Becoming a remote worker proves incredibly rewarding for most. However, what serves as its greatest benefit—being your own boss—may also be your biggest challenge.

Being self-employed means that you’ll have to search for work on your own rather than wait for a task to be assigned to you. It’s probably the most stressful part of being a virtual professional given how it’ll determine the fate of your online career.

After all, no clients equals no money.

Job boards are typically the easiest way to enter the industry, but as you gain momentum, the commissions eat into your income. Also, without any experience in cold emailing, you’ll have a hard time contacting companies to look for opportunities.

Clearly, landing new work is tough.

While there’s an awesome community on the web to support you, much of your success relies on your own efforts. It’s therefore crucial to learn how to get employers on a regular basis and how to retain your current client base.

Today’s article shares 3 things you must ‘build’ if you want to land more clients.

Build Your Personal Brand on Social Media

There’s a higher chance of you getting hired if the prospect has heard of you before. Social media is a powerful platform for getting your name out there.

Different industries prefer certain networks than others. To know which ones your niche uses the most, try asking people in the same field or searching online. Then, create a profile to begin interacting.

Start with LinkedIn

As we’ve detailed in a previous article, there are many reasons why LinkedIn is a powerful tool for business networking. Not only does it have over 50 million companies listed, but also 94% of organizations use it for recruitment.

Complete your profile

Upload a professional photo to build trust and draw attention. Next, input your complete job history and keep it updated. Be sure to include all your relevant skills and add new ones as you learn them. Also, emphasize your strengths and your edge over the competition.

Become an All-Star

According to LinkedIn, its All-Star users are 40 times more likely to receive opportunities on the network. Raise your profile to this status by adding more contacts, writing blog posts, crafting a better headline, claiming your URL, taking endorsements seriously, and mentioning volunteer causes.

Get some recommendations

Make it easier for potential clients to know what your present colleagues or former employers think of you via recommendations. To get these references, go to a connection’s profile and click on the menu on the upper-right corner where you’ll find the option to Request a Recommendation.

Let recruiters know

Check if your profile shows that you’re available for work. Find this in the Jobs tab under Update career interests. You’ll see ‘Let recruiters know you’re open’ option there; all you have to do is switch it on. Remember to specify the types of jobs you prefer and your preferred location though.

Use Other Channels

LinkedIn isn’t the only platform where you can make professional connections. There are other websites you can maximise for personal branding.

Join Facebook groups

See to it that your FB profile appears professional or decent before joining groups with prospects or peers. Contribute to conversations, show your expertise, and build rapport with those in the same industry. It’s entirely possible to get much work this way.

Position with Twitter

Use hashtags related to your field of work so people will find you more easily. Example: #virtualaccountant is a good one if you specialise in accounting or bookkeeping services while #graphicdesign is suitable when you’re looking for a remote design job.

Write guest blogs

Guest blogging is effective not only for SEO but also for personal branding. Normally, if you write for a blog, they link to your website or profile, which drives traffic to you and give you new business. Your posts will serve as a wonderful addition to your online portfolio as well.

Build Your Portfolio to Showcase Your Skills

Potential employers want to see what you’re capable of before hiring you for their own projects. The best way to do that is by having a portfolio.

Portfolios are a must-have for creatives like voice-over artists or book editors. However, they prove to be valuable for technical specialists like civil engineers as well.

Choose your host

Ensure that your portfolio host matches you, so you can properly convey your style and personality to visitors. Run a Google search on the best websites for your specific niche and examine their features one by one. Or, if your budget is limited, set up a free WordPress or Wix site instead.

Upload your best

Avoid posting anything that’s not of the highest quality. For work that isn’t digitized, take your time scanning them and ensuring that they’re your best work. Check that you’re not posting any creations that previous employers might have an issue with, such as their website copy.

Pitch with it

Show your portfolio to prospects every chance you get and appeal to them with the quality of your work. Walk them through the pieces most relevant to their needs to give them a better idea as to how you’ll contribute to their success. It may save you time on tests too.

Build Your Professional Website for Credibility

Having a dedicated website for your remote work is one of the wisest things you can do to stand out from the crowd. It’s a good method for getting leads to come to you, especially if you’ve optimized it for search engines.

You’ll also stop wasting your time in making pitches or communicating your services since all of the information prospects need will be available at a glance.

Specify your skills

Emphasize the things you’re decently good at than dozens of general ones. Market yourself as an expert people can turn to when it comes to these specific jobs. Narrowing down your specialities also gives you more chances to enhance these particular skills.

Mention personal details

If you want to come across as genuine, connect to your website visitors on a more personal level. Maybe you can say a bit about how you’re raising a few cats, or how you enjoy trekking during weekends. This will make them feel you’re comfortable to work with.

Showcase testimonials

Ask your past clients if they’d be willing to leave a review about their experience in working with you. You may feature these in a separate section of your website, or you may add them under your About Me page or somewhere around your homepage.

Display contact information

Shorten the time people have to spend searching for your contact details by making them prominent on your site. Apart from having an exclusive contact page, consider adding a message box on every page as well. Or, for a cleaner look, put these details at the footer.

Share social profiles

Add the links to your professional social media accounts someplace visible, especially the one for LinkedIn. These are normally positioned at your site’s footer or header, in the form of icons. Some websites have them on the side with a function for easy sharing too.

Link to portfolios

Rather than make your website and portfolio compete with each other for attention, make them work with each other. You may also host your best work on your website instead of using a separate portfolio. This helps save you money and adds content to your site.

Start blogging

Regardless if you have writing experience or not, you should have no trouble crafting a blog post on a topic you’re knowledgeable about. See to it that you update your blog on a regular basis to show visitors you’re active and to help with your SEO.

Let Us Help You

After you’ve finished optimizing your personal branding, you should have made yourself a lot more appealing to prospective employers.

But if you’re having trouble finding prospects, we at Remote Workmate can help. We’re connected to clients from all over the globe and they’re looking for virtual professionals just like you.