6 Strategies for Becoming a Top Rated Freelancer

As a freelancer, your reputation is everything. It helps to establish trust and credibility with new clients. Having a freelancer profile with positive reviews and an impressive portfolio shows your expertise and justifies your rates. Upwork recognizes independent professionals that work extra hard and are exceptional at what they do with talent badges like the Top Rated identifier.

Earning a Top Rated talent badge signals to clients that you're part of the top 10% of freelancers on the platform—increasing demand and growing your business. When a client sees this badge, they know that you're highly skilled and will deliver quality work.

We'll start with some best practices for freelancers, break down how the Upwork talent badge system works and its benefits, then explore tips for becoming Top Rated from experienced independent professionals on Upwork.

Best practices for freelancers

As a freelancer, you're a business owner. You have to build your business from the ground up and then work on getting repeat clients and maintaining a solid reputation. If you're new to freelancing, the main focus may be growing your client list and figuring out the processes that work for you. After you've gained freelancing experience, you may be looking to become more competitive and expand your skills so you can raise your rates.

Following these best practices is essential for freelancers at any stage of their careers:

1. Upskill

One of the ways to become (and stay) competitive as a freelancer is upskilling. Freelancers have the unique ability to learn a skill and then immediately start gaining work experience by submitting proposals to relevant jobs. Even a lower-paying or smaller job can still help build your experience. By contrast, in the typical workplace, you may have to wait and try to convince your manager to take on a project that lets you explore a new skill.

You can see what skills are in high demand and then upskill by taking online courses and earning certificates. Ideally, you can choose skills related to one another, so you can expand the services you offer to clients.

"Keep learning and staying updated in your field of expertise, surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals who are eager to grow. Pursue certifications and stay current on industry trends to stay ahead of the curve."

—Jacqueline Ann DeStefano-Tangorra, Business Intelligence and Data Visualization Expert

2. Spend time on proposals

Whether you're submitting proposals to client projects on Upwork or contacting clients directly through email or social media, you want to spend time on your proposals. This is typically the first interaction with a client, and you want to start on the right foot. Proposals are your chance to sell yourself and your services. You want to demonstrate confidence, competence, and enthusiasm.

You don't have to write each proposal from scratch. Creating a template for the different services you offer and then customizing it based on the client can help save time. Personalizing the proposal based on the client shows that you're interested and lets them know it's not generic.

3. Find your niche

Some of the most successful freelancers are highly specialized experts. They find a niche and then work hard to develop the skills and experience to position themselves as experts in that particular space. You can build a niche by narrowing your job search to projects that fall in that category. By focusing on one aspect of your work, you can hone your skills and develop your expertise.

"Aim to be one of few and not many."

—–-Ryan Clark, Microsoft MVP

Let's say you're a graphic designer. You may be able to do a wide variety of designs and be good at them, but enjoy doing logos best. As a freelancer, you could specialize in logos and work on building a portfolio of impressive logos and clients. Later in your career, you could expand this skill set and offer full visual brand guidelines for clients.

4. Set a competitive rate

Freelancers get to decide how much they charge clients. When you submit proposals to jobs, you include your hourly or project rate. If you're working on Upwork, you can choose the hourly rate to display on your profile. Your rate may change depending on the project and client, but having a baseline for knowing what you want to make per hour is helpful.

When figuring out what to charge clients, you can check the hourly rate range for different skills. Those who are new and have less experience may set their rates at the lower end of the spectrum to attract clients. Slowly raising your rates as you become busier and complete more jobs successfully is a common practice for freelancers. As the demand for your services goes up, you have less available supply, which justifies increasing your prices.

5. Create a schedule that works for you

Part of being an independent professional is scheduling. You're in charge of creating a schedule that works for you. When freelancing, you're in control of your workweek and what projects you take on. Saying yes to every project that comes your way can be tempting, but you want to make sure that you can meet all of your deadlines and maintain work-life balance.

"If you feel it's not going to be a good fit, then do not sign up with that prospect or you'll most likely garner a bad review and a complaint. Some clients are not worth having."

—Melissa Psihudakis of Web Rocket Media agency

Time management is another valuable skill for freelancers. When working from home, having set working hours and using the right tools can help with productivity. Figure out when you prefer to work and your ideal working conditions. You may feel energized by heading to a coffee shop to spend your morning around others or take a break at midday to work out.

6. Build your brand

Working on building your brand is something you can do in your downtime while you're waiting to start a project. You can use social media, a blog, or a personal website to create content about your industry and what you do. Thought leadership content helps to establish your reputation and promote your services.

You can also use your personal social media channels or create ones for your freelance business and regularly post about your projects and industry news to market yourself. Being active on social media and following clients you're interested in working with is a way to network and find potential leads.

What are Upwork talent badges?

