Finding new Website clients?

I started out in 2004 with my own website and Google adwords. It worked pretty well.
My site has been "under construction" for quite a while now because I am swamped. And no need for adwords anymore.

Where were you 3 months ago when we were looking for a designer? :(
 
envo said:
Also don't snub wordpress that much, clients (who are stingy mother****ers) would like a once-off cost where they can update their sites themselves.
Click to expand...

This.

People don't want to keep on spending money to have their fancy css sites updated.

With wordpress the client can tinker with their own themes once you've done the initial design and lay out.

They'll love the dashboard UI.

There's a massive untapped wordpress market. People just don't know about it.
 
DrYes said:
This.

People don't want to keep on spending money to have their fancy css sites updated.

With wordpress the client can tinker with their own themes once you've done the initial design and lay out.

They'll love the dashboard UI.

There's a massive untapped wordpress market. People just don't know about it.
Click to expand...

Plus it's quick and easy, you can sell to government for hundreds of millions :whistle:
 
DrYes said:
This.

People don't want to keep on spending money to have their fancy css sites updated.

With wordpress the client can tinker with their own themes once you've done the initial design and lay out.

They'll love the dashboard UI.

There's a massive untapped wordpress market. People just don't know about it.
Click to expand...

and when they tinker too much chances are they break something so you get more work :)
 
OMG... I am literally laughing my ass off!
Thanks for the wordpress promotions... I am still biased towards pure HTML and CSS though.
But, it sounds intriguing enough that I'll try it. Don't know when though :P
 
SaphriX said:
OMG... I am literally laughing my ass off!
Thanks for the wordpress promotions... I am still biased towards pure HTML and CSS though.
But, it sounds intriguing enough that I'll try it. Don't know when though :P
Click to expand...

Like I said, design wordpress themes, sell them on themeforest for $10 a pop depending on the theme intricacy :)

Also, you're thinking locally. Think glooooobally (Biodome, remember? No? aw :( )

I've used freelance sites like odesk before to do jobs for people, made +- $20 an hour depending on the job. But it's worth it and a lot of people in SA are doing work like that through there. If you are good enough, the guys keep coming back to you for the work. There's also a good chance in getting a bonus from them as well. And most of the guys I've done work with said that,even though English isn't my first language, that they're tired of all the Indian/Asian people on there and it was awesome working with a South African who knew their **** for a change and could do the work easily :p

And yes, my friend does about (average for the entire year) 70 weddings a month. Crazy, but she is coining it. Been in the You magazine and some TV show now as well
 
envo said:
Also, you're thinking locally. Think glooooobally (Biodome, remember? No? aw :( )
Click to expand...

Like purple sticky punch?

You make designing and selling wordpress themes sound good?
How does it work?

That's a lot of weddings and a lot of money... not to mention headaches from a lot of indecisive women!
 
SaphriX said:
WaxLyrical, I know what you mean. I've eMailed hundreds, if not thousands, and have had no response.
It's futile! 'AAARRRGH' :(

True about the networking though, I've gotten more 'Yes's' by offering my garden service a site, my dog parlour a site, even my hair stylist. Yes, I try to be a Metroman :)

As a young business, I'm trying not to spend much money on advertising... Alas, it seems inevitable.
Click to expand...

There are 2 types of websites that companies have:
1. Glorified advertising board
2. e-commerce site

Most companies use their ad-agencies for the first. There is no money in this. Someone in some Asian country can knock these up for a few £. You cant compete with this. The type of clients that can't afford to have ad-agencies do theirs are the types of clients that will do everything to avoid paying you. I know many people who tried this and end up getting full-time work at a advertising agency, or a dev co. Or go into nursing(yes. I know someone who did this), within a year, if they even last that long.

The second option requires a significant relationship with the company. Most companies who are serious about this will have it done in-house because it requires integration with their own systems. Those who do outsource this probably wont want to outsource it to a new one man operation who only uses html and css. If you want to get into this, then the way to do it is to get employed in a company that does it. Build up experience. Experience that you can document. The you go out on your own. Sometimes, if you worked for a co that did this in-house, you can convince your employer to let you do this on a contract basis and your employer becomes your first client. Then hard work and word-of-mouth allows you to add another client to their customer base and soon you have a number of clients, and you have a business.
 
Great post Zippy!

It does make a hell of a lot of sense to have worked at some place and then leave, go on your own and contract to them.
Problem is, in my position, I've been a *ghasp* Used Car Salesman *ghasp* for 10 years and I haven't had exposure to IT departments in any company to even have had a chance to get into it.

Also, your point of view on an Asian country knocking a website together for minimal money...
I'm glad that S.A hasn't really gone the route of employing web designers from outside of S.A yet.
More business for us... while it lasts, I guess.

Word of mouth - I guess this is still going to be the most powerful referrer
 
SaphriX said:
My advertisements using GOOGLE AdWords went live today. We'll see what happens.

I hope you're right, seanyp00h!
Click to expand...

I would pause the campaign. Learn a bit about campaigns first.

Spend time using the ad words tools to gain an insight of what terms people are using locally to find people like you on google.

Spend time working on rates page and include enticing content that targets the keywords and terms that you have found.

When you feel comfortable.

Target your rates page using ad words by making ads that relate to those popular terms.

Bid VERY low and make your free budget last as long as possible!

My 2c, good luck!
 
Have a look at sites like Freelancer.com. My daughter is also a Website & Graphic designer & get's quite a reasonable bit of business from them. Initially you might have to quote low to build up a reputation.
 
Whatever you try, allow me to warn you against Facebook advertising. All too often they mid-campaign-changed my set target location from South Africa to other random countries. I did submit feedback and asked wtf. Still waiting for a response...
 
Dicebat said:
Whatever you try, allow me to warn you against Facebook advertising. All too often they mid-campaign-changed my set target location from South Africa to other random countries. I did submit feedback and asked wtf. Still waiting for a response...
Click to expand...

yeah FB is only concerned with taking your money not worrying if you get actual results apart from their "estimate"
 
You just entered one of the most competitive markets, ever. The internet. Every Tom, Dick & Harry with a PC can design websites these days. And they often do it much cheaper, and sometimes even better than most companies can do it. It's a touch market and the economy is also very tight at the moment. Don't limit your services only to HTML. In fact, you'll quickly see that plain HTML sites have a small market these days. As said a few times, offer Wordpress, and / or Joomla websites as well. And, maybe, learn a shopping cart and offer that as a service as well. Go around your local neighborhood or town and go and visit the local businesses, even though they appear like "small fry". There are many untapped markets out there which don't have websites, purely because no-one has bothered contacting them. Think "old school". Most company owners who are in their 50's and older don't know much about the internet, google adwords, or social media. Their advertising is often limited to newspaper, magazines, flyers, etc. Go talk to them, find out what their marketing budget is and see if you can fit a website into that.
 
DrYes said:
This.

People don't want to keep on spending money to have their fancy css sites updated.

With wordpress the client can tinker with their own themes once you've done the initial design and lay out.

They'll love the dashboard UI.

There's a massive untapped wordpress market. People just don't know about it.
Click to expand...

Fully AGree , I use Wordpress exclusively nowadays. Just a word of advice also , start doing family and friends websites to get a portfolio , you might have to do it for cheap or evens free but it will help you get some great experience and a portfolio. No one is going to be interested if you have no track record , no matter how skillful you are.
 
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