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OK, some of us here like to build sites, I'm oh-so-close to creating a business (a real ltd company dammit!), and I'm faced with having to market my services. So I wondered how the rest of you would go about it... Here are my initial ideas:-
1) Newsgroups & forums like this, help people out, offer opinions, make people think, get a good name for yourself
2) Search engines - hard to get right, but useful traffic once you start appearing in the ranks
3) My secret weapon - I hope i can trust you guys with this.... Make a CD demonstrating your services, this could be done using Flash to create an .EXE file, or, use webcompiler (visit http://www.webcompiler.com) to build an HTML web site and turn it into an .EXE. Then, cherry pick some clients, they might already have a site, but it's old and you can do a better one, send your CD off to them and cross fingers.
4) Build a site for charity - ah, the traditional method of building a portfolio, OK, so you don't get paid, but you do the world a favour, and you hopefully generate some interest in your work, can use the charity site as a case study on your own web site.
Anybody else have some ideas?
1) Newsgroups & forums like this, help people out, offer opinions, make people think, get a good name for yourself
2) Search engines - hard to get right, but useful traffic once you start appearing in the ranks
3) My secret weapon - I hope i can trust you guys with this.... Make a CD demonstrating your services, this could be done using Flash to create an .EXE file, or, use webcompiler (visit http://www.webcompiler.com) to build an HTML web site and turn it into an .EXE. Then, cherry pick some clients, they might already have a site, but it's old and you can do a better one, send your CD off to them and cross fingers.
4) Build a site for charity - ah, the traditional method of building a portfolio, OK, so you don't get paid, but you do the world a favour, and you hopefully generate some interest in your work, can use the charity site as a case study on your own web site.
Anybody else have some ideas?
i can vouch for the charity/non-profit site approach. i have been working on a town web site for an non-profit organisation in the town where i live for 3 and a half years now (since I was 13).
it has taken up a lot of my time, but now a lot of people know my name - councillors, chamber of trade & commerce, business people in the town etc etc. also i have managed to get £200, a computer, and about £500 worth of software off them - not bad considering it is meant to be voluntary work.
it has taken up a lot of my time, but now a lot of people know my name - councillors, chamber of trade & commerce, business people in the town etc etc. also i have managed to get £200, a computer, and about £500 worth of software off them - not bad considering it is meant to be voluntary work.
funkygamer wrote:
1) Newsgroups & forums like this, help people out, offer opinions,
> make people think, get a good name for yourself
WOM (Word of mouth) is definately one of the best ways to drum up business..
> 2) Search engines - hard to get right, but useful traffic once you
> start appearing in the ranks
Again, good idea, but effective search engine registry is a pain, especially as these days is govened by those who pay to have their results appear in the right place!
> 3) My secret weapon - I hope i can trust you guys with this.... Make a
> CD demonstrating your services, this could be done using Flash to
> create an .EXE file, or, use webcompiler (visit
> http://www.webcompiler.com) to build an HTML web site and turn it into
> an .EXE. Then, cherry pick some clients, they might already have a
> site, but it's old and you can do a better one, send your CD off to
> them and cross fingers.
I used to do this... I went a step further, i havd CD Business cards made as they were new at the time... i used to send mine out with a tea bag as a gimmick... "have a cup of tea on me whilst you look at my work" kind of thing. It is hard, I've worked for agencies before that always got bombed with this kind of stuff, and unless it really stood out, they normally ended up as coasters or something!
you need a gimmick, and an amazing impact to grab their attention, it does work, but you have to egt it right, and be prepared to spen the money to do so... I can give some help on this if you want.... Afterall, I used to do marketing in my last job!:-)
> 4) Build a site for charity - ah, the traditional method of building a
> portfolio, OK, so you don't get paid, but you do the world a favour,
> and you hopefully generate some interest in your work, can use the
> charity site as a case study on your own web site.
