343 - Are you easily referable? How to make it easy for web design clients to refer you

Typically on Mondays I release interviews , but this week I just wanted to pop in with you and actually expand on my most recent newsletter . If you have not yet subscribed to my newsletter , every Sunday at noon , I send a little dose of written web design wisdom via my newsletter .

These are typically story-based or they're just quick , actionable tips that you can add into your web design business , and this last one was all about how to become more referable , and I wanted to take some time to dedicate a podcast on this and expand on some of these thoughts .

So , first off , yes , if you're not yet subscribed to my newsletter , head over to joshhallco slash weekly to subscribe for free . It's completely free . Every Sunday at noon , you'll get the issue , the next issue , and they are currently all archived in Web Designer Pro , so it's just another benefit of your membership in Pro .

You get access to all of my newsletters . This one , though . If you want the written version of this , I am going to make it available at the show notes at joshhallco , slash 343 . So there will be a link to check out the written version of this . But let's dive into how to make yourself more referable .

And the reason I want to take some time to really get into this in here on the podcast is because I've noticed a very common trend among web designers , who just seem to always be busy .

They just always seem to have plenty of clients , a good pipeline , and they always seem to be , most importantly , really easy to stay top of mind and you just know , like , oh , you need to talk to this person for this , and it's all about being easily referable . That is the goal .

So in this little podcast here , I want to give you some tips on how to become more easily referable Because , quite frankly , a lot of web designers on the opposite side who I talk to , who do seem to be struggling .

It's often there's usually multiple variables , but it's often the case that I just don't even know what you do exactly , like there's a problem with the copy , there's a problem with the offer , but one of the biggest problems is especially if , like , there are people who talk to me and say hey , if you know everybody who who needs work , let me , if you can ,

send them my way , that'd be great . But I'm like I don't even know what you do exactly . You're not referable because I don't know what your skill set is . I don't know what your expertise is . If you have a niche , I don't know .

So if you can make those things known , that's how you will get web design clients over and over and over and over again through referrals . So there's some really good examples I want to start here with on some Web Designer Pro members who fit the bill for being easily referred . So we are going to cover a lot of links in this one .

As I mentioned , I will make the full newsletter that I wrote out for this available , and some of these links are going to be over at joshhallco , slash 343 . So make sure to jump over there as we get into some of these links If you want to see some of this stuff , because we are going to talk about some stuff that you might want to see .

Anywho , some members of my community Web Designer Pro who fit the bill for being easily referable . If you would like a web designer to help you with email marketing , it's easy for me to say April Ray Ooh , nice rhyme . April , who was on the podcast a while back , has a specialty for email , so she does web design and email sequences .

Those are her things and it's really easy for me to refer people to her who want to know about how to set up email marketing as a part of their business and , of course , where do they set up their email lead generators and everything else Through their website .

So April has a really lean and mean service with web design and email and she just has that focus about how to do email , how to set it up , how to create a lead generator , and then she creates email sequences as well . If you'd like to see her website on how she's doing this , go to aprilraycreativecom .

Again , the link will be over at joshhallco slash 343 as well . If you would like a web designer for a church website , if you know a church who needs a website most of them do . Most of them are terrible Go to Mark Hyde .

Mark was also recently on the podcast and this was interesting because I actually literally referred my old church the church that I used to be in a praise band for and I was playing drums for them and when they actually helped me get started in web design because they paid for a couple of community college classes for me to learn web design .

I was a part of the church years ago . They reached back out to me recently because they saw a post on social media . Somebody tagged me and they were like hey , josh , do you still do websites ? And I said I don't .

But I had just talked to Mark as a member of Web Designer Pro and I forget if it was on a coaching call or via DM , but he just told me dude , church websites are my jam . And that line stuck out to me Church websites are my jam . So when my old church reached out to me and said do you know anybody who does web design ?

