Stand out from the freelancer crowd: the basics to build a profile that lands you freelance jobs online

THE BASIC SETUP

You must find a balance between sounding familiar and being formal.

Pick 1 name and 1 last name you mostly respond too. You’ll be surprised to see how many people are using their full-length name as in a formal document or just a nickname, to be in the other extreme. A good balance will show you professional and approachable.

“An image says more than a thousand words”… Tired of hearing it? Well, unfortunately, it is still common to see profiles that have forgotten the basics here. A good image reflects what you want the clients to see. Platforms can be cold places, show your humanity (never user avatars), make sure you’re visible (choose neutral backgrounds, a good angle and the right lightning) and show your work attitude (you are a freelancer and what you wear and what you’re doing is important to land those freelance jobs).

Avoid listing every single course you have done in your life (primary and secondary schools won’t do much for you here). Pick 3 to 5 that are relevant to the services you want to offer and reflect the dates and institutions that granted the titles or certificates. If you’re studying, it’s OK to reflect that program too (just don’t say you have completed a course if it’s still in progress, trust is built from the first moment!). 

Don’t underestimate the importance that clients give to this part, especially when working with such international exposure. Make sure you mention only the languages that you can use at a proficient level (not much can be done if I can barely understand a couple of words in a language!). Less is more, don’t oversell your proficiency if the customer could be disappointed when trying to communicate in a call with you. By the way: which language are you using to create your profile? The one the customers in the platform are mostly using? Keep your doors open being as inviting as possible here to land your next freelance job soon.

This is a key indicator for clients that are looking at your profile without you having applied to their jobs yet. Although it’s important to set a reasonable price here, the definitive is the one you define for each particular proposal, adjusting it to the complexity and specific needs of the project. Anyway, remember the market follows a simple offer/demand rule, so make sure you look around profiles with similar experience to define your profile rate at a competitive level.