Becoming a Freelance Web Developer: Where to Start?

Becoming a Freelance Web Developer: Where to Start?

If you want to become a freelance web developer, there are three important aspects of the job that you shouldn’t overlook, even though it might be tempting to race toward the goal of being your own boss and setting your own rules. The more you prepare yourself ahead of time, the better off you could be if your freelance web developer business takes off. Let’s dive in.

Focus on Continually Improving Your Web Dev and People Skills

Focus on Continually Improving Your Web Dev and People Skills

Whether you’re new to the world of web development or you’ve been working in it for a little while now, you’ll have to continually improve your technical skills to have the best chance of scoring clients and keeping them happy. Another skill you should focus on is your ability to interact with people, since you’ll most likely be taking care of all communication efforts.

If you’re worried about becoming the best people-person out there, take a deep breath and relax. All you really need to flesh out ahead of time is your set of professional boundaries for your business. If you can draft up a list of your available hours, expected work deliverables, expected turnaround times, and how communication will be handled with clients, then you’re on your way. Of course, an optimistic attitude will help you out along the way, too.

Develop a Niche or Robust Web Portfolio That You Can Showcase

Develop a Niche or Robust Web Portfolio That You Can Showcase

One question that you’ll have to answer for yourself is who your target audience is and how you’ll show them you’ve got what it takes to earn their business. As a freelance web developer, there’s a good chance you’ll be working alone to build and maintain sites, so the more narrow your website focus, the better your results could be.

For instance, you could build a business around creating and developing WordPress sites and ignoring everything else. Alternatively, you could develop strictly custom websites (if that’s what you enjoy) and attract an audience based on that skill. Making this decision now can help you make the most of your time and effort.

One thing you should probably avoid when starting out is becoming too robust or focusing on every type of website possible. Remember, you have to balance quantity with quality in order to be successful as a freelance web developer, and tasks become tradeoffs between time and money.

Gain Your Current Clients’ Trust to Help Reach More Opportunities

Gain Your Current Clients’ Trust to Help Reach More Opportunities

Once you’ve developed your technical and personal skills and you’ve decided on what direction to take your freelance web developer business in, you may come to a point where you’ll need to expand. One way to do this is to gain your current clients’ trust so you can leverage it to reach other clients and more opportunities.

For instance, if you start your freelance web developer business with two small business clients, building their sites and maintaining them to their satisfaction, then each of them recommend two new clients, you could have six manageable and interwoven clients to launch the rest of your career. 

Further Your Web Dev Skills While Developing a Portfolio

Of course, the first step toward building a freelance web developer career is learning the hard skills you’ll need. You could start with a 13-week coding bootcamp, like Devmountain. You can learn the skills you need to become a professional web developer while building out your portfolio and network opportunities in Devmountain’s immersive learning environment. Are you ready to make the commitment?

Learn more about the Full-Time Web Development course.

Recommended Reading

Web Development for Beginners: Where to Start?

How to Learn Web Development in 13 Weeks

Why You Should Code Every Day

Becoming a Freelance Web Developer: Where to Start?

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