Image by Thiru Murugan.

As a freelance designer, your income will be dependent upon the ability to find potential clients and secure the opportunity to do the work they need. There are plenty of different ways to find potential clients, and in this article we’ll take a look at 12 things you can do to increase the number of leads you receive.

Methods for Increasing Your Leads:

1. Maximize Your Portfolio

An extraordinary portfolio is a designer’s best friend, and for obvious reasons. Potential clients will be able to gauge your skill level and quality of work from your portfolio. In order to maximize the benefits from your portfolio, put only your best work in the spotlight. Think about how your portfolio is organized and make sure that your best pieces of work are sure to be seen by potential clients. If your work has improved over time, keep your best and most recent designs in the portfolio and consider removing older ones.

Also, don’t simply keep your portfolio on your own site. You can showcase your portfolio at plenty of CSS galleries. If you’ve done work for a well-known client there may also be a justification to submit a press release about a re-design or some other significant change to the site.

2. Build Name Recognition

Many clients want to work with someone that they know or someone that is recognized. Those designers who have established themselves as being a leader in the field have far more opportunities than the average freelancer. Name recognition leads not only to more opportunities, but typically it also justifies higher rates.

Of course, becoming a recognizable name isn’t that easy — or everyone would do it! Some things you can do to help your chances include: getting your work into design galleries and showcases, working for high profile clients, getting involved in the design community (network), and the last suggestion will be covered in the next point: starting a blog.

3. Blogging

Designers who are willing and able to maintain a blog can bring in many more leads for design as a result of the exposure that the blog has provided for them. Blog posts will help with drawing traffic to the blog itself, and that will — hopefully — convert into visitors to your portfolio and inquiries about your design services.

A designer who runs a blog with an active readership will benefit from vastly improved name recognition. If you have the knowledge and the ability, a blog is one of the best and cheapest methods to share your voice with others in the industry. Additionally, your credibility can be helped as well. With just a small portfolio site it is very difficult for visitors to know and understand you. With a blog, you’ll become more transparent to your readers and that can give you added credibility that may help to attract more inquiries.

4. Network

Just about any career can be improved by networking, and freelance designing is certainly no exception. Building a strong network of friends and colleagues can lead to more referral work, some unexpected opportunities, or maybe even a partnership or sharing of clients. Being full-time workers of the web, many designers naturally network online, but offline networking is equally important. Get involved at your local chamber of commerce or some other professional group in your area.

5. Make It Easy

The easier it is for potential clients to contact you, the more leads you will get. Try to keep your contact form as simple as possible while still including everything that you really need. If possible, give multiple options for contacting you, because not everyone likes to fill out an online form. Make yourself accessible and welcoming to those who are considering contacting you.

6. Pay-Per-Click Advertising

An optional method for increasing inquiries is to market your site through PPC ads (like Google AdWords). If you’re going to take this route, avoid competing for highly-competitive search phrase like “web design”, as the prices will be likely be too high for the budget. Focus on searches for phrases that include specific types of design or particular skills that are your strengths. These visitors will be more receptive when they see that you are a great fit for what they are seeking.

7. Follow Up With Old Leads

This doesn’t technically increase the number of new leads that you receive, but it does give you more people to contact when you’re in need of work. Inevitably a certain percentage of people who inquire about your services will not convert to clients, but that doesn’t mean they will never become clients. Keep the contact information from all inquiries and follow up with them from time-to-time. You may be surprised by how many of them have yet to take action and are still in need of your services.

8. Be Proactive

In general, make an effort to reach out to those that could benefit from your services. Don’t be afraid to take the first step rather than waiting for them to come to you.

9. Focus On What You Do Best

You can improve the quality of your work by focusing your time and your energy on what you do best. Since your past work and your portfolio are critical to gaining more inquiries, you should always be working to improve that portfolio with your current projects. Consider your strengths when you accept a job. If it’s not a type of design that you do very well, consider passing and moving on to something else that will showcase your skills more effectively.

10. Ask For Referrals

Happy clients are great advertisements. When you have a client that is really satisfied with your work, why not ask if they know anyone else in need of your services? Most friends, family, and clients will be more than willing to refer you if they believe in your ability to do the job, but sometimes they won’t think of making the referral unless you ask.

11. Revisit Past Clients

Almost all of your clients will need some type of design services again in the future. Maybe they will need some ongoing maintenance, a design for another site that they own, or a redesign of your own work down the road. Taking a moment to catch up with an old client may just lead to new work. It’s a good practice to have some method to organize the contact information from past clients so that you can quickly and easily reach out to them.

12. Develop Trust

Building trust from potential clients through your website can be a bit difficult. You’ll of course want to have a strong “about” or “hire me” page to give readers the information that they want to know about you. Offering ways to easily contact you also helps for this purpose. You may also be able to use your portfolio to build trust. If you’ve done work for a business or organization that the potential client knows and trusts, some of that may be transferred to trust in you. Some of the other methods that we’ve already looked at can also help with building trust, such as blogging, name recognition and networking.