

I went into IT sales from the IT support area about 30 years ago. You need to develop "hot blood and big balls" so you can ask for the business. People generally find asking for business to be difficult and nerve-wracking but you will get used to it and realise there's nothing to it. Warm them up (work references, shared contacts etc.) and they're less likely to say no.
Remember - people buy from people.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

From my experience SEO is a bit of a mixed bag. I used it in my company to get to the top of sponsored searches, but the main keywords we used were also used by competitors and this pushed the price for these words through the roof. As charges were calculated on pay per click the monthly budget was often used up before the end of the month and we’d drop right down the sponsored links. In the end I didn’t believe that it was cost effective and stopped using it. Personally, I now tend to ignore sponsored links when searching for goods and/or services as I know that these companies are spending fortunes to get to no 1 but it doesn’t necessarily reflect quality. If you believe that being no 1 in searches will generate the additional income to cover the costs, I guess it’ll be for you.

In answer to the OP’s question, I’m not sure how competing SEO consultants sell themselves as it’s the keyword charges that get you to no 1

 

[Swansman]

From my experience SEO is a bit of a mixed bag. I used it in my company to get to the top of sponsored searches, but the main keywords we used were also used by competitors and this pushed the price for these words through the roof. As charges were calculated on pay per click the monthly budget was often used up before the end of the month and we’d drop right down the sponsored links. In the end I didn’t believe that it was cost effective and stopped using it. Personally, I now tend to ignore sponsored links when searching for goods and/or services as I know that these companies are spending fortunes to get to no 1 but it doesn’t necessarily reflect quality. If you believe that being no 1 in searches will generate the additional income to cover the costs, I guess it’ll be for you.

In answer to the OP’s question, I’m not sure how competing SEO consultants sell themselves as it’s the keyword charges that get you to no 1

Being top of the sponsored searches (through doing Google Ads SEO) is a bit overrated and if you're in a competitive business it might cost you a lot more than you earn from it - as you say, prices can get gigantic.

Most of my SEO work is not about Google Ads but to optimize sites & articles to rank in the top 3 (if possible, sometimes it isn't; I'm not going to be able to outcompete Burger King or McDonalds for the word 'burger') below the sponsored results. A lot of people feels "Sponsored" makes the content "unauthentic", meaning that being just below the sponsored results is going to give you similar amounts of visitors but at a much lower cost (since you're not paying for clicks, only the work).

 

[Bozza]

If selling and cold-calling isn’t for you - something I quite understand - engage in content marketing, eg produce a newsletter at a frequency you can stick to (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or whatever) curating tips and trends in SEO and related activities.

People will be interested and well-intentioned at getting hands on themselves, but most won’t. You’ll be front-of-mind when they want to improve but can’t find the time to act and want someone to do it for them.

 

[MJsGhost]

My niche is SEO and content writing, usually in Swedish but sometimes in English.

I find work through Upwork (sort of a freelance portal) and in Swedish SEO groups and find enough clients to get by, but would like to work a tad bit more and I'm a bit curious how people do it.
I have no problems producing results that always make my clients happy (or at least they think it is good enough) but the whole "find new clients" thing really isn't my strong sides and I often keep ones who pay poorly because I can't bother the hassle of chasing... but might have to change that approach as my costs of living (rent, food, cigarettes, drugs, booze) are steadily increasing.

I've been thinking about using Linkedin to find work, is that a good idea? I've had a Linkedin account for years but never really used the site.

LinkedIn would be a good place to start.

Just the act of finding and connecting with ("reaching out to" if you want to join the ranks of the bell cheeses) old clients and colleagues, friends etc might turn something up as it's a subtle reminder that you still exist. You might find this works well enough on its own.

If you really want to play the LinkedIn game, your content writing skills should serve you well, but I'm not sure you will want to play the whole social media "content for clicks/engagement" game. But anyway, regular interesting posts and engaging with the posts of industry names/experts with a larger network than you will slowly build your reach.

You've probably already thought of having a website, with decent content and optimized SEO that might help people find you...? (though I guess by its very nature, getting near the top of the search results rankings in that field is going to be TOUGH).

If you do get more work, I do worry that you're not going to have time to watch ALL THE FOOTBALL, so don't overdo it.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

Being top of the sponsored searches (through doing Google Ads SEO) is a bit overrated and if you're in a competitive business it might cost you a lot more than you earn from it - as you say, prices can get gigantic.

Most of my SEO work is not about Google Ads but to optimize sites & articles to rank in the top 3 (if possible, sometimes it isn't; I'm not going to be able to outcompete Burger King or McDonalds for the word 'burger') below the sponsored results. A lot of people feels "Sponsored" makes the content "unauthentic", meaning that being just below the sponsored results is going to give you similar amounts of visitors but at a much lower cost (since you're not paying for clicks, only the work).

Totally agree with everything you’ve said there. Good luck.

 

[Bodian]

Maybe create your own website promoting yourself. Presumably you'll then be able to ensure that it always comes at the top of the pile when anyone is looking for your skillset!!

 

[Gwylan]

I've been on LinkedIn for at least 10 years and I think I've got one bit of work from it, so I wouldn't rest your hopes on it. The ex-Mrs Gwylan contacted me on it yesterday - the first time I'd heard from her in 21 years - and I do find I have more social messages than anything.

Most of the time I get work from talking to contacts. pushing hard, taking anything that's going (If it's not my immediate area of expertise, I'd better get researching). It's better to have too much work than too little - even if it means a 75-80 hour weeks.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Used to be adverts in phone boxes but don’t know if things have moved on. Maybe one for the non smart phone owners to answer?

 

[Whoislloydy]

Gotta do what you gotta do to pay for the snus and booze

 

[The Mole]

It’s all about networking of which LinkedIn is one part (I’ve been on LinkedIn for nearly 20 yearsand have got work through it.) Make sure your satisfied clients are good references and they recommend you. SEO should be a continuous process so you should go back to existing clients as well as generating new ones.