Like many others have said, starting out and finding clients is one of the hardest hurdles to overcome.

Word of caution: stay away from freelancing websites like oDesk, 99designs, Freelancer, Upwork, etc. The clients who go there want something done fast and as cheaply as possible. You won't be creating finished projects that you will be proud to include in your portfolio. On those sites, you are competing for clients' attention, with everyone's profile page looking exactly the same. It is difficult to really distinguish yourself and your skills in that format.

A better option, is to keep a part-time/full-time job to pay the bills, and create projects for yourself to improve your skills and show others what you can do. Buy yourself a domain name along with a web hosting plan, and create meaningful projects for yourself. They don't have to have complicated back-end development (unless that is what you wish to specialize in). I also found contacting small businesses you already have a relationship with, and asking them if you could use their brand and redesign their website. It will be a practice run with a real client, giving them the option to purchase your design and apply it to their live site. I did this when starting out and it really worked like a charm. I asked the client to sign a simple contract, saying I will create a redesign of their website pro-bono (free), host the site on my own server with a subdomain, but if they wish to use the actual redesign they will need to pay for my services to make it live. They wound up loving my redesign and they now use it for their live site. I've also received tons of referrals from them.

When starting out, think about what client niche you wish to specialize in. You'll have much more success if you make yourself a known specialist in a small niche, than you would being a generalist. Think of your passions and what kind of client you would love to work with. For me, I am passionate about environmental responsibility, so my business practices and my focused client niche reflect that. I focus on small business clients who sell environmentally-friendly products, holistic practitioners, and small farmers. I sometimes receive work from clients outside these sectors, but my marketing and online presence is created with my target audience in mind.

Building up your portfolio and a good reputation takes time, so don't expect to be making a sustained income overnight. Before focusing on your own business full-time, build up enough savings to support yourself for at least 6 months. Keeping a part-time job is also a good idea. I started out doing my own projects on the side while working at a software company for 2 years. I eventually saved enough to support myself for a few months, and found a remote part-time job which helped sustain me as I built up my portfolio and figured out the details of running your own business. There is A LOT to know, and you will make mistakes. You will also need to find a good contract lawyer. NEVER do any client work without a contract, even if it is pro-bono. Free projects tend to go on forever, and clients who are not paying you often try to take advantage of your services. Be sure to outline everything you want to include in projects, and what is not covered. Looking into Errors & Omissions (E&O) insurance is also not a bad idea, particularly if most of your clients come from the web.

It took me a good 2 years before I made a profit from my business, but I don't regret it one bit. I reduced my bills to bare minimum and moved out from the big city to reduce living costs. Working for myself is very satisfying, I can't get fired, and I get to choose what projects I work on. Stay consistent, build your portfolio with quality work, and never stop learning. You'll get there!

Please let me know if you have any further questions. :) Good luck!

“What is the best way to get clients as a web designer?”

Stop selling web design and start selling solutions to problems.

When you are creating a website for a client, you are doing more than just writing code or putting things together in Photoshop.

You are…

• Enhancing their brand, making their business look more credible and trustworthy
• Helping them provide a better experience for their customers and clients
• Creating them a piece of marketing material that helps them generate more leads
• Providing them with a platform to share their resources and insights with the world
• Most importantly: helping them achieve their business goals

None of your clients want a website — they want more sales.

• They want to spend less time marketing.
• They want a greater return on their marketing.
• They want to convey more professionalism.
• They want to generate more leads.
• They want to attract more employees.
• They want to start selling products online to generate more revenue.
• They want the confidence that a professional design brings them.

Do you get the point?

Every business owner, business, and business owner has different problems. Different types of websites solve different types of problems.

If you want to get clients as a web designer, learn about the problems of an industry you’re interested in, and learn how to create websites that solve those problems in a way that a template or your competitors cant.

Nobody wants a hammer — they want a nail in the wall.

Stop thinking of yourself as a hammer. Sell your potential clients on what they want.

One of my best sources for clients has been LinkedIn. Whenever someone connects with me, I send them a short personal message, letting them know that if they ever need help with WordPress or a website, or anything else for that matter, to not hesitate to contact me. Extremely simple, but it works, because so few people actually do it. I've got over 500 connects on LinkedIn, and very rarely will I get a note from someone I connect with unless I send one first. Most people just connect and move on, so if you actually engage with the people you connect with, you stand out.