This is my current approach, and it's starting to work, though unfortunately for me, it's still in the academic circle. I know get requested by name from clients, some will only sign contracts with us if they know I will be the one doing the design and build... Finally a real name for myself!! Now it's time to break intot he freelance world and find some "blue chip" work!
As I mentioned, I can help you with this if you want... though some more information on your target audience and selling points could be useful.
Good luck!
1) Newsgroups & forums like this, help people out, offer opinions,
> make people think, get a good name for yourself
WOM (Word of mouth) is definately one of the best ways to drum up business..
> 2) Search engines - hard to get right, but useful traffic once you
> start appearing in the ranks
Again, good idea, but effective search engine registry is a pain, especially as these days is govened by those who pay to have their results appear in the right place!
> 3) My secret weapon - I hope i can trust you guys with this.... Make a
> CD demonstrating your services, this could be done using Flash to
> create an .EXE file, or, use webcompiler (visit
> http://www.webcompiler.com) to build an HTML web site and turn it into
> an .EXE. Then, cherry pick some clients, they might already have a
> site, but it's old and you can do a better one, send your CD off to
> them and cross fingers.
I used to do this... I went a step further, i havd CD Business cards made as they were new at the time... i used to send mine out with a tea bag as a gimmick... "have a cup of tea on me whilst you look at my work" kind of thing. It is hard, I've worked for agencies before that always got bombed with this kind of stuff, and unless it really stood out, they normally ended up as coasters or something!
you need a gimmick, and an amazing impact to grab their attention, it does work, but you have to egt it right, and be prepared to spen the money to do so... I can give some help on this if you want.... Afterall, I used to do marketing in my last job!:-)
> 4) Build a site for charity - ah, the traditional method of building a
> portfolio, OK, so you don't get paid, but you do the world a favour,
> and you hopefully generate some interest in your work, can use the
> charity site as a case study on your own web site.
This is my current approach, and it's starting to work, though unfortunately for me, it's still in the academic circle. I know get requested by name from clients, some will only sign contracts with us if they know I will be the one doing the design and build... Finally a real name for myself!! Now it's time to break intot he freelance world and find some "blue chip" work!
As I mentioned, I can help you with this if you want... though some more information on your target audience and selling points could be useful.
Good luck!
OK, some of us here like to build sites, I'm oh-so-close to creating a business (a real ltd company dammit!), and I'm faced with having to market my services. So I wondered how the rest of you would go about it... Here are my initial ideas:-
1) Newsgroups & forums like this, help people out, offer opinions, make people think, get a good name for yourself
2) Search engines - hard to get right, but useful traffic once you start appearing in the ranks
3) My secret weapon - I hope i can trust you guys with this.... Make a CD demonstrating your services, this could be done using Flash to create an .EXE file, or, use webcompiler (visit http://www.webcompiler.com) to build an HTML web site and turn it into an .EXE. Then, cherry pick some clients, they might already have a site, but it's old and you can do a better one, send your CD off to them and cross fingers.
4) Build a site for charity - ah, the traditional method of building a portfolio, OK, so you don't get paid, but you do the world a favour, and you hopefully generate some interest in your work, can use the charity site as a case study on your own web site.
Anybody else have some ideas?
1) Newsgroups & forums like this, help people out, offer opinions, make people think, get a good name for yourself
2) Search engines - hard to get right, but useful traffic once you start appearing in the ranks
3) My secret weapon - I hope i can trust you guys with this.... Make a CD demonstrating your services, this could be done using Flash to create an .EXE file, or, use webcompiler (visit http://www.webcompiler.com) to build an HTML web site and turn it into an .EXE. Then, cherry pick some clients, they might already have a site, but it's old and you can do a better one, send your CD off to them and cross fingers.
4) Build a site for charity - ah, the traditional method of building a portfolio, OK, so you don't get paid, but you do the world a favour, and you hopefully generate some interest in your work, can use the charity site as a case study on your own web site.
Anybody else have some ideas?