Advertising your Website Online
Advertise online. You can use paid advertising, free advertising, social media, online directories and a variety of other techniques to spread the word about your business. Look for a way to stand out, especially if you're competing against software that's telling your customer base that they don't need to hire you. You might position yourself by saying "You might think that you don't need a web designer because all the software told you that you didn't, but here's why you still need me to help you." Free options to advertise locally online will depend on what you are advertising. If it is an event like an open house for a realtor or a seminar, you can set up an event on Facebook using Facebook events in their calendar to promote it. Use websites like event break. It is free to list your events and put ticket information. It can show in local search results when someone is looking for something to do. You can use free resources like Craiglist to advertise your business. If you want to advertise your business online, make sure you are listed in the local directories.
Work on your own website. Websites are important for any business to have as the Internet continues to pull in consumers in nearly every industry, but since websites are your business, your company definitely needs one. How you structure your website is up to you, but you should have a clear focus on what your skill is while providing the information potential customers need. Your website doesn't have to include your rates, but it should include your services, examples of previous work, contact information, and supporting educational information such as if you attended a web design degree program of any kind. Build a website that is driven to convert—a big part of that involves having copy on your site. You need to have words, and those words need to be compelling enough that someone's not going to leave your website and go somewhere else.
Pay for online advertising. You could ad listings on high-traffic websites, or do a pay-per-click campaign with the large search engines. Pay for listings in business directories for web designers. An example could be to issue a press release. Press release agencies publish articles about your business on high-traffic news sites that get millions of readers every month.
Become active in social media and in other online communities. These are places you may find your customers. Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare, and other social networking websites give you another avenue to connect to both current and prospective clients while also giving them a way to connect with and learn about you before, during, and after the sale. Become active in places where you know your target market is and in industry-related communities to establish yourself as an expert.
Focus on search engine optimization (SEO). Let the search engines do some of the work for you naturally at all hours of the day. If you are not familiar with SEO, you can either research and try your hand at it or hire someone to help you. Clients want to know their website is going to be seen, so if you can offer SEO services to your customers, then you have more value. Keep in mind that SEO is a long-term, ongoing process. SEO may take 2-6 months before you start to see any real improvement after your website's launch, and that's if you're doing ongoing SEO.
Advertising your Website Offline
Use a variety of available media. You can do this via newspaper ads, business cards and fliers, radio and/or TV spots, and through general face-to-face interaction. Create videos and post them on YouTube! YouTube videos do show up in Google search results, and they can help boost your chances of being found on the web.
Attend industry-related conferences. This may not bring in more customers unless some of the attendees are looking for services, but you may find other people to network with. Networking may help you offer more to customers or may help you handle e a higher customer volume. Industry conferences will also have valuable information to keep you on top of the latest trends and technology in the field, enabling you to provide more value to customers.
Read industry-related magazines. One of the magazines is Website Magazine, which has a free and paid edition, and offers valuable information to designers and others who run online businesses. The magazine also offers ad spots, and since it targets Internet marketers and other online professionals, advertising web design services there could prove profitable.
Reach out to small businesses in your area. Suggest that you help each other. Offer to help them grow their business if they use your services. Offer them a free consultation to show them where they can improve and how you can help.
Print fliers and business cards. Pass these out at local events you attend, as long as you are allowed to do so. Hang fliers up at local businesses with permission. Leave business cards with other local businesses. Always have these on hand so if you strike up a conversation with someone while you are away from your office, your contact information is readily available to hand out.
Run a client referral incentive program both online and off. Advertising and marketing go hand-in-hand. By marketing a web design business to existing customers and offering an incentive to them for bringing in more customers, you have an advertising team working for you.
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