How to find clients online
I always get the question, “where do you find clients?”
Even after people have launched their website and some time has passed I hear, I just can’t find clients. Then I ask, have you posted on social media consistently? Have you communicated with local businesses? Have you driven traffic to your website by blogging, podcasting, sending people to your service page consistently. Are you telling people about your business and services? Almost always they answer with excuses, bottom line the answer is no.
If people don’t know you exist they can’t buy your product or service
I’m going to share a few ways I put myself out there when I first started plus some recommendations.
Join a Paid Course
Invest in your business. If there is something you want to know how to do in your industry do your research on who the top experts are and I urge you to take a course. Take a course and be part of the community.
About a year before I left the corporate world I was getting more into web design but I wanted to go beyond making pretty websites. I could see that content was really the driver in getting people to reach out beyond a website. I went down a rabbit hole and found “Obsessed” taught by Melissa Cassera. Which is open right now! Totally worth the money and something that I revisit when I feel I need a refresher. She makes writing content fun! Her course helped me attract the kind of people I want to work with. It has also been a tremendous help because it’s the same style of content strategy I use to help help clients write content for their website.
The Facebook group hosted for this course with her students is where I found the first group of my clients. We are still friends to this day! They key is to BE ACTIVE. Make time for what you invested in. Participate, ask questions, offer advice. It’s just like being in school and making friends with your classmates. When you do this magical things happen without even trying. You’re not selling anything. You’re just connecting with people but people work with people they feel a connection with and in this case it feels natural.
Join a Membership Facebook Group
Around the same time I joined the Female Entrepreneur Association. Which not only has a great community but also has resources to help you in any department of your business. This Facebook group is where I found many of clients. So how did I do it? I worked for it! 3-4x a week I did the following:
Participated in group postings. When the mediator did their daily theme posts I would participate in the comments. I also commented on other people’s posts. Think of it as making new friends.
Used the search tool: I searched for, designer, branding, website and Squarespace.
Looked for work. I did a search on the above words and if people were hiring, no matter how many comments it had I introduced myself using the The Swirl Effect (introduction formula) from Melissa’s class to stand out and then posted my website (which my website content was tweaked based on Melissa’s Obsessed class).
Here’s another trick, if someone is hiring and they say, “send me a DM with your info”, chances are they are going to be bombarded with messages so how are you going to stand out? Do a quick video. It doesn’t have to be formal. Just introduce yourself, what you do and how you would be perfect for the job. Video in general has a higher conversion rate.Added value and made connections. Again doing a search on the above words, looked to see if people had questions. I answered them and even offered free discovery calls if they needed more help.
Posted content. I posted my blog posts to get more visibility to my website and establish myself.
Sounds like a lot of work, right? Well it is but you don’t have to leave your house. Remember the days when the only option was to network at a meet and greet? This is so much easier! You’ll also be surprised at how much people want to help and encourage others.
It pays off in the long run. I still get clients today that have found me through old posts in facebook groups! You might think no one cares or is looking but word of mouth referrals start with one person.
You might be asking, why not join a free Facebook group? I am part of many free groups and have had some luck but I will say that the engagement is different. It depends on the group. I find there can either be very little engagement or the group is so over saturated it can be a bit overwhelming. I do believe when you pay for something the quality is different.
Be a Guest Blogger / Speaker
Again, in Facebook groups you’ll find many people that are looking for guest bloggers and speakers. Take the opportunity!
Being a guest offers many benefits. You have the opportunity to reach a new audience outside of your own. The more you do it the more you’re establishing yourself as an expert in your field. This is a great way to offer your new audience a free opt-in. I always see a big jump in my email list.
Find the ONE Social Media
Although I found the majority of my clients in Facebook groups, my ideals were in Instagram. I’m talking about the kind of clients that are so easy to work with, you wish all your clients were that easy. It might take some testing out by posting in a few different social medias until you find out where the most traffic is coming from for you. Once you find out where they hang out, optimize on that platform by using their features and posting consistently. If you don’t have the time or aren’t familiar with that platform but know your ideals hang out there I highly recommend hiring a Virtual Assistant to help you optimize that platform.
The key with all of these is to be consistent. Search, engage, add value. I did this for a year and now most of my work comes from referrals. It works but just like everything else you have to put in the work.
Do you have a favorite Facebook group? Do share below!
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