Need Help Marketing Webdesign Business?

[Beth]

I started a web design company about a month back and I've been marketing on free ad posting places like Craigslist, and social media (Facebook, Twitter)... I've had a few requests but not much traffic so here is my question: What else should I try, marketing wise?

I don't know what the next step is, a publicity stunt? Hand out 10,000 flyers?

Just thought I'd ask in case there are some great ideas out there that I am missing. (Or even simple things that I am missing.)

Thanks a lot.

[tommyfourth]

Several things. If you do logos you could compete on 99designs.com for business. Someone offers $300 for example to do a logo, designers create a concept and the buyer picks the best one. The best one gets the money. The problem with that is you could put out a lot of designs before yours is chosen.

Fiverr.com is another lead generator, or could be. Offer a $5 design of some type with the hopes that someone will eventually become a client. Not the best however, but something that can be done.

Offer some free designs or templates that people can pick up free. Offer to alter them at your normal rates. Get those free ones indexed and perhaps put them on all the freebie sights out there.

Put a WSO (web special offer ) on the Warrior Forum. Offer some designs for a good price. You'll sell some for sure.

Same deal with Digitalpoint.com

If you want to stick to local, offer to design free for any area charities or good causes to get your name out there. Look for special events or fund raisers and jump in with your offer. They will usually welcome it. Events could be like Run for Cancer, Run for the Philippines, etc.

Put out a disk of clip art and sell it online. If it's good, you'll get buyers and leads. Like the free templates, a free bunch of clip art on your site will attract leads.

When you design a site or template make sure it has a link to your web page using the anchor text you most want to rank for. Clients usually will allow a link in the footer. The will build traffic for you over time.

[Bella]

Elance is a good place too.

[Marlee]

I would recommend you look in to Facebook Ads... you can "target" people who are interested in web development/design and get clicks by interested parties for as little as a few pennies. If you choose to go CPM, then you can expect to pay around .25 for every 1,000 times your ad is shown, regardless of how many clicks it gets. If you go "CPP" then you'll probably pay .25 cents or so each time someone clicks on your site. If you have a good site and people actually sign up for your services, then .25 per lead might be amazingly lucrative.

Web design is competitive, maybe one of the most competitive on the web.So you have to think outside the box like some of the others have said here. I just checked Google Adwords, and you would have to pay $6.92 to have your ad placed at the top of Google search for "web design company". Ouch, that's a competitive market.

Post a link to your site... I'd like to see what it looks like and how you've got it monetized.

If starting on a shoestring I'd sign up on Fiverr and offer your services (basic, basic BASIC design for $5 and then offer an "upgrade" package for everything more detailed). Also list on Craigslist and any other free sites you can find via search. Local papers in cities are helpful, too.

Good luck.