[00:03:16] Welcome to the Web Design Business Podcast with your host, Josh hall, helping you build a web design business that gives you freedom and a lifestyle you love. Welcome in my Web Designer friend. It's so good to be here with you in this episode. This is a solo episode, so just me here with you. In this one I wanted to expand on a recent newsletter that I just dished out, diving into what I would do if I was starting today in web design with getting clients. This newsletter expanded on five ways that I would get clients that suits my personality and strategies that are proven that I know work and that I would personally do.
[02:46] Let's start with number one - joining a referral group. Not just a networking group, but a referral group. The reason we need to make a big distinction between networking and a referral group is that networking groups, while awesome and great, are just primarily a way to meet people and expand your network. But a referral group is where you join specifically to get and give referrals. The more you give, the more you get.
[05:26] Anything you can do in person is always going to be a quicker return on investment. Because you can go to a referral group and you could meet somebody who may end up being your client very quickly or more common than not, you meet somebody who knows somebody looking for a web designer. You could go from knowing nobody in your town to suddenly being exposed to not only them, but their networks as well.
[07:59] Number two is LinkedIn. If I was doing any social media, LinkedIn is what I would personally do. It's not about building a following or competing with reels or stories. It's virtual networking. It's virtual business associations and colleagues. It is the surest way to meet somebody in person and connect with them.
[11:00] Number three, local SEO YouTube videos. Not those were not two different points. First off, if you get on YouTube, not to be an influencer or to be an audience builder, but just to have a channel for you and your expertise, even if you have a dozen videos, you suddenly look like an expert to everyone you're going to meet.
[13:52] I'd have a YouTube channel, but instead of just doing tutorials on tools, I would create YouTube videos that are targeted and SEO for my area. I live in Columbus, Ohio, but there's a ton of suburbs in and around Columbus that I would do videos for. I would say "New Albany web designer" and do a little one to three minute video introducing myself and my services.
[16:56] Number four was interview series. What this is - and there's a lot of different ways you could do this - but here's how I would do it. Because I have made connections in a referral group and some networking groups, because I'm active on LinkedIn and connect with people, and because I now have a YouTube channel, I would reach out to 10 well-connected business owners and offer to interview them.
[19:32] You're expanding your network initially to the 10 business owners you're going to make connections with and build trust with. You're promoting them, which is huge for trust and likability. You're going to put this on your YouTube channel so people searching their businesses will find their videos and then subsequently see you interviewing them.
[21:50] Finally, with all this momentum and with my network growing, I would want to stay top of mind every month with a newsletter. We just recently did a challenge in Web Designer Pro for members to start or upgrade their monthly newsletters. It went over super well. I am so proud of how hard everyone worked to get their newsletter going.
[24:16] That's the game plan. A quick recap: Join a referral group, focus on LinkedIn, create local SEO YouTube videos, do an interview series, and maintain a monthly newsletter. This is specifically how to start getting clients. We didn't talk about starting your business from a standpoint of what your offers look like, what your pricing looks like, what tools to use.
[26:21] If you need help with that, I do have a free guide for you at Josh Hall Co Build. It's a free 50-minute coaching session with me - well, it's prerecorded but it's like a coaching session. It's a ten-step action plan to get your web design business going and I have even more resources inside my community Web Designer Pro.
[28:35] All right, friends, well, I hope you enjoyed this one. For all of the resources we covered, that's going to be at JoshHall.co/347. Make sure you subscribe because there are some good ones coming up, including our next episode which is going to be about conversion rate optimization. Cheers friends.