Wanna stand out from the crowd? Find yourself a niche, find a web development course and upgrade your skills. While it’s great to be a programmer that can do a bit of everything, your value will be higher as an expert in just a few. “Becoming known as the solution to a particular set of problems is crucial to your freelance career, so you need to be willing to differentiate and then lock it in.” - Ted Johnson, longterm freelance developer If you’re not sure your current abilities solve a common enough problem, consider learning a new language altogether, or try building a skillset of complementary abilities other than coding. We have a UX Design Course, or UI Design Course for the more creative types. A developer who can also plan out a usable and effective information architecture is rare, and this dual-skilled approach could see you turning clients away left, right and centre. You don’t ever just want to be “that developer guy/girl I know” but rather “an expert developer for [insert problem here]”. It’ll be much easier to advertise your skills and make a name for yourself if you can say you’re the best in a particular, sought-after area, or the only one who can do it. Not sure what’s hot on the market right now? Here are the three most up and coming programming languages you’ll find today: Ruby on Rails Ruby on Rails is an open source web application framework which runs via the Ruby programming language. Currently the hottest of the hot among startups worldwide. Swift Swift is Apple’s new innovative programming language for Cocoa and Cocoa Touch. Structured for iOS development, syntax is concise yet expressive, and apps run lightning-fast. Node.js Node.js is a platform built on Chrome's JavaScript runtime for easily building fast, scalable network applications. Many argue it is the up-and-coming competitor to Ruby on Rails. As our friend and expert web developer Stephen Young put it:

So you’ve found your niche. Now it’s time to get building. The best place to start is your portfolio website, the one website you will update, edit and continually develop for your entire career. Your portfolio is a way of displaying your skills and having an easy reference for potential clients. If in doubt, remember that your goal in self-representation is to be easy to find, easy to remember, and good to know. You can read more about this in my article My Secrets To Becoming A Successful Freelancer (And How You Can Get Out Of Your Desk Job In 30 Days. But once you’ve published your CV, previewed samples of your past and added a contact form, what should you do? Build your ideas, they are what make you, you! Once you’ve built your portfolio, you need things to put in it, which is your opportunity to boost your personal brand by: Practicing your niche skill Building your own ideas Exhibiting your technical chops You’re essentially killing two birds with one stone: you’re improving on and applying your new skills while simultaneously showing your wares. Your portfolio is your shop window, so make sure that it, and its contents, represent your very best work. And if you want help making it better, help others! Keep a blog that explains your process, ask and answer questions on social media build, build, build every day. A great example of this is here:Confessions Of An Unlikely Developer                .

Getting your name out there as an expert in the field can be tough, but if you want the freelance lifestyle, you’ll have to hustle for it, so get ready for some sleepless nights. There are so many opportunities for professionals to get known without spending a penny that advertising is not a route you need to go down, not at this stage. By showcasing your work, building a network and teaching and blogging like an expert you will find more than enough ways to connect with people and for people to find you. It’s crucial that you talk to people. Online and off. The internet, as you may know, is a marvellous marketing tool. There are so many opportunities for creating and building on new relationships that with a little tact your voice will quickly become vastly superior to any ads you’ll produce. Always keep in mind that you’ll have to talk to a lot of people to find and land clients, so get used to it! As professional freelancer Rebecca Shapiro told us: "Make sure that you seek freelancers outside of your industry, as well. Be as far reaching as possible. Go into building these relationships with an attitude of giving instead of getting and you'll find you've easily built a reciprocal referral network." From a visibility standpoint, keep your goals simple. Getting Google to find you if you have a normal name can be tough, so focus on attaching your name across your portfolio, social profiles and content to the terminology of your niche skill, and the problems your clients will search for. To kick it off, here are some great websites for online marketing: Twitter - create a following by tweeting about current news in your niche, having conversations with people in your field and answering questions. Quora - answer questions from people interested in your niche. Make these as detailed as possible: the more content you write the more likely Google is to associate your name with web development. YouTube - create online tutorials and upload them using YouTube. Put them on your own website. Give them easy-to-Google titles like: “What is ” or, “How to ….” so that people can easily find them when they search. Try to make them personal and funny - without going too far off-topic - the more watchable they are the more people will come back to you for more videos. Finally, a great opportunity for web developers to build a       brand with is teaching. There are thousands of opportunities across the web for building, writing and mentoring in your particular niche        .

