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ben502
05-13-2011, 08:01 AM
Good morning.
I have started (am starting?) a new web design business. we are still fairly new and have done several sites so far. We are focusing on the small business and artist market and providing custom websites at a very reasonable price. the question now is how do i get more customers? i use facebook and twitter, i send out postcards, pray for good word of mouth...what else can i do?

Steve B
05-13-2011, 08:22 AM
I must have missed your intro. It's nice to welcome another Kentuckian to the forum - we have a few of us around here. I'm in Spencer County, but cover all of Jefferson, Oldham, and Shelby counties with my businesses.

Unfortunately, I have no idea how to help you build your customer base, but there are a LOT of web designers here that will be sure to help you.

ben502
05-13-2011, 08:47 AM
Nice to meet you Steve!

Patrysha
05-13-2011, 09:50 AM
Welcome to the forum Ben :-) I do something similar working with small businesses (not artists so much though...) on a local level networking & publicity are the two biggest things beyond word of mouth. I used to spend a fair bit of time at the Offline Gold forum for ideas and inspiration...but mostly...it's word of mouth and referrals.

GreaterVisibility
05-13-2011, 10:05 AM
I too am from the Louisville area, though I live on the "Sunny Side" across the river in Clarksville. We cover Clark, Floyd, Jefferson, Oldham, and Spencer counties in our businesses. Welcome to the forums!

As far as advice goes, I'd highly recommend browsing the Warrior Forums. Look them up, and read in the Offline Marketing forums there to see how others are promoting their web building skills. There is some great advice there. Some people simply contact businesses that they see advertising on Craigslist that don't have a website, or they look for people that pay for advertising in the YP or newspaper but that don't have an online presence, and talk to those people.

A potentially GREAT idea for you to build your business is to check out the Telemarketing Forums (). There is an entire sub-forum there on promoting web based services through telemarketing. In fact, the guy that started the forum has a program that you can get through their premium (perhaps called "gold") membership which is all about how to leverage telemarketing in selling web design services. He started in business doing just that.

So, if you're willing to put time and hustle into it, you can find some clients. By the way, I looked at your portfolio of web design, and you have some nice work. Send me some information on your pricing structure and such for logos, websites, etc., and I'll give you some promotion to people that we meet. We work for people in a wide variety of industries, I'm involved in forums locally where people often ask questions looking for someone to build them a website, etc.

Mike

954SEO
05-13-2011, 10:30 AM
Networking is big, and it's not as painstaking as it sounds. Someone once told me, at any given point in the day you should be meeting with someone, on the phone with someone, or emailing someone (when you're not working that is). Just putting yourself out there helps spread the buzz. It doesn't hurt to do good work either.

KristineS
05-13-2011, 12:52 PM
Are you looking for local business or, since you're online, does it not matter from where your business comes? The answer to that question will help determine some of your strategy.

If you're looking for local business, joining the Chamber of Commerce is a good idea or, at the very least attending business luncheons or afterwork mixers if they have those sorts of things. On Facebook and Twitter, focus on following local people. A lot of cities are creating Twitter and Facebook networking groups where you can be listed in a directory of sorts, or at least find other businesses you might want to follow. Another real world fertile ground for you might be artists groups. A lot of towns have art walks or art fairs and just attending those and handing out cards might be useful.

If you're business can come from anywhere, focus on following small business groups and artist groups on Twitter and Facebook. Look at who is also following those groups and start trying to friend or follow some of those people. You should also make sure that you're contributing to the community and not just constantly selling yourself and your business. No one likes to be sold all the time. You can also look to sites like Etsy and Artfire, which are communities where artists sell their goods. You could potentially find clients on those sites.

Russ in Vancouver
05-13-2011, 01:53 PM
Hi Ben,

I was browsing some artist tradeshows a year ago, I recall seeing a ton of the listed exhibitors websites as I visited them all, many were in need of a facelift. As well, many of them seemed to subscibe to someone who was hosting them and providing some sort of generic shopping cart template to them. All the host seemed to do was plug in their company logo, company info and their items for sale. When looking at it, I thought to myself, these people need a better option.

