It features an online code editor for all developers to hone their skills. The platform encourages learning to code and focuses on front-end languages. Working as a freelance web developer will allow you to tackle various projects from different employers, both local and global.

• As a freelance web developer, you must establish yourself as the best in your field.
• Great results are a clear sign that you’re creating value for clients, and your rates should reflect that.
• Consider the website’s aesthetic factors, but also its overall user interface’s efficiency.
• You can find free online courses that teach you everything about user experience, graphic design, and coding languages.
• What’s really great about the freelance developer site Lemon.io is that they do the legwork for you.
• Attending these events—and even speaking at them—is a great way to get your name out in the industry and build up your personal brand in your particular niche.

If that’s the case, if you’re not 100% confident of how you’re going to complete a project—give your client a realistic idea of when they can expect that work back. If you tell them it’s going to take how to hire a web developer longer than they expect, it’s better you tell them that now than when the deadline has passed. Your portfolio is a way of displaying your skills and having an easy reference for potential clients.

Being a Freelance Developer Requires a Wide Variety of Skills

While some of the items on this list may make you say “duh – I know to set that up,” you’d be surprised at what some people don’t do before getting started. For most freelancers I’d suggest trying Wave’s accounting software. Next is to sign up for a service offering accounting software (I cannot stress enough the importance of keeping good books).

According to their data, a project like that could fall around $6,760. Onto more exciting aspects of preparing your freelance web development business—in this case, building your portfolio. One of the most important parts of operating a successful freelance business is to keep your business finances separate from your personal ones. That makes it easier to stay organized for tax season, track and forecast your freelance income, manage business expenses, and more. Unlike many of the popular programming languages above, Java has been around for a long time.

What Does a Freelance Web Developer Do?

At Toptal, we encourage growth for each and every member of our talent network. We have dedicated tools and processes set up to help you build new skills, so that you can take on projects that are of interest to you. Whether you use our community Slack channel to chat with experts or attend Toptal Academies, you’ll have the tools necessary to improve your existing skills and gain new ones.

Just sign up on any platform or boost your skill level to get started now. It can be hard to be a freelance web developer because of the competition for jobs. Tech jobs are some of the most popular for remote work, so there are usually plenty of qualified applicants. However, with an impressive skillset and the right soft skills, you can be very successful. The hourly rate for a freelance web developer is generally between $30 and $60.

By the hour, per project, on retainer—setting the right rate for the job

Having a brand means that people will seek you out, as opposed to the other way around, and you can then charge higher rates. The latter is a path to success while the former will make you feel like you’re stuck on a hamster wheel. I will say though, that each of these books went a long way in changing my outlook and making me better at business.

I also enjoy the simplicity and security of being paired with great clients, without having to run my own small business. Developers typically use the site for short-term jobs, recurring work with a specific client, or even full-time contract work. This means you’ll be able to find developers for a variety of different projects at varying tenures. Web development isn’t something I personally can do, so outsourcing those tasks is a non-negotiable for me. It’s safe to say I‘ve hired a fair amount of freelance web developers over the years. Regardless of the ease of learning, web development requires persistence and problem-solving skills.

Web developer career path

Again, I can’t stress enough the importance of seeing yourself as a “businessperson” and understanding that your business is now development. Think of it this way – if a chef starts a restaurant and makes themselves head cook, they are now a restaurateur and not a “chef.” The same is true for your new business. Assuming you want to avoid these things, it’s important that you embrace your new role of business manager in addition to that of being a developer. When managing your business, you should focus on the administrative side of things as well as on the substantive work to be done. Failing to do so will lead to administrative problems which will pop up at bad times. These problems will then get in the way of your substantive work.

Applicants have to pass a comprehensive English evaluation and perform a test project. The test measures a freelancer’s expertise, professionalism, and communication skills. Insurance is another important legal obligation you’ll have to take care of as a freelance web developer. If you get sued by a client, having insurance may protect you against potential financial losses. An ideal business plan should cover all key aspects of operations and guide you in the right direction to meet your professional goals.

Want to be a Freelance Web Designer? Here’s What You Need to Know

Delight your clients first—be professional and reliable, create great work for them, and focus on building long-term relationships. Plus, you can often share your contact information and get alerts about new jobs that match your searches. Whether you’ve gained general web dev experience or established yourself as an expert in your niche, that adds to the value you bring to every project.

Whenever you take a new course, master another design software, or add a new programming language to your repertoire, it’s time to bump up your rates. The short answer is that there’s no cut-and-dry path to go from newbie to wildly successful freelance developer. With that said, there are some clear steps you can take to get your new freelance career off the ground and prepare your business for success. It’s important to hone your skills and stay on top of current trends. The next step for working more efficiently is to adopt the mindset that you’re not going to start on something until you finish it.

What our customers say

They are now more likely to hire you because you spoke to their needs, through the lens of a problem solver, without using “tech head” speak. If you want people to become your customer then don’t alienate them by talking like a tech head on your website. Instead, present yourself as a problem solver that is ready to assist them. Let’s go over a list of things which you should get set up from the get go.

Benefits and trade-offs of freelancing

This means that your “better” website didn’t provide more value to the customer, it just cost more. Of course, the customer would not be happy with such an arrangement. Think of it like this – suppose a customer can get a website built by someone using a CMS for $2,500. You think yours would be better because you’re using “real code” and not a CMS like WordPress or Joomla. The first step in making money as a freelance developer requires an understanding of how to make money in general. Trying to make money without understanding these fundamental things will go about as well as playing monopoly against an expert without having an understanding of the game’s rules.

You’ll increase your chances by signing up on freelancing websites for developers and reaching out to local businesses and acquaintances. All of the factors we mentioned above can alter what freelance developers charge—sometimes drastically. That makes it hard to come up with concrete rate benchmarks that transcend the industry. Those are difficult questions to answer simply because there’s such wide variation in earnings for freelance developers. Everything from location to niche to experience can alter expected earnings, sometimes drastically.