This is the second installment of a 4-part tutorial series I’m doing, Freelancing 101: A Dead Simple Method to Get Your First Freelance Work. In this series, I’m walking you through the exact process I used to get my first freelance clients.
In this step, you’re going to build your freelance services sales page.
And, the name of the game here is simplicity. You don’t need a long, scrolling sales page or to do a bunch of selling and convincing. All that is going to happen before a potential client ever visits this page (we’ll cover that in Part 3). Here we just need to focus on getting the quote request.
So, here’s how to build this page:
1. A Simple and Direct Title
Your page title should be simple and direct: “Hire Me to Fix XYZ For $200. Complete the Form Below to Get Started.”. It should convey all the information a client needs to hire you:
- What the service is (so they know they’re in the right spot)
- How much it costs
- What to do to get started
This is the key information a potential client will be looking for and it’s right there in the title, easy for them to find. Here’s an example:
2. A Simple Offer
Do NOT over-complicate the offer. You’re gonna fix their problem for X amount of money. Again, by the time a potential client gets here they will already be 99% sold on hiring you. You don’t want to get in the way of that. So, simple, direct and plain language is best. The only thing to add here is the PDF report mentioned in this example script:
The PDF report is a kind of bonus and helps make the client feel good about hiring you. The thing to keep in mind when it comes to fixing problems for people is most people don’t think they should have the problem in the first place. So, paying to fix it is annoying.
It’s like your car.
Nobody every thinks their car should break down. So, when you go to the mechanic and pay them to fix it… you feel like it was a bit of a waste. But, imagine if your mechanic gave you a simple, plain language report on what happened and what you can do to keep it from happening in the future.
No. It wouldn’t totally alleviate the feeling of loss from getting your car fixed. But, it’d be a nice surprise. You’d feel like you got something out of it.
Same deal here.
As for the description, here are the key components it should contain:
- Introduction (say hi!)
- Mention the video that sent them here (we’ll get to that)
- Tell them they’re in the right place
- Outline the offer (I’ll do XYZ for X money. You get a PDF report)
- Your guarantee
- How to get started
This covers about every question a potential client could have. So, they feel comfortable submitting the form. And, that’s all we want out of this.
Of course, this form should send you an email with the client information. From there, you can reply and work out the details.
3. A Brief Form
Next, is your form. The big thing here is to keep it brief. You don’t want 100 form fields they gotta fill out. All we’re really after from this page is their contact info. Once we have that, we can do the rest of our “selling” in the back forth via email. It’s a hell of a lot easier way to sell, because you’re getting immediate responses and feedback.
So, just get their name, email and a description of the problem. Make it easy to hire you.
(Side note for Patrons: I uploaded an HTML template with this page already built for you over on Patreon. All you have to do is switch out a few placeholders, drop in your form code and you’re all set. It’s built with Bootstrap, so it’s mobile-responsive, as well. You can grab the template here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/18241649. And, if you’re not already a Patreon supporter, you can become one here: https://johnmorrisonline.com/patreon.)
4. Testimonial (Optional)
The last thing you’ll want to add after you get a couple clients for this service is a testimonial. Just ask one of your clients for one. Make sure and get their picture. And, just place it right below the form. It will help re-assure potential clients even more when they view this page. But, it’s not necessary, at first. Here’s an example:
Here’s the big thing with all this…
Keep it simple. Don’t get hung up on this. As I’ve said, potential clients will already be 99% sold on hiring you before they hit this page. So, just provide a way to contact you and get out of the way.
All right, so that’s it for today. In the next installment of this series, I will show you how to create a video that sells your services… but not in the way you think. It’s a lot simpler and less scary than you might be thinking. You CAN do it. So, be sure to check back for tomorrow’s installment.