Becoming a freelance web developer is not just about knowing how to code. It’s about being a project manager, a sales person and head of customer care. You might not have had much experience in these areas but they are just as crucial to the success of your freelancing career as anything you can do with your programming skills. This means you need to get organised! Check out these time and project management tools and you'll see how things have moved on since the days of the Filofax. Quoteroller is a practical, time-saving way to create and send professional proposals to clients in a matter of minutes. You can chart your proposal’s performance and even see when the client has opened it. Toggl can be a great way to track projects and see how much time you are spending on each one. Asana is an excellent project management system, especially if you are working with others and need to delegate tasks or collaborate. Google has an infinite range of calanders and management apps. BillingsPro can be used to do project management and invoicing. FreshBooks can organise your projects, invoicing and expenses all with one app. Do your research, ask friends, colleagues and other freelancers what they use. Josh Boyd, longterm freelancer and writer for Crunch, gave us his advice: "The most useful thing I realised about freelancing was not to despair when things went a bit wrong. New tax forms to fill out and late-paying clients would make me reconsider, but it's worth remembering freelancing is meant to be a challenge. If it were easy, it wouldn't be half as rewarding."

1. Toptal - Toptal matches the top 3 percent of freelance developers with employers. Based on your project description, you will be matched with the developer most suited for the job. You will then have two weeks to decide if they are right for you.

2. Matchist - Matchist connects top freelance developers with entrepreneurs and startups. You submit your project, and they will give you three great developers from which to choose. Matchist accepts only 15 percent of developer applicants to their network.

3. Gun.io - Gun.io matches freelancer developers that are significant contributors to the free and open source software community to employers. Developer applicants are screened twice - once when joining the community, and once prior to being assigned to a project. Search Freelancer Profiles The next type of site you can use to find freelancers allows you to search freelancer profiles and contact the ones you think would be best for your project. You will find both general freelance networks that allow you to search for freelancers that fit multiple needs, from admin to writing, to networks that specialize in one area, such as development. Pros The upsides to using this type of freelance network are cost and convenience. You can usually search for freelancers that fit your price range for a wide variety of tasks and manage them in one place. Essentially, you can find and hire people who specialize in data entry, graphic design, software development, writing, and more all in one place. You can also post job listings on many of these networks for free. Cons The downsides to using this type of freelance network are overwhelm and quality. The top networks typically have hundreds of thousands of freelancers for you to filter through. And you will likely find that you get what you pay for. If you hire based on getting the lowest price you find, then you will probably get that level of quality.

4. Upwork - Formerly oDesk, Upwork is one of the largest freelance networks. You can search for freelancers that specialize in ecommerce, game, mobile, software, and web development. You'll also find freelancers who can help with product management, quality assurance testing, and a wide variety of other skills.

5. Upwork.com - Elance is another top network that gives you instant access to over 350,000 developers who specialize in mobile, software, and web development.

6. Guru - Guru allows you to look for specific services and people who provide them. These include general programming, language-specific programming, software, and management.

7. Freelancer - Freelancer allows you to search for freelancers based on the job you need completed. These jobs include building a website, building an online store, writing software, creating templates, and developing applications.

8. People Per Hour - People Per Hour allows you to search for freelancers (also referred to as hourlies). You can choose developers who specialize in web development or software and mobile development.

9. Codeable - Codeable is a freelance network that allows you to search for freelance developers that specialize in WordPress. Each developer's profile includes their skills beyond WordPress, which can include CSS, HTML, plugin development, debugging, PSD to HTML, cPanel, JavaScript, and more. Post a Job Listing The third type of site you can use to find freelancers allows you to post job listings. There are hundreds of them, from the well-known ones for career seekers to the niche ones for specific communities. Pros With these sites you can specify what you want, and your candidates will come to you. You don't have to search through tons of profiles to figure out what you need, and then send tons of messages to people in the hope they will be available. Cons First, you need to know what qualifications to place in the job listing. Second, you have to wade through a sea of applicants. Depending on where you post and what you are looking for, you could be looking at either dozens of applicants or hundreds of them. Then, it's up to you to filter down to the best ones, interview them, and hire them. Third, you may have no support if the candidate doesn't work out in the end.