Since you're not doing it right now , you can't take us on as a client , I said I do , mark Hyde . Because ? Why ? Because church websites are his jam , top of mind , super catchy , easy to remember and better yet , when I looked at Mark's website , he had a page dedicated to churches . So I was able to say I'm going to refer you to Mark .

He's a member of my web design community . He even has a page dedicated to churches so you can see his work . He knows the challenges . He knows the pain points . Genius , easily referred . If you would like to check that out , go to markhydecom and if you go under industries , we'll have this link to get in the show notes .

There is a page for churches , again easily referred . Another great example If you know a coach who needs a website my good friend and colleague , jason Gracia , who is the CEO and founder of Swift Sites . They literally build websites for coaches , so it's so easy for me if I know somebody who's a coach .

There's a lot of people who could design websites for coaches , but he's the top . He does websites exclusively for coaches , so it's more niche base . You can go to swift sitescom to check that out If you need help with local SEO . Very timely . We just had the king of local SEO in pro on the podcast last week , sam , within canned designscom .

It's super easy for me to refer Sam because he has , like I said , become the king of SEO inside of Web Designer Pro . He just he really , really digs into local SEO . He loves it , he's embraced it and , yes , he does web design and copy and other stuff , but local SEO is , to use Mark's words , his jam . So really easy .

He's always going to be top of mind . Local SEO is Sam . Local SEO is Sam If you need a high converting website that has better copy . Michelle , michelle Bourbonier , who's been on the podcast a couple of times . She's known in the SEO world and has helped me with a lot of keyword research .

But more recently she's really dove deep into copy and messaging and she's actually done some work for me on my webdesignerprocom landing page for better copy , more high converting copy .

And here's what's interesting is because Michelle , like most web designers , do a multitude of things , or numerous things , but when you have a service that is really easy to refer , that's exactly what Michelle has with something called Copy Boost . So you can go to wordsontherisecom and when you go there you'll see a service called Copy Boost .

And it's so easy to refer that because if somebody needs help with their copy , I can just say talk to Michelle for Copy Boost and that's a lead generator for her other services . So clear , so easy to refer .

Even the name Copy Boost is awesome and I think I need to take a little bit of credit for that , because Michelle and I worked on packaging up her services and we talked about boosting copy and I don't know if I can take full credit , but I'm going to take some credit for that because I know we've worked on that together Either way , copy boost easy to refer

. So even if you have a service that is easy to refer , that's genius and super helpful as well . And then the last example I want to share with you here is Amr , who is my domain and email specialist .

So anytime somebody has a problem with email whether it's email deliverability , setting up email , anything to do with email and domains Amr is the guy and he is unbelievably easy to refer because he likes email , he likes it , he likes domain problems , he likes email , even drilling in deeper to that , he likes problem solving and troubleshooting email stuff .

He told me one time when I started working with him I'm trying to remember how we initially met . I think he was in my Divi Web Designers Facebook group years ago and I think he just either emailed me or messaged me and I think I had mentioned an email issue and he said I actually love email . He's like I love solving email problems , and that I mean .

Eight years later I still remember that it's no one else . I've met a lot of people in my journey so far in web design . I've never met anyone else who loves solving email problems , so he is easily referred to .

Uh , amr and I'll actually have a link to my conversation with Amr from a while back on email deliverability , because that's a service that he actually provides for mainly just web designer partners and colleagues , so you can also have a referable service that's just for a niche that you don't even make too public facing , because he doesn't love doing that for

clients as much as he loves to help out other web designers . So a lot of different ways there and some real world examples of web designers who are easily referable .

Now let's take this to the next level and I want to give you my top six tips for becoming more referable , cause you may be thinking this sounds really cool , but I want some like tactile advice that I can implement . Know that some of this stuff is going to take a little bit of time to implement .

It's hard to just you know , in a week be known for something , but you can make changes to your website . You can be more referable pretty quickly , but a lot of it just takes a proactive approach . So here are my talks , my top six tips for making yourself more referable , to get more leads and to get more web design clients .

