by Loren Sheets

Thinking of getting into freelancing? It’s not easy at first. With a limited portfolio, few notable clients and a small professional network, you may feel like you’re downing in the digital noise when it comes to getting your name out there for jobs. Luckily, there’s some things you can do to hack the system, start building up a client base and become a successful freelancer. What follows are 5 effective tips every beginning freelancer should implement.

1. Unique Personal Branding

As a beginning freelancer, you want to build a unique personal brand for yourself. It’s about establishing a reputation, and crafting your unique personal brand is one way to project a reputation of quality and excellence that clients are looking for. When you’re just beginning, it can be quite a challenge, but you can start by defining who you are and why you do what you do. Narrow down what your focus is, and hone in on your message. As cliché as it may sound, ask yourself how your own life story and experiences shape your work and make it uniquely yours. That’s ultimately why you’re passionate about your craft, and if you can clearly articulate that message, you’ll really stand out as a candidate.

2. Quality Portfolio Presentation

In the beginning, its about quality over quantity. Don’t make the mistake of trying fake a large portfolio and feature every half-baked project you’ve ever worked on. Instead, design your portfolio around the best work you’ve done, even if it’s only one or two projects. A crisp presentation of a few select projects has a better chance of grabbing the attention of potential clients than a portfolio featuring lots of content that lacks professionalism. These people are busy and there’s a lot of freelancers out there. You can catch their eye by making a bold statement about your work with one or two examples of something simple, clean and crisp.

3. Use Social Networks Religiously

Get set up on all the different social networks and make sure your portfolio has links to them so when people visit your portfolio, they have a way of connecting to you. On the flipside, link your portfolio on each of your social network profiles. Then, start engaging with people, brands and organizations in your field. Join groups and get involved in discussions, follow brands and re-post their content, give shout-outs to people and organizations that inspire you. Everybody likes attention, and they pay attention to people who notice them. Your social media strategy should be heavily focused on other people, brands and organizations, and only every so often on self-promotion. Social networking is a powerful way for you to build your freelancer reputation, so make it count.

4. Repurpose Your Portfolio Content

This I feel is one of the most under-utilized tips, especially among beginning freelancers. It involves some time and effort, but it will pay off big in terms of getting exposure. It involves taking what you have in your portfolio and repurposing it into new kinds of content so that you can post it to a wider array of sharing sites. If you’re a videographer, you could take one of the projects you’re featuring, create an educational slideshow highlighting a couple techniques you used to enhance your work, and post the slideshow to a number of content-sharing sites for people to learn about different topics. Maybe you’re an app developer. You could make a short video using online editing software showing the various stages of development and a demonstration of the final product, then post it to Youtube and other video-sharing sites. The whole idea is to generate more buzz around your content and work by finding ways to repurpose and repackage it into other mediums for wider distribution.

5. Get Listed On Every Directory

There are more freelance job boards and places to post your portfolio than you probably realize. You should be on all of them if possible. You probably know about the most popular ones, like Elance, oDesk and Freelancer, but there are literally dozens of sites, directories and forums where you can advertise your services. Craigslist has been replicated numerous times for an increasing number of niches, and the more you take advantage of opening up accounts and posting your uniquely-branded, crisply-presented portfolio, the more exposure you will get. There are even some fantastic services like FreelanceJobPoster that will post your portfolio onto all the top job boards and directories, and even some content repurposing to post on sharing sites.

Bonus Tip

Get out into the real world. Meet some people. Shake hands. Grab drinks. Laugh. Build real relationships. You can accomplish a lot behind the computer screen, but you’ll be amazed at how building your network in the real world amplifies the time you spend behind your computer.