My target market is small business owners and entrepreneurs, so those are the people that I try to connect with. I've probably gotten a dozen clients in the past 4 months that way, and they've given me at least that many referrals.

What worked for me is the following, similar to Al Klein’s answer. I found one ugly ass website representing a local taxi company. I started developing a very simple new website for the business, using the pictures he already had on his ugly website, but I made much better use of them. I added a direct call link and removed his full viewport width google map (because nobody wants to travel to the taxi company, people want to a taxi to come to them) and I showed them the result, offering the website and a hosting plan. Company took both offers and the owner had a story to tell to his fellow business owners, leading to more business for me.

I would like to introduce you to the “Darrel Wilson” method but im sure there are many business’s already doing this. Let me explain how:

The Darrel Wilson method for getting web design clients is a volume-based portfolio strategy combined with strategic networking through platforms like Folyo. Here’s how you can use it effectively:

Step 1: Build a Diverse Portfolio of Websites (Various Niches)

Instead of waiting for clients, create multiple websites in different niches to showcase your skills. The goal is to demonstrate expertise across various industries.

1. Choose Popular Niches

Create demo websites for niches that have high demand, such as:

• Law firms (For Example: Web Designer For Law Firm Website)
• Real estate agencies
• Restaurants
• E-commerce stores
• Coaches & consultants
• Local businesses (plumbers, electricians, dentists, etc.)

2. Publish These Websites on a Portfolio Site

• Link each of these websites to your “Main” web design website.
• Showcase these websites as “Ready-to-Launch” templates.
• Offer customization services

Step 2: Use Folyo to Find Web Design Clients

Folyo is a platform that connects designers with businesses needing websites.

How to Use Folyo Effectively ( These are business’s who posted web design jobs )

1. Sign Up & Create a Strong Profile Highlight your expertise in WordPress, Elementor, and Bricks. Upload your best sample projects. Write a compelling description about your services.
2. Respond to Job Listings Fast Folyo posts design jobs from startups and small businesses. Set up alerts for new job postings .Write personalized proposals (avoid generic pitches).
3. Use Your Ready-Made Sites as Selling Points Instead of saying, “I can build a website for you,” say,
   “I already built a website for your industry. I can customize it for you.”This reduces friction and speeds up sales.
   
   *These companies generally have budgets of $50,000 or more and many are government agencies

Step 3: Cold Outreach Using Your Portfolio

Since you already have niche websites built, you can proactively reach out to businesses.

Step 4. Find Local Businesses with Bad Websites

• Use Google Maps and search for “[industry] near me”.
• Check for businesses with outdated or no websites.
• Send them a personalized email or DM.
  
  
  Step 5. Make Sure to Add Your Business To Google My Business
  
  This will ensure your web design agency pops up for local clients and is the EASIEST way to get more local clients to your web design agency.
  
  Try these out before you spend any money. these are free ways and unique ways on how to get more web design clients.

There are a lot of ways to do this, but let me share one way which has a very high conversion rate.

1. Look at all the local businesses in your area who have a website
2. Look at their website for flaws eg: Is it responsive? Do they have a lead capture? Are there any 404 errors?
3. Now prepare a report with all the errors and get an appointment with them.
4. Point the issues which you've identified and explain how much business they are loosing because of these flaws.
5. Provide them with an instant solution, if possible make a demo for them and show it when you meet.
6. If they really care for their business online, most of the time they will say ok.
7. Be careful, don't over critisize their web design, most of the times, the designer might be their relative/friend.

As a beginner, you can always find close related friends, neighbours, relatives that needs a website. You can start from designing and creating website for these people.

Becoming your first client, it is important to remember that to do a good job for these reasons :

1. They may refer you to someone else they know
2. Your work will be your portfolio (trust me you'll need portfolios)

I started a Jakarta-based Web Agency several years ago. It was hard to get that "first" client to get you going. What you can do is that if your family open a small business, go ahead and offer them help by creating a website for them.
For instance, Mom and Pop Shops that sells bakery, accessories and small company that offer services, help them get online presence.

Do not expect to get big-buck right when you start but, soon it will come.

Once you have portfolios, you can also offer your services in sites like

1. Upwork
2. Freelancer.com (company)
3. Elance
4. Envato Studio
5. ThemeForest (Sell your HTML Template)

This sites will expose your skill as well your Agency name if you have one, in addition to word of mouth marketing from local clients that you have served.

