Tips for promoting yourself as a web designer
Know what makes your web design business unique and promote it.The first thing you should think about when promoting your Web design business is what makes your business unique. Ask yourself the following questions, and be honest in your answers - after all, you only hurt yourself and your business if you lie:
* What does my company offer that no other company can offer?
* What makes my services unique or special?
* Why should someone choose my company over any other Web design company?
Create a portfolio of your best sites.
A portfolio is the best way to show off your abilities and that of your business. So you should always have a list of the sites you worked on, what made them unique or interesting, and screen shots of the site as well as a link to the live site (if it's still available). Remember that when you're creating a portfolio, you should keep screen shots or if your contract allows, copies of the site you developed on your own server. Web sites change all the time, and if you're not the design firm that the site owner chooses for the next redesign, your portfolio will quickly get out of date.
Be willing to design sites for low cost or free to get started.
Many designers recommend never doing work for free, because it sends the wrong message. But if you have no portfolio items, it can be hard to get any without doing some free jobs. Contact organizations you know, like your church, local clubs, or up-and-coming politicians, and offer to build their sites for free or reduced cost. This gets them additional exposure, and gets you portfolio pieces. And just because a group you know has a Web site doesn't mean they won't accept help. Many non-profits have a difficult time keeping Web designers around once the initial site is built. If you can provide suggestions for how they can improve their site, they will often be willing to let you do a redesign. Include your business information on every site you build.
It helps to have a small (around 100 x 50, no larger) logo that you can use to promote your business unobtrusively. And then make sure to get that you want some acknowledgement of your work on their site in the contract. Many businesses don't want a Web designer logo on every page of their site, but if you can at least get something on their "About Us" page, along with a logo and link to your business site, that would help. If they are pleased with your work, chances are they will be more willing to link to you. Don't be afraid to provide contact information.
Your customers will appreciate having multiple ways to contact you including postal mail, telephone, email, and Web form. Yes, there is the concern of spam, but if you're trying to get customers, hiding from spammers means you're hiding from customers too. Invest in a quality spam blocking program and make your email address available.
Free things are always appreciated.
There is a reason why freebies are so popular - they work for both the customers and the companies. If you specialize in Flash menu design, offer a free, simple Flash menu for anyone to download and use on their site. Once you've hooked them with the quality of your free product, they'll be more interested in hiring you to build a full-blown Flash site. Other free things you could offer are:
* Free simple Web templates
* Free hosting with purchase of a design package
* Free site evaluation
* Free domain maintenance with mention of some ad
* Free estimate - you should always provide this
If you have articles, information, or links on your Web site that go beyond just what you're selling, you'll attract more customers. Be careful if you decide to put up articles that they don't turn into "infomercials". Most Web surfers these days are very savvy and get bored quickly with strong armed sales pitches when all they wanted was to learn how to do something. Promote your business wherever you can.
If there is a Web designer listing you should get your site on it.
But read any submission requirements before you start spamming the world. You won't get additional customers because you submitted to more places, but you might get banned or blacklisted if you're particularly annoying. Keep your business site up-to-date and of high quality.
It's often amazing to me how poorly written many Web designer sites are. Remember, unless you're independently wealthy or have a day job, your Web design business should always be looking for clients. And to look for clients, you need to put your best foot forward. No customer is going to come to a poorly designed Web site and think "well, their portfolio sites were nice, I guess they just don't have time for their corporate site." If they think anything it will be more like "Oh wow! That is completely not what I expected from a site who designed ____. Maybe they didn't really design ____," and hit the back button. Remember SEO for your Web design site.
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is just as important for your business site as it is for your clients' sites. Use the unique facets of your business to optimize on - so that you can get better ranking for the niche designs you want to build. Remember that there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of other Web designers out there. And they all want the same business you want. The better you optimize for a specific niche, the more likely you'll get the client that another, more generalized Web designer would have missed. Be very careful with your spelling and grammar in all your promotional materials.
Whenever you are promoting your business, whether on your company's Web site or in a Web designer listing, remember that spelling and grammar are very important. If you make a simple typo in your promotional material, someone will see it and decide not to use you because of it. Don't give people a reason to turn away from you.
This also applies to "unique" spellings or grammatical choices. For example, a very popular chocie by many Web designers is to write everything in lower case. In English grammar, this is incorrect. And while it may have worked for e.e. cummings, in most Web design promotional material it looks silly at best, and juvenile or lazy at worst. If you're doing something with your writing to look "cool", chances are it will just look wrong to many of your potential customers.
