Attracting new clients

17 Nov

Illustration of a pie cut into pieces with text 'it's only one piece of the pie'.

I’ve got to admit, I’ve been planning to write this blog post for a while. It’s taken the time primarily because I wanted to put in the hard yards and test out some of the most practical and immediate solutions I’ve discovered.

I figured I could then apply these solutions to my own business and report my findings back here and, if I’m honest, I’ve found it tough. This is mainly because it’s unchartered territory, I’ve had to consider things way outside my scope, so on one hand I say it’s been tough but the challenge has also been a bit fun. To add to the self-imposed pressure, I’m not one of those people that self promotion comes naturally to. Lucky for me this post isn’t just about self promotion.

Boiled down, my findings show that if I make myself as visible and as findable as possible, clients will then be able to find me and I’ll be also able to find them so we can then start a conversation.

Sounds easy right? Here are some practical pointers I’ve found:

Becoming findable

An online presence is imperative for any business. For freelancers like us it’s the number one marketing tool to attract new business. At the very minimum it should showcase previous work and experience so if you want to frame it as an online CV go right ahead. Even further, it presents you as a reliable professional, especially when you go to the trouble of getting a domain name, making a website and have an email address that is more professional than joooolz@imail.net.au.

If you’ve already got a website, that’s great. But there’s more, there’s always more.

SEO

How easy are you to find? Chances are you’ve heard of SEO and know it’s important. If you’re anything like me SEO is a total mystery and you’ve never been sure where to start. If you’ve got a website, start by doing a search on your name and yep your site probably appears on the first page. Then try searching ‘freelance graphic designer [insert your home town]’ and you may be disappointed. I know I was.

Now I’m not an SEO master by a far stretch but I’ve been researching some practical starting points for getting my website up to SEO scratch. And I’ve still got a lot to learn.

My website is built in Squarespace who, by the way, offer great support in applying SEO to my site. Some of their pointers are as follows:

Customise page and site titles
Alt-tag images
Use strategic keywords throughout content
Structure content with headings
Use tags and categories
List your physical location
Add internal links throughout website
Use Google console to index your site (this one is key)

I also get a great report on traffic to my website. Recently, I’ve had a distinct response from new client searches based on my physical location through Google searches, so at the moment I’m looking at how I can flex that within my website to promote my location. So instead of saying ‘I’m a designer in sunny Queensland’ I might refine the wording to say ‘I’m a designer on the north side of Brisbane’.

To get started down the rabbit warren of research into using keywords within your site, monitor how YOU conduct online searches. This will help you understand the importance of keywords and more than that, when you search you are using keywords from a customer point of view. As a business owner you also need to think about how your customer is searching. Look into the keywords they are using, not the keywords you would use to search for your own business. Google tracks search trends and report on them so if you’re new to the world of keywords you can find out here what the world is searching for.

While writing this post I received an email from Google telling me that more people are finding me. This was accompanied with a little graph comparing stats against this time last year. That’s the result of applying these strategies throughout my website only a week ago. I’m pretty happy with that, baby steps are still steps.

It’s important to note however that using keywords within the text content of your website isn’t entirely the answer to increasing traffic to your site. It’s only one piece of the pie. It’s definitely useful for people searching for graphic design services but it’s not all there is.

Most visitors do not reach your site by using a search engine.

Most people will type a web address into their browser and visit a site directly or by clicking a link from another site. So what other sources can we use to direct traffic to our site?

Social media

Over the few years I’ve been freelancing I’ve found Instagram a great platform to post fresh artwork, inspiration, promote my blog posts and altogether remain active. Here I can reach colleagues and friends within the industry as well as family and friends who might know someone who needs a designer, it feels organic to me. It’s a place where my followers’ likes can then be shared into their realm of followers. During the first couple of years I noticed some nice growth but over the past twelve months, through nothing more than time restrictions, I’ve neglected this space and I’ve really noticed a slump in new client contacts as a result.

