So, before I decided to write this article, I thought of reasons why should not. I am not a qualified business strategist, and I have not done any business courses to make my content credible. So, why did I choose to write it regardless? Experience. That is all I can bet on.

Over the years, I have learned how to market myself and get web development clients worldwide. In this article, I am going to share what I used to do and what I still do to get more clients for my business.

Having a Good Portfolio

How are you going to sell your web development service if you do not have any examples of prior work that you have done? You will not. The very first step in selling websites is building a portfolio. This normally means doing some free work for local businesses or doing some personal projects that will demonstrate that you know what you are doing and that you are good at what you do.

I think you need to have three to five projects on your portfolio for you to start selling to the general public. Your portfolio does not have to have a mind-blowing design. I have seen different portfolios by professional developers, and some do not even come close to what a graphic designer would call beautiful, yet they get clients from every corner. You need to come up with a solution on how you can create a portfolio and reach out to businesses.

If you are not able to get local businesses to build a website for, get on Behance, and find a good design, contact the designer, and ask if you can bring their designs to life, then share credit on your portfolio. That way, you can hit two birds with one stone because you will be working on your SEO score as well.

Make your portfolio projects diverse if possible, like a dentist or a lawyer, a construction site, or maybe a little boutique type e-commerce retail store. When you have a diverse portfolio, it will show your prospects that you are capable of taking on diverse work. Once you have that initial three to five pieces, everything becomes much easier.

Get in front of as Many Prospects as Possible by Any Means Necessary

Do not sit at home trying to strategize what the best method is because no one will know what you do. You can try different methods. Try Facebook ads, reaching out to people on LinkedIn, knock on doors, put stickers on polls, anything. There is no guarantee, however, that one method is going to work better than the other.

You need to try different things and find out which one works best for you. If that means going to a networking group on Monday, doing cold calls on Tuesday, spending a hundred dollars on Facebook ads on Wednesday, handing out your business card on the street on Thursday, calling all your friends and family to see if anybody is interested in your service on Friday, all that, do it.

You are going to have to work really hard during the first one or two years of your business. Once you narrow down what works best for you, focus on that.

Statistics

Hopefully, when you land your first client after doing the heavy lifting, take your time to do some research about their business. You do not have to close them the second you meet. That comes with time after you have done several diverse projects.

Give them a reason to pick you among the other developers looking at the same opportunity. Impress them by telling them stats that they did not even know and not just telling them a number. Mention their organic visits, SEO scores, touch on things like bounce rate, average time on site, touch on which keywords are generating them the most traffic, or lack thereof.

Talk a little about their competitors and give pointers on what you can do to give them ( client ) an edge over them ( competitors ). Doing this during a consultation will better your chances of closing more deals beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Stop Trying to Sell

Yes, I know this article is about how to sell more websites, but go in there with a clear mind that your intention is not to close every single person on the first, second, or even the third meetup for that matter. Go into that meeting genuine and authentic.

I understand that you want to close the deal. I want to close every deal too. I just do not want to do it by pressuring a prospect into submission. Do not make a prospective client feel like they are backed into a corner. What I have realized over the years is that if you give value, you can close any prospective client at any price you choose to quote.

Teach the client a bit about what the website will do for their business. Tell them why they should choose a specific hosting package rather than the one they saw on an ad. Educate them on the importance of regularly maintaining their site. Giving such information will make the client see that you care about giving them value rather than just taking their money and taking a walk after the project is done.

Ask Important Questions

When you sit down with a client for a consultation, your goal should be to ask the right questions to get the information required to put together a killer proposal. Do not go into any meeting with the sole purpose of spitting off all your knowledge, experience, and all.

Talk a little bit about your experience, sort of, in a nutshell. Ask the crucial questions that you need to know. Ask about what they want to be changed on their current website. Ask about their plan moving forward. Ask if they are looking to add new functionality to the site. This way, you can start interjecting your ideas based on the response they give.

Always let the client be the one to give you the direction unless it is a technical thing that they have no clue about. This is their project, so everything has to work how they want. The key is to take all the valuable information from the response they give, work it through your mind, and then start giving solutions to their problems.

Offer Valuable Advice 100% Free of Charge

Now, I am not saying that you go looking for every website owner out there to give advice. Reserve it for the ones who reach out looking to get into business with you. Before your meeting, make sure that you have reviewed their current site if they have one, or make sure that you have done your research in their area of business.

Offer recommendations on improvements. Go beyond the basics. Pinpoint exact things that you can increase to improve user experience and the profitability of their website.

Keep in mind that the client may not decide to go with you. This does not matter at all. If you have not started working, and talks are just in the first stages, it is okay if they take your advice. I know some will say that that is not productive, but once they see that no one else has given that level of concern and time, they will roll back to you.

The Power of Saying, “No.”

This final point may sound contradictory but hang in there a little. With every project that you take on, make sure that you are not overworking yourself. You have worked hard on your craft, and you deserve to be paid what your work is worth.

That being said, always measure the effort you are going to put into any project before giving a quotation. Ask the prospective client about the full scope of work so that you can give a comprehensive quotation.

Some clients out there will try to lowball you by comparing your quotation to others’. Say, “No.” Like I discussed earlier, you don’t have to close every client, and you do not have to work on every project that comes your way. Work on what is worth your time.

I have written an article about what to do when it comes to dealing with difficult clients and another one about the world of freelancing.

They will give you more information about why it is important to turn down some clients sometimes. I hope this article will help you get more clients for your business.