Knowing how to get web design clients is critical if you want to grow a profitable web design business.
If you’re struggling with this, you might think it’s because you haven’t found the “perfect” tactic or that you just aren’t hustling hard enough to see results. But a lack of tactics or hustle isn’t what holds back most web designers…
What’s usually stops web designers from getting clients is not knowing when or why they should use certain tactics in their business.
They look at what successful web designers are doing (or teaching), blindly copy their approaches, and end up feeling frustrated when they don’t get the same results.
To avoid this, you need to understand a simple fact:
Every stage of your web design business requires a different approach to getting clients.
When you know which methods are most likely to work in your specific situation–and which ones you should ditch or save for later–the process of getting clients becomes a lot less confusing.
In this post, I’m going to walk you through the three different stages of your web design business and the most effective methods for finding clients in each one.
By the time you’re done reading, you’ll know exactly what actions you should take right now to start filling your business with high-quality clients.
The first stage of your business is when you’re starting out and have zero clients.
Unfortunately, this is where the majority of web designers go off track. Excited to make their first profit and following the standard advice they find online, they immediately start looking for paying clients.
Some might start cold calling…Others might try their hand at SEO…And a few might even start throwing money into Google Ads…
The end result is usually the same: A lot of wasted effort (or money) and no clients to show for it.
The problem is that traditional methods of getting clients are only effective if you have the right foundation in place to ensure their success. And that foundation is made up of two key pieces:
Let’s look at each of these in more detail…
Trust is the most important factor when it comes to getting web design clients. That’s because businesses will only buy from you if they believe you can deliver on what you promise.
If they don’t, even the most effective tactics will fall short.
That’s why I don’t recommend jumping straight into cold outreach or any other tactic when you’re just starting your business. Instead, you should focus on completing 1-2 portfolio projects that prove you can deliver results for clients.
You can then use these projects as leverage in the next stage of your business.
For an in-depth guide on how to get your first portfolio projects, check out my post: “How to Start a Web Design Business: A Practical Guide”
It walks you through every step of the process, from choosing the right portfolio clients to measuring your results once your projects are complete.
After past results, your sales skills will have the biggest impact on your ability to get clients consistently. You could have interested leads coming to you every day, but it won’t mean much if you don’t know how to close deals.
So how do you learn how to sell websites when you don’t have experience?
A good place to start is my Youtube content. I have several videos that go in-depth on everything from developing the right “sales mindset” to running a successful sales call.
Here are a few to get you started:
Going through these videos should give you enough sales knowledge and strategy to close your first few deals.
Once you have some past results and a solid understanding of the sales process, it’s time to start actively looking for clients.
Many web designers make the mistake of focusing on methods like SEO and content creation at this point. While these methods can be effective in the long term, they usually take months to start producing results.
You simply can’t afford to wait that long if you want your business to survive...
Instead, your goal should be to get profitable as quickly as possible.
That’s why I recommend only focusing on three key methods at this stage of your business:
These methods are ideal because they allow you to start bringing in paying clients as soon as you have your foundation in place.
You don’t have to look very far to find arguments against using cold calling and cold emailing to find clients.
Some people say it’s rude or spammy. Others say it just doesn’t work anymore.
But after using cold outreach to build my own web design business, I’ve seen firsthand how effective it can be for kickstarting your business and landing your first high-paying clients.
The key is knowing how to use it properly…
Your instinct might be to approach cold outreach with the goal of “getting good” at it.
I don’t recommend this approach for one important reason:
No matter how skilled you are at cold outreach, it will always be a time-consuming method for finding new clients.
It can be great a great way to get some initial traction, but it won’t give you the highest return on your time and effort in the long term. A more effective approach is to use cold outreach as a short-term strategy to kickstart your business.
This means being strategic with the types of clients you choose to pursue.
Instead of just focusing on getting your next project and getting paid straight away, you want to look for clients that will:
To put it simply, you want to work with clients that make it easier for you to get more clients in the future.
Doing this will ensure you only have to use cold outreach for a short period of time.
There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to cold calling.
What works for one web designer may not work for you. And your success will often depend on factors like your location, your past results, and the types of businesses you’re contacting.
That being said, both my students and I have found success by following the method in the video below. It’s a non-spammy approach that’s designed to take the pressure out of cold calling.
This method is perfect for introverts and can work for you even if you have just ONE past project under your belt:
While I believe cold calling is the most effective form of cold outreach, cold emailing on its own can still get you great results.
Here’s a simple cold emailing strategy that’s based on the same principles as the method above:
(Click here to download the template mentioned in the video)
Getting referrals is probably the most ideal way to land new clients.
