How to get your first clients as a web designer

There are many reasons why you may want to start working on your own by offering web design or development services. Greater freedom, passion for what you do, work flexibility, entrepreneurial spirit…

It happened to me as soon as I finished studying. With 20 years. I had been making websites with WordPress for some time for my hobbies and it was clear to me that I wanted to make it my way of life.

However, what I hadn’t thought about was how I was going to get companies or people who were willing to pay for my services.

That’s why I’m writing this post today to tell you about the different channels I’ve found since then to get clients. Hoping they can help you.

Who is your ideal client?

This is the first question you should ask yourself. The one that almost none of us do. And whose answer will surely change over time.

But it’s really important.

Are you going to make websites for small businesses?
Are you going to offer more specialized services for large companies?
Are you planning to focus on a niche market?
Will you be working only locally? Or will you be looking for national, even international clients?

All this is key to discovering how and where you have to sell yourself to get customers.

¿Qué servicios vas a ofrecer?

Another of the fundamental things before starting to look for clients is to be clear about what you are going to offer them and how you are going to try to differentiate yourself.

What is usually called your value proposition.

In this article we look at different services that you can offer to the clients of your web agency. Also applicable if you are a freelancer, of course. And that they go far beyond web design and development.

You can focus only on developing with WordPress, for example, if it is the tool you usually work with. Although I recommend that in that case you also offer digital strategy services. Since a website without a strategy is usually not worth much. Especially to small businesses that do not have their own marketing team and that depend on your recommendations to go digital.

You may also want to specialize in something more specific such as ecommerce site development. Or even the technical maintenance of WordPress websites.

Create an attractive professional website

No, it’s not worth that “at the blacksmith’s house wooden knife” here.

If you’re just starting out, the first option you have to have something to show your clients as an example of your work is your own website.

In addition, this will be your cover letter for many clients. To explain that value proposition that we have seen in the previous point.

You need to create a page where you talk about yourself, break down your services and upload the projects you do. It is important to build this portfolio.

In addition, it is the place where you can show the testimonials of your satisfied customers. And you already know, nowadays we all look at the opinions of others before buying something.

Ways to find your first customers

Once you have defined who your ideal client is, what services you are going to offer them and you have created your own website as a cover letter, it’s time to go looking for them.

Because no, customers don’t usually come to you. Especially at the beginning.

So I’m going to tell you the different ways that I’ve tried and that have worked for me (or not) at some point to attract customers.

And besides, I’m going to give you a tip to start with each of them.

1. Take advantage of your environment. The word-of-mouth rules.

Talk to your family and friends. They are your closest circle and the ones who trust you the most. Surely some have a business or a personal project that could benefit from having a website or know someone who does.

I tell you real examples (that have happened to me) to inspire you:

• You may have a cousin who paints in his spare time and needs a cover letter to offer his paintings to small local exhibitions.
• Facebook Instagram Your sister can go to dance classes at an academy whose only online presence is their Instagram/Facebook account.
• You play basketball in a club that does not have a website so that the parents of the boys and girls can see the results of the matches.
• If you have recently finished studying or have university friends, they may need a website to present a project they are doing.

And no, you don’t always have to do these jobs by getting paid.

There is a lot of debate here but I can assure you that I do not regret having done my first jobs without getting paid.

They helped me to gain experience, create a portfolio and then get many more clients thanks to the recommendations made by the first acquaintances to whom I made a website.

Tip! Search your network of close family and friends for someone who has a business. If you can’t find him, expand the network to not-so-close friends. If you still can’t find them, start talking about them to your contacts so that they can give you ideas about their acquaintances.

2. Work your LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the largest professional network in the world with almost 900 million users.

The strangest thing? Only 1% of the users of this social network share content on a weekly basis.

This is a huge opportunity to position yourself as an expert in your sector.

Work on expanding your network of contacts little by little, especially at a local level or if you want to focus on a specific niche.

Then start creating valuable content that will make them remember you the day they need a website for your business.

In my case, and despite the fact that most of them were people who did not recommend me or comment on my LinkedIn posts, I received (and still receive) many messages from people asking me for a quote for a web project or telling me that they had recommended me to an acquaintance of theirs. Always indicating that they followed my posts and that they knew that I was dedicated to creating web pages.

