Hello

 

I am looking at starting up in freelance design but finding it hard to find work, I originally worked for another company but wanted to get my name out there. I have a few lined jobs lined up but closing the deal in this current climate is pretty tough and I find I have days where I struggle.

 

What are the best ways of finding work? I have tried posting in forums, and although I get a few hits to my website I dont seem to get any enquiries

 

Thanks

WW

Hello,

 

Do you have a budget for advertising?

 

If not, then you neeed to just get your portfolio strong enough, and consider spending 8 hours a day on the phone until you get the deals.

 

Do you have your own website online?

 

Reaper

Posting on forums can help, but they need to be the right type of forum. For example, posting on a forum full of web designers will prove pretty fruitless. Business forums however can be good for picking up work.

 

Mailshot as many local businesses as you can.

 

I haven't seen your site, so I can't really comment, is your site well written? professional? or do you feel it could do with an overhaul.... remember, that is one of the first things your potential clients see

Hi,

 

Thanks for the replys. My website is http://www.wiganwebs.co.uk. I am undecided on the design, the one mistake I think I have made is trying to get the SEO in mind rather than the client, so I am therefore thinking of changing the site design.

 

I have thought about business forums, I have posted a few ads on construction forums, though some of the forums are very low traffic. I have had a few hits, but no leads.

 

I was thinking of also participating in social networking. I have applied for Linkedin and ecademy recently, does anyone have good experiences with those? So far linkedin seems ok, but my ecademy account gets spammed already

 

I have got a twitter account and facebook account for my trading names.

 

Unfortunatly I am not much of a salesman for telesales, I generally let my work do the talking. I do have a friend who is good at sales but he is snowed under with work at the moment, although he said he could be interested in the near future if his work drys up.

 

No budget as of yet, but will be holding some back for advertising purposes if I get around to finding some projects to work on.

 

Mailshotting businesses is actually something I have thought about, but my other flaw is where there is a pro there is always a con (with me, anyway). Is it effective? I did think of using yell and other phone directories, but thought it too good to be true.

 

Anyway, thanks again for the suggestions, much appreciated

 

Regards

WW

Hi WW,

 

This may sound stupid, but your prices are really really low, maybe too low for people to take you seriously?

 

The portfolio also feels a little bland (sorry) for me.

 

Reaper

Hi WW,

 

This may sound stupid, but your prices are really really low, maybe too low for people to take you seriously?

 

The portfolio also feels a little bland (sorry) for me.

 

Reaper

 

Dont worry reaper, no offense taken

 

It is a fair comment, I reduced my prices to try to get some interest, maybe I am doing it the wrong way? Thats why I am here I suppose.

 

I have recently updated one of the sites on my portfolio, it was one of my first sites created in 2006, though it hasnt updated on my own site yet, I'll get around to that tomorrow.

 

You are right about the bland theme, that is something I have been taking into account recently. I have started working with a little bit of flash to spice designs up and another reason I am thinking of redesigning some of my previous sites, including my own.

 

Thanks for the comments, keep them coming.

 

WW

Hi WW,

 

You could put £100 into a proper advertising campaign, all depends on what you want.

 

if you have £100 spare, it is worth spending it on copywriting - so that you can bring the work in.

 

The other option, for £50/day, you can hire a salesperson. Might work, might not. Its a risk you take.

 

Reaper

Did I just see a recommendation for copywriting from a designer?!!!

 

 

Reaper's pretty much hit the nail with what marketing is about, especially in these crappy economic times... you can spend some money on specific, sensible and targeted marketing to drum up more business - it might not work, but without it what are you going to do?

 

Your site could definitely do with some major rewriting of the copy because, like you said - you've gone for SEO at the expense of the client and it reads like spam which is bad for your credibility. So, before considering marketing you need to make sure your site will convert the traffic.

 

It is possible to write convincing customer-focused copy that search engine's love I promise!

Firstly, you're in a very competitive market, and you really need to make sure your design skills are up to scratch. And up to date.

You may want to try http://www.clorofot.com/ and post your profile and portfolio there. I got about 2 clients who responded and got some design projects. Your portfolio counts a lot as what the other members stated here. From my observation, clients look at your work first then your experience. Other factors they count is how fast you respond to emails or how reachable are you.

