How To Write A Freelance Cover Letter (Tips And Examples)

Crafting an outstanding freelance cover letter can be a game-changer in your search for your next client.

A well-crafted cover letter showcases your skills and qualifications and helps you stand out.

With the freelance job market becoming increasingly competitive, it’s vital to differentiate yourself from other applicants.

In this blog post, we’ll dive into the importance of a well-written cover letter, tips for creating a captivating cover letter, some of my own examples and how to write a freelance cover letter that avoids common mistakes.

Let’s get into it.

Key takeaways

• Craft an impactful freelance cover letter to stand out from other applicants.
• Use research, skillset, previous work and personality to highlight relevant skills and achievements.
• Format your cover letter with a clear structure, readability & visual appeal for a polished result.

The Importance Of A Freelance Cover Letter

A well-crafted cover letter can significantly impact your search for your next freelance gig.

It’s an opportunity to demonstrate your skills and qualifications and make you stand out from other applicants.

By tailoring your cover letter to the specific job requirements, you can show your enthusiasm for the role and the employer.

Reading the job description carefully and ensuring you address all queries in the job description will increase your chances of getting the freelance gig, and you don’t need to be a freelance writer to achieve this.

Researching the client or company, personalising your letter, and showcasing your work samples can lend credibility to your letter and pique the prospective clients’ interest. By putting in extra effort, you can make a lasting impression on the hiring manager and increase your chances of gaining freelance work.

Crafting Your Freelancer Cover Letter

A successful freelancer’s cover letter should include specific elements to make it stand out.

By researching the client or company, starting with a brief introduction, highlighting your relevant skills and achievements, showcasing your unique personality and passion, and including examples of your work relevant to the job, you can create a compelling cover letter that grabs the attention of potential employers.

In the following sections, we’ll explore each of these elements in detail, providing valuable tips and insights on how to craft a captivating freelance cover letter.

Let’s dive into these essential components to help you create a cover letter that can open doors to new opportunities!

Research The Client Or Company

Before crafting your cover letter, it’s essential to research the client or company to ensure you write a tailored and effective letter.

Start by exploring their website, social media pages, and news articles to comprehensively understand the company’s mission, vision, values, culture, goals, challenges, and achievements.

Familiarizing yourself with the client or company can demonstrate your enthusiasm and preparedness to become a valuable asset to their team.

By understanding their needs and priorities, you can tailor your cover letter to address those aspects, making your application more appealing to the client or company.

When you’re done researching your client, it’s time to research the job description. This will be the foundation for your cover letter.

Read it thoroughly, and note down sections you want to address in your cover letter to show your potential client that you’ve read and understood the job description.

Start Your Cover Letter With A Brief Introduction

An engaging introduction is crucial for grabbing the hiring manager’s or potential client’s attention.

In your introduction, include who you are, your history, and why you’re the right person for the job. It’s a great way to show off your soft skills as well.

Keep the introduction brief; you want to hook in your potential client. Don’t go into organizational skills or a wide range of complicated explanations.

If possible, address the recipient by their actual name to show your dedication and enthusiasm. If you can’t find the name, I usually write “Hi”.

This approach demonstrates that you have taken the time to research the company and adds a personal touch to your cover letter.

Save this introduction with your other additions, and then create a cover letter template at the end. This will save you a significant amount of time but still remember to customise each cover letter for each freelance gig.

Highlight Your Relevant Skills And Achievements To The Job

Next up, you want to highlight your relevant skills for the job. Don’t just list everything you can do.

If you’re a graphic designer, the client asks for graphic designers who can use Photoshop. Then it’s not always relevant to tell the client you know how to use Word. That’s too generic, so keep it to the point and showcase your extensive skills within relevant skill sets.

You want to show the potential client your impressive achievements as well. This is your chance to show off your extensive experience in how you’ve come to where you are today.

Show off your beautiful graphic design skills if you’re a graphic designer or a freelance writer, then show off some pieces of content you’re proud of.

But again, it’s super important to keep to your cover letter format and keep everything concrete for the freelance job you’re applying for.

It shows your potential client that you’ve read and understood the job description.