10. Craigslist -

Craigslist is an online classifieds site that you can use to post a job listing for a freelance developer. It's especially useful if you want to look for a freelancer that lives in your area who would be available for in-person meetings. The downside is that you have to post your listing in a specific location, even if you are open to someone who works remotely from anywhere.

11. Stack Overflow Careers - Stack Overflow Careers allows you to post a job listing for a freelance developer in their developer community.

12. GitHub Jobs - GitHub Jobs is another job board you can use to find freelance developers within a strong developer community.

13. FindBacon - FindBacon is the premier job board for professional web designers and developers. You can tag your job listings with specific skills from Ajax to Zepto.

Becoming a freelance web developer is not just about knowing how to code. It’s about being a project manager, a sales person and head of customer care. You might not have had much experience in these areas but they are just as crucial to the success of your freelancing career as anything you can do with your programming skills. This means you need to get organised! Check out these time and project management tools and you'll see how things have moved on since the days of the Filofax. Quoteroller is a practical, time-saving way to create and send professional proposals to clients in a matter of minutes. You can chart your proposal’s performance and even see when the client has opened it. Toggl can be a great way to track projects and see how much time you are spending on each one. Asana is an excellent project management system, especially if you are working with others and need to delegate tasks or collaborate. Google has an infinite range of calanders and management apps. BillingsPro can be used to do project management and invoicing. FreshBooks can organise your projects, invoicing and expenses all with one app. Do your research, ask friends, colleagues and other freelancers what they use. Josh Boyd, longterm freelancer and writer for Crunch, gave us his advice: "The most useful thing I realised about freelancing was not to despair when things went a bit wrong. New tax forms to fill out and late-paying clients would make me reconsider, but it's worth remembering freelancing is meant to be a challenge. If it were easy, it wouldn't be half as rewarding."

I think I should probably preamble every thing by letting you know that working as a freelancer - whether in web development or any other field - can be very unstable. Hours, income and payment can be erratic and it may take time before you can adjust and stabilize everything. And if you've never worked as a freelancer before, it can definitely take a toll on you emotionally if you aren't prepared for the switch. Hours and Availability When I first branched out to freelance, I tried very hard to maintain normal business hours. The problem with this is that a lot of clients do not think of their web site during normal business hours; this is especially true of smaller businesses and personal sites. The clients call and / or email during lunch, after their work is finished, or on the weekends. Because of this, I often found myself working at 2 or 3 in the morning and all weekend long. Not exactly the fairy tale I was expecting when I thought of freelance as "setting my own hours". Of course, 7 years later, this is much more under control and now I am finally able to work when I want rather than feeling like someone's extracurricular activity. But it does take time to get there. And I hate to say it, but if you're a new freelancer, this is just one of those dues that you may have to pay. It can be very hard to prove yourself as a new freelancer - especially since freelance web development is a global field. If you don't want to be working at 3 in the morning, you certainly don't have to be - but someone, somewhere in the world will be available. And that person can probably do everything you can do for a comparable price. Payment Of course, there is also a question of payment that comes about when working as a freelancer. How will a company or person pay you? When will you get paid? First, the when... You may find that a lot of clients prefer to pay only after they've seen the finished product. Others will pay you some sort of hourly or weekly wage while you work. Some will be willing to pay you a fee up front to retain your services and then pay the rest once you've completed your work. Because of these differences in payment schedules, you may find yourself making a lot of money one week, and then floating for 3 or 4 weeks before your next payment finally comes through. Budgeting your income as a freelance web designer entails budgeting your time and clients to help ensure that your income remains steady and regular. As for the how... You can set and determine your payment method any way you like. You can choose to accept cash, checks, credit cards, PayPal, eGold, even Western Union if that's what you prefer. But, with any payment method, there are fees, varied waiting periods before you can actually spend your money and other aspects to take into consideration. Trust me, there's little worse than knowing you have an overdue bill to pay and you aren't able to pay it because the check that someone sent you is sitting on hold at the bank for another week.

