The ongoing struggle of most web designers is how to get more web design business. This is particularly true if you are a new web designer and just getting started. Below are four tips on where the business is and how you can get a piece of it.
1. Get Out Of Your Design Cave
The number one source of business for most freelance web designers is small local business. Small local businesses want others in their community to shop locally, so they often make a point to do the same themselves. You can use this to your advantage, since wherever you are, you are a local businessperson.
So, how do you network and meet the owners of small businesses? You go where they go. Join your local Chamber of Commerce or business association and start attending the meetings. Make sure you attend the meetings with business cards and the intention of actually meeting people, NOT selling to people. Volunteering and supporting local charities and community events is another great way to network and meet small business owners.
2. Create Your Online Portfolio
It is unlikely that anyone will buy a website from you without seeing examples of your work. Your portfolio is your resume to potential clients and your chance to put your best foot forward. Quality is essential for your web design portfolio; make sure it works perfectly in all the major browsers and resolutions. If a potential client’s first impression is a website with obvious problems, you will have a tough sell ahead of you.
3. Have a Set Referral Process
Referrals are the most powerful marketing tool at your disposal. We can see advertising for something over and over to no effect, but once someone you know and trust recommends the product, you are sold. If you treat your customers right, they will pay you with more than just money. They will pay you back many times over in new business. Make sure you actively pursue referrals, and not just expect them to roll in on their own. The key is to ask your clients to refer and offer incentives to them.
4. Utilize Social Networking
Remember that it is social networking, NOT social selling. Sure, your ultimate goal is to sell your services, but your potential clients are not on Facebook or Twitter to shop or be sold to — they are there to connect with people. Social networking sites are a goldmine for business leads, but they must be used correctly to connect to potential clients and share your expertise. Through freely sharing your knowledge, your connections will trust you more and be more likely to use your services.
Use social networking as bait to hook leads and pull them into your website. It is not for closing a sale. Follow the 80/20 rule, where 80% of your social content is pure quality information and 20% is pulling them in. Don’t ever try to outright sell something in a medium like Twitter. That is the quickest way to get written off, and consequently unfollowed or hidden.
Bringing in new business consistently is one of the keys to your web design business’s success. Venture out to meet real people who might need your services, maintain an online portfolio for potential clients to view, obtain referrals from satisfied clients, and leverage the potential of social networking to develop your customer base without coming off like the stereotypical used car salesman. These four tips will provide you a surefire way to bring in more clients.