Holla , number one , based off of some of the examples that we just talked about , have a primary service meaning you are going to do multiple things as a web designer . You're probably going to do websites from the ground up . You're going to do website redesigns . You may have different types of web design sites that you do . You may do landing pages .

You may have different models subscription website in a day . You may do support and maintenance . You may do marketing and growth work . In any case , having a primary service is really really easy to be referred . We talked about April , actually a lot of examples . We just talked about that . Having a primary service just makes it so much more easily referred to .

Another good example of having a primary service , or like a lead service , is James Barnard . He was on the podcast a while back . He has a huge social media following and here's what's interesting about James he does all sorts of design work graphic design , logo design , style guides , branding . He also does basic web design services .

But if you go to his website at jamesbarnardcom , it is or no . It's co . Sorry , james , let me double check it . He's a co right . Hold on James Barnard . Yes , oh , it's actually sorry , it's barnardco is James' website . It's logo designer . That and he told me when he was on the podcast a while back .

He said it just made it so much easier to get found online through SEO . It also made it easier for him to be referred to because people needed logo designs . But then when somebody gets a logo design , what else do they need ? Usually branding , usually a style guide and then eventually a website , and he's able to do all that .

But his main service , his lead service , is logo design and he leads with that . So just remember , if you have 18 services in each one of them like there's no hierarchy , they're just all equal it's going to be very hard to refer you and you end up looking like a jack of all trades and master of none .

But if you can whittle down your services to , at the very very most , a top three , with one of them being your primary thing , that's how you're easily referred to . So barnardco is a great example of how he leads with logo design and his maiden service , but he has tons of services to back that up . Number two is to have a focus , expertise or skill set .

Now , this could be very similar to having a primary service , but I think it's slightly different in the way of if you are known to have expertise or skill set , it could that could actually translate into numerous services .

But in any case , we talked about a lot of good examples of this Amber with email , april with uh email marketing , sam with local SEO that's his skill set , that's his expertise . Michelle with copy and keyword research . Those are her expertise areas . My question to you , even if you don't view yourself as an expert , what are your expertise areas ? Is it copy ?

Is it messaging ? Is it conversion ? Is it website speed ? Is it design ? Is it branding ? You're going to have areas in web design that you excel at and others that you're just not great at , and that's totally fine . I feel that way . There's tons of areas in my business that I'm like I'm pretty dang good at this , but I'm not very good at all at this .

But if you can have focus on an expertise or a skill set , you will make yourself so so much more valuable because you can be like they just rock at this , like they do this well . So you want your clients to say they , josh and his team , like they do this really well . They will make a beautiful site that actually helps us grow our business .

Something like that Easily referred that's a biggie . Like that Easily referred , that's a biggie . You could absolutely number three here . Go niche If you do have a niche and you can serve it well , that is a really good way to be referable .

We talked about a couple of examples above and another good example , another Web Designer Pro member , angela is now known as the web therapist for wellness businesses , so you can check her website out at goodkarmaworkscom and it's very easy to now refer her for anyone who comes into my world who is a wellness business , who wants a web designer to be able to help

them . But if they're in any realm of the wellness industry or market , it's really easy to refer Angela because that's what she does . That's who she serves . If a steel business comes to me , I'm not probably going to send them to Angela because she works with wellness businesses .

But if I know a yoga studio or something in that vein who asks if I know a web designer , I do know a web designer and she's going to be perfect for you because she knows your challenges and your pain points and knows a lot of different businesses in this niche . So if you can serve a niche , awesome .

It does make you more referable , especially as you get to know them and , as I just mentioned , you know the challenges , you know the pain points , you know the proven tactics that work . You don't have to go niche Um , but if you , if you know a niche or if you come from a niche , then I would , I would , I would roll with it .

