Web Designer Question

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I've been experiencing a dry spell with finding web design clients.
I am sometimes on craigslist and freelancer but it's not looking hopeful. Where else should I look to find clients. Also would social networks be useful for that:confused:
#website design #designer #question #web
  • IMHO social networks are not a good lead generator for web dev. They are better suited for entertainment/social/clothes/electronics and popular stuff like that. B2B not so much.
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  • As a business owner you have to spend some time marketing (pounding the pavement). Before the Internet we'd have to drive, or walk, around telling people about our business. We'd look in the yellow pages phone book (yes that large book with lots of business ads and listings), and either call or send out mailers telling them about our business.

    Finding new customers was not easy, and it took a lot more time than it does today. Now we have the Internet and there are millions of customers right at our fingertips. We just need to spend time looking for them and telling them about our business.

    As far a social media sites, I'd use facebook and LinkedIn, since LinkedIn is more about business. A facebook business page can be effective if done correctly. There's a lot of information on the web on how to effectively market your business using a FB page. You may not land a Pepsi or Coca Cola like account, but you may pickup Ma and Pa's Gift Store.

    Make sure you get the word out about your business. Let all your friends know what you're doing. Share you FB business page with them, and ask them to like it. Browse the web, find sites that need a facelift, and contact the owner. It's a lot easier than "pounding the pavement." Good luck!
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  • Before the Internet we'd have to drive, or walk, around telling people about our business.

    I can remember pounding the pavement on the asphalt jungle. That is still an option today So is picking up the phone and cold calling... my least favorite method.
  • Try LinkedIn and being an authority there. Either that and/or you could try to perform SEO your own website so that prospective customers can find you.
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    • The web design market is just too saturated right now so SEO will be hard. As a web designer myself, I've got first hand experience on how hard it actually is to get started in this business.

      On the positive side, once you have a nice portfolio the old clients usually come back for more and tell good things about you to other potential clients.

      A good idea would be to seek out poorly build websites and contact their owners. Oh and by the way, you should know a lot about SEO as well. It seems to be the magic word among our clients

      For example I once found a poorly made website whose owner obviously didn't understand SEO all that much so the first thing I did was point out the areas where I could make his business more findable in the first place. I offered this information completely free of charge and ended up building a website for them as well.
  • Jeffrey is right, unfortunately you are probably what is classified as an "Introvert" we tend to want to stay behind a computer and not even get close to a phone or networking event with a bunch of semi buzzed/drunk nervous people who are also selling something.

    I feel the best way to get leads, and actually the only way is HOT LEADS through friends, family friends, friends of family friends, friends of friends. Cold calling definitely works but you need to call hundreds of businesses per week and it's best to pay someone to do that for you if you don't have the coolness for it.

    Craigslist is a piece of crap for getting business, it's such a waste of time. You can get some crappy jobs through Craigslist but contract freelance jobs get hundreds of e-mails per post. Competition is immense.

    But if you do nothing you will continue to get nothing. Make a change or be eliminated from the Gene pool.
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    Web Designer Question

    I've been experiencing a dry spell with finding web design clients. I am sometimes on craigslist and freelancer but it's not looking hopeful. Where else should I look to find clients. Also would social networks be useful for that:confused: