Getting Clients for Website Building: 8 Ideas
If you’re having trouble finding website design gigs, we’ve got you covered in this article. Here are just a few of the many possibilities. Make sure to try as many as you can, and not just focus on one area. It takes time to build a solid clientele list, as well as establish yourself as a trustworthy website designer.
However, there should be no excuse that you’re without any projects. Literally, some of the suggestions have hundreds of website-building projects listed each day that you can bid on.
Referrals
Cold Emailing
Networking
Social Media Marketing
Freelancer platforms
Guest Blogging
Content Marketing
Job boards
1. Referrals
Referrals are where people like what you do, and tell others about your website building services. This is the best way to get your name out there and even helps build trust. Make sure to ask your customers for testimonials so you can share those with others, whether on your website or on social networks. Besides, it’s also free!
Don’t be afraid to also ask your clients to refer you to their family, friends, and more. You could even offer something like a 20% referral award. This is where if your client refers someone to sign up and pays for a service, and then you can send them a small percentage of the overall project’s price.
To encourage referrals, you can offer incentives such as a discount on future services or a referral fee. Make sure to thank your clients who refer you and keep them updated on the progress of their referrals.
2. Cold Emailing
Cold emailing is basically emailing people, but not no exactly knowing if the possible client may be interested in your website-building services. While you could do this, don’t be surprised if your email gets flagged for spam sometimes. You may pick up some clients, but this method will probably result in a lot of “no’s”.
Just make sure to be respectful, and don’t send something that will overwhelm your potential clients. Be clear and concise. Additionally, no need to follow up if these potential clients don’t email within a few days. Only follow up with people who replied back.
3. Networking
Networking is something you can do in person. This practice is far older than social media, and a way to get clients for website building. You can attend local Chamber of Commercial events, Rotary club meetings, Meetup group events, and conferences. Now, you could go further and join online forums and groups that are business focused.
Just make sure when you network, to be genuine and don’t go in to sell. Actually get to know others and if the topic comes up, then you can pitch. When you do, be clear about who you are, what you offer, and how that can help others. For in person events, certainly make sure to carry some business cards or an easy means for people to connect with you later.
Social media marketing is a way to use social networks to sell your products and services, or get exposure for your brand. Make sure to create profiles on social network websites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, as all of these places have a lot of business owners and organizations that you could potentially reach. With social media marketing, you can share examples of your work, case studies, customer testimonials, and news related to what your website design and development business does.
When you’re posting to social networks, and people reply or react, make sure to engage with them. Encourage them to re-share and even follow you. Most of social networks also provide a way that you can run paid advertising campaigns so you can target potential clients.
Freelance platforms allow you to find projects, whether with small business owners or large companies. Often, freelance platforms have a lot of freelancers bidding for projects, like crowdsourcing. When you sign up on a freelancing site, in order to have a high chance of being chosen as the project’s service provider, you need to completely fill out your profile and include some images of your portfolio.
Please note that some freelance platforms may have some paid services to boost your freelancer profile and bids. Here are just a few freelance platforms:
While some projects may have a lot of bidders, don’t be discouraged. Just make sure that your profile and portfolio are solid. Additionally, most projects allow you to leave an introduction so make it count. Don’t add a canned response. Customize your introduction so the project owner knows that you’ve understood their needs.
6. Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is where you can post on someone else’s blog. It’s best to choose blogs that talk about similar things or topics close to what services you offer. Make sure that when you write a guest blog post, you write a nice bio and that it links back to your website. It’s usually okay to link to your own website’s posts from a guest post, but be respectful and try to include links from the site you’re guest blogging on, or at least links to notable and influential websites.
When you do this, guest blogging can become a nice exposure to you. In fact, if the site is popular, your exposure only increases. If you’re only guest blogging on tiny sites, you may only get a backlink, but little to no exposure. Make sure to find sites that have a large audience, and pitch some topics that they might find valuable. As a note, some blog owners have their own guest blogger policies, so make sure to read it before submitting any possible topic suggestions.
7. Content Marketing
Content marketing is a type of marketing that you create and publish content to a target audience. When you’re trying to get clients for website building, you really need to think outside of the box. Get into the small business owner’s head on what problems they have, what their story is, what needs they have, and then put together content to address those. In return, that content should allow your target audience to connect with it and hopefully encourages them to reach out to you about their website needs.
Your posts need to use text, images, and even video to attract potential clients to your website, and in the end, to hire you. You certainly can share case studies and projects you’ve done, but it’s important to not inundate your target audience with pure selling. Make it about encouraging them to engage with your content and ask questions so you can share your expertise with them.
After you create your content, make sure to promote it on social networks, forums, or through your email newsletter campaigns. Don’t be afraid to add calls-to-action that show people what you need them to do, in order to view your posts, or services, or to contact you.
8. Job Boards
Job boards can be a really great way to find far more solid projects than gigs, especially if freelancing isn’t cutting it for you. You can secure a position that offers a competitive salary, health benefits, and in some cases, stock options with the company. Some jobs may be remote positions, some may require you to come to the workplace, and some allow a mix of both. Here are some places that usually list website designer and developer job listings:
You can also look up jobs on Google search tool
