I started a new service with my hobby business. It is a specialized field of custom puzzle design (the crossword & Sudoku kind, not the jigsaw & Rubik kind). Does anyone know of a way to advertise my services in order to build up my client-base?I have a decent sized portfolio of my work. I have made a few contacts with a handful of clients. But, how do I really get my services "out there"?Thanks!
You need to advertise. Here some potential ideas depending on your budget:
1. GET A WEB SITE WITH AN ONLINE PORTFOLIO
This will showcase your work to potential clients, generate new leads from across the country/world, and allow your new clients to contact you easily via an online form. Expect to pay around $500 - $1000 for the design (unless you know how to do it yourself) plus about $5-$10/month for hosting.
2. ADVERTISE IN YELLOW PAGES, GOOGLE LOCAL BUSINESS SEARCH
I beleive both are free to post your company contact information.
3. OFFER A REFERAL BONUS
Promote your business with word of mouth, encouraging your existing clients to recommend your services in exchange for a nominal referal bonus.
Good Luck!
I agree with onylogix for the most part. The only trouble with the yellow pages is that they cost a lot, and are only local to your region or city. With today's global possibilities, you will want to put your ad or portfolio, also like onyxlogix said, somewhere on the web. Once your own site takes off, it will be a good place, but you probably want to post it also at a project site.
One good site I came across that is starting up is www.IWantToMakeIt.com. I like it because it allows you to give a lot of information about your services, and post examples of your work. Plus clients are also posting projects and such.
I hope this helps!
Wow! Fast replies! Thanks all for the great advice.
I have a website and pieces of a portfolio, but I really need to pull together a single, cohesive document. Right now, it's very segmented. The website I had help with from a co-worker. It pays to have a day-job in the tech industry where friends can help you in their spare time.
I haven't tried the Yellow Pages. I did register my site through Google's search engine. As far as advertising, I've found it better to go straight to the community and tell people about my site. I advertised on sites related to my business. I got very few hits on my site from the number of impressions bought. But, that might have been due to a poorly designed ad.
I have given referral bonuses and discounts some thought. Especially to get the ball rolling and build up customers who can refer my services to others.
Also, I have heard of that I Want To Make It site. I posted something there recently. I really need to go back to that site and embellish my ad with samples of my work. I think it's pretty cool that you can sell your services (in the legal way) similar to the way a corporation might solicit a particular job, only with more detail. While I was there, I used their free job postings to look for others who do what I do.
Thanks for all the help and advice. It sounds like I'm on the right track, which is a sigh of relief. I have more food for thought.
Hi RUPuzzled,
One thing you could do is get some viral marketing going by offering a few online puzzles that you encourage others to embed in blogs and Facebook. Since you have the technical help, it sounds like it might be possible to build something like that.
People will embed the puzzle on their blog, and of course there will be a link back to your site where people can learn about your services.
Today a big part of Web marketing is about shareable, portable content -- content that is used partly for promotion.
This site is an example: http://www.daybydaycartoon.com/
Click on the "Put DBD on Your Site" link.
Best,
Anita
Hello Anita.
Thanks for the idea. Right now, my puzzles are in PDF format. Although they are portable (easily transferable), they are not exactly "embed in a blog" friendly. I have given some thought to creating Flash versions of some of my puzzles.
I will have to consider converting a puzzle to something like JPG that someone can embed in their blog.
Another person recommended creating an advertising link that is in itself a puzzle, to help draw people into the site if they want to know the answer. I have tried buying a block of impressions before, but I don't think the ad was eye catching enough to draw people in to click on it. Perhaps I might try again with the puzzle.
Thanks!