Here are list of things that you can offer

1. Web Design (design web pages)
2. Web Development (Front + Back End)
3. Convert PSD to HTML
4. Back End Development

If you ask me to list of available technologies used to create a website, go ahead and read What technologies are used to create a website and for what purpose is that technology used in creating a website?.

I hope my answer helps you get in track!

Build a Strong Online Presence – Create a professional website with your portfolio, services, and client testimonials. Optimize for SEO to attract organic traffic.

Leverage Social Media – Use LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram to engage businesses and showcase expertise.

Network Actively – Attend industry events, tech meetups, and business expos to connect with potential clients.

Join Online Communities – Participate in Reddit, Indie Hackers, and Facebook groups to share insights and subtly promote services.

Use Cold Outreach – Send personalized emails or LinkedIn messages addressing specific client needs.

Offer Incentives – Provide free consultations or discounts on initial projects to build trust and gain referrals.

Partner with Agencies & Freelancers – Collaborate with designers and marketers to generate leads.

List on Service Platforms – Register on Clutch, Upwork, and Fiverr to attract businesses seeking custom solutions.

Deliver Exceptional Work – Happy clients lead to referrals and repeat business.

Establish Thought Leadership – Create case studies, blogs, or tutorials to position your company as an industry expert.

Separate yourself or company from the idiots that think knowing how to add a function to Wordpress equals knowing how to build a website. There are so many incompetent individuals marketing their talents or lack thereof as being proficient at web design, that it makes the people that really do know how to design a web site from the ground up, look bad.

I run across people everyday that disable a slider because they don’t know how to modify it, or maybe they leave code that isn’t even called, or they make separate CSS statements rather than stick with the original style sheets.

These people couldn’t design a web site from the ground up on a bet. And if you ask them to modify the CSS for mobile use, they have the deer in headlight look.

Be truthful about your expertise. Hire coders to do the out of the ordinary stuff. Hire people that are smarter than you, or at least a better web developer.

Remember that when Henry Ford was starting Ford Motor Company, people laughed at him and told him of the many things he did not know how to do. His response was “I don’t need to know how to do it. I can have someone here in 5 minutes that does know how.”

Get permission to use your existing client’s sites as examples. Offer hosting credits for customers that refer new business. Some clients will allow you to put a blurb at the bottom of the page that says “This site Hosted or Designed by so and so.”

When you go to a business for whatever reason, Google them. You would be surprised how many businesses don’t have a web site. Or maybe they think Fakebook is a web site. Sometimes people think that the exposure they get from Yelp. Mapquest, or other services is enough. Maybe that is why their business is slow.

Many of the DIY web sites look like a 5th grader did them. And maybe they did. Offer to tweak it.

Hello friend, there I was sitting in my chair when I heard a faint cry in the distance. I focused my energy and realized it was a cry for help! And here I am, I finally found you after finding my way through the labyrinth of internet tubes I’ve arrived! So from what I understand, you haven’t yet started the company but you are curious on how to drive client acquisition and generate sales.

(In real life the internet tubes aren’t color coded like this, it’s much more complicated)

So your first move is to realize that you aren’t playing checkers or tic-tac-toe, there’s no winning combination of that’s been proven to work 100% of the time, every time. In addition your trying to hit a moving target, in the sense that our industry is constantly shifting, changing and evolving. I would suggest taking some time every day or couple days to see what’s going on with trends, news, companies, what’s hot, what’s fading. Keeping up with our industry isn’t difficult, getting ahead is the difference between treading water and swimming

(this kid is already way ahead of you and you have no hopes of ever catching up.)

It’s at this point I touch on the concept of Personas (just like everyone else here, it’s important.) The basic principal is this; who is your audience, exactly. What kind of expendable income do they have? Do they need the product(your website design/development)? What is their budget? how does your solution fit into their business exactly, what are the benefits? are they left or right handed? do they like cotton candy? do they commute to work? how many people stand around their water cooler at exactly 3pm in the afternoon? and so on. Once you figure out exactly who your target client(s) is you can start to tailor your message towards that exact type of person. This exercise isn’t something you casually throw together in the afternoon like a lazy plate of spaghetti with whatever sauce comes in the jar, put real work into these personas.

(if your target audience is pasta, this is the kind of pasta you want to attract to your services)

So up to this point you still haven’t attracted a single new person to your service, “what gives!? I thought this was supposed to help!” you scream in anguish as you try to work through pasta metaphors, worry not my friend! I’ll be your guiding light just yet! Ideally your target audience from your personas checks their social at least once in a while. Great! Then you can attack that route with targeted advertisement and tailored content exactly for your personas. Right? okay what if they commute to work? can you drive besides them in your car force them to roll their window down while going 65mph on the highway and then try to throw a wad of business cards into their now open window? They won’t forget that…just be creative with your advertising is the point.