Another good example of this is the Evergrow marketing uh agency . I just had my conversation with them on recently as well . They serve landscaping companies . So if you're a landscaper and you want a website and a marketing plan , you can go to evergrowmarketingcom . Another good example .

Again , I'm throwing a lot of links at you , so go to joshhallco slash or co slash 343 to get all these links if you would like to check these out , because they are really good examples but they're really easy to refer for landscaping companies because they do websites and marketing for landscape companies .

Because they do websites and marketing for landscape companies . Great examples of how to serve a niche or a niche depending on where you are in the world or if you're fancy Niche . Number four is to be known for something . Now , this is really common for authors , for example , habits . Who do you think of . When you hear about habits ?

Probably James Clear , the author of Atomic Habits . When you think about profit and you would like to learn more about how to be more profitable , who do you think about ? Probably Mike Michalowicz and his book Profit First . If you want better sleep , who would you think about ? Probably Matthew Walker , the author of why we Sleep .

So it's really common for authors to be more known for something . That could be really easy to refer a book . But that same idea can also translate to business if you're known for something , if you're known for e-commerce , or if you're known for a service or an expertise , like we've talked about .

But I wanted to make this its own point , because you can also be known as a personality type , and personality types are a great , underutilized way to get more clients . Case in point I talked about this recently . I was wearing my web designer pro swag .

I was wearing a long sleeve in my coffee shop my local coffee shop and I could tell somebody was eyeing me , looking at me . Uh , I can only assume they you know , follow my YouTube channel or remember me from the band days or something .

No , they saw my t-shirt and he came up and was like hey man , I see that you're wearing a um a shirt that says web designer pro . I actually just met somebody who is looking for website help and I got a lead from wearing my pro swag just by wearing it .

But here was the thing about this is I talked to him , asked him about his friend that he talked to and when he email introed me later that day he said I met this guy who was wearing a Web Designer Pro shirt and he said quote , he seemed like a really nice guy , really nice guy .

I can't tell you Now , a lot of people say nice guys finish last , but I'll take this one to the bank because being a nice guy has actually served me very well and I do care about people .

I do think it's really important to be personable and approachable and treat humans like humans should be treated , no matter if they're a bagger at the grocery store or if they're a millionaire . I pride myself in being a nice guy because I actually care and if you do as well , if you're a nice person , let that shine .

Let that shine , because that will really go such a long way with referrals . I'm amazed at how many clients in the past and colleagues have referred me and said , josh is just a really nice guy . He'll help you .

And being nice in the tech industry and as a web designer goes shockingly far , especially because developers and designers can often be a little prickish or a little dickish and just not nice . So you find this with a lot of smart people too . Have you been in the software world or the IT world ? They're usually not super nice , are they ?

I remember being in a networking group and at that time my email and my business card was at Gmail . It was in transit studios at Gmail and he was like so if you're professional , then why do you have a Gmail address ? And I was like well , for one , stop being a dick , you idiot .

And number two , I'm getting more clients than you , so shoo , shoo , get out of here . So all that to say , those are who most clients are dealing with . So if you are a nice person , it's a great referral tool . So , be nice , be approachable , personality-wise . If you're a good communicator , that's another way to get clients .

Your clients will say like Lisa , she'll get right back to you , she's really cordial , she communicates well . That's another pro .

So , yeah , being nice , being a good communicator , all those things can be hugely helpful if you're known for something Last couple here , number five if you do something that most web designers don't enjoy like we talked about Amr with email roll with it , even if you do other things , make that a focus or one of your lead services .

If you are like Amber and you love email and you love domain stuff which nobody else does , roll with it . You will be so easily referred . And if you get one little job because you like something that most people don't like , then they're going to hire you for other stuff . So do it , do it , do it , do it .

Something I do in this realm is most people do not enjoy sending quick videos to new clients or , in my case , new students and new members . I have been sending personal videos via Loom every week since 2019 , like five years .