All Right! That's enough talk about stress, erratic hours and fluctuating pay. So let's get on with it and start talking about how you can maximize your income as a freelance web developer. Seasonal Services It makes sense to start off by talking about some of the income-boosting ideas that you can implement easily by taking inspiration from the time of year. One way to help increase your income as a freelance web developer is to offer redesign services during the holiday seasons. This can include logo designs to include holiday symbols and/or colors, new backgrounds or fonts to go with holidays, or even an updated landing page. Google's famous Doodles are the best example of this: While you're updating your clients' sites to include these small touches you can also offer your services in rebranding their advertising and marketing campaigns to coordinate with the season. If you're on the creative or artsy side, you can also offer to design eCards for your clients. I receive an eCard from so many different stores / subscriptions / sites. Many sites use them to advertise sales and discounts while spreading a little holiday cheer to their customers. Get onboard early enough and you can find a very easy, short-term project that will help your clients and build your reputation (all while granting you a little more coin). Hosting Services Remember earlier I spoke about how talking to a client's hosting provider was sometimes a nightmare? Well, offering your own hosting services can alleviate that nightmare for both of you. There are several hosting companies that offer some sort of reselling plans. With these plans, you can choose every thing that you want to offer to your clients: pricing, disk space and bandwidth, MySQL databases, cpanel, email accounts...anything they would normally get by going through any traditional hosting company. This idea will not only help supplement your income with a nice, regular monthly payment (or yearly or quarterly or however you feel like billing for it) but it will also make things much easier on your clients. And, as I'm sure you already know, if you can make things easier on your clients they will keep coming back to you for just about anything they may need. Learn When to Say "No" This may sound a little strange, but learning when to tell a client "no" can be a very important part of determining your income and making sure it stays on the higher end of what you want. As a freelancer, you will find yourself making all sorts of promises - from deadlines to designs and beyond. And, of course, the more often you are able to live up to (or even exceed) these promises, the better for your reputation and, subsequently, the better for your income. It's so very tempting to promise your clients the world - I know this. Part of the temptation is the fear that if you tell a client you can't deliver the world then they will find someone else who can. It's a very real fear and that is certainly one potential outcome from having to limit your promises. But the worst consequences come from telling a client "yes" when you know that you won't be able to deliver. If you can't make a deadline, if you don't know how to integrate third party ideas (ie., Salesforce or Net Suite), or if you can't keep up with your current projects then tell the client "no." They will respect you for being honest and not wasting their time while you try to research how to do whatever it is that they've asked. And, of course, if you are able to research and learn a new skill set in the meantime, then that's all the better because now you will be able to offer that service to another client (or possibly even to the same client if she hasn't found another resource just yet). Being a freelancer means building and earning trust with your clients. For a client to earn your trust is easy - all they have to do is pay the bill and bam... trust earned. You, on the other hand, have a much harder task in front of you if you want to earn a client's trust - and part of that job is to know your limits and only make promises within those limits.

So, who purchases templates and layouts from an online source? Well, in truth nearly everyone does or has. But more often than not, it's one of a few people: A new developer who has some of the more basic skills but is still developing some of the more advanced skills in web development A client hoping to do as much of his or her web site as possible for himself/herself Anyone (developer or client) of any experience level who is facing a deadline or is in a hurry to get something completed. Whatever the reason that they bought your template, there is a strong chance that they will be looking to customize it in some way to fit their exact needs - and that's where you might come in. If you've chosen to include your contact information (a web site address, an email address or, if you really want to make things easy, a Skype address) then they will likely contact you first in regard to these needs. After all, you designed the template and know it inside and out; if anyone should be able to customize it quickly and do a great job, it should be you. Of course, not every one who visits your site and downloads this new layout will contact you about customizing it or installing it as their new WordPress theme; but some likely will. And, once again, you may end up leading a nice, short-term project right to your doorstep with very little extra effort. In addition to this, you may find yourself opening doors to more sources of income such as:

