Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

As you already know, yours is a very crowded space (worldwide, not just Atlanta) and finding ways to rise above the noise can be very expensive unless you can be very creative.

Two suggestions:

First, get deeply involved in your local business community. My father was an elected official, and when he was working his way up, he was seldom at home in the evening. He was always at some event, meeting, or function. You need to do the same. Attend every local business and association meeting for every industry segment you can find. In a city like Atlanta, you could probably stay busy every night. You will be amazed at the number of people who will have an interest in what you do and will try to help you. But don’t go in with just the hardsell approach; try to bring something of value to these events. Offer to do seminars or presentations on what businesses should look for in good web design or in selecting a web design company.

Second, you need strong WOM (word-of-mouth) marketing. After you have done great work for your clients, ask thenm to refer their friends and contacts. My insurance agent is the friendliest and most service-oriented guy on this planet and as a result most of his business comes from referrals.

Btw, in today's economy, most customers have become bargain hunters, so be prepared for some negotiation.

Best of Luck, JohnnyB.
if you like the advice, read the blog, https://bit.ly/75KkSG
https://twitter.com/tcmblog

Dear Info,

Consider using social media sites.

Put your message out on the Facebook feeds of entrepreneur sites, business owner sites, and so on and direct people to your sites from your useful "How to create a great website" hints and tips.

Position yourself as the logical, "go to" person on these kinds of group pages and use this as a way of increasing the size of your list.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

Many of your target market already have websites. So, either you want to convince them that their existing sites are out-of-date or convince them that your design results in more clients and more sales (improved ROI). Can you offer a free website critique to show missed opportunities (and position yourself as the go-to company to fix the problems)?

This will be a difficult process, but if you're good at it you can own the market.

Go to the chambers of commerce. Look at the websites of members. Dig around and find the flaws. Call them, tell them you meet with them. Explain that your goal is to help them generate of sales...or whatever it is you do. If you present well, you'll earn their business.

Or, just keep doing what everyone else does.


Michael

Why not offer or do something that makes you stand out in some way from all the competition?

For example, each client gets a free t-shirt with their logo on it (you can order cheaply from CafePress).

Or, you hold a contest each month for favorite web site. Winners get a donation to their favorite charity.

Or, you add a little something extra to every web site (like a favicon).

Hope this helps.

Jodi

@Moderator: Is it kosher to add a link to your own site/twitter feed? I thought that was against the rules.

Web design business is dead :)

You need to offer a full service web agency that includes.

Scoping
planning
designing
building
optimising
marketing
selling
and and and...


People need business soluitions - nobody cares anymore about having a cool site. if it doesn't bring traffic and convert sales then it is useless.

What is important to remeber is that a web site represents a BUSINESS

If a potential busienss person has onlyu 1,000 to invest in starting their business, then they are in toruble from the outset :)

Take a quick look at live person experts.

Web =designers nad web marketers and all kinds of so called web experts are a dime a dozen :)

But how many of them have built a succesful online multi illion dollar business or even just a few thousand dollar a month business?

if you want to market your services - the best way os to show the world your portfolio of successful web sites that you have built and made thousands of dollars for the owners and operators of those businesses.

Good luck.

Matthew