I want to start a web design company. How do I get clients/projects?

Instead of trying to get big clients. Focus on startups looking for designers. Working with them will give you lot more information about startups. You can then try to contact big clients as well.

I won't lie to you. At first it's going to be hard.Not because you lack the skills or an attractive portfolio.It's going to be hard because your customers have no idea whether you'll be around in the next couple of years.Like stated correctly, stay away from freelancing websites. I would also add that you should stay away as possible from RFPs. These two distribution channels tend to attract some of the worst clients and you'll always end up competing on price.How to get your first clientsMy advice is to start with figuring out who your ideal client is. Without this, you're toast.Finding a niche is really important at this stage because you'll be able to craft a compelling value proposition that resonates with your potential customers. Once you know which niche you'd like to serve, start by https://www.fusioo.com/blog/b2b-lead-generation-ideas?utm_campaign=tb&utm_source=quora&utm_medium=a&utm_content=78159. It doesn't have to be costly and inefficient.Also, remember to track everything. You'll need to be able to double down on what's working and ditch anything that might look like a waste of time.Lastly. remember that it's always more expensive to find a new customer rather than selling to an existing customer. Treat your customers like royalty and you'll be on your way to success.

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!

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.

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: http://squareonecourses.teachable.com/courses/getting-hired-freelance

I built a successful web design business from scratch by doing the following: 1) Build a great portfolio, even with fake projects. 2) Showcase your expertise by offering free advice through a forum or blog for startups. Once it is established that you know what you are talking about small clients will approach you for work. 3) Look for opportunities to do charity, family, or work for friends for a low price or free if the exposure is very good. 4) Collect testimonials and ask for referrals. These are your free tickets to more work. 5) Build alliances with others that have expertise that you dont have so you can take on larger projects. 6) Research businesses that you feel they could benefit from a new website and make a simplified proposal showing similar work as proof of your worth. 7) Keep pushing yourself by learning new techniques and expanding your portfolio and dropping/avoiding bad/unprofitable clients.

I think you should focus on the specific type of websites. Today, this business is crowded with talented web designers and big company. for example. 1. Focus on E-commerce type 2. Focus on Personal blog type (Minimal? , Cuties?) like elmastudio or junelily 3. Focus on Corporate website as aforementioned, try to provide solutions not just a web design.

I tried oDesk and similar services but couldn't beat out the faster and cheaper people for projects I knew weren't fun. Then I began working on my friends sites (musician portfolios) and made them excellent! Then word of mouth began and I got my first big client and everything is continuing up that path! Word of mouth from projects you do excellent work on, and really connecting to the clients. That's what has worked best for me.

Everyone think web designing is a gem mine. Full of opportunities. Competition getting wider and stronger. First you have to differentiate from others. Ask the question why should someone pay you first? Is it for the design quality, speed of loading, robustness of the site etc?No one would pay you an attention unless otherwise you could come up with some samples.Find few domains, godaddy sometimes offer domains under 10 USD, procure them.Get a shared hosting. Some hosting packages giving you 50% plus discount for the first year.Think about some segments/business domains and come up with creative designs to showcase your skills.Put them online. I am not completely agree with the saying that oDesk, Elance not going to work. If you are smart enough, knows how to filter the good and recurring opportunities, probably thats the first step to get the attention. Sometimes you have to sacrifies a bit to get the right testimonials.Don't focus on service mode. Step forward and look in to what the competitors are doing. Think about a product which will give you opportunities to attract new clients.