(why did that man throw a bunch of branded stress propaganda for vegan diet at my car? What a time to be alive..)

The most important thing to remember when trying to get new clients into your doors is to make sure you are ready, if you haven’t started your business yet, make sure you have a website that works, a digital and physical copy of your portfolio, maybe some marketing materials on hand like brochures or postcards. Business cards, email, phone number, social media and so on. Make sure your bases are covered before you open up shop! The next thing to do is start pushing down every avenue and see what gives good returns and gains traction. Remember that when something fucks up, don’t just move on or keep fucking up, figure out what and why, learn from mistakes and pivot away from the behaviors that got you there in the first place.

(listen up team! nothing is working, we’ve unplugged everything and the clients aren’t coming at all now! Johnson suggested smoke signals last week, we’ll try it)

So Lets assume you’re finally ready to get out there, boots on the ground, ready to finally impress everyone with your amazing pasta dish (website design and development services) except…shit, everyone is selling pasta and yours gets lost in the sea of Italian flags, Parmesan cheese and words like fagioli! Well hopefully you’ve got something to stand out with, if not it’s time to be that fucking guy…cold call the shit out of everything that moves (don’t be an ass about it, be polite and considerate and value peoples precious time should they give it to you.) In a single decisive move you can generate some early leads by just calling people from places like business yellow pages or if you are outside of the US figure out where to get a mass amount of business phone numbers in the area you are trying to sell to. Some people will say that cold calling is dead or dying, they are wrong. Just outright wrong. Lets assume you have 100 apples in a basket and you’re a little crazy and want to find a couple good ones in this basket, you start with the obvious ones, throw out the rotten stuff, the hard ones, the ones that aren’t ripe, anyway at some point the apples won’t want to talk to you, they wont be interested in your bullshit, who do you think you are picking through them picking and choosing! AHA! The perfect apple, the apple is interested in what you have to say, their website sucks, they need a new one, they have some money, not much but this apple is ready to maybe discuss further…this derailed a little, point is, if you can capture even 1% of 100 cold calls, you are doing amazingly well, it’s a numbers game when it comes down to it in alot of ways.

(peppers, apples, who can even tell anymore I’m just happy not to be starving!)

There are many routes to take but without knowing specific things and your product offerings there are only so many things we can really suggest. My hope is that I have been able to shed some light on common techniques and ideas but I believe ther- did you hear that? Another desperate cry for help, okay listen! it’s all up to you! You are the chosen one! good luck to you in all your endeavors!

• Daniil Egorov

1. Your network. Someone always knows someone who needs are particular skillset.
2. Events where you can build instant rapport and relationship. Networking events, workshops, meet ups.
3. Talk about your business every chance you get such as moments when people ask you what you do for work.
4. Online communities. Provide value by helping out other people in forms or private groups. Them once in a while share an offer.

I think these first 3 will help build case studies for when you start promoting your business online. It's easier to build relationships faster face to face than online imo because the feedback is much more instant than reading words on a screen.

I freelanced for 3 years and I'm gonna share what I use and how it turned out for me.

Make sure you do these things before you call or meet your first client:

1. Make an awesome website for your company.
2. Do basic on page SEO so at least it shows up on all search engine when somebody types the name of your company.
3. Social media presence (at least Facebook) with decent likes. It wont impress the client if he searches you on facebook and a page pops up with 37 likes.
4. Visiting cards!

Now it all comes down to scoring your fist client. It is going to be the most crucial and prominent project for your business so make sure you are ready for it.

1. Cold Calls: Look around you will see a lot of advertisements in local news paper or hoardings. By looking at the hoarding or advertisement itself you will get a gist if this guy would need a website. Collect at least 10 potential clients in a day and start cold calling them, usually during afternoon when they are idle or free (please dont call at lunch hours, perosn will get irritated)

2. Cold Mails: You will come across a lot of social media pages of Local Businesses. Look for their Email addresses and Drop them a cold Email. Make sure it is catchy enough so that they go through all of it.

3. Personal Connections: If you have a friend of family member with a potential growing business, start off with them, that's how I started so that I had a couple of projects in my portfolio to impress the other clients.

