For Anybody Running a Web Design Agency: How Do You find Your Customers?

[DougRMR]

What's up guys. I just started a full time job last week to pay the bills. It only solidified in my mind how much I want my entrepreneurial journey to start taking off.

This year I had moderate success with my digital marketing agency. I managed a few projects and made a decent amount of money but nothing that was constant cash flow. I found success with cold calls, a few references and family friends. In a nutshell, it supplied a bit of money on the side but it's nowhere near enough for me to quit my full time job.

So I've got a few questions:
Aside from cold calls, how do you find constant leads?
Do FB Ads work for this line of work?
Are email lists worth it if my agency only focuses on web design?
Does LinkedIn have a good Return on Investment?

Any sort of advice will be greatly appreciated. Merry Christmas!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[BlackSuperman]

@Fox has a group dedicated to this! It's given great results for myself as well as many others.

There is no "best" way really just ways that work "best for you".

I just couldn't do cold calls. Did a few. Was not my thing. But @GuitarManDan when we started did cold calls and it was decent for him, but if I recall correctly it was referrals after the first few that really moved him forward and then using SEO to target his local area to get consistent clients.

In the accountability group I am apart of, I've seen cold emails created using LEMlist work very well for @James HB.

Reaching via FB messenger as worked well too.

But the key is just trying various methods, seeing what gives the best results for you, and then creating a system that you can repeat, optimize, and eventually automate.

 

[nutleydotie]

2nd for @Fox and his course/teachings...

Hit up any family members, friends or even other side hustles you have to build up some sort of portfolio/examples of what you can do.

But the truth is anyone can create a website with WIX etc, my advice would be to concentrate on problems that businesses have, and concentrate on how you can help them with a website.

Fix problems, the money will follow...

 

[nutleydotie]

The problem with LinkedIn, Facebook Ads etc are there are so many people who can make websites. Someone posts on Facebook looking for a website to be made, and everyone tags their friends and it becomes a race to the bottom.

Paid ads seem to be the same. Often see people new to the game trying them out, but also there are more established businesses doing them so they must work. I often see posts saying "Facebook Ads don't work" when they do work, just they're not being done by that person correctly.

My advice would be to niche and become an expert in something. I went from making website to focusing on eCommerce builds and trying to help them fix internal problem in their operations.

I run ads on Google heavily focused on certain platforms and the typical problems they come across on the platform. I also use FB to retarget them them. I try give away bits for free that I've written eg guides/plugins or for a small cost to be seen as the expert.

Dont bother trying to advertise as a generalist web designer, there are tons of ads, and are only competing with Fiverr etc. Carve a path for yourself as an niche expert problem solver.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[BlackSuperman]

The problem with LinkedIn, Facebook Ads etc are there are so many people who can make websites. Someone posts on Facebook looking for a website to be made, and everyone tags their friends and it becomes a race to the bottom.

Paid ads seem to be the same. Often see people new to the game trying them out, but also there are more established businesses doing them so they must work. I often see posts saying "Facebook Ads don't work" when they do work, just they're not being done by that person correctly.

My advice would be to niche and become an expert in something. I went from making website to focusing on eCommerce builds and trying to help them fix internal problem in their operations.

I run ads on Google heavily focused on certain platforms and the typical problems they come across on the platform. I also use FB to retarget them them. I try give away bits for free that I've written eg guides/plugins or for a small cost to be seen as the expert.

Dont bother trying to advertise as a generalist web designer, there are tons of ads, and are only competing with Fiverr etc. Carve a path for yourself as an niche expert problem solver.

This is a great answer right here. And I can attest that if you use ads targeted towards general web design, you will either
a. Go way over budget for low quality leads
b. Get minimal traffic/clicks which will lead to minimal calls/sales.

As @snazzy said if you do go the paid route, focus on keywords like "web design la plumbers" etc etc. More specific, less competition, but more importantly you won't know until you try.

Start VERY specific and then expand from there. @Andy Black said, "It's better to have a volume problem, then a budget problem". (close enough right haha)

Also, I would suggest checking out his Inbound Marketing Free Course. It really is an eye-opener when it comes to getting inbound leads vs outbound.

Set weekly goals (I'll make 20-50 calls).

Don't make your metrics your goals. You'll find yourself trying to cheat the system (e.g. Get 3 leads this week)
Make the action to reach those metrics your goal.

Find a very active accountability group/like-minded community if you can. Sometimes you'll find yourself adopting other people's solutions that didn't work for them, but may work for you. (Sorry for the terrible grammar in this sentence).

 

[AndreiR]

I like the suggestions of niching yourself down - I'll have to do that more this year. Web design is soon becoming a commodity if it's not already. What I struggle with is how to non-trivially choose a niche because after all a plumbing website won't be that different in structure from a law firm's website. Or perhaps that doesn't matter because the client isn't aware of that - if there's good ad copy and a targeted landing page maybe targeting these small businesses would be profitable through online ads. I'll be trying that out.

My suggestion given my own experience is to join a (paid) networking organization. After that, do a great job with clients and have a generous referral program to have a constant stream of word of mouth business.

Accountability groups also seem like a great idea.

 

[jjjhhhbbb]

In the accountability group I am apart of, I've seen cold emails created using LEMlist work very well for @James HB.

I just posted a new thread covering things in a bit more detail - hopefully that is helpful.

SIDE HUSTLE - LAZY STRATEGY TO COLD EMAIL YOUR WAY TO PROFIT

To say I've been lurking in the forum would be a lie. I haven't even been ON the forum! I noticed @Illusive_Man tagged me in a post about Cold Emailing Success. I thought the best thing for me to do would be to provide some insight into some of the small successes I've been seeing. Maybe you...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.