For the freelancing student, and those starting up new businesses, the Internet is a crucial tool – not only for advertising and selling, but also for picking up and maintaining a client base. 
In the days before the Internet, becoming a freelancer was a much riskier proposition. With all advertising needing to be placed in a print medium it was often expensive and fruitless, with the amount of clients garnered from a poster, flyer or print advertisement often not covering the amount paid out in advertising in the first place.
How can I advertise my freelance services cheaply?
To set up a successful business you need to reach a lot of people in a short space of time. A minority of people will then look at your business, and an even smaller amount will then take you up on your service.
With social networking booming, websites like Facebook and Twitter give self-employed professionals and new businesses a chance to reach a lot of people for free, link with similar businesses in order to reach their already established client base, and keep in contact with customers’ feedback in order to maintain a good roster of customers.
It is easy to create a buzz over the Internet with a little clever marketing, and with all advertising being free it is a far safer way to go about building your business.
Personal websites connected to sites like Paypal allow you to sell your product/service safely and cheaply, and give customers more security than sending cash or cheques.
You can also take it as one big advertisement, listing all of your services and feedback to interest clients in the first instance, and then get them coming back. Linking a personal website to a social networking site will up your site traffic as well, guaranteeing more business simply and quickly.
I don’t want to start my own business. Can I still find freelance work online?
For freelancers and the self-employed, getting work over the Internet has never been easier. With freelance websites allowing people to list their skills and matching them up with potential employers, it is easy to find work, and the better you do the higher your feedback score, attracting yet more custom.
Websites like PeoplePerHour or Elance.com allow companies looking for freelancers to list the work needed and the type of professional they are looking to do it, and allows freelancers to bid on the jobs, ensuring both freelancer and client gets the best deal for them. Students can also find work via studentgems.com.
How can I leverage the Internet to freelance?
With email and on-site messaging available, the freelancer can easily contact the client and take on more than one job without the need for expensive and time consuming travel for meetings.
Online voice chat with Skype allows for larger meetings to be held, as you can hold conversations with multiple people all over the world at the same time, and even one on one is a free and easy way of contacting clients to share ideas. I’ve got stuff to sell, what’s the best way to go about it online?
If your business is more involved in products, the Internet can help here too. Websites like Folksy (an art and craft based site) or Etsy allow self-employed professionals to list their crafts and products for a nominal fee, and sets them up in a large community of similarly minded people who form an online community, providing each other with tips and encouragement, as well as being great for networking and getting your work out to a wider audience.
Discussion groups and blogs can be a great way to share ideas and on job-specific sites guarantee an audience with the kinds of people you are trying to reach.
There is a world of opportunity for the freelancer…
The Internet is an invaluable tool for the self-employed professional, taking away the need for face to face client meetings and allowing you to manage your work/life balance better than ever before.
You become your own boss when working entirely online, and the Internet can offer you more opportunities and access to a larger client base than any other medium. It is a great tool for the self-employed, and one which gives you great levels of freedom teamed with more tangible success than any other thing on earth!