4. Bid on Freelancing sites: Use Freelancer, up work etc. Though it never worked out for me and consumes a lot of time.

Once you have your first project, try to give your best as you are going to build your business over this single project.

If none of this is working our for you cuz you are new in the market, try to do some projects for free or on break even price for the sake of developing a good portfolio.

Personal Experience:

I also made old calls in the starting days and they turned out quite good for me. I stopped making cold calls after 6 months when I had around decent number of clients. Then reference worked out for me. If you are good with them they will refer your and you ll get a lot of work like that, that is how I use to get most of my business. I had just 6 clients in the beginning and with their references, I reached around 80 in 3 years, not bad for a full time college student right?

All the best mate!

I think that you should consider freelancing rather than starting a company first. That way you'll build a client base and a name for yourself, without having to pay employees and the bills for an office.

As for how to get clients, as many told you, it won't be easy first and you'll probably think about giving up a few times, but don't! Trust me, it gets better. The first few months i started freelancing i worked on 1 simple project. Fast forward about 6 years and i'm booked sometimes 6 months in advance. So stick to it and you'll see results. And i'll share with you how i did it:

• Build a lot of interesting projects and post them online. Its the fastest way to gain recognition among other developers and designers.
• Guest write at some web magazines and write articles. Its the best way to establish yourself as an authority in your domain and clients will be more prone to trust you.
• Create a great Portfolio and post all your projects and writing on it. Also you should think about investing in SEO.
• Create a social presence for yourself and post about web design and web trends...
• Send some emails to people that you think might need a redesign, it can be worth your time to actually redesign the website, or parts of it or at least mention what you think needs work and what would you do if you got the project. And attach your portfolio link along with how much you're willing to charge for it. If the remarks or redesign you made was on point, you could either expect to get the contract, or the owner of the website is not interested at the moment and might recommend you to his friends.

To be honest, the best advice i can give you, is to stick to it and never give up, it'll be all worth it in the end.

First suggestion. You need identify a problem that you can solve. Look at the other players Shopify,Wordpress,Wix etc.

They solve problems for specific customers. This is not to say you need to create a website builder. If you want to scale, you definitely will have to at some point.

Second. Create a product with your solution for one type customer. This does two things. Problems are specific. Any problem will tell you who the customer is

e.g. How do i start a business is a problem. Anyone considering starting a business is a prospective entrepreneur. If you understand why people decide to start businesses then you know where to find them.

Create your marketing funnel. You need to showcase the value of your product to your target audience in their specific community. If customers are enticed by your offer, they will want to know more. As a result that traffic comes into your funnel, goes through the decision making process bringing customers to your door.

The more traffic you bring into your funnel the more clients you get.

A lot of people will tell you to go to sites like UpWork, PeoplePerHour and other job board sites - do yourself a favor and don't touch these with a 10 foot pole.

The only time you should consider using these is if you happen to live in a country where the currency conversion rates are in your favor when converting from USD (for example, India, Philippines etc).

Most people on job boards are not really looking for high quality design work, they're just looking to have something designed quickly and for the lowest price possible. In my own experience, clients you find on those websites are on the whole pretty unpleasant and come with unreasonable expectations.

As annoying as it can be, a lot of web designers still find cold calling works well. I've had some success with this, I've mostly noticed that you have to be very careful that you are calling people who will more than likely want a site, don't just pick up the phone book and start dialing. Do some research beforehand.

You can also try cold emailing, but I haven't heard of this working super well as most people will write your emails off as spam or as a scam.

A free option is to use Reddit, which I actually have actually gotten a lot of work from. http://reddit.com/r/forhire is a great place to look for job listings, or post your own ad for people to see. Most people you come into contact with will be very friendly, and I've had great experiences with all of my clients from Reddit.

If you have some cash on hand, Facebook ads and Google Adwords are also great options. Facebook is particularly good if you are going to be working in a specific niche, as you can easily target people with corresponding interests. Adwords is better for general web design work, but it's a more involved process to target the right people. Of the two, I've had the most success with Adwords.

I've also got a free online course that delves into this exact topic, if you'd like to check that out you can do so here: The Freelance Web Designer's Guide to Getting Hired

Thanks for A2A!

I had faced the same question when I started my own EFEKT Agency. Last year we have made over 60 projects and I can tell you how it worked for me.

