LinkedIn is an essential platform for all freelancers and if you are a web developer, it is crucial that you know how to get web development projects from LinkedIn.
Getting more projects to work on translates into better profits and better positioning in your niche.
The tips and advice that you will find here will make you improve your performance and will make you more effective at the moment of nailing down a job opportunity with a client.
Ready, Aim, Fire
There are three basic steps to get web development projects from LinkedIn: research, connect, offer.
Like you, there are many other freelancers who are looking for job opportunities, but if you follow this structure with patience and perseverance, you will surely see good results soon.
Research
The first step is to search for companies that require your services. This is very important to avoid wasting your time with clients who are already working with a web developer.
By giving a look at the web pages of clients you would like to work with, you can tell if they need your services.
In your research you must determine what the target of your client is. Then prepare a list of questions that you would like to ask them to understand their criteria.
It is also essential that you ask yourself questions about that potential client and answer them by putting yourself in their shoes.
In general, if the website looks outdated, slow, or if they have not updated in a long time, it is most likely that they are not receiving the services of any web developer. It is also necessary to look for people working in those companies.
That is the way you can establish a connection between you and the business that might be interested in your work.
Connect
Now that you know who you will contact to start creating a connection with the company that interests you, you should know how to carry out that conversation.
If you plan to contact them by private messaging or mail, try to address yourself in a personalized way. This means, using the person’s name.
It would also be very positive if you have already identified the particular need of that client so that you let them know that you have checked their website, that you know about the company, and that you know what is the need that they must solve.
The part of the previous step where you ask yourself questions and answer them as if you were the client, is essential to better understand them.
If you can identify what your client’s motivations or concerns are, it will be even easier to connect with them and they will feel your empathy.
Offer
When it is time to offer them a proposal, thank them for giving you the opportunity. However, try to maintain a professional tone, as much as you want to work for them, you do not want to sound too pushy. Remember that it is actually them who need you.
Put together a good proposal that fits their needs and possible budget. If before talking to them you have already identified what their brand’s style is and you make a proposal taking that into account, they will surely notice your interest and that you are a web developer who is genuinely interested in improving their image and online presence.
Only in the US there are more than 160 million of LinkedIn users, so you must be creative to stand out.
Do not be afraid to offer something to your customer that is a little out of their comfort zone, in fact, many times that is what their brand will need.
Many web developers may offer them a safe and traditional option for their website, but remember that as a web developer you are capable of creating something tangible out of an abstract idea.
Define Your Ideal Client and Services
Who is your ideal potential customer?
Think about it for a few minutes and keep reading. If your answer is “everyone” you have a big problem, because this fact indicates that you do not know who you want to sell, or rather, who you want to help.
This surely has other consequences in the strictly professional sphere such as, for example, diffuse and poorly focused messages and communications, ineffective and costly strategies and marketing plans and irregular income flows, among others. But also, consequences in the most personal sphere: stress, frustration, and demotivation.
To get clients to buy your services, you must define who your ideal client is. Many freelancers fail because they do not know their target market and when they try to please everyone with their products or services, they really do not please anyone and end up lowering prices and wasting time and money.
So how to define your ideal client?
Think about what they do, if it is a company or if they are people with personal brands, what style do they handle? Are they formal or more casual?
You can be even more specific and dedicate yourself exclusively to front-end, back-end or full-stack. The more specific you are, the better.
Optimize Your Profile
Sometimes the reason why you do not get clients is in your own profile. It is common to make mistakes about the information you put there, so you should keep in mind that your LinkedIn profile is your presentation, the first impression that potential clients take.
You must optimize it to get the best out of it.
Professional Picture
On LinkedIn, your profile image will be part of your brand. For this reason, a good professional profile photo is key to make a good impression.
It is important to take care of the details when doing it, just like you put a lot of effort when doing other types of work since this image will be decisive for your brand and the perception that people who follow you have about it.
Not everyone likes photos but you definitely should put effort into yours. According to Brand Watch, having a profile picture is crucial to get more views and generate more interest.
Source: Soravjain
Here are some useful tips for your profile picture:
- Avoid general shots in which the face is not appreciated.
- Do not include distracting elements in the image: pets or other people.
- It is recommended to use a colored background or a location that looks professional, such as a study, office, or library.
- Wear the clothes you would wear to a job interview.
- Take care of the lighting. It is essential that you can see your face well.
Headline
The LinkedIn headline is a representative description with 120 characters maximum, of who you are professionally. Any reader should be able to get an idea of what you professionally contribute by reading your Linkedin headline.
If the reader reaches your headline and it generates doubts about what they will find when entering your profile or confuses the reader because there is no coherence between headline and profile, it is that your Linkedin headline is not good enough and is not fulfilling its mission.