 

web design is very competitive but with a little patience you'll get there.

Did I just see a recommendation for copywriting from a designer?!!!

 

 

Reaper's pretty much hit the nail with what marketing is about, especially in these crappy economic times... you can spend some money on specific, sensible and targeted marketing to drum up more business - it might not work, but without it what are you going to do?

 

Your site could definitely do with some major rewriting of the copy because, like you said - you've gone for SEO at the expense of the client and it reads like spam which is bad for your credibility. So, before considering marketing you need to make sure your site will convert the traffic.

 

It is possible to write convincing customer-focused copy that search engine's love I promise!

 

 

Do i get free copy if i recommend you enough?

 

Also - a nice + rep wouldnt go amiss

 

 

Reaper

Try Craigslist or eBay

Ebay for webdesign work?

I have thought about that too, eBay classified ads I assume? They cost I think £9.99 per month, though I am not sure how effective it is. I'll try Craigslist, thanks.

Not to be picky but you need to sort out your code. I would say spend some time sprucing up your website, you won't be considered for sub contract work if you don't have a working website.

 

Your home page has 34 errors, this is one of the places that shows you are with the times, and although your customers probably wont look at this it really doesn't take that long to sort out and the benefits are it shows your professionalism.

Thats a fair comment. My coding skills are pretty outdated to be fair, I used to work in affiliate marketing and only really needed to code my own mini sites, so I guess I let my skills get a bit behind the times.

 

I am looking into CSS. I understand how it works and why it works so well. CSS for me so far is no problem, the only part I am still coming to terms with is tables and image positioning, I havent really looked heavily into it yet though. I generally pick things up quickly so no problems

If you have experience in affiliate marketing, could you not try to market yourself that way?

 

Reaper

I do plan just that... eventually anyway. I wasnt a merchant, I was the affiliate, so it was a different approach to promoting products and services. I gained experience in PPC and SEO, but the latter takes time and in this industry PPC can get expensive, so I would have to research better keyphrases and make sure quality score is a perfect 10 as well as making sure my site converts, which judging by some comments I have got it wont, so I am redesigning it. Until then I am holding off on PPC because although the traffic could be good, it would be useless and expensive if my website wont convert to leads.

 

Therefore I was looking for other short-term alternatives

 

WW

Would also be worth getting some testimonials on your site from past clients and making sure they're easy to get to. There are so many dodgy design firms out there that a good collection of testimonials (ideally mirrored on site like FreeIndex so people can check there authenticity) can make a lot of difference.

Ive always gone away from testimonials, as they are too easy to fake. A portfolio would speak better in my opinion.

 

Do you have a marketing budget wigan? maybe we could co-ordinate something together, and i take anything near me, you take anything near you (or for all i know, we could be in a completely different market target)

 

Reaper

I agree with ReaperWD about testimonials. Clients usually put weight on portfolio and experience. Then your price. I also look at this site for jobs http://www.creativehotlist.com/ but this is outside UK; it's a U.S site. Companies advertise here for some freelance jobs. But we need to be careful on some of them not paying up. I got one U.S. client who did not pay me for an illustration.

I agree with ReaperWD about testimonials. Clients usually put weight on portfolio and experience.

I definitely agree more weight is put on experience & your portfolio but especially if you're business has any sort of local focus then a testimonial from a fairly prominent business in the local area can make a lot of difference.

 

What do people think about publishing prices vs advising people to enquire?

What do people think about publishing prices vs advising people to enquire?

 

Enquire everytime.

 

Too many customers think "i want a website, so if that guy paid £100 for his 2 page one, i should get my 100 page CMS one for the same"

 

We tailor all of ours specially to our customers needs, so it is impossible for us to publish prices, as each may need a different appraoch.

 

 

Reaper

Testimonials and prices are all powerful if you know how to use them. I recommend them virtually every time and see better results than without. It's like anything - you have to know why you're doing something, how to do it properly and who you're targeting. A strong portfolio is obviously important - but there are a million of them out there... what else you got?!

Ive got a "good" copyrighter?

Ive always gone away from testimonials, as they are too easy to fake. A portfolio would speak better in my opinion.

