When potential clients are looking for graphic design services and visit your website, they will be impressed if you have a nicely designed site and some experience. But their main concerns will be, "How can this designer help me?" and "What will he or she do with my brand?"
Here are a few easy pieces of web content to create that will address clients' concerns right off the bat and help sell your design services. 1. Provide real samples Even if you are just getting started and have to do people's work for free, it will be worth it to get real samples on your site. For ease of use, organize the samples by industries, i.e. financial or nonprofit, and by categories such as letterhead, business cards or brochures. When visitors go to your sample page, they should be able to jump right to what they're looking for. If a web visitor does contact you, start by asking if they liked any of the online samples in particular. This will give you a jumping off point to get the design conversation started. 2. Post client stories A client story is a few simple paragraphs in a conversational tone about a past client and how you helped them. First, get permission from the client to use their story (most will be happy about the free press). Then create a one-page PDF with less than 700 words explaining why the client came to you, their special request or design challenge and how you helped design a solution. Use subheadlines to break up the text into easy to digest sections. Create a sidebar to share about the client and your design business (much like the "About" sections you would see in a press release). Also leave room for a thumbnail or two of the final designs to illustrate the story. Posting one or two of these on your design website will provide a valuable tool for potential clients who may not be design-oriented and will connect more with a traditional business approach to hiring a designer. 3. Offer a free consultation Offer a free consulation to new clients to discuss their needs and how you can help them. Publicize this free consultation on your homepage, near your online samples and as a call to action at the end of your client story. For maximum visibility, create a "Click for Free Consultation" button that generates a mail-to link to your e-mail address or takes visitors to a form page on your site explaining what the free consultation entails and lets them enter contact information. Keep a one-hour time limit on the consultation offer to protect your time and your value in the customer's eyes. Hopefully after a few minutes on the phone or in person with you, talking about how their business cards could be so much better, they'll become a new client!
Gotta say, thanks so much for your site!!
You don't often find a good site which isn't just all lies nowerdays :P
I've already bookmarked it so I can come back to it! :)