Every week I send personal videos to new students and now new members of my web design community , web Designer Pro , and that still goes so far , and I still have people talk about the day they got a personal video from me and how different that was . So that's something that I do and most people don't enjoy it .

Most people are just not going to do it , but I've found that it goes so far for me in my business and makes such a lasting impression and big first time impression that I'm never going to stop doing it , because I just know how powerful it is .

And yeah , it's draining , but I've learned to enjoy it , mainly because I see the rewards of it and the results of it . So you can start that this week . Send videos , send personal videos to your clients , new or past . Anything you do that other web designers don't enjoy or not going to do is a benefit to you and makes you referable .

And then , lastly , a lot of web designers come from a different background . It's really common . It's actually much more common than going through a traditional design path . It also helps that the internet is only like 30 years old , so it's kind of tough to come from a design background if you are alive right now because design hasn't been around that long .

So your background , your background , that is different than design or web design is a superpower . If you come from a completely different background and industry don't shy away from that that's your superpower . Why ? Because everything we talked about so far can help you . You could go niche . That could be your niche .

You may have a primary service that you know they need . You may have expertise in that other background that web designers don't have because they don't know that background . Adam Wells used to be he was on the podcast a while ago but he came from a law enforcement background .

So when he started doing web design and SEO and marketing , his niche was law enforcement background . So when he started doing web design and SEO and marketing , his niche was law enforcement folks because they all had terrible websites and no online presence and were not tech savvy . But he was able to speak their language and speak their lingo .

Another good example is Eric . One of our Web Designer Pro members spent 40 years over 40 years in the IT industry and then when he started his web design business kind of his second career , he had a prime niche because he knows the IT industry . He has tons of connections there , tons of people . He knows networks . He knows where they hang out .

I'm sure there's conferences . You can probably find them on LinkedIn . He knows the industry . Most importantly , he knows their challenges , knows their pain points and often knows what they're looking for in a tech webmaster kind of person . So we talked about it recently .

He's really done a good job with his website of honing in his copy and his mission and his narrative on his website to serve IT folks . If you'd like to see Eric's website it's a really good example of this Go to superthoughtcom . That's Eric's website .

That will show you a really good example of being proud about your background and using it as your superpower , again , to make it easily referable . Because next time I come across an IT company that says , hey , do you know a designer who can help us out ? We're an IT company . Yep , Eric , superthoughtcom . He works with IT companies . So all examples .

Those are my top tips , my friends . Six tips , and then I want to share a quick little personal thought on this as we wrap up . But a recap of the six tips Number one have a primary service , that's , a lead service . You still have other services , but you have a lead service . Number two embrace a focus , expertise or a skill set .

Number three serve a niche , like we just talked about . Number four be known for something , even if it's personality . Number five do something that web designers won't do or don't enjoy . And lastly , your background , all those things .

Whether you do one of those or whether you do all of them , eventually they will make you more referable , which means more leads , more clients , more revenue , more financial security , more freedom .

That is why we do what we do , and I want to end this by just sharing my personal story on how I've learned to do this , because all this is to say , if you are well into your business , I don't want you to feel like it's too late . It's never too late to become more referable .

Case in point I've done this in both of my businesses , both in Transit Studios . The first case , my web design business . I really went from being the digital everything guy to just leading with web design . I became a web designer . It made me so much more referable . And I really found this out when I was presenting .

I was a part of a Toastmasters group , which is kind of like a networking group , but it's more personal growth and public speaking .

But I was presenting , presenting and I told them like all the services I did and everyone had this deer in the headlights , you know cross-eyed look , and I realized what they did resonate with and talked about was the web design side of things , and so it was just way easier for me to realize okay , yes , I can do logos , yes , I can do design .

At that point I was doing photography and video , all sorts of stuff , but I just need to lead with websites , just like James Bernard with doing logo design . For me , that was web design . Website design will lead to everything else and , as you've heard me say many a time , all roads also lead to web design .