 

Do you have a marketing budget wigan? maybe we could co-ordinate something together, and i take anything near me, you take anything near you (or for all i know, we could be in a completely different market target)

 

Reaper

 

No, no budget as of yet, I am currently updating my website and updating my css skills. My plan is to use a percentage of earnings from web design work to be thrown back into advertising techniques I learned from affiliate marketing, such as pay-per-click and SEO. Its going to be a slow start but I am confident of building it up in the future, I just need to get it planned right first.

 

I'll keep it in mind for future reference.

 

WW

Thanks everyone for the tips. This is something that I have trouble with, getting work.

Hi,

My name is Daniel Smith and I run a small web development company.

We are looking to take on more work and we have a few possible clients with work but this requires a few extra programmers and designers.

I am looking to create business relationships with a number of skilled and professional designers and developers who are looking to complete freelance work.

I will provide work when it is available and at a good rate.

I must obviously remind you that there will not always be work but if it all goes well I hope to at least triple the current workload.

If you are interested in applying then please email me at enquiries@webbespoke.co.uk along with your contact details, your skills and your skill level, any examples of past work and any references you may have.

I will respond to all of the emails I receive and I hope to hear from you soon.

 

Daniel Smith.

eventually, if you follow most of the advice above you won't need to market yourself near as much.

 

Always remember - word of mouth is the best form of advertisement, and the most important thing besides a good portfolio is networking. And best of all, both of those are *free*. Twitter brings in around 4 clients per week for me. I regularly follow new people and make the effort to talk to them; it works wonders It's been a very long time since I had to *look* for work, but times certainly haven't changed.

 

I would personally avoid most forums as the work you get from them is 99% a waste of time since the other members will fall over themselves undercutting until the work isnt worth the money.

 

To sum up the above - NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK! and sharpen up your design skills as much as possible.

Kyej,

 

I have been looking into the possibility of running a Twitter network as well as other networking sites such as Linkedin, Facebook, etc.

 

I have recently started a Twitter account, I was a bit slow when the whole Twitter effect took off and I'm pretty sure the effects of networking through these types of sites can be effective if done properly.

 

But a few questions if that is ok?

 

You say 4 clients per week? thats pretty good and steady, do you not find it too much sometimes? How do you handle overload?

 

What is a typical amount of followers you have to get those jobs? I'm not asking how you do it as that is an avenue I wish to explore, but for somebody starting with Twitter I'm sure you could slip a little info about what to avoid doing?

 

What are your experiences with other networking sites such as Facebook and Linkedin, have you tried them? Twitter is used globally so I imagine you get enquiries from overseas too?

 

I have a few ideas on how to use Twitter but need to get Twitter users following my profile, which obviously takes time. Do you look for the work on Twitter by emailing them or do they come to you by following your profile?

 

Thank you for taking the time to post, much appreciated

 

WW

 

eventually, if you follow most of the advice above you won't need to market yourself near as much.

 

Always remember - word of mouth is the best form of advertisement, and the most important thing besides a good portfolio is networking. And best of all, both of those are *free*. Twitter brings in around 4 clients per week for me. I regularly follow new people and make the effort to talk to them; it works wonders It's been a very long time since I had to *look* for work, but times certainly haven't changed.

 

I would personally avoid most forums as the work you get from them is 99% a waste of time since the other members will fall over themselves undercutting until the work isnt worth the money.

 

To sum up the above - NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK! and sharpen up your design skills as much as possible.

I actually have several twitter accounts, as I am part of several startups and web development teams.

 

My personal, day-to-day freelancing account has around 400 followers on. My 'large' account (under a web dev brand name) I have around 4K followers and actively talk with a huge amount of them on both accounts

 

Overload doesn't really become an issue for me, I take on as much as I can in the month and simply offer bookings for the following months for any excess. It did take a lot of work and a long time to get such a steady work flow however. I put in many late nights and as many cheap deals as the next freelancer in my time.

 

A lot of it is about perception - what your potential clients will see from your brand, or you. If you look like a professional, they will want to hire you over the next man who looks less the pro than you do. It's simple really

also, just as people where talking about it - I have had great experience working for/with Tiffani Jones - she is a great writer

You can also try get a freelancer or odesk

Odesk is my tested site, It has secured payment system.