Upwork Profile Tips to Win The Best Clients
As a freelancer, making sure that you’re landing great clients is key to building a steady income. We’re going to cover ways you can make your Upwork profile stand out to the best clients.
Many Upwork experts over-complicate the Upwork profile.
They talk about how you should build out a comprehensive, resume looking bio of you and your skills. But in reality, clients don’t have time to read that much.
Meanwhile, freelancers put too much emphasis on their profile “About” description but they’re missing a key element that not enough freelancers use: the video section.
If you want to stand out, you have to make a video introducing yourself, your approach, your methods, and even teach the client something related to your expertise.
The video section isn’t just for video editors or visual artists, it’s for every freelancer. It’s what helps the client “meet” you and see and hear from you.
As you can see in my profile, my about description is carefully crafted, but it’s pretty short:
At the end of my “About” description, I tell people to go watch my video where I explain my methods and how it will benefit them.
So, let’s break down the key parts of an Upwork profile in order of importance when it comes to finding and converting clients.
Your Profile Picture.
This is the most important part to start, because it’s the first thing clients will see when searching for profiles or reviewing proposals. So get a professional headshot, and make sure that your first impression is a good one.
To be honest, my picture isn’t a professional headshot. I didn’t hire a photographer, I just had my wife take a picture of me with my fancy camera in the desert. And because I know a thing or two about photography, I was able to make it look good enough, but if you don’t have that capability, hire someone or find a friend that can take good pictures. And dress nicely.
There’s nothing that will turn off a client more, than you looking like a grungy college kid that took a selfie with his phone, with a profile picture that belongs in Instagram.
Clients want to pay money to freelancers that mean business. They take themselves seriously, and they want to hire people who also take themselves seriously. That doesn’t mean you have to wear a suit, but look presentable.
The Title.
This is the second most important part, and the second thing a potential client sees. Your title is also key to Upwork surfacing your profile in search results for the right jobs. Yes, you need the experience as well to strengthen your chances, but get the title right by researching what phrasing clients are using in their job posts when looking for someone like you.
For myself, I found that “YouTube Strategist” was the more common title. Other titles that people searched for were “YouTube expert” or “YouTube Guru”, but “YouTube Strategist” was more specific to what I do and it was used a lot in job posts, so I went with that.
Then I also added a subtitle, “video content marketing”, which is just the specific service area I work in which also helps with SEO and also explains the broader focus beyond YouTube.
The About Description.
Let’s go back to my profile description and break it down.
My first sentence is, “You want to build an audience online?”
I’m cutting straight to the main goal that my target client has and it helps them know right away whether I’m the right person for them. And since Upwork only shows the first line or 2 of your description in the search results, you want to make that first sentence count.
After that first sentence, I explain some of my philosophy of how video is key to content marketing. Then in the main paragraph, I explain my specialty further, and what types of videos I help a client create, along with how my goal is their goal: to help them make more loyal followers and find new people to become their audience.
I make sure that I communicate that I don’t just help them figure out what videos to make, I help them build an audience because that’s the end goal. That’s the ROI they’re looking for. Then I give another pitch for how video is the best way to build trust and close with the call to action to go watch my video.
Watch video below:
Hopefully that helped you see what I mean by a profile video. This isn’t the place to use portfolio pieces, save that for your portfolio section. Your job here is to help the client get to know you and your process, and to build a connection.
Now if your service is super visual like graphic design then you can add some of your actual work to the profile video, but don’t make it just a montage of your portfolio because this video is the chance for them to get to know YOU and see and hear you.
And honestly, mine could even be shorter. I’ve seen expert freelancers with descriptions that fit above the fold and I’ve seen many beginner freelancers have extensively long “About” descriptions with tons of bullets and it’s way too much.
The Portfolio Section.
Just fill this out with your best examples, and especially put items here that show results you’ve achieved for clients if you have those.
For me, I’ve created videos, but most of my portfolio is showing the audience growth I’ve helped clients get from the videos, because that's the end goal with my services, not just creating the videos. So for example, I’ll include graphs of subscriber growth on YouTube to show that I’m helping get real business results, not just creating videos.
Your Employment History.
There’s a reason why this is at the bottom of your profile. Most clients never read it. They’re more concerned with reviews from past clients and your portfolio. You should still fill this out because Upwork wants it to be complete before they surface your profile in the search results, but don’t go crazy here listing every job you’ve ever had.
My employment history only shows one or two related jobs I had before I was running my business full-time. And if you have a business name list that as well. Mine is ArrowLight Inc. It shows you’re running a real business, not just freelancing on the side.
So that’s really it. There’s the other technical parts you just want to complete to make sure the profile is all set up but Upwork can help you with that and it’s pretty straight forward. I wanted to focus on the most important parts of your profile and what has helped me to move through Top rated plus and get an Expert Vetted Badge.
Some clients will skim my profile, but there are 2 things they do most and I know that because they tell me:
They watch my video and tell me it impressed them
They scan my reviews and ratings from past clients.
So use these tips to start getting better clients, and building your freelance business.
Until next time.