LinkedIn is another space I’ve used to promote my blog posts in the past and on a limited level I’ve used it to interact with colleagues. I’ve not been too focused on growing my network or using it to create potential leads which makes me feel like I haven’t explored it’s potential completely. If you’ve got any feedback on this platform, use the comments section to share the experiences you’ve had using it for your own business.

Prospecting

Last year I had a couple of days free and used them to visit some local businesses in my area to introduce myself. Being a hopeless self-promoter I’d done some reading on how to engage with local business and I have to confess I didn’t take the advice I’d found the most intriguing. The advice was to not only pop in with a business card but to produce something that local businesses could engage with and invest in such as a printed calendar featuring purchased ads of local businesses. The calendar would strategically include your contact details which would keep your name in their mind and they’d feel supported by you. While I write this post I’m thinking the exact subject I’m writing about could have helped me offer something more to those businesses. Again, it’s all about being visible and being in it for the long haul.

During those two days I really enjoyed meeting other small businesses in the area and collected contact details so I could stay in touch. I can now follow up with emails to stay in touch but I can’t say this exercise has produced any new work, not so far. I’m going to think on that calendar concept and report back. There’s always this year.

Finding your dream client

There’s quite a few articles that give advice on how to find your dream client. Firstly, what is a dream client to you? Is it a big corporate name that provides high profile work? Is it personally rewarding work that doesn’t bring in much income? Does your dream client provide bread and butter work that pays all bills and then some?

I’m going to preface this by saying I don’t have the golden answer. Everyone’s dream client is going to be different. A place to start for me now that I’ve been freelancing for a while is to start at a logical place and look through my invoices from the last 6 months and marry up how much time I’ve spent on different projects…you’ve kept timesheets right?

Which clients paid on time? What work was the most productive comparing time and monetary value? Which relationships were the most rewarding?

After looking at this it’s possible to form a list of priorities and consider the kinds of potential new clients to approach. Then begins the strategy of how to engage with them and how to keep them engaged. Face to face? Phone? Email? DM? My blog post The Fine Balance talks about communicating with clients once you’ve engaged them and practical ways to maintain those relationships.

New skills

Is there a new skill you want to learn so you can offer more to current and potential clients? There’s a high probability this will open up new possibilities for you but the homework needs to be done to weigh up whether it’s a logical addition to your current business.

So for years I’ve had an interest in motion graphics, I’d love to know how to animate my own illustrations. Good idea? Sure. From a business perspective however, I would need to buy a new computer with plenty of guts and I’d also need to learn the software. Both are doable, but see there’s a cost in time and value to weigh.

When all is said and done, working towards these points alone will take time, patience and a little trial and error but that’s part and parcel if you already understand the pros and cons of freelancing < see what I did there? I can’t rely on just one platform to make sure I stay findable, I need to remain active across the range of platforms that work for me and always be on the lookout for new ones.

Some things I’ve written about here are still a work in progress and I think they’ll always be a bit fluid but I’m willing to embrace that kind of chaos. So I’m in it for the long haul and as far as I know technology is constantly changing so it’s my responsibility to stay current and constantly adapt to ensure I’m findable. If you have other points on making your freelance business more visible please add them to this blog using the comments section below, I’d love to hear what you’re up to.

As usual I’ve put together a list of other articles for freelance designers that are a great read, here are some I really liked:

Have I missed anything important? Use the comments section to field any questions you have.

First published Feb 14, 2019

Julia Nielson

Attracting new clients

Boiled down, my findings show that if I make myself as visible and as findable as possible, clients will then be able to find me and I’ll be also able to find them so we can then start a conversation.

Becoming findable

SEO

Most visitors do not reach your site by using a search engine.

Social media

Prospecting

Finding your dream client

Which clients paid on time? What work was the most productive comparing time and monetary value? Which relationships were the most rewarding?

New skills

Client relationships

Win more clients

Building your brand

Embracing the chaos

The fine balance