Freelancers with their own website usually get more orders. This is due to the fact that potential clients can get an idea of the services without a lot of work and demand and can contact you easily if they are interested.
Freelancer are dependent on it to come again and again to new projects and orders, in order to be able to survive in their Selbststandigkeit. For this it is important that you can be found in the first place, show presence and advertise yourself in some way. Since freelancers receive many or even most orders via the Internet today, a freelancer website is more than just a chance to present yourself easily. It is the best business card you can create for yourself.
Do freelancers necessarily need a website?
The question whether freelancers necessarily need a website can be answered with no. Those who have been active as freelancers for a long time, have a broad customer base and are perhaps often recommended from agency to agency, from company to company, may not need a website. He can rest on his reputation and be happy not to have to actively promote himself insanely.
However, this usually concerns only a few exceptions. All other freelancers, who have to hold their own against the competition and are always fighting for orders, can hardly do without a website nowadays.
On the one hand, for many clients the absence of such a website already indicates unprofessionalism. Many assume that a serious freelancer also has a website. They would like to get a picture of their previous work, see references and get a first impression. The website acts as a kind of modern, comprehensive business card and can even include the resume, which then does not have to be requested separately.
On the other hand, a website helps to attract targeted attention. Good design and a professional expression remain in the head. In addition, an SEO-optimized website can be found faster and easier on Google. Prospects and potential clients are more likely to click on your own website than those of your competitors.
If one must be able to program for the Website?
Especially those who have never really dealt with websites and blogs often fear that creating their own website requires an insane amount of work and knowledge. Creating your own website entirely without the help of a professional- that is much too complex and special?!
The creation of the website already causes headaches in advance? There is no reason for that. After all, no programming skills or the like are required today.
This fear is completely unfounded. Twenty years ago it might have been a bit more difficult to create your own website, but today it’s basically a matter of half a day- without any previous knowledge. Above all, no programming knowledge is required for this purpose.
Because there are countless providers who offer feature-rich "construction kits" Provide for websites, with which even the most IT-inexperienced people can create a website. Mostly a design can be selected from a large selection of free templates, which corresponds to the own aesthetic feeling. These "templates then only need to be filled with content to make the website look individual and professional.
A website pays for itself
In addition to the unfounded fear of complexity, there is often the question of price: isn’t it expensive to create your own website all by yourself and, above all, to run it for several years?? This fear is also unfounded.
On the one hand, a freelancer’s own website is a real investment in the future. It should help to make one’s own offer known online and to win more clients. This in turn will at best generate more revenue, which will exceed the cost of the website many times over. This is also due to the fact that in most cases websites do not cost much anymore.
The creation of a website can be done completely free of charge and takes only a few hours of your time. The hosting of the website costs between 5 and 40 euros per month, the domain between 5 and 20 euros per year- unless it concerns very special and popular domains. If you also want an exclusive template and special plugins, you have to calculate with 50 Euro or more. Of course, the sky’s the limit, but a simple freelancer website doesn’t have to cost more than about 50 euros per year.
On the other hand, every business expense as well as the creation and operation of a website tax deductible. Regardless of whether you operate one or more websites as a freelancer: As long as they are used for professional purposes, all associated costs are deductible.
How exactly the accounting of a domain works, can be read in detail as soon as it is done. This is also not too complicated and should not be an obstacle to create a website as a freelancer and claim the costs incurred for tax purposes.
Planning the website
There are different approaches to the creation of a website. If you have never created a website before and are not very familiar with it, you can start by getting an idea of your competitors. How do the websites of other freelancers look like? What do you like about it? What might make a rather bad impression at first glance??
When researching the websites of other freelancers, you may notice that you offer certain services that others do not offer. Or that one can deliver more and perhaps even faster work at better conditions. All this knowledge pays off when creating your own website. In this way, one avoids mistakes that others have sometimes made, and through good observations, one can stand out and make oneself unique.
The second step is to determine the goals of the website and, in connection with this, to define the target group to be addressed. Mostly it is about presenting yourself on the website and showing why you are worth to be booked by means of already successful works. Who knows, The freelancer who wants to convince which customer group with which services can set the focus on exactly this target group. Both in terms of weighting the content as well as the design, the interface etc. of the website, everything can be optimized for the specific target group. This makes the website stand out from the crowd and, at best, immediately catches those who are to be addressed.
The creation of the website
After the planning you can start to do the first steps to realize the website. To do this, you first need to Name and a URL to consider for the website. The name that appears on the home page of the website does not have to be identical to the name that appears in the URL.
The only important thing about the URL is that it is easy to remember and not too complicated. At best, it can be remembered immediately upon hearing it for the first time. For example, both the URL and the title can be the own Name or the Activity be in combination with the name. At least it should be clear who you are and what kind of services you offer.
As already mentioned, no programming skills are needed to get your website up and running. A "website kit" is enough with a simple editor interface. Popular here are especially providers such as WordPress, Jimdo or even 1&1.
Once you have decided on a provider, you can start looking for a new one Templates and choose a design that suits your own work, target group and aesthetic sensibilities.
Once the basic framework of the website is in place, the next step is to come up with a structure and design for the website User friendliness, so a simple and intuitive usability of the website. Of course, as a freelancer, you want to realize yourself with and on your own website and fully express your own personality and qualities.
However, it must never be forgotten that the website is primarily intended to convey an image of one’s own work to potential clients. You need to know quickly and easily what to click on to get this or that information. Creativity in the design of the website is good, but it should never be placed above functionality.
Part of every successful website structure should be on a freelancer website very specific subpages, or. categories, its. The following subpages are particularly recommended:
- Home page with the aim of presenting itself briefly and welcoming the visitors
- Imprint, which is required by law and is very easy to create using a free generator on the net
- Contact, that makes it possible to quickly find a telephone/cell phone number or e-mail address through which one can be reached
- Performance and offer, which serve to show exactly what kind of work one offers
- References, show previous work and possibly also contain testimonials from satisfied clients
- Üabout me – A sub-page where you introduce yourself in detail and sometimes attach a curriculum vitae
Once this and, if necessary, further subpages of your own are in place, the website can go online. This can be set at the provider with usually only a few clicks. It is then a matter of hoping for visitors and waiting to see if the site has its hoped-for benefits.
The whole thing works best if you, as a freelancer, perhaps also have conventional business cards issued, on which the website is also noted. In this way, potential clients with whom you have come into contact by other means can also find their way to the website and get a better impression of the work there.