Where does a small web design/development company find work?
I’m coming from a biased standpoint here (I work with the Movable Type team), but we regularly refer work to our community of developers and web designers. So, for some number of shops, one good way to get leads and referrals is by talking to the team that makes your technology platform. And obviously we’re far from the only example of a platform where you can do that — everyone from Microsoft to Red Hat to Google does that; I know of folks who make a good living consulting around (for example) Google’s Enterprise Search tools. And some friends of mine who work with us on MT-powered sitse have grown from two-guys-making-blogs for a couple of clients into a 10+ person web shop that does tons of business for some of the biggest websites in the world. So if you find a good technology partner that’s willing to work to help you grow your business in exchange for you using their tools, you can end up in good shape.
Have you tried cold-calling? As a Canadian, I find the discussion in this thread regarding Craigslist etc fascinating – I’m assuming that American small businesses like the OP here are more prone to rely on the Internet rather than more traditional rainmaking methods. It’s really interesting. I used to work for an industry association representing tech companies in a medium-sized city on the west coast of Canada. There are about 800 tech companies in this town, with a median size of 25 employees. Most are revenue-generating companies that have commercialized a technology (as they are essentially service companies, web developers like the OP aren’t considered “tech companies” by the industry association I used to work with). Although I was employed as a researcher (I specialize in compensation), I also linked tech companies with service providers – if it was a good fit. I always knew who was looking for what, and who might be able to help provide a solution. Kind of a matchmaker, with a
Make sure your website looks fairly good and explains what you do; nowadays it’s what people will usually use to initially check you out, even if it’s a word-of-mouth referral. I wouldn’t bother with any of the competitive-bidding freelancing sites unless you’re willing to work for wages that’ll barely cover your snacks and drinks. It’s better to head in the other direction where people are willing to pay more for quality and reassurance. You can attract a steady stream of potential clients in the long term by getting your name out on the internet more – participate in relevant forums/blogs to share your expertise, and create content (blog posts, articles, code snippets) on your own site. Most people can’t be bothered to do this, as it involves a great deal of work over a period of years, but it can add significantly to your traffic and reputation. You could try a couple of RFPs, but go in realising they can eat up crazy amounts of time and sap your will to live, and if you get the job
Three methods that work for me are Networking, Partnerships, and Direct Marketing. Networking: Go to a few BNI meetings and find one that seems to have people in industries you could help out. Join and participate. Partnerships: Find Freelancers or other small businesses whose services are complimentary (graphic designers, copywriters, marketing companies) but don’t do the web work themselves. Start trading clients back and forth. Direct Marketing: As others have said, postcards work well. But I’ve had luck with short letters. Get a good basic template and then swap out a few details to make it seem like a letter you wrote just for them. For added effectiveness, hand address the envelopes, use your first and last name instead of the business in the return address, and use stamps instead of metered mail.
