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Where to get jobs for web design?

I'm trying to start my own web design/development business. What's the best way to get some initial clients/jobs?

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    One thing that really worked for me was to write a blog and offer free content on it (free Wordpress themes, jQuery or mootools scripts, icons, tutorials...). Some of my themes and scripts became really popular and were mentioned on Smashing Magazines, SpeckyBoy and all the other major sites out there. This brought a lot of visitors to my site and naturally they started to contact me for my services. In some way, these scripts and themes became my portfolio and still bring prospects after many years. Not to mention that having all the big sites linking to your site increase your visibility in search engines. I know another UI designer that took a similar route by releasing an icon set on his website (hundreds of icons at once). That only was enough to boost his business and he now charges $700/day, not bad considering he lives in Thailand. However, be aware this is a lot of work and you might have to wait a few months before you can get a ROI. And note, this only works if you offer high quality content. No one will notice you if you offer crappy content, even for free. If you want to take a more direct route, join various groups in your town, talk about your business, give your business card, offer free consultations... Here are some sites you can use to find groups in your town: http://meetup.com Facebook Events http://bni.com/ - "BNI is the largest business networking organization in the world. We offer members the opportunity to share ideas, contacts and most importantly, business referrals." This is an investment of time and money but is known to work really well for some people. http://barcamp.org "It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from participants who are the main actors of the event." Join it when it occurs in your town and give a presentation or help to organize the next Barcamp. This is a good way to get exposure. If you do not find any interesting groups in your town, you could create your own group. This would give you a strong exposure as you become the central person in the group, besides prospects are most likely to trust someone that takes initiatives. That's what I did in Bangkok. A lot of people join my group because they need to hire designers or developers for their next project. After only two months running this group, I got three new clients and talked to many prospects.

Jeremie Tisseau at Quora Visit the source

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Hello,The first step is the data gathering. Like doing a research, you have to know what the study is all about. Same with websites, you should take note on the things that needs to be considered. For starters, you have to identify why you are building this company. Determine the company’s or brand name’s objectives and goals, and how these goals are made possible with the creation of your website. Set your target audience. This should be specific people that you want to stick with your product. Indicate their age, sex, interests, and even the content of your website that should be suitable for their group. Next, we go with planning. As a client, lay out plans that will be included in the website. This talks about the content of your website – the areas that will be covered. From this, an interface for your website will be created for an easy and user-friendly type of website. All websites should always prioritize the ease in navigating in their websites.Please do read this article http://www.mystechdynamics.com/the-web-design-development-process-what-should-i-know/ because I think this will help you.

Jessica Richardson

Great question. You have not mentioned marketing, but your question is all about marketing: how do you market your business? Find a target market, a certain kind of customer, and develop a positioning statement and other marketing materials that can help meet that kind of customer's needs. You can call this a marketing plan. There are lots of great books at your local library that can give you a start. Unfortunately, the topic on Quora is kind of catch-as-catch-can. The best thing about having a marketing plan is that it will make you feel more secure because your efforts will be more focused and effective.

Jonathan Rabinowitz

I think one way of generating business that has not been mentioned is to add your details to any national and/or local IYP (Internet Yellow Pages) sites such as HotFrog and BrownBook. It's free and it will at least generate some interest. In addition, check to see if there are any local charities that could do with a web makeover. It'll generate a few links to your own website and you can use them for your portfolio. Hope this helps.

Anton Leonard

Disclaimer   My advice is totally based on my experience in business development and web designing , so in your case it may deviate a bit corresponding to your demographic conditions .  Kindly treat this as a humble suggestion . As far as my understanding , India is still in a nascent stage in digital era in comparison to western world . There is still a huge potential in Tier 2 / Tier 3 towns in India . That is still not exploited completely  . Few strateges can be worked around the business development for creating Web Site / ERP  . Choose Tier 2 / Tier 3 Town as the competition is fierce in cities like Delhi / Mumbai / Bangalore / Chennai etc . Chances to grow are very very slim . Focus on Educational Institute / Small Scale Business , as these are the potential customers for which you can develop a website , and academic institutions are more intended to update / upgrade  their website frequently , which opens up another source of revenue by updating the website. e.g. Schools / Engg Colleges / Lookout for Down websites / Unupdated for long time , just lookout for those websites which are not updated for a long time  , call them up , pitch the customers to upgrade them and charge a reasonable sum of money , which will act as a promotional tool for your organization. If you have successfully developed a website , then you can also persuade him for AMC ( Annual Maintenance Contract) Believe in word of mouth advertising by improving product quality rather than spending hefty sum of money on advertising . Promote the facebook page of your company to as many as people in your network . Your chances of getting business in small towns (i.e. population < 5 Lacs ) are fair , as customer is relatively new to technology and chances are high that your sales pitch will attract better results . Lastly , be true to your words , it will bring in that  customer loyalty which can not be obtained after multiple promotional campaigns . P.S. The above mentioned steps are totally based on my own industry  experience , in case they are implemented anywhere please have a detailed analyses of the same with stakeholders .

Anonymous

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