In this article I've outlined a number of methods for leveraging your skills to the maximum, allowing you to earn more and lead a self-directed lifestyle. Working as a freelance web developer can be very fulfilling. It can be your chance to start making money for yourself rather than making money for some boss who's standing over your head. Finally, you'll be able to work in an environment where you can determine your worth, your prices and salary, and your hours. But it can also be very hard. Work and income can be very sporadic. The stress can become frequent and sharp and all the headaches that you'll be leaving behind at that old office will be replaced with new ones. Using these tips will help increase your income in various ways, from creating a steady stream of supplemental income to attracting and retaining new and repeat clients. Above all else, remember that working as a freelance developer will not be the walk-in-the-park-piece-of-cake career choice that so many people seem to believe it is. But it can be very fun and very rewarding. As with anything else, you'll get out of this career choice exactly what you put into it.

One thing a client looks for in a potential freelancer is whether you’ll be able to deliver. If you’re new to freelancing, there’s a 90% chance you’ll lose out on projects to a more experienced freelancer. After all, clients are spending a lot of money on their projects, and they want every penny to count. Occasionally, though, a prospective client doesn’t just choose the most experience freelancer, but instead spends the time to review the profiles of other freelancers who offered to work at a lower rate. Now you have a chance to convince the client that you are worth a try. To make a great impression with the client, you need to have a convincing portfolio. By portfolio, I don’t mean one with a lot of showy graphics and design. Good portfolios use a simple design and show off the best work you have done. If you have worked on some big projects at your daily job, put up some screen shots and a description of the project. Don’t brag too much–just be clear and to the point. The tips that follow will include some additional items that you can include in your portfolio.

Beginning freelancers face a tough dilemma: To get projects, you need to have a reputation based on projects you’ve already completed. But since you’re starting from zero, you have no projects and no reputation. So how do you start to build your reputation? When you find yourself in this position, your main objective should be building your reputation, rather than getting paid. This will help you gain some experience, make some new contacts and begin to build your portfolio. But how do you grab a “charity project”? Here are some effective approaches: Get in touch with startup companies–preferably ones not related to software–and offer to build them a website or write some utility software. Since they’re not dealing in software, there’s a good chance they’ll welcome your services. Check with local organizations and see if they are looking for any software development services that you can offer. Communicate with your friends and family. Nowadays, every small business is going online. Your existing network can likely get you in touch with someone looking for the services you offer. Create a neatly designed business e-card with your name on it and email it all your contacts. Let them know that you’ll be offering your freelance services at a discounted price for a limited period.

Recommendations play a major role in getting business. You’re more likely to hire a mechanic recommended by a friend than one you saw in a newspaper advertisement. Testimonials can give your reputation as a freelancer a major boost. After you complete a project, make it a point to get a testimonial from your client. When you’re adding testimonials to your portfolio, be sure to include the client’s name and company. It makes a difference, especially if prospective clients have heard of the clients or companies you list. All testimonials are not equal. Detailed, results-focused testimonials leave a lasting impression and work better than vague praise. When you contact clients for testimonials, ask them for feedback based on numbers. Or at least ask them to be more specific in their feedback. Here’s an example of a testimonial that’s overly vague: “Working with XYZ was a great experience.” And here’s one that’s more concrete: “XYX helped to increase our profit margin by 30% this quarter. “ Testimonials can be crucial for freelancers. So don’t forget to include testimonials received from charity projects in your portfolio.

Marketing plays an important role when it comes to landing projects. You need to make yourself known in places where you are likely to find potential clients. You can meet clients both online and offline, and you should have a strategy for both. When meeting a potential client in person, maintain a casual and friendly tone. A potential client is more likely to hire you if you can connect with him or her personally, so avoid being overly formal. If the person doesn’t seem interested in working with you right now, transition the conversation into a personal chat. Get to know them a bit and build a good, friendly relationship. Be sure to follow up with the prospect later and keep him in the loop, in case he requires your expertise in future. Blogging is one tool that allows you to establish a presence online. Blog about your area of expertise and show off your best work samples. You can also take part in online discussions related to your area of expertise. Interact and engage with people by answering questions on forums and sites like StackOverflow.