Starting a business is not easy. One of the most important questions is “where or how am I going to find clients?”. If you already have experience and an existing network, it’s possible to use that network to find new clients. But if you, like most of us, have to start from zero, this can be a hard nut to crack. In this article I ‘m going to explain how you can use digital media as an advantage to find new clients…
When I started my business 4 years ago, I also asked myself how I was going to find new clients. Like most most of us, I had a fulltime job and started my business as a second job. Really, it took me years before my clients started to find me. But it could be much easier, if I only knew then what I know today…
The problem in my case (as a web designer) is that there’s a lot of competition in the same niche. In the city I work there are over 100 web design companies!
Create Your Own Site
The first thing I did was creating my own web site. This can cost you a lot of money, but you also can do this yourself. If you do it yourself, it can save you a lot of dollars. The only thing you need is a little bit of time to learn WordPress and a little bit of creativity. A big advantage of WordPress is that you can find loads of books and information on the internet.
Start Blogging!
After a couple of years, I also started my own blog. There are several reasons why this took so long:
- I didn’t had the time
- I was wondering why people should be interested in what I had to say
- I thought blogging was a hype that would be over soon
- …
In other words, I was wrong, wrong and… wrong 
! I finally started to blog as a hobby, because I wanted to share some thoughts and experiences. The more articles I wrote, the more visitors I had. In no time I had a lot more people visiting my personal blog then my professional web site!
That’s why after a couple of months, I started to promote my professional services on my blog. This was the best move in my young career as an entrepreneur yet. People started to contact me, and in no time I had some nice projects to handle.
Because of this I think starting a (professional) blog is one of the first steps you have to do. It gives you the possibility to present yourself as an expert. And you will see, some of your visitors will become clients after a while.
How to do this? You can start your blog even before you start your business. If I had to do it again, I should start blogging 6 months to 1 year before starting my new business. The moment you start your business, you can promote that on your blog. Don’t forget, all visitors of your blog are potential clients! So keep your blog professional.
Make Use of Social Networking
A perfect and easy way to promote your blog, web site, services,… are social networks: Facebook, Google +, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumbler,… It’s a great way to start promoting your professional services in your existing networks. And so, maybe a friend or a friend of a friend will become a client too!
Another important aspect is that social networks have a lot of influence on the search engine results. In other words, if you use social networks to promote your web site or blog, your web site or blog will get higher in the search results!
So don’t hesitate and start sharing your business on your social networks!!!
Google Adwords
With the right use of Google adwords, it’s possible to attract a lot of clients. The beauty of Google Adwords is that your ads will only be shown to people who are interested in your products or services. You only have to pay when people click on your ad. Google Adwords is a great way to put a certain product or service in the picture.
You can find more information about Google Adwords on the official website of Google Adwords: www.google.com/adwords
Watch the presentation on Slideshare.net
Conclusion
When starting a new business, the internet can help you a lot. If I had to do it again, the first thing I would do was creating my own professional blog. It takes some time, but a blog is a great platform to promote yourself and your services or products.