1. Cold Calling

It is not the easy way but definitely a good way to start. I have been doing 40 talks per day. 40 calls turned into 8-10 sent emails and those e-mails gave me 3 meetings. I was able to close 2/3 of deals. So… you need to be persistent and let the mathematic works :)

2. Referrals

Once you have some first customers you can share your work on your company website as a portfolio. It builds your credibility and helps to show your quality. If you build a proper relationship with your customers they are willing to recommend you to their friends or business partners. Just learn to ask. You can offer a discount for your services or success fee as a reward for spreading good words about you.

„Ask and you will receive”

3. Don’t work for free

Obviously, you can create some websites for your friends & family without any salary. But I wouldn’t do that. You need to value your skills and basically people don’t respect your work if it’s free. Believe me. Funny thing, on some level, people won’t hire you if you are cheap. You just need to focus on the specific group of people.

4. Marketing

You can invest in Google AdWords or some Facebook Promotion. Up to you. I haven’t tried this before because I believe that providing useful information like blog posting is much better. Obviously, it is a long term perspective but after months I realized that it was high ROI ( return on investment) action.

5. Personal Brand

In my humble opinion. Every time when you approach your customer via cold call, e-mail, networking conference or LinkedIn you will be checked online. Who are you? What content do you provide? What pictures do you have? You are much more likely to be taken as a professional.

I’ve written more about Personal Brand here:

Simon Wesierski's answer to What is the easiest way to build a personal brand?

If you need some help, feel free to contact me.

I'm not going to look at your current website based on the feedback I'm seeing in other answers. I would say resolving your bugs and cleaning up the site should be a high priority. In your shoes I would probably bring the site offline and work out the bugs in some local environment. If you are working with as experienced a team as you say they should be able to collaborate using git and something like bitbucket to track issues, resolve them and split up the work among the team for quick dev cycle. Meanwhile you could put up a really simple but attractive landing page until the full site is fixed. That site is representative of your work, it should really be solid.

Having said that, just having a good working site won't net you clients. My recommendation is to treat your business like any business in business to sell something. Why do you buy a car? Why do you buy a stick of butter? Why do you buy any of the things you buy? Because you need them, right? Find a niche in the marketplace where you can provide a valuable service and/or solve a problem. It's harder than it sounds, and takes a fair amount to research and sometimes trial and error. But finding a niche will help you focus your own marketing efforts. Zero in on a specific market instead of casting a net out to the whole world.

This opens doors to other things like pitching your specialized websites at tradeshows where you have a captive audience full of people in that industry. Forming relationships with vendors who sell other services to the same crowd is excellent too, referral work is fantastic. I can't promise it would happen overnight but it's really a big part of building your business model and it gives your team a goal to focus on. Also remember, the cheapest client to get is one you've already established a relationship with. You don't need to win them over again (assuming they were happy with your work) so don't be shy to ask them if they need anything else.

Best of luck to you.

It appears that you have an entrepreneurial spirit, and kudos to you for that. But it does not appear that web design is your area of expertise. Perhaps if there's some specialized area that you're more comfortable with -- Wordpress integration, or whatever -- maybe you should pivot your business and focus on that, to start.

If you're sure that web design is the field you want to approach, here are my suggestions:

• Ditch the fake portfolio and fake quotes. It's really unprofessional.
• Don't tell people you're located in Atlanta if you're not. I suspect you're not.
• Make yourself your first client. Hire a good web designer and assign them the project of designing your own site. Standout web design firms simply do not use lightly-modified templates. By "web designer" I don't mean somebody who'll tweak an off-the-shelf design. Find somebody who's a graphics designer first and foremost. Then, take their design and hand it off to a coder who can implement it in a WordPress or Bootstrap template.
• Consider taking on some free or subsidized work to build your portfolio -- friends' businesses, local non-profits. I know the rule about "no spec work" but it might be your best way to quickly create a real portfolio of non-fictional businesses before you start investing heavily in advertising your services.
• Network, network, network. You might find that you get a lot of your business from other agencies.
• Go where the work takes you. In your networking you might find that you have a potential customer that doesn't want a full web site design but might some blog integration work or some other related area where you have some talent (or you can hire the right talent).

I started my own agency (http://parker-lambert.com) this year producing animation and motion graphics (yes, my site is based on a template... but I'm selling video animation, not web design). I chose that line of work for two reasons: I have a passion for doing it, and I have a team with a real portfolio of quality work. It hasn't been easy. But, you know what? My networking has gotten we steady work in various marketing capacities besides animation. I'm taking on that work to build business relationships, so that when my customers are ready to invest in animated video, we'll be their first choice.