Showcase Your Unique Personality and Passion

You don’t want to send a boring cover letter. Clients receive tons of cover letters, so you need to stand out from the pile of all those freelancers who writes a generic cover letter.

It’s time to let you shine through the cover letter, show your communication skills and let the potential client get a scent of who you are, how you work, and what you can do for him or her to take them and their business to the next level.

I usually include a small story if I have a relevant one, or I just let my personality shine through how I write the cover letter. My technical skills are a big part of who I am, so I emphasize that.

Include Examples Of Your Work Relevant To The Job

Including examples of work relevant to the job in your freelance cover letter is a fantastic way to demonstrate your expertise and show you have the relevant qualifications.

I usually attach links to specific examples of work I’ve done for a range of clients where it’s similar or remotely similar to the job description I’m applying for. This is super helpful for the potential client to see my capabilities and professional experience.

By only showing the relevant examples from your portfolio, you even further showcase you’ve read and understood the gig description.

Ask Questions To The Job Description

Another way to stand out from the many cover letters sent is by asking questions about the job description.

If something is unclear, or you know, based on your professional experience, something doesn’t add up. Then ask the questions. It shows the potential client you’ve taken the time to dive into their job description and found some things creating doubt.

If you’re a graphic designer, you might want to know what style they’re looking for. Or if you’re one of many professional writers, you want to know what type of writing style they’re pursuing.

Don’t hold back. Ask as many relevant questions as you can.

Formatting Your Freelancer Cover Letter

Proper formatting is crucial when crafting a freelance cover letter. Ensuring your cover letter has a clear and concise structure and focuses on readability and visual appeal can help it stand out to potential employers.

You don’t need to be an expert in graphic design. Keep it easy to read with lists, line breaks and highlighted words if possible.

In the following sections, we’ll delve into specific formatting tips to make your freelance cover letter as polished and professional as possible.

Use a Clear and Concise Structure

A clear and concise structure in a cover letter helps ensure that the reader can quickly and easily comprehend the core points of the letter. Using short and simple words, short paragraphs, and bullet points can increase readability and make your cover letter more engaging.

The reader of your core letter will most likely skim through it, so make sure the essential parts are highlighted subtly or easy to catch while skimming.

Crafting a concise cover letter involves removing irrelevant or unnecessary information, making it more impactful, eliminating grammar mistakes and making it easier to read.

Be sure to include your name, contact information, an engaging introduction, a list of relevant skills and qualifications, and a powerful closing paragraph to create a well-structured cover letter.

Focus on Readability and Visual Appeal

In addition to readability, visual appeal is key to making your cover letter stand out. Choose a professional and clean font between 10 and 12 points in size to create a visually appealing look.

Your cover letter should have consistent formatting, spacing, and margins to ensure a polished appearance.

Again you don’t need to be an expert in graphic design. If you want to add a graphic element, you can use a tool like Canva.

Proofreading your cover letter is essential for maintaining readability and visual appeal.

Double-check for spelling or grammar errors, and consider asking a friend or colleague to review your cover letter for additional feedback. This extra step can help you catch any mistakes and ensure your cover letter is polished and professional.

Examples Of Successful Freelance Cover Letters

I want to share some of the examples I’ve used in the past and still use today that have worked and helped me get clients. And then, after the examples, I’ll share my cover letter template.

Remember, the key to a successful freelance cover letter is to tailor it to the job and showcase your unique personality, passion, skills, and relevant achievements.

By taking the time to research the client or company and incorporating relevant keywords and work examples, you can create a cover letter that captures the attention of potential employers and sets you apart from other applicants.

My jobs are in Danish, as I’m from Denmark, but I’ve translated them to give you an idea.

Example 1: WordPress task

The job description is as follows:

We are looking for a strong, experienced front-end developer to help us build a responsive mega menu or get a plugin. We have struggled with various plugins without success. We have all the UX and design ready. Our design is awesome, and we have big ambitions as we are the biggest in our market. Only contact us if you are among the best and are confident that you have the competencies. Because it’s urgent and we want to find the right person from the start.

We expect the first project to require about 3 days of work.

We also have many more tasks in relation to We also have many more tasks related to the development of our digital media monitoring platform, so if the task is solved satisfactorily, there is a basis for a closer connection as a permanent freelancer.

