Go Freelance in Web Marketing: 6 Key Steps

According to the Malt Barometer of Freelance Rates, webmarketing freelancers are among the best paid freelancers with an average daily rate of €590. Obviously, salary is not the only advantage of freelancing when you are an expert in web marketing. You can also have more freedom, flexibility or simply get rid of your boss…

But to be an independent webmarketing expert, it is not enough to have knowledge and skills in webmarketing…

You have to train, find your clients, manage your legal situation. Yes, even if you are the only one to be a part of this business!

In this article, discover 6 key steps to not miss your freelance launch.

Step 1 – Train Before Starting as a Freelance Webmarketer

Before starting as a webmarketing freelancer, make sure you have enough background. In fact, once you have tackled the missions assigned by your customers, you will need to be able to rely on a solid foundation of knowledge in digital marketing.

There are several options for this:

• Prefer generalist training provided by a business school or school specializing in digital;
• follow a brief specialized training in a specific area (eg development training for growth businesses, training in SEO given by the Peyronnet brothers, etc.);
• Complete your training with online courses (on Udemy, Open Classroom, etc.)

Step 2 – Create your webmarketing expert offer

Before moving on to customers, it is recommended to start by defining your offer. In other words, what are you going to offer your potential customers.

To do this, you must precisely define:

• proposed specialization, At this stage, you have to define the topics on which you intervene. If you choose a specific specialization, you will probably be able to justify the higher prices. But you may find it difficult to find customers. And vice versa if you choose a generalist position.
• Your position, Are you targeting large corporate clients? SMEs? Are you targeting companies that are geographically close to you? Do you agree to intervene remotely?
• your tariff, Directly, at this stage, you need to define your invoicing method (daily or similar rate) and the amount you want to invoice.

To help determine your rates, you can start by calculating your average daily rate, or ADR.

Step 3 – Choose your freelance position

To work as a freelancer, you must exercise your self-employed activity within the legal framework. This is when the question of choice of legal status arises. There are three major options amongst the most suitable solutions for your activity as a freelance web marketer:

• micro enterprises;
• society ;
• Pay Portage.

micro enterprise

Micro enterprise is very popular among web marketers.

And with good reason because it has many benefits:

• The registration process is very simple and free.
• The rules of operation are easily understood. All you have to do is register on the online portal and declare your business monthly or quarterly depending on the frequency chosen.
• If your turnover is zero, you declare it, but you do not pay any charges.

However, this rule has a counterpart in simplicity:

• The situation is related to the turnover ceiling. Freelancing in web marketing comes under the provision of services. Therefore, the limit is set at €72,600. Beyond this amount, you can no longer benefit from auto-entrepreneur status, you will have to form a company or join a portage company.
• On the other hand, in a micro enterprise, you cannot deduct your expenses from your business. Renting an office, purchasing equipment, equipment and software, are so many expenses that do not reduce the basis for calculating your taxes and charges.

trading Company

To overcome these limitations, you can also create a single-shareholder SARL (EURL) or a single-member SAS (SASU).

But the processes will be more complicated. In particular, you will need:

• write the law;
• Deposit share capital (minimum 1 Euro);
• Publish a notice of business creation in the Journal of Legal Notices;
• File an application for registration with the court office.

In addition, accounting obligations exist. You must prepare an annual balance sheet, pay corporation taxes, etc.

The key is likely to be to cut your expenses, join the military and get hired, or benefit from more freedom in managing your remuneration.

pay portage

You can also opt for wage portage to practice as a freelance web marketer. In this case, it is the umbrella company that takes care of all your administrative processes, follow up of your invoices, your business declaration etc. In return, the umbrella company charges a percentage of your turnover.

Portage has many benefits for web marketing freelancers:

• administrative simplicity;
• Pay slips and permanent contracts (greatly simplifies things when you want to rent housing or get a mortgage);
• unemployment in the event of termination of your self-employment activity;

On the other hand, the position does not allow for hiring and involves higher fees as compared to micro enterprise.

Step 4 – Find your first customers

Once all administrative processes are complete, you are ready to work with your first clients.

But you still have to find them.

To do this, you can rely on:

• Freelance platforms like Malt or crme de la crme that have popular webmarketing profiles;
• social networks, especially LinkedIn, to improve your notoriety;
• website offering your services;
• Content Strategies;
• Prospecting by e-mail;
• Etcetera.

Finding freelance clients is definitely a major concern. Don’t hesitate to create a sustainable strategy that will allow you to attract customers on a regular basis.

To facilitate your prospecting, it is also recommended that you build a portfolio. The latter will present your marketing projects and help reassure your future customers of your expertise.

Step 5 – Begin your webmarketing mission

With your first contract signed, you can begin your mission in web marketing. Congrats!

Rigor, organization and communication with the customer are the key words to a successful collaboration.

Remember to set up a clear onboarding process to welcome your new customers. For example, you can provide a personalized welcome message, a video tutorial explaining how to get started with the tools available to you to collaborate with them (Trello, Notion, Click-Up, etc.) Or send a welcome gift.

At the end of the mission, you can ask them for an opinion or testimonial that you can put forward to persuade other people to believe in you.

Step 6 – Invoice your services

To invoice your web marketing mission, you have several options:

• Pay the deposit at the sign of the estimate then pay the balance at the end of the mission;
• advance payment of the entire service;
• settlement in installments;
• Monthly fee ;
• Etcetera.

Whichever solution you choose, keep a close eye on your accounting and cash flow. The more time you give your customers to pay you, the more strain your finances will put on them.

Ideal for this is to use the invoicing tool which allows you to edit your quotes and invoices, but also allows you to follow rules.

We have reached the end of phase six!

six Key Steps to Getting Started as a Freelance Webmarketer are as follows:

1. shape ;
2. make a clear proposal;
3. Choosing a legal status;
4. find customers before it;
5. Begin your mission in webmarketing;
6. Invoice its services.

For the rest of your entrepreneurial adventure, you can retain your customers by providing them with recurring services. You can also go on looking for other clients to convert completed assignments and grow your turnover further.