Free things are always appreciated.
There is a reason why freebies are so popular - they work for both the customers and the companies. If you specialize in Flash menu design, offer a free, simple Flash menu for anyone to download and use on their site. Once you've hooked them with the quality of your free product, they'll be more interested in hiring you to build a full-blown Flash site. Other free things you could offer are:
- Free simple Web templates
- Free hosting with purchase of a design package
- Free site evaluation
- Free domain maintenance with mention of some ad
- Free estimate - you should always provide this
If you have articles, information, or links on your Web site that go beyond just what you're selling, you'll attract more customers. Be careful if you decide to put up articles that they don't turn into "infomercials". Most Web surfers these days are very savvy and get bored quickly with strong armed sales pitches when all they wanted was to learn how to do something.
Promote your business wherever you can.
If there is a Web designer listing you should get your site on it. But read any submission requirements before you start spamming the world. You won't get additional customers because you submitted to more places, but you might get banned or blacklisted if you're particularly annoying.
Keep your business site up-to-date and of high quality.
It's often amazing to me how poorly written many Web designer sites are. Remember, unless you're independently wealthy or have a day job, your Web design business should always be looking for clients. And to look for clients, you need to put your best foot forward. No customer is going to come to a poorly designed Web site and think "well, their portfolio sites were nice, I guess they just don't have time for their corporate site." If they think anything it will be more like "Oh wow! That is completely not what I expected from a site who designed ____. Maybe they didn't really design ____," and hit the back button.
Remember SEO for your Web design site.
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is just as important for your business site as it is for your clients' sites. Use the unique facets of your business to optimize on - so that you can get better ranking for the niche designs you want to build. Remember that there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of other Web designers out there. And they all want the same business you want. The better you optimize for a specific niche, the more likely you'll get the client that another, more generalized Web designer would have missed.
Be very careful with your spelling and grammar in all your promotional materials.
Whenever you are promoting your business, whether on your company's Web site or in a Web designer listing, remember that spelling and grammar are very important. If you make a simple typo in your promotional material, someone will see it and decide not to use you because of it. Don't give people a reason to turn away from you.
This also applies to "unique" spellings or grammatical choices. For example, a very popular chocie by many Web designers is to write everything in lower case. In English grammar, this is incorrect. And while it may have worked for e.e. cummings, in most Web design promotional material it looks silly at best, and juvenile or lazy at worst. If you're doing something with your writing to look "cool", chances are it will just look wrong to many of your potential customers.
What would you recommend?
If you run a Web design company, what techniques have worked for you?
