Web Development Work

harringtonp

Hi Guys,

Notice from profiles that many of the activists here are involved in the web design/development area. Anybody got good tips on how to pull in work if you're wanting to get started ? Some that come to mind are:

Flyers in local businesses advertising services ?
Talk to existing companies to see if they outsource to other developers ?
Google Ads ? Tried this but your max CPC needs to be set too high.
Get active and start answering queries in groups like this :-) ?
Local paper advertising ?

I cannot judge the effectiveness of these as I haven't tried most of them yet...

What works ? What doesn't ?

Thanks Paul.

wheres me jumpa

Find your target market then devise a strategy to attract those customers. Flyers and advertising are pointless if they are targetted at the wrong people. Seeking outsourced work is a good idea imo.

forbairt

harringtonp wrote: »

Flyers in local businesses advertising services ?

Haven't tried this yet it may though

harringtonp wrote: »

Talk to existing companies to see if they outsource to other developers ?

Use any contacts you have and ask any business ... get yourself some good business cards.

harringtonp wrote: »

Google Ads ? Tried this but your max CPC needs to be set too high.

EEK to be honest I don't think its worth it

harringtonp wrote: »

Local paper advertising ?

Extremely expensive and VERY little return ... the majority of people don't want an advert in the local paper they want a connection to the person whether its a reference.

My advice ...
Set yourself up a business name initially
www.cro.ie

Join various forums NON web development forums you're not for the most part going to find work with other freelancers though once you have a decent portfolio I believe you will.

Maybe approach a charity and do some freebie work (unfortunately if you've nothing to show you've nothing to attract paying customers with)

It won't happen overnight ... it won't happen over a month or two ... it'll take time ...

Good luck with it

GerryRyan

My strategy (working so far) - do as many nixxers as possible by approaching voluntary groups, college societys and local business etc and build up your skills and a decent portfolio. This forces you to get to grips with html/css/java/photoshop etc aswell.

Then when you're ready to take on larger, in-depth projects you'll have this experience behind you.

I'm happy doing one or two small sites a week, for the time being anyway. Openly advertising, like the other posters have suggested I'll worry about later.

Bob the Builder

I'd consider myself a bit of a "handyman", and so I promote myself using contacts. I only do a small bit of web design work really, I am mostly just learning at the moment, and merely just offer people advice who come looking for it. I do a bit of charity work, and am designing a site for a cycling club at the moment, and a few more bits along the way. Other than that, I am saving for some high tech printers, etc. and am designing a website for myself which I'll promote myself through. Until then I'm just going to keep fixing people's virus infected computers.... Thats basically my plan for the next year or two until I get out of school.

Google Ads work for certain audiences, but i can never see them working for web developers. They are good when your advertising common products, but web developers and other skilled stuff depend on portfolios.

Newspaper advertising works well with a portfolio, as in you having a website for yourself, but otherwise(without a website) you'll find people ringing you wasting your time(I know a web designer who has experience of this).

I would think that sending customized letters to local businesses is a good idea, but it's probably even better to meet businessmen at local functions, introduce yourself as a webby, and start talking to them about their website, and if they dont have one, offer one at a good price. Thats how i got a few printing jobs. Be sure to pump a lot of time into any advertising campaigns by doing market research, intense planning, etc.

harringtonp

Thanks Guys for the tips, there are a couple of things there which I had not thought of before. I've actually worked in the IT industry a long time. Bigger, chunkier web applications is ideally what I am looking for (and what I've completed while in previous permanent job roles).

What I've never had to do before is go out and fetch work ! As a company employee it comes to you...

Paul.