Displaying talent badges is one of the many ways you can build your reputation on Upwork and stand out to clients. Freelancers who work hard and meet certain criteria can earn these talent badges that appear next to the Job Success Score (JSS) on their profiles.

These are the different badges you can earn based on your experience and skills:

‍

How to qualify for a Top Rated badge?

If you're new to Upwork, before you start working on qualifying for the Top Rated badge, you can try to earn Rising Talent first. This badge showcases new freelancers and gives you 30 free Connects and the ability to offer Consultations in your areas of expertise.

Maintaining a Rising Talent badge can make getting your Top Rated badge easier, but it isn't a requirement. You can only earn your Top Rated badge 90 days after your first Upwork contract. If you're brand new to Upwork, try aiming for the Rising Talent badge first.

If you've been using Upwork for a while and want to work toward your Top Rated badge, look at your profile first to see if you meet the basic criteria. Make sure you have a complete profile that accurately describes what you do and confirm that you have an updated Availability Badge. If you're not available for new projects right now, set a future date when you think you'll be able to accept interviews.

Check out your Job Success Score. If it's under 90, you'll need to work on completing more jobs successfully. Upwork calculates a freelancer's Job Success Score based on criteria like client feedback, length of the relationship, repeat work, and work delivered.

“Use Upwork's detailed job post filters to make sure your job feed is only showing jobs you can be successful at. After filters are set, you can use the Upwork RSS [really simple syndication] feed to send you emails or Slack messages when jobs that fit your filter criteria are posted, so you see them quicker. Good luck!"
-– Jason L Martin, Web and Mobile Applications Expert

Benefits of earning a Top Rated badge

The main benefit of having a Top Rated badge on Upwork is standing out from the competition. The Top Rated talent badge can help you win more interviews and drive demand for your Project Catalog™ services. This badge lets clients know that Upwork considers you to be in the top 10% of all talent on the platform based on your quality of work and history of satisfied clients.

When clients see proposals or projects from talent with Top Rated badges, they know the work will meet their standards in technical quality and reliability. This credential gives potential clients an extra vote of confidence and endorses your skills and expertise.

As a Top Rated freelancer, you also get account perks like:

• Talent Specialist Matching. Receive invites from Talent Specialists to submit proposals to client projects that match your skill set without having to use Connects.
• Job Digest Subscription. Read through Talent Marketplace jobs specifically picked for you based on your skills, along with your past job and proposal history.
• Faster Payments. Get paid faster on Hourly Contracts. Instead of the standard 10-day security hold, you can get paid after just five.
• Consultations. Offer up to three different types of fixed-price and pre-scoped Consultations as projects to clients. If you're an expert in an area, you can create 30- or 60-minute consults for clients to book.
• Premium Support. Take advantage of premium support, including phone and chat help.
• JSS Control. Request to occasionally remove client feedback from your Job Success Score or your profile. You can hide the public score and replace the comment with This feedback has been removed.

‍

6 tips for earning your Top Rated badge

Having a Top Rated badge can help you stand out when submitting proposals or offering your services on Project Catalog. Clients know that this badge means you have both the technical skills to get the job done and the soft skills to make the process easy and enjoyable.

Top Rated talent on Upwork consistently deliver quality work to clients and get positive feedback again and again. Once you have your Top Rated badge and start earning more and developing relationships with clients, you can continue building your reputation and working toward Top Rated Plus and possibly Expert-Vetted. Badges let you make the most out of your Upwork experience and enjoy the full perks of being one of the best at what you do.

Having a goal to work toward can be helpful as an independent professional. The steps you'll take to earn badges, like focusing on delivering high-quality work and exceeding your client's expectations, can make you a more successful freelancer overall.

"Do NOT focus on badges. Focus on the quality of your work and getting 5-star feedback. This approach will lead you through the shortcut to all the badges automatically. That’s how I always did it and that’s what always helped me to be Top Rated on Upwork with 100% JSS."
—Bohdan Huriev, Software Design Expert

If you're interested in earning a Top Rated badge, here are some tips you can follow:

1. Make the most of your Upwork profile

Your profile is how you market yourself to clients. When you submit a proposal or offer clients your project in Project Catalog, the next step is for them to check out your profile. It contains everything clients initially need to know to evaluate whether or not they want to interview you.

• Start with your title and overview—this is what clients see first
• Choose the right category and specialization for your skills
• Add a professional profile picture that is appropriate for your niche
• Use an intro video to let clients quickly get to know you
• Create specialized profiles for each of your niches (if you have more than one)
• Make sure your profile is 100% complete and go beyond the required information

If you need more help, skim these freelancer profiles for inspiration.

