Congrats, you have just registered on Malt! Your business choice is made and set up and you are now seeking your first assignments : so what now?
In order to attract the attention of clients, your Malt profile is essential to stand out. And not just stand out but to make your services even more visible and receive relevant job offers.
In this article, we share with you the 3 essential steps to take to complete your profile and make it even more attractive to clients.

First step: define your offer

As a freelancer, you are an expert and must position yourself and even “sell” yourself as such. So use your business acumen to define your services.

It may seem obvious, but taking the time to define the services you offer will allow you to be selected by the most relevant clients and for the most interesting projects as well.

The more accurate your offer is, the more you will be able to distinguish yourself from other freelancers. It can be by the your sector’s expertise, the technology you use, your sub-specialty or the type of project you carry out. Having a precise offer will not close any doors but will allow you to convince your future client, in one glance, that you are the expert he/she needs to ensure the success of his/her project.

Once this is made clear, it will be easier for you to define your main keywords. Those keywords will be the most prominent on your profile and correspond to the core of your business or the service you offer. Don’t forget your more secondary keywords, related to skills that are less essential to you.

Second step: ensure relevant referencing

Once your offer is well defined on paper, it is now time to display your plan on your profile. Put on your advertising cap and make a list of keywords that will allow you to highlight your skills, your offer, your work methodology and your more importantly your goals and expectations. Once you have done this, start completing your profile! The logical steps to follow are quite simple: your most important keywords must appear in all the strategic places listed below.

  • Title : explain your job and, if applicable, your specialty. Make sure your main keywords are included. This is the first information that your potential clients will read, so it is important to carefully select the information that will be included.
  • Skills : list all the skills and services related to your core business. Then secondary keywords such as sub-services, deliverable formats, tools, favorite topics… The most successful profiles on Malt have an average of 20 key skills displayed.
  • You in a nutshell : in this part, take the time to develop the services you wish to offer to your future clients by always making sure to use the keywords mentioned in the title or the skills. You can specify the type of company or mission you are targeting, if you have any preferences, but especially develop your human qualities or any information about yourself that could differentiate you from the competition. This is also a good place to give a quick summary of your career, your past experiences and cite your best client references.

Don’t hesitate to synthesize your presentation with bullet points to simplify the client’s reading experience.

  • Experiences : you can import your experiences directly from your Linkedin profile in under a minute : it’s ideal if your profile is up to date.

Otherwise, we suggest you describe your experience, either as a freelancer or as an employee. If your experiences are too extensive (due to a multitude of small assignments for example), add only the main ones or group them together. Be sure to give some context and detail your role. Adding a minimum of 3 experiences to your Malt profile doubles your chances of receiving opportunities in the months following your registration.

Furthermore, if you have already worked with a company that uses Malt, your profile will be more visible to that specific client. Indeed, clients have a view of the entire network of former and current collaborators / freelancers registered on Malt.

Your experiences can be illustrated (especially for creative profiles) in the Portfolio section of your profile.

  • Training and certifications : completing this section with 3 items can also increase your chances of receiving assignment proposals in the 6 months following your registration. Especially in the tech industry, clients are actively looking for profiles with specific certifications, so don’t miss out on this opportunity to stand out.
  • Categories : Make sure you are listed in the main category that most closely matches your core business.

Of course, we recommend that you add a professional photo to your profile.

Once you have completed all these criteria, make sure your profile is consistent and move on to the next step : convince your future client that you are THE freelancer he/she needs to succeed in his/her project.

Third step : convince the client to work with you.

Your profile is complete and visible, congratulations!
But that’s not all : make sure your profile becomes a real showcase for your work and future collaborations. So keep updating it!

  • Don’t sell yourself short. Find out what the going rates are in your field, depending on your experience and location, and post the rate you think is right. For this, don’t hesitate to take a look at the Malt Tech Trends (for tech profiles of course) and the barometer. Low bids are not good for your finances nor for the freelancing market in general. A good client is a client who realizes the monetary value of your work and in case of negotiation, you will be able to adjust your rate if necessary.

Also, don’t forget to include the Malt commission in your rate to make sure that what you get at the end of the mission matches your expectations.

  • While waiting for your first client reviews, ask for recommendations from previous clients, employers or colleagues. Peer recognition is fundamental and your potential future client will be reassured to read the feedback from previous projects you have conducted.
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  • Post your recent training and personal projects! Highlight the fact that you are continuously learning or developing new skills. The strength of freelancers lies precisely in this constant evolution, from one mission to another. Clients will appreciate this.

Your profile should now be ready to attract prospects and convince them to contact you. However, a nice window display is not everything! Once the conversation has started, be sure to take care of each step of your collaboration to ensure that the mission goes smoothly and why not, to keep your client loyal in the long term?