Ironically, in order to be successful at web design you'll need to answer this very question for each of your clients: How do we find clients for our business? (See: lead generation). Your particular type of client is called B2B because you are a business who sells a service to other businesses.
Knowing that, you'll need to do your due diligence in the form of target market research. This will tell you exactly who your B2B clients are. Here's how to do that (extreme nutshell edition).

1. Determine your prices. (I'll include a formula below to help you accomplish this.)
2. Assess your skills to determine what you are (or could be) the best at given your unique combination of talents and desires. (For example: UX for the banking industry)
3. List the companies who both need that skill and who will pay you those prices.
4. Convince them to hire you.

After step 3 you've found the prospects who should become your clients. Now you will need to come up with a way to meet with these prospects and convince them to hire you. This wonderful process is called sales. As the founder - you'll need to wear multiple hats and sales is one of the most crucial hats you'll wear. Without sales, you don't eat.

I can tell you that this industry requires a personal relationship in order to close deals: Businesses hire people they know to handle their web design. If you have a proven track record then they'll seek you out to get to know you, but until then - you'll need to network with business owners/decision makers and get to know them - or more importantly, let them get to know you.

If you're like most people, the hardest part is going to be determining your prices. Here's a shortcut to accomplish this:

1. Figure out how much money (x) you'll need to make per year.
2. Calculate how many websites you can realistically build per month and multiply by 12 (y).
3. What is x divided by y?
4. Double it.

Now you know what to charge, so ask yourself which businesses can afford to pay that amount? Answer that, and you're done! Sounds simple, right? It's not. Be prepared to work very hard and you'll make it!

You can find website designing client at:-

1. Social media
2. Google Adwords
3. Upwork
4. Linkedin

These are the area where you can find client via advertisement and promoting your website. You can also take help with social media marketing techniques.

For talking any type of support you should visit RedSereverHost. It is a reliable hosting company in India.

Here are 8 marketing tips to help you attract the clients you need.

• Be sure to talk to at least three people every day about your business and what you do
• Get out from behind your computer. Know where your target market is hanging out and go where they are
• Be ever present on your social networks, join in the conversation, and provide value and help
• The fortune is in the follow up. It’s where the magic that turns connections into clients happens
• There are a lot of people trying to reach the same consumers you are. Offer them something free to pull them to you
• Prospects want to see you have the solution to their problem and that you offer multiple choices for them to engage
• Be able to communicate all the important details about your business in 30 seconds or less
• Ask for referrals and be very clear about who would be a perfect fit for your services, products, and programs

It happens to every freelance web designer eventually. One month you’ll be booked solid, and the next you’ll be scrounging for projects to keep bills paid and tummies full. You need new clients—stat. When you’re crunched for time, most of the usual advice for getting new clients doesn’t apply.

Writing blog posts works well for generating leads, but it can take upwards of a few months to start seeing results, and your bills can’t wait to be paid. And waiting for referrals to come to you isn’t a great option, either—you can’t rely on them to come when you need them.

Most of us begin our businesses by working for either friends, family or clients from previous jobs. We then rely on these clients to recommend us to others, and our business survives based on word of mouth recommendation.

Many people pride themselves on the fact that they have never had to market their services. Instead, they argue word of mouth recommendation provides them with all the business they need. That is a dangerous thing to rely upon.A great website is not a marketing strategy in and of itself.

However, once again, it is not as easy as it sounds. I run both a reasonably successful blog and a well-established podcast. I receive half a dozen requests a day to either post on my blog or appear on my podcast. Competition is fierce, and so you need a unique angle to get people’s attention, or have some connection to the owner. I would encourage people to have the most simplistic (but high quality) site possible and focus on other marketing channels instead. For most web designers, a single page can be enough when the time to work on marketing is limited.

Depends. How good are you at building websites? What’s your background - Designer? Programmer? Self-taught self-starter?

I’m not talking about a Wix or basic Squarespace build. Those aren’t exactly the top sought-after skill sets - they’re a dime a dozen.

If you have actual technical aptitude - build a portfolio website. Make it really good. Something that shows off your abilities - whether it be technical functionality such as cool interactions, hover-states, and other UX elements or just very well designed UI with ease of navigation, proper information scent, and clear type hierarchy for a clean user flow. Make sure you know and apply design principle best practices.

Promote your portfolio everywhere. Talk to people about it, approach businesses (digital or in person) that have outdated sites. Ask friends and family. Post on social media, Awwwards, and/or other relevant digital platforms.