LinkedIn headline’s purpose is to attract interest. It will depend on the good management of the headline that you capture the attention of the reader, that motivates them to take action, enter your profile, examine it completely, and connect/communicate with you.
A good headline on LinkedIn makes a difference.
A good headline will also help you to attract Internet traffic and position yourself on LinkedIn searches. All the sections are important for positioning, and you have to place the keywords related to your profession.
For example, your headline on LinkedIn should say “Web Developer” and add whatever is necessary to be specific, for example, back-end developer or full-stack developer.
Do not forget that for LinkedIn, the title field has more influence when it comes to positioning than other sections.
Past Experiences and Clients
The potential client is looking for two things, they want to be completely sure of the professional they are going to hire and they want to know if the service or product you sell is going to work.
To end this barrier of mistrust, it is ideal to use a very important resource: your experience.
Talking about past clients or projects you have worked on is crucial to getting the attention of potential clients. While you can also get clients as a beginner, everyone wants an experienced freelancer to work with.
By showing your experience, you tell them that other companies have trusted you in the past and that you are definitely a professional.
There are many companies for whom experience is essential, so do not forget to fill in this field of information.
If you still do not have a lot of experience or popular clients, do not worry. Any experience related to web development is valuable so do not underestimate it.
Contact Information
It is important that you have your contact information on your LinkedIn profile since on that depends whether people you are interested in (potential clients, potential employers, headhunters, investors, etc.) can contact you; or that, on the contrary, you miss out on professional and business opportunities, for the simple fact of having neglected this section, or not having it sufficiently visible.
When people talk about your contact information on LinkedIn, they are generally referring to the text in the “Contact Information” section of your profile.
As its name indicates, it is the data that you provide about yourself so that they can locate you (telephone, e-mail, address); although other data is also included in this section, which helps people know more about you.
Social Media Links
Another good idea is to include the links of your social networks, of course, those related to your work.
For example, some freelancers use Instagram to promote their work, so if that is your case, with that or another social network, you can share that link so that people who visit your profile can later access your Instagram.
Avoid putting the links of your personal social networks since that is not related to your work and it is best to keep both things separate. In any case, it is still good that you increase the online presence of your personal brand in a social network. This increases the chances that a potential client will find you on the web.
Be Proactive
When you work as a freelancer, being proactive, and having initiative becomes essential in your work dynamics. Projects do not come easily, you need to look for opportunities and have a lot of initiative to get an invitation to a project.
At first, it can demotivate you a bit if you spend time looking for new clients but you get none, however, rest assured that with perseverance and patience your clients will begin to arrive.
LinkedIn is a great platform full of companies that are looking for website developers like you. It is all a matter of actively working to make yourself known and create connections.
Source: Soravjain
Search and Apply for Jobs
You already know that applying for jobs consists of researching your potential clients, connecting with them and offering them something that fulfill their needs.
However and first of all, you must keep in mind what type of projects you would like to work on and start looking for opportunities that fit your idea.
Of course, you must be realistic and aim for projects that you can truly carry out, and you must also be selective with the offers that you see available.
Do not spam the companies that interest you.
If you have already sent them a proposal or email and have not received a response, maybe you could follow up with one more message, but if they do not write back either, it is a sign that you should aim elsewhere.
One of the most important keys to getting web development projects from LinkedIn is to be persistent even though you may not see results soon.
To win clients you must show yourself available and for this, you must work every day. It will not be enough to just try one day and then give it up.
Be Helpful to Others on the Platform
Everyone, regardless of their level of technical knowledge, can always contribute to their community. If it is not about technical issues, it may be about other types of issues or with their points of view or other aspects in which they are more familiar.
Helping freelancers of your niche on LinkedIn is not only a good action you can make, but it is a way to create a community where everyone can help each other.
Besides, this will improve your image and you never know where a potential client might come from.
If someone writes you an internal email on LinkedIn, the most normal thing is to reply. Both to give an affirmative and negative answer. But at least answer.
It may sound obvious, but there are many freelancers who decide not to “waste their time” on these things, and what they do is walk away from potential connections.
You can also comment on the posts of other professionals. Highlight everything you liked the most about the post. It can be in your own words if you feel confident or simply using quotation marks to highlight all those points that you liked the most.
Share Blog Posts of Others
Aside from commenting, sharing is the foundation of engagement on LinkedIn. By sharing you not only help the person who made the publication but you gain visibility and you can expand your presence on the platform.
It seems obvious but before sharing you should read the post and if you do not like it or it seems boring, do not feel obliged to interact or share. No matter how relevant the person is.
If you did not like the blog post or if you did not find it interesting, the most normal thing is that your contacts (who will be like you), will not find it interesting either.
