Get More Web Design Clients?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Daniel Carnett
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Daniel Carnett

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Hi,

I just recently started my own web design business. I currently have 10 websites in my portfolio from doing some web design for friends and I built a nice business/portfolio website for it. I am just having a real hard time getting clients and some legit business. I have been emailing small businesses on craigslist who have no website, but had no sales. Is this an effective method to getting clients? You think YellowPages will give me better luck? Is cold-calling an effective method? I don't know, I am totally new to the marketing aspect of this. Any help is appreciated.


Cheers,
Daniel
 
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I would suggest you should pay local listing websites such as manta, hotfrog, etc... a visit. focus on a specific niche for example mechanical engineers, you would find businesses that are listed that have a physical and email address but doesn't have a website. You might put them on a list and try sending them some emails or perhaps call them if you really want to have a fast response from them. :)
 
Thanks, I will try that later. Another question, I priced my Web design at $199. (Using Wordpress). Now, is that too low of a price? Because I know you can easily charge $1K+. I don't want to seem cheap. Should I raise it?

Thanks,
Daniel


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Asking people to PM you to see your Portfolio is against the rules

If you want to sell to members of BHW - Open a BST Thread and Abide by the Rules - this is how ShitList threads get started.

I'm going to report your post so a Mod can edit it.
 
Daniel Carnett said:
Thanks, I will try that later. Another question, I priced my Web design at $199. (Using Wordpress). Now, is that too low of a price? Because I know you can easily charge $1K+. I don't want to seem cheap. Should I raise it?

Thanks,
Daniel


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I doubt you would "seem cheap" you would have more customers due to a high value site for a low cost.
 
Deleted member 364366 said:
I doubt you would "seem cheap" you would have more customers due to a high value site for a low cost.
Click to expand...

More customers isn't always better. I don't know about you, but I'd rather have 1 client for 1000 instead of 5 at 200 each.

Charge more and be happier but over deliver on what you're charging.
 
Daniel Carnett said:
Thanks, I will try that later. Another question, I priced my Web design at $199. (Using Wordpress). Now, is that too low of a price? Because I know you can easily charge $1K+. I don't want to seem cheap. Should I raise it?
Click to expand...
I personally charge around $800 for a design (this is 100% custom made per client based on their needs / business). If you're good at what you do and you do custom work, charge for it. Keep track of the hours you work on a design and find a midway to price your designs.

If you're really into wordpress themes, consider selling them on themeforest or something similar. I've heard people make a very comfortable living selling just WP themes.
 
mrsix said:
More customers isn't always better. I don't know about you, but I'd rather have 1 client for 1000 instead of 5 at 200 each.

Charge more and be happier but over deliver on what you're charging.
Click to expand...
Fair enough but you should still aim to be reasonable, in my situation it would be 20 200$ clients rather than 1 1000$ client.
 
Great info guys, thanks. I'm going to keep the $199 price point for a couple weeks and see what happens. Hmm, designing and selling the themes would be interesting as well. Different income streams is always good!

Cheers,
Daniel
 
Deleted member 364366 said:
Fair enough but you should still aim to be reasonable, in my situation it would be 20 200$ clients rather than 1 1000$ client.
Click to expand...

I've found over my years of doing this that people flat out don't care how much they pay as long as they're happy with the work and service provided.

I've overcharged clients in the past that were clear pains in the ass and they still to this day sing my praises because... they were happy with the work and turn around time.

Comes down to working smarter not harder. Personally, I aim for $75+ per hour so unless the 199 project can be completed in <3 hours it's not a winner imo. Give yourself an hourly wage and stick to it.

Daniel, I suggest split testing a few groups. Ask half of your next xxx prospects for 600 instead of 199 and see what happens.
 
Gotcha, I see what you're getting at. I will do some split testing this weekend.


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Just set the price at $599, since I know I'm going to do a quality job, I want quality people to be buying my services. I don't want any 'cheap' pain in the @ss people.

Anyone have other ideas or tips to get more clients?

Thanks,
Daniel
 
Haven't landed a client this whole week. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I have been trying this method:
http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackh...-days-exact-method-z-so-simple-duplicate.html

Cold calling each business and following up with an email that has all the info on it. No one has been interested enough to buy though. Also, I'm targeting businesses all over the US, because I live in such a small town, so I can't schedule any kind of in-person meetings. It has to be done over the phone and through email.