As I mentioned above, your goal with cold outreach should be to land projects that can bring you new referral opportunities. But that doesn’t mean you need to wait until you’ve succeeded with cold outreach to use this method.
If you’ve completed even one portfolio project, you have an opportunity to get referrals.
Below are some basic guidelines you can follow to turn referrals into a reliable source of new clients.
This might sound like common sense, but it’s something a lot of web designers fail to do. Instead, they use the “wait and pray” approach–hoping clients will magically start sending referrals their way.
While that may work occasionally, you need to be more proactive if you want to consistently get new clients with this method.
That means asking for referrals after every single project.
I usually recommend asking no more than a few weeks after you finish working with a client. You can always do it later, but your clients will typically be the most receptive right after a successful project.
Another mistake to watch out for is being too vague when asking for referrals.
You want to avoid questions like, “Do you know anybody else who needs a website?” or “Do you know anyone who might be a good client?”
A better approach is to focus on the specific results you got for that client.
Let’s say the goal of your project was to help your client get more leads. You could go to them after the project and say:
“I’m looking to help as many business owners like yourself as possible. Do you know anyone else who might need help getting more leads from their website?”
This subtle change accomplishes two things.
First, it makes it easier for clients to think of someone specific they could refer to you. It’s much easier to think of someone who has a problem getting leads than someone who just “needs a new website.”
Second, it increases the chances that anyone they refer you to will actually reach out (or be receptive to you contacting them). Business owners will always be more motivated to work with you if they believe you can solve a real business problem for them.
Referral fees can be a great incentive for clients to send more business your way.
But keep in mind that not every client will be motivated by money. I’ve even had business owners push back on referring me to their connections in exchange for a fee.
That’s why I recommend offering clients free work instead of a standard referral fee.
This looks better for you and your client (they’re still using the services they recommended) while also offering them something of value in exchange for their efforts.
Networking can take longer to produce results than cold outreach and referrals, but it’s still one of the highest-leverage ways you can find new clients. That’s because the connections you make now can bring you new clients for years to come.
Your networking opportunities will vary depending on your situation, but here are a few of my top recommendations.
In-person (and virtual) networking opportunities are probably the most powerful form of networking. It’s much easier to build trust with people when you can meet them face-to-face.
Here are a few ideas for different groups and events you can attend:
It’s best to treat these groups and events as opportunities to make connections and provide value, not as opportunities to sell.
Even if you aren’t able to attend live groups and events, you can get great results from participating in online communities like forums and Facebook groups.
Some options include:
Just like with in-person groups and events, the key with online communities is to give value and make connections.
Don’t be spammy and immediately try to sell your services. That type of behavior will get you kicked out of many communities and ensure no one wants to work with you.
You might think you should only network with potential clients. But building relationships with other web designers and freelancers can be just as effective for growing your business.
Over the years, I’ve had many projects come my way that I was too busy to take on. More often than not, I referred those projects to other web designers that I trusted.
This is more common than you might think.
There are plenty of web designers out there with more clients than they can handle. And while I don’t recommend connecting with other designers just to get referrals, building those relationships early on can lead to some great opportunities in the future.
A lot of people look for clients on job boards or sites like Upwork and Fiverr in the early stages of their business. While it might seem smart to go where people are actively looking for web designers, I don’t recommend using this approach at any point in your business.
It’s not because you can’t find clients on these sites. But you’re unlikely to find the types of clients that will make it easier for you to grow your business in the long run.
Clients who have real business problems and are willing to invest a significant amount of money to solve them…
Those are the types of clients the methods I covered in this section will help you get.
Now it’s time to look at more long-term methods for getting clients.
While there’s no hard rule for when you should start using these methods, I recommend waiting until:
Most of the strategies you should focus on at this stage fall under the category of “inbound marketing.” The goal is to have good-fit clients coming to you instead of having to actively search for them.
This list is in no particular order and you don’t have to use every method on it.
My advice is to keep doing what worked for you in the last stage while you test out the long-term methods that seem like a good fit for you.
Showcasing your work online is a simple but effective way to attract new clients.
All you have to do is make a quick post about every project you complete. This can be a screenshot of the site you built, a case study of the problems you solved, or a post recommending your client’s business to other people.
I’ve seen web designers do this successfully on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and even sites like Behance and Dribbble.
While you may not be able to build an entire business around it, you’d be surprised how many people will reach out to you (or refer you to others) just because they saw something you posted on one of these platforms.
SEO is a long-term strategy that can produce great results if you have the time and budget to invest in it.
