I have not bought any list from the brokers so far, and neither have I done any local marketing I am keen on doing local marketing and trying all things. I feel getting work online from the website itself would be a difficult thing unless people know the company personally and have heard about it from friends or companions.
Service provider is not a product that people will merely find you and purchase from you. Yes, the website is your business front end where possible customer comes in and see the portfolio, learns more about the company among other things.
Now, just sending someone to a site and expecting to generate leads is a very ambitious posture. But it could be done if you have a landing page with a special deal and with tracking information to see and understand what is yielding ROI and what is not.
A business is not just about getting more clients, yes more clients means sales, but many people that need a service don't not know where to run.
Create a nice email blast to your clients and offer then a finders fee, fill their pockets. You can also purchase a list and offer your service directly. But you need to track and measure effectiveness of campaigns.
You need to add to count how an area/market works and your target audience. So you need to begin with who are your customers and where they are, that will tell you what form of advertisement you can produce to reach them.
Sometimes an old newspaper ads will make the phone ring even we are in 2013. You need to understand who is your customer. If you are targeting young entrepreneurs like IM'ers there is no better place than posting an ad here in BHW.