Leads for web design are easy.
When I use to do it this is how I got my leads.
1) I collected all valpak, super coups and money mailers that came into my mail box. I also opened up a pobox in a neighboring county just to receive more spam / offers.
2) This gave me a list of businesses who were *spending money* on advertising and I inherently knew at least 90% weren't getting an ROI and at least half had no idea wtf they were doing.
3) I sorted through the ads 1 by 1 and picked out all the shittiest ones. I found so many ads without a logo, social proof, testimonials, CTAs, free offers, what's in it for the customer, damaging admissions, etc. I'd circle or make notes on the ads as I did this.
4) I called these businesses up and told them straight out, "I found your ad in {valpak|super coups|money mailer} and I know you're not making a return". This would immediately get their attention. Then I'd tell them right over the phone why people weren't calling. I advised them about copywriting, I also didn't try to position myself like some badass. After I'd basically insult their ads, I'd insult myself, like "look, I don't have a Harvard MBA in marketing, I don't have any magic powers, and I can NOT flood your business with calls, but I guarantee if you let me make a few changes to your site and your avertising strategy, you WILL get a return on your money".
5) It's important to note, if people had really nice sites I ignored those businesses. I focused mainly on people who were spending money on these mailers but had shitty sites. And I'd give tips on their mailers then shift focus to their sites and gift them tips on that.
By doing this I was able to sell a little over $4k in web design my 2nd month in. By month 6 my schedule was so backlogged I was scheduling people 8 weeks in advance.
I also emailed businesses too but the conversions were nowhere near as good. And I did ads on craigslist as well which worked fairly well. If you write good enough ads, and know how to really distinguish yourself, you WILL get leads from CL. But unless you're mass spamming chances are you won't have work everyday.
Let me stress 1 last thing. The way I really caught peoples attention was by using a good dose of "anti-marketing" or "damaging admissions". Rather than talk up my skills, I'd start by talking them down. I'd say the complete opposite of what big web design firms were saying. Like, "I haven't been in business for 80 years, I can't do this, I can't do that, etc but I CAN DO XXXX". That will raise your credibility factor through the roof.
Good luck.
-BB