So leading with web design , that was the biggie for me . That's what helped me build a multi six-figure business .

And then I applied this to my business now too , which was interesting , because I almost had to change my identity as an online entrepreneur from what was the Yoda of Divi is what I kind of used to be known as to more of a web design business coach .

And the reason I want to share this is because you may be in a point where you are , maybe you're in a similar situation . Maybe you've been known for something for a long time , but maybe you're pivoting , or maybe you're not really doing that as much . You can absolutely change your referability Is that a word , um ?

Even no matter how long you are in your journey . So I was known in the beginning with my YouTube channel as the Divi guy , the Yoda of Divi , with all my Divi tutorials which are still kicking butt today . It's . It's kind of challenging , because YouTube doesn't know what I am they're like . Is this a Divi guys and a business coach ?

I do a lot of videos for circle now like cause I love . Yeah , it's kind of hard on Design Show , but that didn't really speak to the business of web design , which is mainly what we're talking about on the show . And if you run a web design business , you're going to inevitably get into some design and other stuff .

So , yeah , I decided to rebrand the podcast here the Web Design Business Podcast . So I didn't rebrand my YouTube channel or anything , but that was the biggie of the podcast . And then , of course , I've done a ton of changes on my website all around the business of web design .

Yes , I have Divi tutorials , yes , I have design tutorials and other stuff , but those all contribute to the business of web design . So even Web Designer Pro , it is all about the business of web design . We have plenty of other topical things that are around design and other things , but what are we doing at the end of the day ?

Building , growing and scaling a web design business . So , business of web design . All that to say . It's never too late to become more referable . All right , my friends , I hope you enjoyed this one . It was really good to spend some solo time with you here this week .

I know it's been a while since I've done a solo episode , so I would love to hear from you If this has helped , maybe one of your favorite takeaways . Go to the show notes for this episode and leave me a comment . I do read all of the podcast comments . Josh hallco , slash three , four three is where you can do that .

We talked about a lot of links and if you would like to see any of the ones that I mentioned , go there , joshhallco slash three , four , three to check out all the links that I did mention . Um , and yes , I will have the original newsletter which is inside of web designer pro for pro members .

But even if you're not a pro member yet , I would be happy to share this newsletter with you and it will be linked at joshhallco slash 343 . And , as a last reminder , if you have not yet signed up on my email list or if you've unsubscribed in the past , you can resubscribe to get my email , my newsletter . Every Sunday at noon you'll get the newest issue .

It's stuff like this that's written . It's almost like a meaty blog post . Every time I try to keep it simple , but inevitably I can't help myself . I go in-depth , I go long form . It's what I do . I hope you enjoy it . I'm shocked by the open rates for the email .

I'm getting like 40 , 50 , 60% open rates on my main newsletter emails with a list of over 10,200 people now . So , needless to say , I appreciate every one of you who are opening the newsletter and I would encourage you to think about a newsletter of your own , because when people get used to it , it is becoming quite the tool .

I almost gave it up this year just because I wasn't sure if it was worth it , but I'm never turning back now after these open rates . So I appreciate you reading . And again , if you've yet to sign up , it's free . Go to joshhallco slash weekly and that will take you there . You can also go to joshhallco slash newsletter . Joshhallco slash sign up .

They all go to the newsletter . So I really want to see you there . And again , it's free . Expertise , free weekly web design wisdom to your inbox every Sunday . All right , friends , can't wait to hear your thoughts on this one . Make sure you subscribe to the podcast . A lot of goodies to come , I'm telling you right now .

I say it every time , but there really are some incredible episodes right ahead , so I hope you're excited , can't wait to help you build and scale your web design business , especially if you're ready to join my community Web Designer Pro to help you build and scale your web design business , especially if you're ready to join my community Web Designer Pro , which

we've only got 23 spots left for coaching . So if you have been on the fence , you best jump in now . Webdesignerprocom . There's where the new landing page is Cheers friends .