Hey guys, I’m new here, just signed up a few minutes ago!
I’ve recently launched my web design company and we’re open for business. I’m ready to start driving leads to the website and already have a few methods like classified ads and SEO but I’m wondering if some of you who are in the business could offer up any solid tips on the best way to get clients.
Welcome to the forum, apexmateria.
When I was starting out, I got my first few clients by going through the local Yellow Pages, find out local businesses that still don’t have a website or have a sucky website and started calling them one by one. Yes, this may not be the most effective method today but my hypothesis back then was that in order to reach small business owners who are not savvy enough to build their own website and search for a web designer / Internet marketer online, the best way is to call them rather than waiting for them to search for me online since they are not savvy enough to do that. Once you have a few clients that are satisfied with your work, referrals from these happy customers will help grow your business moving forward.
Referral is a good way to get new clients, that’s why it’s important to maintain a good client-developer relationship. You can also request your client to write a testimonial about the services that you have provided them. Word-of-mouth is a good way to increase your clientele.
Nothing beats the classic word of mouth marketing.
Do something great for one client and he will refer you to some of the people he knows.
You could also try on different forum marketplace where you can post your services and get interested clients and freelancing sites such as elance, freelancer, odesk…
Cold calling. Don’t beat about the bush with wishy-washy passive methods of acquiring your first clients. Take control. Find some suitable clients and talk to them directly, by phone or in person. Tell them what you do and ask them if you can do business. Some of them will say Yes - and that’s Job Done. 
Paul
Try out different project website like elance.com, guru.com, freelance.com, etc. These website has many projects posted on daily basis, bid on those projects and start building your clienttele. Once you have few clients in hand than you can always asked them for referrals…
Diwakar
You can get good clients through refference. Build your connection strong with your clients by fullfill their needs as per their requirements so they will reffer some other clients.
Referrals, referrals, referrals.
I’ve spent money on ads (not much though, and I might revisit it one day), I’ve redone on my portfolio website endless times, tweaked the SEO to the max before (which got me a small heap of traffic at the time), but always my next client comes from my previous client.
These days the web landscape (webscape?) has changed so much that I now only keep the portfolio website up as a formality; It gets almost no traffic except when I mail the link to someone to see. When work slows down, I start looking at which of past websites I’ve done need some upgrading, and start calling those past clients to sell them on improvements or new features. I ask everyone I’ve worked with to please tell their friends about me.
I wish I could give you a more helpful answer, but for me it’s always worked way. It’s a little… organic? It feels like I don’t have a lot of control over the situation because it’s not as mathematical as run-an-ad-for-two-weeks-and-get-two-clients. But one thing though, looking at my accounts over the past few years, my income as been pretty steady, even though my “marketing” hasn’t been very hands on. That either means I’ve been doing something right, or I’ve just been really lucky. Maybe it’s a little of both.
That are cool offers… I got my first client through fiverr… for $5 only… which later on turned into … $500 … and did work many times with him… so don’t leave these small websites as well… best of luck
Hi guys. I am also a new member. I was kind of moved by the tread, Best Way to Get New Web Design Clients. I was a practicing CPA. I have it up, but now am interested in going back into it. I was wondering if I could add a web site development in my future CPA practice.
Hi Valpan. Consider building websites for cpa firms … you could probably make a good one and find clients fast.
I write about this stuff over at my blog - on getting clients and income as a web designer.
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Other than that, I’d go talk to people I already know in a professional sense and tell them
what I’m looking for. Then keep in touch with those people. It’s not being a jerk or rude to
talk to people you already know to update them on what you’re up to.