Please describe the relevant experience in your bid.

My answer, which won the job, was as follows:

Hi,

I can definitely do that!
I’ve been working with front-end for 10+ years and really find myself at home in the field. I started as a curious young mind and worked in many different front-end frameworks.
When it comes to CMS systems, WordPress is a clear favourite. I think it’s great that you don’t compromise on your design. There are more of them out there.

If you want to see some of the WordPress websites I’ve created, here’s a small excerpt:
https://wastecontrol.dk
https://iotsensors.dk
https://phillipstemann.com
https://www.factofly.com

I hope you find my profile interesting, and if so, I’m more than happy to do a Skype call at your convenience.

Otherwise, I wish you a very good day.

Kind regards
Phillip Stemann

I won this because of my straightforward approach, but it was to the point, and I listed relevant resources.

Example 2: CTO Position In A Startup

The job description was as follows:

We have created solid traction in the online marketing market in just one year. We expect to break even by the end of 2018.

We seek a freelance CTO to join us on this journey and develop our scalable platform and future products.

Your role as CTO
You will play a key role in operations as:
– The lead full-stack developer and architect
– Responsible for setting up the technical team

Your competences
We expect you to:
– Have a business and user-driven approach to the development of our platform
– Experience with PHP development and MVC principles
– Can work with both backend and frontend
– Are passionate and entrepreneurial in your way of working
– Have basic knowledge of online marketing
– Experience developing, testing, deploying, bug fixing and hosting

Technical keywords
– Nginx, PHP, MySql (LEMP STACK)
– CSS3, SCSS & vanilla javascript
– Neos Flow PHP Framework
– MVC
– Doctrine ORM
– Domain-Driven Design
– Stripe API integration
– Google Ads API integration
– Mailchimp & Mandrill

We prefer full-time on a project basis, but we are open if you have 3-4 days a week and understand that you have multiple clients at the same time 🙂

We look forward to hearing from you here at Worksome.

My answer, which won the job, was as follows:

Hi,

Super exciting post. It’s definitely something that catches my attention!
I have been working with PHP since I was a young boy of 13 years old I have been driven by my passion, and it has brought me to the broad knowledge I possess today.
I have worked in different countries to understand what different countries do well and poorly. Based on this, I have created the best setup for myself and my working techniques.
I have knowledge in PHP, Golang and NodeJS on the back-end part. On the front-end, I know HTML, CSS, JavaScript, VueJS, ReactJS and AngularJS.
I’ve set up countless sites over the years and integrated with a fleet of APIs, so it really sticks in my head.
Most recently, I went to Lisbon a year ago to help build a company that reached 10 employees. It was a great learning experience in many ways.

I would love to come in for an interview should you find my profile interesting.
I look forward to hearing from you.

With kind regards
Phillip Stemann

So you can see this approach was entirely different. I had no relevant portfolio to show, so I didn’t waste the client’s potential time. I just went straight to the case, listing out my expertise.

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Your Freelancer Cover Letter

Avoiding common mistakes is essential to ensure your freelance cover letter stands out.

These mistakes include using generic language, not addressing the recipient, and not including a call to action. By being mindful of these common pitfalls, you can create a more effective and captivating cover letter.

Other common mistakes to avoid include re-using cover letters to multiple clients, including irrelevant information, and failing to proofread your cover letter for errors.

By addressing these mistakes and following the tips outlined in this blog post, you can craft a freelance cover letter that makes a great impression on potential employers and increases your chances of securing an interview.

Wrap Up

In conclusion, crafting an outstanding freelance cover letter is essential to your job search.

And once you’re through to your client, you’ve sent a successful freelance cover letter, and you had your first meeting, it’s time to send your proposal and, next, your contract. Here is how you do it.

By understanding the importance of a well-written cover letter, researching the client and company, creating a captivating introduction, showcasing your skills and achievements, and avoiding common mistakes, you can set yourself apart from other applicants and increase your chances of securing freelance work.

Remember, the key to a successful freelance cover letter is to tailor it to the job and showcase your unique personality, passion, skills, and achievements.

Following the tips and insights in this blog post, you can create a compelling cover letter that opens doors to new opportunities and helps you excel in your freelance career.

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