"How do I stand out from the crowd?" is one of the questions our new Malters ask us most. To do this, the first step is to complete your Malt profile carefully. Then, follow our practical tips to make your profile stand out to clients looking for freelancers. Here are the actions to maximize your visibility and land more opportunities on Malt.
Fill in your ENTIRE profile
To gain visibility on the Malt, the first thing you need to do is complete your profile. At Malt, a well-completed profile is convincing: it's time to sell yourself. Moreover, the more relevant keywords you fill in, the more accurate the search results will be. For example, indicating that you’re a Front-End developer is good, but specifying that you master Next.js or MySQL is even better. A client will usually search by keyword rather than category.
Here are the main elements to fill in your Malt profile:
Indicate your availability
Your availability is an essential part of your Malt profile. It allows clients to see if you can meet their requests and for our teams to send you opportunities you can ANSWER.
Two statuses exist on Malt:
- Available: to be updated every 7 days, specifying how many days this applies to, for example, two days a week on weekends.
- Unavailable: for example, you’re already on an assignment or vacation. Specify when you’ll be available again, so you’re not contacted during this period. Don't worry, though; 2 months before your availability date, you’ll start receiving assignment proposals again, and one month before, you’ll appear in the search engines likewise.
If you’ve started a long-term assignment for a client, we advise you to mark your profile as "Unavailable." Conversely, if you have time for new opportunities, confirm your availability regularly (every seven days) for maximum visibility. Clients are often in a hurry: displaying your accurate availability increases the chances of booking assignments.
Be responsive
As you use the Malt platform, you’ll receive opportunities from our teams or directly from clients looking for freelancers. Your responsiveness is a determining factor in your visibility. The faster you answer an opportunity, the higher your rank on Malt. And this is true regardless of your answer. You can accept or decline assignments: this will positively impact the Malt search engine.
If you decline an opportunity, we invite you to indicate why you refuse to help us better qualify the offers and send you assignments that match your profile. We also encourage clients to answer messages from freelancers promptly. If a client answers you several days after an initial exchange, please consider declining their proposal to avoid penalizing them with a proposal awaiting a formal response.
You can download the Malt App and answer opportunities directly from your smartphone to be more responsive.
Update your profile and skills
Clients turn to freelancers because they’re expert profiles. They stay ahead and train themselves with technologies and tools specific to their industry. Our Freelancing in Europe study shows that freelancers train nearly four hours weekly. But don’t just train in the shadows. It's essential to showcase your new skills on your Malt profile. Add the matching skill to your Malt profile if you're getting certified, progressing in a particular field, or learning new software.
Also, after each new assignment, remember to update your Malt profile by detailing your experience and possibly adding keywords to your profile. This is an excellent way to highlight your skills and gain client visibility.
Just as with any professional social network, the profile visibility system on Malt works in part through recommendations. These reviews are essential to reassure your future clients about the reliability of your services and to give weight to your past professional experiences. With a simple recommendation, former clients or colleagues you have worked with can help you boost your profile forward in the platform's search results.
To request a recommendation on Malt: go to your profile and click "Request a Recommendation." From there, you must enter your contact's email address; they will receive a link to recommend you.
In addition to these external recommendations, there’s another type: clients can evaluate each mission you complete for them, leaving you a score out of five and a written comment. This feedback will also appear on your Malt profile and help optimize your visibility on the platform. As with many online services, clients are reassured by the idea of working with someone who already has positive recommendations.
The Cook’s secret recipe: use Malt for all your projects
We all have a network, whether it’s professional, thanks to company experiences, or even personal, thanks to meetings between freelancers, friends, or family members who work in a sector related to our activity. This network is a valuable asset, and we encourage you to make the most of it.
Please remember that it's possible to use Malt with your clients. For these missions, Malt's commission fees are reduced to 2% for you and 0% for your clients. This is an excellent way to accelerate the payment of your missions, cover your back in case of a problem thanks to the Hiscox professional liability insurance and gain visibility on the platform. On average, a single mission carried out on Malt with one of your clients increases your profile visibility by 60%, and three tasks will double your position in the search results.
Do you want to try it out? Invite your customers to Malt!
The profile search engine on the Malt platform encourages freelancers to gain visibility through small actions. Be sure to fill out your profile, update your availability, and ask for recommendations from former colleagues or clients. When you start receiving proposals from new clients, answer quickly, even if it's to decline the project. And when you finish an assignment, ask your client to give you feedback. The more assignments you complete on Malt, the more visibility you gain. You'll get more opportunities, which means you'll have more project choices, and you can gradually increase your rates.
