Thanks to a growing gig economy, the number of freelancers are on the rise.

While this might be good news for those who want to become their own boss and work from home, it’s not so great for the freelancers who are trying to stand out from the rest and sell their services.

In order to get yourself noticed and make sure you receive your fair share of clients, you need to brand your freelance services effectively, which means branding yourself.

In order to create a professional brand that portrays both your services and your personality effectively, you should follow these five essential tips. With them you’ll be able to display to clients exactly what the mission of your services are with just a glance at the first page of your website.

1. Think about your USP

You Unique Selling Point (USP) is the hook on which all your services and potential clients hang.

As a freelancer you have the advantage of being able to appeal to a niche market, which means you can tailor your services especially and have a higher chance of gaining clients and taking on projects.

However, you USP isn’t just about your services. This will also depend on your own personality, what you enjoy and most importantly why you do it.

The sooner you figure out what your USP is, the sooner you’ll be on track to building your professional freelance brand.

2. Choose a name and logo

The next step is to choose a freelance name. Some freelancers operate under their own name and do so successfully, while others choose to use a company name to operate under.

What suits you best will depend entirely on the nature of your business, personal preference and what your name is. If you have a relatively common name you may struggle to find a domain name that you can be registered under and that will be easy for your clients to find. In this instance it may be simpler for you to choose a brand name to operate under instead.

Once you’ve chosen the name you wish to use, you should start considering logos. Whether you’re using your own name or a brand name, you should still have your own logo.

This will help people identify your brand quickly and can add more personality, not to mention looks more professional.

3. Get writing

Now it’s time to organise your website. In terms of your professional branding this means writing an accurate and effective bio that reflects your services.

When writing this it can be helpful to list a handful of adjectives that you would use to describe your freelance services. From these phrases you can begin to expand and form a bio of yourself and your services.

From this bio you should move on to fill in information on the rest of your website using the same tone of voice for consistency. Once these are complete you may want to consider updating the wording in your social media biographies.

4. Create a presence

When your website’s set up and ready to go, it’s time to start putting yourself out there.

There are plenty of different ways you can start advertising your services online but the cheapest and most organic way to create awareness about your services is to set up social media channels.

It may depend on your personality and services as to which social platform you prefer to connect with people on, but it’s worth noting that all of them have their differences.

For instance, if you’re a freelance writer you really should be on Twitter. This is where you’ll find like-minded people, be able to display your creativity with short quip and insights and be able to really show potential clients what your writing is made of.

However if you’re more focused on building your network on a professional level than having a natter about daily politics, you should head over to LinkedIn. On here you can connect with people in your area and find out about networking events that may help you clinch that next project deal.

Of course, let’s not forget about Google and search engines. Get to know what people will be searching on to find your services and make every effort to rank organically in search results. You can get some further information here: Learn about organic SEO

5. Build your brand through your blog

Once you’re up and running, you should pay attention to your website’s blog. This doesn’t have to be a daily update of what you had for breakfast, nor does it have to read like a diary.

In reality it can be filled of your achievements and insightful information relating to your industry. This will work in your favour in terms of SEO and will show those who do head over to your website that you’re a consistent worker who is able to deliver.

What do you find the most difficult part of building your freelance brand? Join the conversation in the comment section below!