You guys have any ideas?

Thanks guys,

Daniel
 
Alright, so I did a variation of Takticals method and got 4 people who are 'interested' in web design. Woo! I cold called them and they said they were interested in web design, at the end of the call I asked them for their best email so I can send them more information. I got their best emails and sent all the necessary information to each of them today. I basically told them what's included in a basic web design and I linked to my 'request a quote' page on my website so they can request a quote from me.

I have not gotten any emails back, it's been about 6 hours. Should I expect to get an email back the same day? Or does it usually take a couple of days?

If I don't get an email back same day should I make a follow up call the next day letting them know I sent them an email? I'm itching to get more clients.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Daniel
 
Daniel Carnett said:
Alright, so I did a variation of Takticals method and got 4 people who are 'interested' in web design. Woo! I cold called them and they said they were interested in web design, at the end of the call I asked them for their best email so I can send them more information. I got their best emails and sent all the necessary information to each of them today. I basically told them what's included in a basic web design and I linked to my 'request a quote' page on my website so they can request a quote from me.

I have not gotten any emails back, it's been about 6 hours. Should I expect to get an email back the same day? Or does it usually take a couple of days?

If I don't get an email back same day should I make a follow up call the next day letting them know I sent them an email? I'm itching to get more clients.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Daniel
Click to expand...

Wait for them to reply your email for at least 24 hours. If that didn't get any reply then just send them another email with some more tempting features or offers(in price or work) to drag their attention.

When coming to the best ways to get clients, start with the local but rich businesses like real estate, schools and colleges, restaurants and so on. Meet them directly with some hard copy of details of your service.... Convince them by mentioning the benefits for their business when come online.....


I assure this will work quite good. I do following the same way of marketing since 4 months and now i am getting 10 to 20 projects per month in this way...


Personal suggestion : DO NOT SELL YOUR VALUABLE EFFORT FOR CHEAP PRICE....
 
Cold Call.. Word of Mouth. OLD FASHIONED YELLOW BOOK PAID ADVERTISEMENTS TH AT DO NOT HAVE A WEBSITE LISTED IN THEIR PAID ADVERTISEMENT SLOT!! (Check local YellowPages PAPERBACK DELIVER TO YOUR HOME).

Easy to open up with, "Hey Tim, I know you purchase advertising from D3xOne from the Yellow Pages, but I was wondering why you don't list your website?".. You usually get two responses:
1) I rely on calls not the internet for my business, (or)
2) My company does not have a website.

Those are the most two generic responses I get, and you can only imagine what doors they open just but that simple catchphrase.

Remember cold calling and word of mouth are the best tools for a startup in the local web design industry.. PAY REFERRAL/FINDER FEES to all your friends. Lots of good stuff in the "Offline Marketing" section here in BHW. Get creative and think OUTSIDE the box. If something isn't working, try something different. Get to your reading.

Good luck!

- Smokin`
 
Daniel Carnett said:
I got their best emails and sent all the necessary information to each of them today. I basically told them what's included in a basic web design and I linked to my 'request a quote' page on my website so they can request a quote from me.

I have not gotten any emails back, it's been about 6 hours. Should I expect to get an email back the same day? Or does it usually take a couple of days?

If I don't get an email back same day should I make a follow up call the next day letting them know I sent them an email? I'm itching to get more clients.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Daniel
Click to expand...

If you leave it up to the client, they will never get around to calling you or emailing you.

Grab your balls, Pick up the phone and call them to push the deal forward.

Just go in and assume the sale.

Put on a BIG Smile. Stand up.

[Rapport] "Hey _customer_ it's Daniel, how's it going? Great. [insert small banter].

[Add urgency] Good news, I just looked up _theircompanynamedotcom_ and its still available, I'd hate to see you lose that to a competitor or domain squatter.

[promote scarcity and enhance your value] I just wrapped up another project and I wanted to make sure I squeezed you in before taking on another project.

[CLOSE: Assume the sale] So I quoted you $XXX.xx for _deliverables_, How did you want to take care of the payment, do you prefer paypal or credit card?" [grab their cc info or walk them through your payments page while they are on the phone]
 
Cold calling does work for you. Just be specific with the guys you want to call and make a great script.
 
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