Tip: Keep your LinkedIn profile updated and public on a recurring basis. You can talk about the projects you finish, interesting news about the world of web design or explaining technical things in a way that your ideal client understands. For example, what is SEO? It will help you to make yourself known and at the same time to generate confidence in your knowledge/skills.

3. Busca clientes en plataformas de freelancers

I have put it in third place because it is not easy to get clients on this type of platforms if you do not have a previous portfolio that you can teach.

There are many but I have tried Malt, for jobs in Spain and UpWork and Freelancer for international jobs.

Malt seems to me the best because the projects are usually more serious. At Upwork I received dozens of requests a week with projects that didn’t even have to do with web design.

It is essential that you work on your profile on this type of platform because it is what companies will see before asking you for a proposal for their project.

Update a portfolio regularly showing your best works and look for recommendations from former clients that give it credibility.

Tip: Create a free account on the platform that most convinces you and work a quality profile. Try to get the first project as soon as possible (even if it is not super profitable) because from that moment on any potential client will see that you have worked with other clients on the platform successfully. Increasing confidence in an x10.

4. Take advantage of business associations or online communities

In practically every city there are associations of companies that get together from time to time to network and find possible ways to collaborate.

Usually, and I’m telling you this from a small city like León, there are usually more people offering web design and development services. But it is true that they are still a very small percentage of the total number of companies in the association.

In my experience, joining one of these associations is a good investment to meet other entrepreneurs and present your services. If you have your personal brand and your value proposition well worked out, you can surely convert them into customers.

Tip: Analyze the associations that exist in your city and the members they have (it usually appears on their website). If you see that many people do not have a website or have very outdated websites, it can be a real mine of potential customers. Sign up and go to as many meetings as possible. Always with some good business cards so that they remember you. Not everyone is as digital as we are.

This also applies to online communities. Something with more and more presence in the digital world and where you can also meet a lot of entrepreneurs without leaving your home. If you haven’t tried them, communities like SinOficina are the coolest.

5. Looking for collaborations with other professionals

This is one of the most important and is that the world of digital marketing is huge and we can not always offer all the services that our clients need.

But at the same time, this is an open door to create relationships with other professionals with whom to work on different projects.

For example. If you are dedicated to web design, you can work with copywriters who write the texts, community managers who manage the client’s social networks or even photographers.

Look for them in your city or in the places we have mentioned before. Freelance portals, business associations, etc…

It will allow you to expand the services you offer to your clients, get more projects and even receive commissions if a project does not fit you and you refer it directly to one of your partners.

Tip: Don’t be afraid to take your first step and hire another professional when you need one. Look for someone who is complementary to you and, if you work well, there are many chances that later you will be the one contacted for a possible collaboration.

6. Carry out digital marketing campaigns (SEM, Social Media)

It is difficult to make it work at first and, especially, on a small scale (online advertising is usually cheaper and more profitable the more you do).

To be honest, despite having tried it, it has never given me results. Although I know people who do.

Once you have professional social media accounts where you think you can find your ideal client, you can try making ads offering your services and targeting the audience you are targeting. Segmentation is one of the good things about this type of advertising.

Tip: Try a small campaign, for example, offering one of your services at a discount or focused on a very specific niche and try to see how many leads you can get before investing a lot of money.

7. Work with local or niche SEO

I have left this one for the end because it is perhaps the most complicated and I have not managed to make it work for me either.

It’s about being able to rank in Google for the keywords of the services you offer.

I’m talking directly about local or niche SEO because I think that if you are starting out you may have some opportunity to position yourself as “WordPress web Design in León” or “WordPress web Design for hairdressers”. However, I find it impossible to try nowadays to position yourself nationally with things like “Freelance web designer”. Too much competition.

Of course, both nationally and locally I know people who working very well this has managed to get most of their customers to come from Google on a recurring basis.

Tip: Content focused on the keywords that interest you and the loading speed of the website works very well. If you also write a blog it would already be the milk, especially if you focus on a specific niche.

Conclusion

As you can see, getting customers is not as bad as they say. There is no need to resort to the cold door in businesses that do not know you and where the chances of success are minimal.

Be clear about what kind of customer you want to target, how you are going to help them and make sure that when they find you they see something that you are proud of.

And above all, move a lot. Create synergies with other professionals, work on your personal brand on LinkedIn, create your profile on freelance platforms and take advantage of local business associations. These are definitely my favorites and something we can all do without too much effort.

I hope they work for you and, if you know of any others, I will be glad to read you.