Ill see if I can dig up that list for ya if you are interested. Let me know

huggytree
05-14-2011, 08:15 AM
building a customer base can take a lifetime

it took me 4 years until i finally got steady enough business that i can slack off a bit on finding new customers....they now come to me through referrals

it seems like 10 percent of the population are web designers...i think you picked a tough field with a lot of price competition

ben502
05-14-2011, 09:03 AM
this is so fantastic! thank you everyone!

ben502
05-14-2011, 09:17 AM
247 Lead Pros :

that would be fantastic! thank you!

Russ in Vancouver
05-14-2011, 01:41 PM
Hi Ben,

I have sent you a private msg

Harold Mansfield
05-14-2011, 03:41 PM
Good morning.
I have started (am starting?) a new web design business. we are still fairly new and have done several sites so far. We are focusing on the small business and artist market and providing custom websites at a very reasonable price. the question now is how do i get more customers? i use facebook and twitter, i send out postcards, pray for good word of mouth...what else can i do?

You have to get on your SEO so that people can find you online. Try and rank on the first page for at least one term or phrase at first. Choose the best that you can target that has limited competition.
And list your services in reputable directories where people would look for specialty service providers.

Word of mouth is big. I also make myself available as a sub. I work with others that need what I can offer to expand their services to their clientele.
Add a tag or signature ( with permission) to every site that you work on.

It's tough. It's competitive.
As we used to say in the old neighborhood, "You have to get in where you fit in" and exploit every opportunity , no matter how small.

huggytree
05-17-2011, 04:37 PM
adverise to your customer base

is your base small business? then join things where small businessmen go.look for new business startups...they all need a website...

you may still be figuring out who your customer is...it may take a year to be able to define it....

once you get an exact definition of who your customer is then you can figure out how to advertise to them



if your low price then your customer is probably someone without much money and wants something cheap and small

if your high priced then your customer is probably someone already established and a larger business....

find a niche...there are sooooo many web designers(i think 10 percent of the population is web designers some times)...

i chose my website designer through my builder association...they specialize in building websites for construction contractors

MyITGuy
05-18-2011, 03:40 PM
Word of mouth if my best bet on establishing a customer relationship. This is done via existing clients (I offer a referral fee in the form of cash, credit on services, or free products like an iPad or etc..), Chamber of Commerce meetings and their associated leads group(s), and last but not least I go door to door or place cold calls offering a free evaluation which shows the state of their network and what we can do for them.

Some items for you to consider is sub-contracting/partnerships. Quite a few designers in my area have more work than they can handle so they subcontract it out to other shops/individuals (Try to work out something where your brand is on the site for SEO/Advertising purposes if possible). Also you should reach out to firms that provide IT Services to businesses to create that partnership. They can market your services, and in trade they take a small commission/percentage of the work done.

tylerhutchinson
05-20-2011, 05:49 PM
Get on Linkden. Look to connect with company owners. Get your site up and going and do online marketing. Make sure your site includes links to all sites you built and make sure all sites you did do has your company site in the bottom so people can find you off the site.

windowwasher86
07-29-2011, 08:43 PM
i would be curious as to how strong of a job market web site making is at this point. sites like wix will give you professional looking websites for free, all you have to do is pay for the domain. does that effect your business at all?

(sorry i know im replying to an old post).

Patrysha
07-29-2011, 08:49 PM
i would be curious as to how strong of a job market web site making is at this point. sites like wix will give you professional looking websites for free, all you have to do is pay for the domain. does that effect your business at all?

(sorry i know im replying to an old post).

