These days, a beautiful, functional website is more than just a great idea for companies looking to make a splash in their industry and attract customers. 

It’s an absolute must. 

However, very few business owners also know enough about web development to build and fully maintain their own sites. 

They also may lack the budget and resources to keep a full-time developer on staff.

Many digital-age businesses find the solutions they’re looking for when they start working with freelancers, and this is just as much the case with web development as anything else. 

Learning how to become a freelance web developer and grabbing a piece of the pie for yourself could be your ticket to a bright, new professional future. 

Here’s what you need to know to get started.

4. Set up the rest of your business

Anyone going into business for themselves should have a detailed business plan in place first, and this goes for freelancers, too. 

After all, you can’t reach business goals you haven’t set yet, right?

Make sure you hammer out all the details of how you plan to operate, manage, and grow your business over time. 

What is the mission behind your business — the why behind what you do as a service provider? What upfront expenses do you need to consider, and what is your target income?

Make sure you also settle on what rates you’ll charge your clients and how you’ll charge them (by the hour or per project). 

Set rules that dictate when payment for services rendered needs to be made, how you’ll accept payment, and so forth.

5. Start gaining work experience

Although there are freelancers out there who do decide to quit their day jobs on the spot and dive into freelance web development feet first, it’s much wiser to move into that world a little at a time.

Work on gaining work experience and making a name for yourself, and then scale things up one step at a time. 

Here are some ideas for accumulating experience you can use to land bigger and better jobs as you go along.

• Get your feet wet by designing through popular content management systems (CMS). Popular options today include WordPress, Wix, and Drupal.
• Redesign or revamp existing websites for clients in need of updates.
• Contribute your efforts to open-source projects.

Another great way to get a few professional projects under your belt is to target smaller clients and more manageable projects. 

Build an online portfolio for another independent contractor, design a winning landing page for a solopreneur, or design a small website for a local business.

Some freelancers may even decide to offer these services on a volunteer basis at first to gain experience.

If you’re hoping for more hands-on exposure, sometimes you have to get creative. Don’t overlook online communities—places like GitHub or even a few surprisingly active subreddits are gold mines for connections and oddball project requests. You might not get paid for every early gig, but occasionally the weirdest, smallest project ends up teaching you more than a paid one, and you never really know where that rabbit hole is going to lead.

Learning never really stops once you’re in freelance web development, either. Every year, frameworks seem to pop up or go extinct faster than you can master your morning coffee order. Staying curious, poking around in new languages, and failing (a lot, honestly) is just baked into the gig. Ironically, those frustrating nights debugging that one JavaScript error that almost made you swear off technology forever? That’s the stuff that quietly sharpens you for client projects down the line.

The landscape keeps changing, so don’t take it personally if it sometimes feels like you’ve just caught up and it’s already time to pivot again. Projects that seemed like a breeze last year might throw you a curveball now, thanks to new browser quirks or unexpected API changes. Some folks might complain about the constant pace of updates, but if you’re the kind of person who gets curious instead of intimidated, that’s a quiet superpower in this field.

Another trick that’s surprisingly useful? Document just about everything you do, even if it’s just in a messy Google Doc or your favorite sticky-note app. When a client circles back months later with a “Hey, can you remind me how X works?” message, being able to reference your own notes can save everyone a lot of time and head-scratching. Plus, those little records end up being a great way to spot patterns in your own growth—even if you only glance at them when you’re stuck at 2 a.m.

6. Build a professional website

Remember, anyone who sells products or offers online business services needs a website these days, and freelance web developers are no exception.

A website not only showcases your past successes and demonstrates what you can do for future clients but also helps you build your personal brand.

Although what you actually include as part of your website is up to you, the following are some absolute musts for helping your business grow along with you:

• A robust portfolio that showcases your best work.
• A domain name that is professional, unique, and easy for people to remember.
• Testimonials from happy past clients or industry peers.
• Practical details clients will need to know, including work schedules, contact details, and skill sets.

You may also want to include a blog frequently updated with optimized content and other essential information that helps prospective clients find you.

7. Promote your services

At this point, you’ve figured out how to become a freelance web developer. 

You’re skilled and experienced enough that you’re ready to offer your services to more clients on a broader scale. 

You should have a website built, as well as all the legal aspects of starting your business figured out, as well.

Now it’s time to start shopping your services around and building your client roster. Here are a few marketing channels to consider.

Referrals

Attract new clients by encouraging existing clients to spread the word via word-of-mouth.

Content Marketing

Generate niched marketing content of various types (blog posts, guest posts, infographics, videos, etc.) to position yourself as an industry authority and win the trust of prospective clients.

Social Media

Plant flags on critical social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. Fill your feeds with valuable, entertaining content, and engage with your audience.

SEO

Every service provider should pay attention to SEO, especially when it comes to their business website. Make sure yours is fully optimized to propel your content to the top of the SERPs.

You may also be interested in these articles:

• 9 of the Best Freelance Websites for Jobs
• What is a Google Core Update & How to Survive and Recover from it
• 20 Freelance Business Ideas in 2022

Wrap Up

Now that you fully understand how to become a freelance web developer and have taken the first key steps toward your future, it’s time to kick your efforts into high gear. 

Most freelancers are solopreneurs (or at least start out that way), so they need all the help they can get — especially in the beginning.