Top Ten Ways to Get and Keep Clients

Please note that this is targeted to younger newbies

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So, you've made it this far. You've got all the tools you need to develop a real website, and have a couple sites already under your belt. Like Grandpa's site, Brother's Dragon Ball Z fan site. Hold up, are those really clients? Chances are you did those for free, and that you are ready to start earning some money.


1) Do you want to make more money?
Of course, we all do. You can put it towards that wicked new skateboard, or even put it towards college. But there are some things you need in order to make money in the web design world. These, my friend, are talent, tools, and time. The three "T's".

Why do you need talent? It's obvious you cannot sell your neon green layout you made in 5 minutes for $10. That would make you look bad, and discourage people from working with you in the future. You need to know how to make something appealing to the eye that will get a user's attention. Neon blue and green do not look good together, it's just a fact of life.

2) Have you got "It"?
Not everyone has the skill needed to develop something people will "ohhh" and "ahh" over. You will find out sooner or later if you have this gift. One of the sure fire ways to know if you have "It" or not is to post your work on a web design forum, such as the one you find here. Get someone other then your Mom to critique your work, because mom will say it's the best doggon thing ever. That's what moms do, and I think it's great, but not when it comes to getting hard core opinions. If someone else say it stinks, chances are it stinks. Don't defend your work by swearing and throwing the finger just yet. You're still learning about this stuff, right? Most of the people who will comment on your work know what they are talking about. If they say it's great, chances are they are on the same skill level with you. If you want to get some honest feedback on your work, send me an email by Clicking Here.

3) Name
Congratulations on having "It". Next you need to know how to get a client. To do this, you need a real website. Sorry guys, Geocities and Angelfire domains do not look good in your resume. Think of a good name first of all. Don't use "Chris's Awesome Website Design Company". First off, you're not a company, you're doing freelance work now. Second, I doubt it's awesome just yet, but you'll get there. Think of something catchy that will get embedded in people's heads. Something I've found helpful in times of distress is to take apart a random word in the dictionary. Ever hear of "Ravio"? They just took Ravioli and took out the "li". Easy enough, right? One thing to remember is to keep it short and sweet. If at all possible, make it one word. This is essential to catch a customer. If they hear about you from a friend and forget your name, you're out of luck.

Once you have gotten past the name, check to see if your name is available by Clicking Here. If possible, get a ".com" domain name. If your desired name in ".com" is not available, just add "studios" or "creative" on the back end of it, works every time. If by bad luck those 3 names are taken, look around for a ".net". If all 6 names are taken, come up with a new name. Trust me, it won't kill you.

4) Logos
Now you are ready to get a website up and running! The website is the most important tool you have. With it, you can reach people all over the world in need of a website. The only problem is, there are tons of web design "companies" out there, so you need to figure out a way to stand out from the crowd, and by this I do not mean by using pink and purple as the main colors on your website. You need a logo, just like the name, that sticks in people's heads. Check out Nike, I'm sure you could recognize that logo from anywhere and match it up with the name of the company. Why is it so noticeable? Marketing, and loads of other factors, but we'll get to that later.

I suggest not making a spiffy shape with the pen tool, duplicating it, flipping it horizontally, and calling it finished. Invest some time and effort into thinking up clever ideas. Get a little laugh in here and there as you ponder how much money you're going to be making in no time flat. Try not to let that image take over, as a dollar sign does not work for a logo. For a bit of inspiration for great logos, check out www.LogoHQ.com.

5) Interface/Layout
Now you need to develop the core of your website. You'll want to make something professional, easy to navigate, and easy on the eyes. Don't use dark blue text on a light blue background. You need to have contrast in your layout. Navy blue and tan look great together, for example. You should know some basic color theory if you've made it this far. This is a very important step. If you use colors your sister thinks are "pretty", chances are you should go for a different color scheme.

Now, how do you lay your content out? This is the most important thing of all. If people cannot find your navigation or main content, you're in trouble. They will turn back, and go to one of the thousands of other people offering their services. I suggest putting your logo at the top left of a page. Think about how people read. Left to right, top to bottom. This is how you should design a corporate site. Your logo and name are very important, so put them in the top left corner of your design.

Under/next to that you can have a nice little header image. Make the image work with the colors you are using. If it does not, it destroys the whole meaning of having an image to compliment the layout. If you need any stock photos, www.Stock.xchng.com is a great place to grab royalty free stock photos. If you get your website off of google, chances are it's copyrighted, and you may get sued. The chances are slim, but they are always present.

The next piece of your design is very important, it is your menu. Without this, people would be stuck on your main page. You need the menu to stick out, and be one of the first things you see. You can either have the menu right under the header horizontally, or have it off to the side going vertically with the main content to the right. Either way the user is going to hit the menu right after the header area. To put it simply, it has to be prominent and attractive.