Website builders have been around for a long, long time...the only way it affects business is helping to weed out the business owners who are too cheap to invest in wise marketing.

mhilliarda
07-30-2011, 05:31 PM
Yes, joining community groups and organizations is a great idea. That way you can go to events and network to get the word out about who you are and what you do. I'm not sure if anyone else suggested having a blog. If you could blog about what you do and start to be an online voice for your industry, that can be a really great way to get referrals, spread the word, and build reputation. You could even have examples of your work. And, since you have done some work with artists, I would look into contacting some art magazines, blogs, forums and trying to build relationships there. As well as looking into advertising with some of them.

greenoak
07-31-2011, 09:29 AM
i think the guy who did huggys website has the best idea.... get good and known in one field.... so you have something special to offer to the businesses in that field...whether its hairdressers or contractors...otherwise you are generic....
good luck.... there are so many of you out there trying to sell services..... hopefully some are making a living at it...

huggytree
07-31-2011, 08:42 PM
i think the guy who did huggys website has the best idea.... get good and known in one field.... so you have something special to offer to the businesses in that field...whether its hairdressers or contractors...otherwise you are generic....
good luck.... there are so many of you out there trying to sell services..... hopefully some are making a living at it...

fellow contractors dont know anything about making a website....we just know we need one....i chose the one who works with my builders association because they 'specialize' in contractors websites...i dont know if niche marketing works for website builders, but it worked for me....they probably give the builders association a free website in exchange for being known as the associations web designer....

one thing to consider when pricing and building a customer base....do you want a base of 'cheap' customers??? cheap people know other cheap people....if you have the 'BIG ORIGINAL' idea of raising your prices later my opinion is it doesnt work..if they chose you on PRICE and you raise your prices they will choose someone else next time....i strongly recommend medium to high price....i find high end customers to be the best

cheap customers are the least loyal and expect the most...they are typically a pain in the butt to work for......i keep my prices high and they dont bother me anymore....high prices = very few price shoppers

SimpleKindOfMan
08-03-2011, 10:49 AM
There are so many good ways! Here's are three ways:

1. Get as many business cards as you can. Don't just drop them in fishbowls for free lunches (although that is a good idea). Hand them out to everyone you know.
Heck, hand two out. If you can, write your name and the name of the person you are giving your card to - that way you can track referrals. Offer a discount if the person to whom you give your business card passes it on to someone else.

2. Build a high-quality website. This is important now more than it ever has been. With the prevalence of the internet and smartphones, people are searching for product and services without having to talk to another person. This means you have to make it even easier for your customers to find you. Do you want to be the top result for your field? Hire an SEO expert to make it happen.
* - This is just general advice. Since you're a web design company you probably already know how to do this.

3. Go to local events, join clubs, etc. Talk to as many people there as possible. Greet people by giving them your company name first, then your name. For example: "Hi, I'm with Cobalt Spider Web Design. I'm Ben." Then hand them your card.

Here's a fourth way that might help:
4. If you're not good with people, or don't have the time to step outside of the office, hire someone to do #1 and #3. I learned how to sell when I worked at a nightclub in college and they asked me to do marketing for them because the owner(s) lacked the motivation to do it themselves but saw that they needed to get their name out there aggressively.

Like I said, there are a lot of different ways to do what you're asking. You'll find proper marketing to be tricky! You'll find what works best for you, and don't worry if you make mistakes, that's the best way to learn.

JeremyJ
08-25-2011, 03:23 PM
Ben,
There is a great book by Bob Burg called Endless Referrals that teaches how to put a referral system in place, the less time you can spend on marketing [being very effective with the time you do spend] and more on your actual business the better, especially in the beginning. It's quicker to get a new client as a referral than someone you just met.

alphadore
08-26-2011, 05:35 AM
I dont know your budget. But, it seems like most small businesses that can have business from around the world focuses on SEO and driving traffic to their website for the relevant keywords. I am not SEO expert at al but I know that the monthly search volumes of website designs in Google is huge. You can generate so many quality leads from that source alone.

jdhopkins
09-01-2011, 05:26 PM
You may want to find a few blogs in your area of expertise. Start by just commenting regularly on those blogs. Then you can, hopefully, upgrade to being a guest blogger on the topic of web design. At the same time you may want to consider offering your services for free to a couple of businesses that will get a lot of traffic. The combination of these 2 things will give you 1) credibility in your area of expertise & 2) access to prospective clients you wouldn't have had otherwise.

Good luck!

Business Heads
09-05-2011, 03:40 AM
Facebook and Twitter is good enough for local attention. For more better popularity you should definitely have a website in-case you don't. Why don't you try and join more groups and blogs to talk about your work. It is good way to connect with people and explain them your way of working.