While it is a very in-depth topic, there are plenty of free resources that can teach you everything you need to know to get started. Here are a few that I recommend checking out:
If you want to get in front of local clients, you should also learn how to create and optimize your GMB (Google My Business) listing. This can be particularly useful if you live in a city or town that isn’t very competitive.
Creating your own content is a great way to increase your visibility online and position yourself as an expert.
There are plenty of different platforms you can use to create and distribute your content, but some of the most popular are Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Whichever platforms you choose, you want to make sure your content gets in front of people that are likely to buy from you. There’s no point in posting content on Facebook if your ideal clients only spend time on LinkedIn.
I also recommend focusing on just one or two platforms when starting out. It takes time to build momentum with content marketing, and starting small will help you stay consistent without getting overwhelmed.
Complimentary services providers are people (or agencies) that offer services like copywriting, SEO, and Google Ads. They can be great partners because many of their clients need help with web design either during or after their projects.
Depending on the partner, you can create fee-based referral relationships or work together on bigger projects and split the profits.
Either way, building these kinds of partnerships is great for maintaining a steady flow of new projects.
Appearing as a guest on someone else’s blog, podcast, email list, or Facebook group is another powerful way to increase your visibility and build your authority.
You don’t have to appear on a huge platform either…
Even being a guest on a small blog or podcast can lead to many new connections and warm leads coming your way.
If you can get in front of the right audience, speaking at events can bring you plenty of networking opportunities and warm leads. It’s also a chance to share the skills and knowledge you’ve gained as a web designer with others.
Different events you can speak at include seminars, conferences, virtual summits, and even educational workshops.
A lead magnet is a piece of content that you give away on your website in exchange for people’s contact details. It can be a great way to generate leads and build up an email list if you’re driving traffic to your site.
Don’t have a website or an email list yet?
That’s okay. Even sharing your lead magnet with your network or on social media can be enough to get you in front of potential clients.
Some examples of leads magnets you can create are:
The most important thing is that your lead magnet solves a real problem for potential clients and gives them an easy way to contact you.
I’ve seen web designers get big results from running ads on Facebook, Google, and even Instagram. You can learn how to run them yourself or hire an ads specialist or agency to run them for you.
A quick word of caution though…
While paid ads can be an effective and convenient way to bring in new clients, make sure you do your research and understand the platform before throwing money into them. Investing in ads without knowing how to run them properly can cost you a lot of money very quickly.
You can think of the next four strategies as complementary approaches for getting clients. They probably won’t lead to new clients by themselves, but they can make the other methods you use more impactful.
There are a lot of different opinions on whether or not you should pick a web design niche.
While I don’t believe you need a niche to grow a profitable web design business, picking one can make it easier for you to stand out and attract clients.
Here’s how:
However, niching down will only provide you these benefits if you do it at the right time…
Many web designers try to niche down during the early stages of their business (or worse, before they’ve worked with a single client).
A better approach is to let your niche “find you”–this is how most of the successful web designers I know have done it.
For example, after completing several projects you may notice that you enjoy working with eCommerce clients more than other types of businesses. Or that the websites you’ve built for landscaping companies tend to produce better results than your other sites.
These kinds of trends are signs that it might be a good idea to niche down.
After working and interacting with thousands of web designers, I believe the importance of having your own website is extremely overrated.
I never had a client ask to see my website while building my business (mainly using the methods in Stage Two) and many other web designers have told me the same thing. That’s why I only recommend investing time in your own website when you already have a steady flow of clients.
However…
That doesn’t mean your website can’t be a valuable tool for getting new clients. You just need to be strategic with how you use it.
Whether potential clients are coming to your site through SEO or you’re directing them to it after a sales conversation, your website’s most important job is to build trust.
Trust is what will motivate prospects to book a consultation or accept a proposal. Not how fancy your website is or what tech stack you used to build it.
There are two main ways you can build trust on your website:
I recommend doing both if you want to turn your website into a valuable selling tool.
Recurring revenue is something I encourage most web designers to pursue. It can protect your business during slow periods and take away the pressure of having to find new clients each month.
Unfortunately, web design is usually a “one-off” type of service. That means you’ll likely have to offer other services that you can charge for on a monthly basis.
Here are some recurring services you can offer that pair well with web design:
Another benefit of offering these services is that they allow you to get bigger results for your clients (which then makes it easier for you to get more clients in the future).
We’ve covered a lot of different methods for getting clients in this post. My hope is that this information makes it easier for you to identify which methods will give you the highest chances of success in your current stage.
However, there’s no such thing as a “perfect” way to get clients.
Different approaches will work better for you depending on your results, your situation, and even your personality. So if something in this post doesn’t work for you, don’t blindly stick with it because I told you it’s the right way to do things.
Keep trying different methods and adjust based on your results.