Next you need your content. You can either put this under your menu, or to the left if you are using a vertical menu bar. Make this area blend in with the design. Make it flow, as they say. You do not want to make it completely invisible, but rather easy on the eyes. However, make the text in your content area greatly contrast with the background color. This will make it easy for the user to read the content.

You also should have a footer. This is where you put copyright info, even another menu if you feel like it. It's all up to you on this one.

6) Content
Perhaps you think you are going to need to come up with some clever lies to convince your user to work with you. Actually all you need to do is make yourself sound good, but not to good to be true. If you are out of 1st grade, you should have enough knowledge to put together a fully structured sentence and paragraph. If not, I suggest you Click Here. In all seriousness, do not use "chat" lingo. Make yourself sound professional, take the extra two keystrokes to finish a full word, it will not kill you! Stick to the subject that you're talking about. Try not to repeat yourself, or we will have to report you to the Department of Redundancy Department! Don't drift off and start talking about how your girlfriend dumped you last week. Your client does not need to know that.

7) Advertise
Now you need to reel in those clients. The only way to do this is to advertise. Submit your site to all of the larger search engines, like Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc. This is the easy way to do it, but if you're serious about this, you'll do more. Get some business cards. When you are eavesdropping on a group talking about their new business, go over and tell them about your services and give them your fancy business card. You can also make some flyers to put around town. Local work is great, as you actually meet the person you're working with. You can also buy ad space and put your banner up on websites, shave your sites URL in your back hair! There are many ways to go about reeling in clients. Get creative!

8) Communicate
You need to know how to treat your client. First and foremost, communicate! You will not get anywhere if you and your client just sit around. Don't be afraid to ask questions. I encourage it. Also, make sure your client feels comfortable being fully open with you about your work. If they are not, they will end up paying for something they don't like.

The second rule is to forget what you think looks good after the initial example. If the client wants you to change something and you think it looks terrible, who cares? He/she is the one paying for your work. You can suggest things, but if they say that they would really like something changed, do it. If they want an animated gif of a pink monkey holding a sign that says "Bite me", do what they say. They are paying you good money for your work, and after all, isn't that what you want?

The third rule is not to boast about your age. Don't say before you start work "And I'm only 15, ain't I great?" This is a major turn off to a client. If they ask, let them know. If they do not ask, just hush up. People seem to think younger people are stupid, and are easy to take advantage of. You do not want to be ripped off in terms of respect or money.

9) Money
Now you need to figure out payment plans. While you're working on the design, you should watermark everything. This is a mandatory precaution. If the client takes the layout without paying, they will have an ugly watermark with your name on the design. It's really a win-win situation. If the client does steal it and use it, you've just scored free advertising!

I find that online payment is one of the hardest parts about doing business over the web. The other person usually thinks that they are going to get scammed. Actually if both parties are not thinking that, they have no business doing work over the Internet. There is always the risk, and the only way to prevent being scammed is not to work or to purchase online. Before you even start to work on your client's site, you and your client should have talked about payment. Again, make sure you don't boast about your age. If your client knows how old you are and says something ridiculous like "I'll give you $50 for a full website", stop there. Tell the client that you are sorry, but that is not enough for your time and effort. Don't be afraid to say no. If he says that you are a punk, so be it. Time is money, whether you're 130 or 13.

The basic idea is not to under-cut yourself. You'll just be wasting your time. But meanwhile, you do not want to charge too much. This may either scare the client away, or they may think you are trying to rip them off. Treat people the way you want to be treated.

If you are under the age of 18, I suggest having any client that you deal with pay you through Paypal. Have the Paypal account set up so you can deposit the money into your father/mother's bank account. Almost everyone has a Paypal account, and if they do not it's very simple to register.

10) Closing Thoughts
None of what I said is mandatory, merely suggestions. Get your creative juices flowing on the layout. Be original, stand out from the rest of the crowd. After all, what separates you from the rest of the design "companies" out there?

If you need some help to get moving in the right direction, check out some of the links to other useful resources on our site. Below are free .psds of basic layouts to mess around with. The only requirement is that you do not sell these. After all, you'd only get five cents for them anyway.

( http://pixelstructure.com )

I will leave a comment but I can't read it tonight. It's nearly 4AM and there's no way I can force this amount of content on my brain. Looks very .... extensive

I was about to say, you'd be nuts to read the whole thing tonight.

A very very good read there MP, thanks very much for sharing - just the kind of articles we need in this section!

No problem, Anthony. I'll write a bit more soon

I'm sure this will be of value to alot of beginning Freelancers. Great post!

Ok, I read it. Good post Jon

Thanks, guys

Where it says 'Click here' maybe add the links to it and it's LogoHQ.net not .com. Oh and good article by the way, I enjoyed it.