If you share something by an author and name them, you will attract the author’s community to your post and you will be able to read more comments from people interested in that topic.
Widen Your Social Circle on LinkedIn
Join Groups
Groups on LinkedIn are a space exclusively for professionals in the same sector. In it, ideas are shared, the members raise debates and problems, they suggest solutions, in short, they generate networking.
Such is the importance of groups on LinkedIn that, until a few years ago, it was the network itself that promoted and suggested joining them.
These groups have high potential as online marketing tools, regardless of the LinkedIn company page itself.
It is a space for conversations where the members share news about companies, about sectors, and they expose and discuss certain topics. The members of the groups on LinkedIn interact with each other, generating dialogue and establishing connections.
Send Out Connections
Connections on LinkedIn are important to make your network grow. In fact, each time you make a new connection, your professional community expands and introduces you to an average of 400 new people.
You can ask someone to join your professional network by sending them an invitation to connect with you. If the user accepts your invitation, they will become a first-degree contact. If you have pending invitations, they will appear near the top of the page.
This is a very interesting option since it allows people to accept you in their network since you will give them reasons why you want to connect to them.
When you invite members to connect you can add a personalized message to introduce yourself and make a better impression and make yourself known to a potential client or employer.
The person who receives the invitation has to feel that you really want to connect with them and that they are not someone else on your contact list.
Showcase Your Knowledge
You have valuable knowledge that other people need to know. Through LinkedIn Pulse, you can share useful information that will benefit other freelancers and improve your reputation, which will make potential clients interested in you.
Add Your Blog Posts on Pulse
LinkedIn Pulse allows LinkedIn users to write their own articles and share the results with their contacts and the entire community. It is a very interesting proposal and fully aligned with the purpose of the social network.
In the end, LinkedIn Pulse allows you as an individual, to demonstrate a bit of your professional knowledge and bring important insights to others.
What will attract other users and make them want to know more about your personal brand is the quality of the articles you publish within the social network.
Portfolio Website
But LinkedIn Pulse is not the only way you can share your knowledge with the world. You can also choose to create a portfolio website, which is an option widely used by freelancers, and in this way increase your online presence.
Creating a portfolio website is as simple as creating a wordpress.org account and signing up with a hosting platform such as Bluehost.
Provide Quality Content
You must make sure that the content that you are going to share through LinkedIn Pulse or your portfolio website is of quality. Think about what you can contribute to your community.
It is true that perhaps all the topics are already covered, but you have a unique perspective that will surely be valuable to others.
With the content that you publish, you will demonstrate the knowledge you have in your area and that is something that will improve your image in front of potential clients.
Show that you know what you are talking about and that you are an expert in your niche. If you write with property and confidence, you will be transmitting the type of freelancer you are: someone capable and professional.
Sharing professional content is key to getting more impressions. In fact, according to Omnicore Agency, this type of content receives 15 times more attention than job postings. Users on LinkedIn are interested in content that provides them with something valuable that they too can take advantage of.
Regularly Update Your Profile and Yourself
As a web developer, you are constantly updating and renewing all the time. The trends that were used a year ago may no longer like you, and that is how it will be as time goes by.
Keep Your Profile Up to Date
Many freelancers make the mistake of creating their profile and thinking that that is enough and that everything ends there. If you have a LinkedIn profile you must constantly update it, it can be every few months or every time you do a new job.
You need to keep your profile updated so they can see that you are an active user and that you are interested in getting involved in new projects.
Besides, it is good that as you do new jobs, you update your profile so that other users and potential clients can see that your experience continues to grow and that your work is in demand.
Educate Yourself
You should not only keep your profile updated but also your knowledge. As a web developer, you surely will know that your niche is renewed every day and that each time there are new trends and technologies to use, so you can never stay behind.
There are online course platforms where you can do brief and very useful studies on the most popular and used trends of your niche.
LinkedIn Learning
It is a paid educational platform that you can access from your LinkedIn profile. It currently has more than 10,000 courses from different sectors such as technology, business, creativity, writing, programming, etc.
This platform is not free for all LinkedIn users. Depending on the account you have on this social network, you can access LinkedIn Learning in one way or another. If your LinkedIn account is free, you will have to pay to access the courses.
If you already have a LinkedIn premium account, you will not have to pay to access the available courses. Generally, after completing the courses you will receive a certificate and can add it to your LinkedIn profile.
Consistency is the Key
To get web development projects from LinkedIn, you must work hard to make yourself known and to establish connections with other people in the community.
As long as you contact people to offer them proposals, interact with other freelancers or LinkedIn users and keep your profile updated, you will acquire more skills that will make you a better professional and you will get new clients as a result.
With effort, you will make your freelance career as a web developer something that will generate stable and satisfactory earnings.