2. Leverage your Upwork portfolio

Potential clients typically want to see samples of your past work. Your Upwork portfolio is where you can feature your most relevant and impressive projects. Portfolios let clients get a feel for your quality, style, and the types of projects you have experience with. Make sure your portfolio is kept up-to-date, and you give enough background information for each of your samples.

Tell a story about the project and your involvement, along with the results and any client testimonials (if possible). What you include in your portfolio depends on the type of work you do. Clients may put greater importance on a portfolio for some skills, like graphic design and writing, compared to others, like bookkeeping or human resources, where client feedback may be more persuasive and impactful.

3. Be a strong communicator

Successful freelancers know the importance of mastering soft skills like communication. When working remotely, figuring out how to communicate effectively is one of the foundations for building a solid relationship with clients and teammates.

As a freelancer, you can keep all your client communications on Upwork. Message clients, set up video or phone meetings, and submit work using Upwork Messages. You can even track your time for hourly contracts if you use the Upwork app.

Depending on the client, their communication preferences, and where they live relative to you, you may need to learn how to manage both synchronous and asynchronous communication. Knowing how to communicate with clients helps to avoid misunderstandings that can lead to unintentional negative experiences.

"Capitalize on the moment and seize the opportunity to gather reviews while projects are still ongoing, rather than waiting until the end. Real-time feedback is invaluable for contractors as it allows them to gauge the client's satisfaction and make any necessary adjustments promptly. By emphasizing the importance of real-time feedback to your clients, you can convey that you genuinely care about their experience and strive to provide the best possible service."
—Jacqueline Ann DeStefano-Tangorra

4. Build and maintain strong client relationships

Instead of working for one employer as an independent professional, you work directly with clients, often more than one at once. You may have multiple open contracts from clients each week with different deadlines and deliverables that you need to organize and manage.

"I think it's all about building trust with existing clients; that's where the best reviews come from. Take fewer clients, charge more, deliver quality content, build relationships, increase rates, and keep the cycle going."
–-Zlatko Bijelic, Business Growth Strategist

The one-off project you submit a proposal to could turn into long-term repeat work if you go above and beyond to make sure your client is happy. Every client deserves the same attention and care, whether a one-time lower-budget project or a longer-term one.

Building strong client relationships starts with communication in the beginning–-making sure you know exactly what the client is looking for before you start. Once you understand the scope and work out any unclear details, regularly checking in with updates helps establish trust and keeps the client involved throughout the process.

"Try to fill gaps for your client, and if they need help with something you don't offer, refer them to someone in your network."
–-Melissa Psihudakis‍

5. Deliver strong work

At the end of the day, your work speaks for itself. Soft skills like communication and leadership enhance the client experience, but you still need to deliver strong work. Give every project the same level of care, maintaining the quality you promise–this is an integral part of becoming and maintaining your Top Rated status.

"Be consistently amazing. You never know who's watching or what opportunities may present themselves. Sometimes the best opportunities arise when we aren't expecting them."
–-Ryan Clark

When it comes time to hand in your deliverables, you want the client to be as happy as possible. Going the extra mile to make sure they're satisfied with your work often pays off in the end. The goal is to have your clients wanting to work with you again and leaving positive feedback to help attract new clients.

6. Build a solid reputation on Upwork

When clients evaluate which freelancers on Upwork to choose for their projects, they pay close attention to Job Success Scores, feedback, and any testimonials. Proposals and portfolios are important, but your reputation can be what makes the difference in getting an interview or landing the project.

"Know your worth, but never forget to stay humble. Even if you take on low-budget projects, remember that they can still play a significant role in building your credibility and acquiring positive reviews. Authenticity is key, so prioritize delivering exceptional client service by treating them the way you would want to be treated."

–-Jacqueline Ann DeStefano-Tangorra

‍

Your Job Success Score shows how well you meet and exceed your client's expectations. It generates a score based on private and public feedback, long-term relationships, client rehires, and contracts that ended without work delivered. A high job success score gives clients confidence in a freelancer. You must maintain a Job Success Score of at least 90% to be eligible for a Top Rated badge.

Another aspect of your reputation is your client feedback. Clients can leave public feedback that displays on your profile, along with private feedback that is visible only to you. Feedback helps you grow as a freelancer and is a quick way for new clients to evaluate talent. Once you turn in your deliverables and feel that the client is happy, you can kindly ask for feedback.

Start your journey to freelancing success

When freelancing, you can often see the results of your hard work quicker than if you worked as an employee for one company. Each new project or client helps to build your reputation as you earn positive feedback and improve your Job Success Score. You get to give yourself raises as you increase your rate based on the demand for your services. If you haven’t already, sign up for Upwork today and start working as an independent professional.

Upwork rewards your hard work with talent badges like Top Rated, which can help you win more proposals and attract new clients. While these badges aren't guaranteed, making sure you qualify and follow these best practices helps to build your freelancing career and set you up for success.