Position yourself in a way that provides real value. “I’d like to understand what the main purpose or goal of your website is.” Lead generation? Brand validation? Portfolio showcase? “Well then, I can build you a site that is XYZ, which impact XYZ for your business.”

Make sure you know how to execute it - not just talk it.

Good luck!

I am a prospector.

Most technical oriented folks have no desire to “cold call”.

The purchase of a list of domain name registrations is silly, it is available FREE through the state where you live usually the Secretary of States office.

I mentioned I am a prospector. I search the internet for businesses hat have expressed a desire to grow their business AND are willing to sit with me for a bout an hour so we can assess what the client THINKS they want, then I need to interpret that into what talent in my core referral partner group can handle the task.

Normally, we need to work on the website first so that it can handle inquiries and orders. Then we work on getting a list of prospects and customers. That list must be in the hands of a capable autoresponder service. Then comes the Blog. It must be very casual, but functional as well. The blog will be fed from the social media.

This sets up the flow of inbound prospects that should be qualified by the time they reach the web site.

Then, go back over the process and make sure it is ready for a SEO project.

Each of these disciplines are represented within my core referral partners.

I just gave you my elevator presentation for what I do. You need to create yours and then like has already been mentioned NETWORK.

Matchup, Alignable, are two powerhouses to start.

Other than your friends and family, no one inherently “wants” to help you find new clients. You create that “want” through incentive alignment—by offering and paying a compelling sales commission to a salesperson, current team members, and referral partners.

But you didn’t ask about hiring a salesperson, so I wonder if you’re expecting magical results. Referral partnerships can drive revenues, but typically not in a predictable way.

Sales is hard to successfully outsource at an agency. Consider whether you should do sales yourself, and outsource other aspects of your role that are easier to hire and manage. If you expect people to “want” to help, you may be disappointed. Good luck!

If I as a client ask you a question, why should I hire you as my Website Designer or Developer.

Just do not give me these 2 answers

1. You’re the best designer and can design great websites.
2. You provide something at a very cost-effective price.

Because every other individual or company comes with the same kind of an answer when they pitch it to their client. No one says they're the 2nd best 😁

Define your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) something which must be different from other designers in the market.

How as a client you can help me with saving money or time or how by building a website with you I can make money. Your USP should be linked to any of these conditions.

Once your USP has been defined now it's time to make a short and strong copy, highlight it as a CTA in your own website. Believe if you're a designer you definitely would be having you own website which can be marketed. If you do have portfolios list it on your website, if no portfolios as you’re just starting out list out some cool mockup designs. Let your clients see your skills.

It's now time to start marketing.

1. Write tech answers on quora and reddit related to designs and development. Build your community
2. Build a strong LinkedIn presence. Network with the right people, create content related to websites, for e.g. “how a poorly executed website can impact your brand image”. Build relationships.
3. Contribute with you strong tech skills in GitHub and other tech platforms.(Behance, Dribbble etc)
4. Learn SEO or hire a good freelance SEO individual who could help you market your website.
5. If you do have a moderate budget with you advertise on Google and Meta.

Point to Note: Every time you market with promotional content do not forget to highlight your USP.

Most importantly in business be shameless. Do not think what others would think. Be ready to accept criticism.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Vijesh

Being older than most people in this field I was told I wouldn’t make as I was old and female back in school at 54. I got my first two clients because they were classmates and wanted to drop out but needed websites. 16 years later I still have one as a client. I also have a hosting company now. When I decide I need a little more work I let existing clients know then I go for a walk and stop to talk to small business owners. It’s an easy sell if you can show them you can get them found on Google search, Maps and Google My Business pages. There are some things I do that Google loves in my code, I have gotten a website indexed in under a week. Word of mouth from previous clients, friends and family can also help you build your business. It’s a lot of work to build a client base but when you love what you do it isn’t a chore!

Ouch! You've received some biting replies here, but hang in there. Listen to the good advice that many have given here and apply it - mostly get out from behind your computer. You should try to get a couple of local customers, perhaps family members or people you know and try your hardest to over-deliver for them. You will find that you will ALWAYS be learning throughout your entire career, so don't think there is ever a "now I'm a web-designer" official destination - just be that. Keep at it, you will become one. Sometimes you can outdo the next guy simply by working harder, not even by being better. So set your mind to being the hardest-working web-designer your customers will ever know, over-deliver and you will have these customers for life. Best of luck to you.