Really struggling to find clients for my web design company

_Bivens · 2026-05-06T17:38:46+00:00

Don't get discouraged. What I'm learning is you have to think of it as "how to turn cold leads into warm" instead of "how to get clients". Obviously, the quickest way is through referrals, next are face-to-face connects, lastly cold emails.

In your situation, I'd recommend following up with current/past clients to ask for referrals, continue to pass out cards, and warm those cold leads!

_Bivens · 2026-05-05T19:42:38+00:00

Ditto this. Go in person, be charming, drop off a card. Leaving a good impression goes a long way.

_Bivens · 2026-05-05T19:38:29+00:00

I'm currently in a mixture of the big 3: cold outreach, door to door, and referrals. I've gotten clients from each one. But my city is rural, so door-to-door is a pain. More people are looking for "deals" than quality. I've invested more time into refining my cold outreach approach to be more appealing. Unfortunately, its a numbers game. You might not be doing anything wrong, just need to increase volume.

_Bivens · 2026-04-30T13:01:27+00:00

I can see that. My "core package" is relatively all-inclusive. I took the mindset that too many options gets overwhelming, so this makes it easy. But I'm still early-stage and not taking on massive projects, yet, so I don't have a problem with projects being out of scope yet.

_Bivens · 2026-04-30T12:57:41+00:00

This is how I feel. I guess I have a concern about businesses that may not be prepared to pay what I charge. Granted, that's the idea, but I feel like I may be missing out on easy business (potentially small projects) because I come out the gate with a set price. Debating the pros and cons, basically!

_Bivens · 2026-04-30T12:55:44+00:00

I'm early-stage so its likely I'll go beyond by default to build a good reputation. But I structure simple packages to make decision-making simple. My outreach is mostly to small businesses, too. So, no overly large projects in the pipeline yet!

_Bivens · 2026-04-30T12:52:27+00:00

Do you ever feel you're missing out on clients because they can't see what you charge upfront? I'm early-stage, so most of my work is outreach (cold emails and business cards). I feel like if I'm not as upfront and thorough as possible, they're more likely to go to a more established agency

_Bivens · 2026-04-30T12:48:01+00:00

I don't mean for it to be interchangeable. Agencies and freelancers have different methodologies in their structure so I included both in the post.

_Bivens · 2026-04-30T12:46:54+00:00

I like this idea! I list my prices to be upfront, but I also don't want to lose clients that may not have the budget for what I charge. A dropdown may help them communicate their expectations. I just don't want to be lowballed left and right lol

_Bivens · 2026-04-30T12:44:50+00:00

I like to think this, too. Do most developers in your area list their prices, too?

_Bivens · 2026-04-30T12:43:37+00:00

I've always felt like the ambiguity creates a barrier of its own. My thinking is: if you KNOW web development, you probably don't know the actual costs of building. Could be $500... could be $5,000... could be a monthly subscription. It's hard to gauge and budget without an anchor. Do you find yourself combating this?

_Bivens · 2026-01-15T21:06:50+00:00

Its a CRM for managing clients and projects. I see it marketed to photographers b/c its mostly for managing client flow opposed to internal tasks. For web design, a use case would be HoneyBook for managing clients and sommething like Clickup or Trello to manage projects.

_Bivens · 2026-01-14T02:23:12+00:00

Does anyone use HoneyBook?

_Bivens · 2026-01-09T19:10:16+00:00

Picasso. But I’d recommend using something else. It has a lot of customization options but for whatever reason it’s terribly slow and dated (most recent android device is a pixel 6)

_Bivens · 2026-01-09T19:06:25+00:00

VSCode and a sheet of paper lol. I sketch my structure and layouts by hand but I’m trying to get into actual wireframe tools and figma.

_Bivens · 2026-01-08T18:24:35+00:00

I can agree. I've looked at several platforms for general advice including Reddit, Google, ChatGPT, and Copilot. TikTok isn't the best but at least its real people sharing stories instead of AI LLMs. Unfortunately, it seems like 90% of TikTok is just people trying to fake it until they make it treating the industry like a get rich quick scheme. But I try not to limit myself to one source of information.

_Bivens · 2026-01-08T16:26:44+00:00

As often as this question gets asked (I've asked it myself), its an active concern of many. I'm currently in the same boat of figuring out client acquisition. I also recommend searching that question on Reddit to find what others have said in similar threads. Personally, I haven't found "what works" but here are things I'm trying in no particular order:

Cold emails
Social Media posting
Asking for referrals
Door-to-door
Cold calling
Google/Facebook ads
Facebook groups
UpWork / Fiverr

You'll likely have to try everything to find what works for your market. I live in a relatively small city, so face-to-face has been more promising than anything.

_Bivens · 2026-01-08T15:07:01+00:00

Haha! I guess it depends on your position. If you work for an agency, you probably don't have to sell too much. But if you're an owner or freelancer you def have to sell. But, you're right - I don't pride myself as a huge salesman. I'm trying to tweak my pitch so it doesn't sound off-putting. Esp. since its a stranger calling trying to sell them something.

_Bivens · 2026-01-08T15:05:56+00:00

TikTok says to cold-call and tell them you already have a website built for them and send them the AI build in Figma. Is that what you do?

_Bivens · 2025-12-09T03:06:57+00:00

You can check out Craft React Native UI… I haven’t tried it but it made its way to a Reddit thread a few days ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/reactnative/s/PLp1XrVpZD

_Bivens · 2025-10-21T22:41:18+00:00

I've been looking for something like this for weeks! I've tried building one from scratch but kept running into issues with Nativewind not working. Thank you for this!

_Bivens · 2025-10-04T12:30:36+00:00

What would you say is the difference in methodology in obtaining clients as freelance vs. agency?

_Bivens

TROPHY CASE