Should I pick a niche as a freelance web developer?

One of the scariest steps you can take as a web developer is to choose a niche. You draw a line in the sand that defines your ideal client. You’re choosing who you’re going to work for, but, at the same time, you’re choosing who you’re not going to work for. Here’s why it’s still an important step to take.

As much as we hate to admit it, marketing is critical to freelance web developers. Without marketing, you’ll never have clients. Marketing is like standing in a huge crowd of people, shouting to them. What can you say to get the attention of the people you want to hire you?

Imagine yourself standing in a crowd like the one pictured above, trying to get your message across. You start by yelling “Hey!” A few people turn to look, but, as you start talking, they realize what you’re saying isn’t relevant to them, so they look away.

Now, you try again by yelling, “Hey, guy in the white shirt!” Now, 80% of the people in the crowd will not look because they know you’re not talking to them. There’s a good chance that 60–70% of the people in the white shirts will look though.

You could take this a step further and yell, “Hey, Dave!” There may only be a single Dave or maybe two, but every Dave is going to be looking. You have their attention.

This metaphor is useful for developers because, to get clients, you must first get their attention. Intuitively, we think that the bigger the audience we’re trying to talk to, the more clients we can get. The counterpoint is that, the more relevant you can make your message, the more likely people are to listen. That’s where having a niche can help. The “Dave” niche won’t work in this case because it’s too small, but the ideal niche is probably much closer to “Dave” than it is to “everyone.”

So, what’s more effective? A generic message to a mass audience or a tailored message to a niche audience? Let’s do a quick thought experiment to find out.

You’re a freelance web developer. In that role, you need lots of things like tax prep, a bank account, and maybe even office space. Check out the comparison below and think about which offerings you find more compelling.

When people are buying anything, they want to buy from someone who understands their problems. We don’t even know yet what distinguishes these niche services from the mass market services, but we know they are talking to us. Once you learn that the tax service can typically get larger returns for freelancers thanks to a deep understanding of how tax law applies to them or that the bank offers invoicing baked right into the account, the decision becomes a no-brainer.

By slicing out a niche, you move out of the dangerous waters of competing for everyone’s business and into “no-brainer” territory for your clients. You’ll be able to offer additional value that speaks specifically to your ideal client’s needs. Even though it will alienate potential clients who are not in your niche, it will make those who are love you even more.

Now, let’s look at some practical tips for selecting the right niche for your web development services.

Now that you’ve selected a niche, talk to lots of people in your niche to get a good understanding of the common problems they have. Knowing this stuff gives you credibility when you’re talking to other people in the niche, but it also gives you a problem to solve. The solution to their toughest problems is actually what you’re selling. Web development is simply how you build that solution.

You’ll know when you have the right niche, the right problem, and the right solution. When you tell people in your niche about what you do, you won’t have to bring them to the sales conversation. They’ll be asking you how they can start working with you.

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