Comments on: Question of the Week #13 Marketing Yourself

By: Becky

Becky — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 08:23:28 +0000

I’m, slowly, working on my freelance persona as it were, but I’m in the lucky position of being able to advertise for free in my local newspaper (as I work in the advertising dept. there).

I’m intending to have a small display advert and a classified advert. in there on a regular basis. Nothing big and flashy, but hopefully something to get some local business rolling in.

Other than that I’m guessing it’ll be word of mouth and depending on how my new site/blog turns out I’ll go from there

By: A different Phil

A different Phil — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:42:49 +0000

In answer to the blog post, I’ve been freelancing for quite a lot of years, shamefully iv never opened a website to sell myself. I’ve been pretty lucky that I know people who have connections with various small buisinesses who also has various business ventures. And this has given me a lot of work since starting freelancing. But even on that note I do find that blogs and websites are still the best way to market yourself as a freelancer. Twitter is supposed to be a huge way to market yourself. It definately depends on the individial for twitter marketing, as I’ve tried but find I dont have enough interesting things to talk about every few minuites of every day. But if used correctly can generate a lot of interest in your freelance work and also any websites that are linked.

In the long run the best way to market yourself is to build great websites with good content. Niki you seem to already have that so I would suggest websites like twitter and to keep pumping out unique content apart from that Im not sure of what else you can do apart from be more involved in the community, do interviews and what not on different popular blogs.

By: Phil

Phil — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:29:10 +0000

Could someone please answer a silly question…
I know quite a bit about creating web sites and about design etc… but define blog… is a blog usually a type of feed or can it be a static site that is just updated regularly… or what? Is there a special tool like RSS that one should set up as a blog feed?…
Any help would be appreciated. :-p

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 23:38:01 +0000

I’ve been out in the market by myself part time for about two years. I found that a lot of my clients were all word of mouth.

Going to networking sessions, parties and lots of business functions really got the word out there about what I do. Also about 70% of traffic to my portfolio is all search engine traffic looking for my particular skill set.

I quit my 9-5 in April this year and haven’t looked back since. Averaging a new client a week and loving it.

By: Marie Poulin

Marie Poulin — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 23:29:35 +0000

Admittedly, I’ve been avoiding actively marketing myself because I’ve been so busy that I can’t really afford (timewise) to take on more work.

That being said, I do think it is important to establish yourself in the design community, and I have started to do so by contributing articles and tutorials.

I am currently contributing to Fuel Your Coding, which has a great community behind it, and is a way to share tips and advice with others, and get known as an expert.

I also started offering workshops for super cheap. The demand kept up, so I had to raise my prices, but word of mouth as well as online web galleries have been really helpful in terms of spreading the word about who I am and what I do.

I also try to be super helpful to friends and colleagues, and throw in a few favor jobs here and there, which always leads to recommendations and more work.

I also do volunteer design work for a few not-for-profits that I feel strongly about, and again, it gets your name around

By: David

David — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 23:14:34 +0000

I am 4 months into a web design business, like grace I have a large community without many websites.
I would like more natural word of mouth, but that will come.
I prepare proposals for each business I approach. A couple of pages addressing what I could do for them for how much.
Something not mentioned yet is create a directory website for your community or niche. Good introduction to the benefits of the web. Also good SEO tool for your new websites.
Here are some of my other ideas –

By: Grace Smith

Grace Smith — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 17:46:24 +0000

I targeted the local market to begin with as when i started as a freelance web designer a few years back there were very very few in my local area so i had a pretty decent sized audience to target which continues to work very well.

After i began working with several social media individuals, bloggers and entrepreneurs in the USA i found a lot of my business came through referrals which did make me relax a little too much on my other marketing activities. So at the start of this year i started a design blog and so far it’s been a great marketing tool, allowing me to reach a wider audience and promote my design services further.

It’s also important not to forget about offline activities such as Open Coffee, conferences and twitter meetups, it’s amazing how opportunities can arise from getting involved in local networking events.

It’s a great discussion and i’m looking forward to seeing how others market themselves

By: Lauren K

Lauren K — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 17:33:04 +0000

Since I specialize in Equine Advertising, I mainly market by giving out gift certificates and sponsoring equine events (shows, sales, etc.), and mostly it’s at no cost to me. It lets me get my name out there.

I also work with some of the industry’s leading trainers and give them good deals on advertising, again, just getting my name out there helps a lot.

lauren

By: Arron Lock

Arron Lock — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 15:02:09 +0000

I must be one of the few designers that isn’t getting a big marketing boost from my blog. Maybe its because I just don’t write as often as I should.

The way I have found that works for me is to market the old fashioned way and join the local chamber of commerce, go to business networking events and meet people in the community. In the city I live/work in there are a lot of less than technologically savvy people so that may be why the “analog” approach works better than my online presence.

Good discussion Niki! I look forward to seeing the other answers.

By: chris baunach

chris baunach — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 15:01:11 +0000

I’m not looking for freelance work, so I am doing almost no marketing right now, don’t even have a website. However, word-of-mouth brings me work. I guess it’s partly due to naturally networking.