How have you gotten your clients?

[villain2]

Any successful web firms, designers, developers out there have any info. or stories about how they've gotten their clients?

[sk8Krog]

Well, I just landed a very nice job designing for a site recently. It came because I knew people all over and they recomended me. One of them was already on the project and recomended me to work on it as well. I did some test layouts and stuff for them and they loved how I worked and the work I was doing.

Networking is what gets me my jobs. That or client referalls. Do a good job on one client and they will tell everyone.

[argonauta]

When I started, i got clients thanks to friends talking nice things about me for the people they work for. I started with 4 clients that way. But after that, i got clients by referral of other clients, and by people that happened to see my work. That is for local clients

I work a lot with people in the US (although i'm in southamerica)....how i got them....i caught them in aim or msn (got the addresses from forums like ultrashock and flashkit) and said "hay i can do this and that, if you're interested..." and that's it.

Luckily, I have a lot of work and a good client list now, so my business is growing.

[jaybirch]

If you are gonna be doing most of your hunting online, put all your effort into making your portfolio as good as it can possibly be. If you can create a big enough stir with your folio/work you will get clients coming to you.

[bvgroote_puppet]

Jay you sound like you speak from experience, did your portfolio really have that much of an impact? (don't get me wrong, I love it!)

If you get inundated with too much work I'll be happy to help you out with a bit of sub-contracting

[jaybirch]

yea, i'm doing alright BV
I'm just about right at the moment, but i'll keep you in mind mate. If www.advanceflash.com goes well, i will be passin on most of my web work to concentrate on AE.

[bvgroote_puppet]

hehe just checkin

[argonauta]

Originally posted by jaybirch
If you are gonna be doing most of your hunting online, put all your effort into making your portfolio as good as it can possibly be. If you can create a big enough stir with your folio/work you will get clients coming to you.

dude, i think it'd help but well, not necesserally. I don't have a portfolio site yet, and I've done well till now.

[geoffmasson]

Word of mouth and regional clients are your best bet. Trying to find work on-line is going to leave you working for peanuts, and chances are not working at all.

[argonauta]

Originally posted by geoffmasson
Word of mouth and regional clients are your best bet. Trying to find work on-line is going to leave you working for peanuts, and chances are not working at all.

It all depends on where you live though. Here, few people is willing to pay what a site really costs (specially when they want some dynamic db thing), so, it may also be that you may do more money working for people abroad.

I would say your work is your best advertisement. Once you do a couple of sites, and show people what you can do, they'll start coming to you.

[JFlashK]

patience is important too, I think it's impossible to have al the clients you want in a few days or weeks. I'm working since oct 2001 and i'm trying to build a client base for whem i'm starting to work fulltime as a designer/programmer. I have a lot of patience and with my patience my experience grows. Clients will bring clients when they are satisfied, only to get those first clients... I think a bit of luck and friends can help you. Maybe do some work for free because it's very difficult to convince people of your skills without a portfolio.