099 – How to Attract Better Web Design Clients

Episode Transcription

Josh 0:15
Hey, friends, welcome into Episode 99. Can’t believe that we are closing in on the century mark for the podcast. And I have some really exciting news to share with you shortly about that, and some episodes coming up. But right now I want to introduce this episode, which I think you’re really gonna be excited about, particularly those of you who are at a place in your business where maybe you’ve been going for a little while, and maybe you’ve hit a crossroads where you realize something, you realize that I’m at a point where I need to start focusing on my best clients. And I’ve got to start weeding out some of the use, quote unquote, not so great clients. That’s exactly what we’re going to talk about this in this episode, I’m going to give you some tips and some actionable strategies for how to attract better web design clients. Because you are, if you haven’t been here yet, you’re going to get to this place where you need to focus on your A and B clients, your absolute best clients, I probably don’t need to explain why I mean, just off the top of my head.

Josh 1:19
First of all, you want to stay sane, you want to enjoy your day to day and if you’re working with terrible clients that are sucking the life out of you, it’s a really good way to go out of business pretty quick or give up and I don’t want that for you. I want you to work with clients who you’re excited to hear from and clients who you’re excited to do work for. But it’s easier said than done. There’s a lot that goes into attracting better clients. And that’s what we’re going to talk about in this episode. I’ve actually got seven practical tips that are going to empower you for attracting better clients. I’ve heard a lot of my web design students talk about this, again, particularly those who are have been in it for a little while and they’re ready to take that next step in business. And then even for you who maybe aren’t ready or you’re not at this point yet, but you’re just starting out and you know, here pretty soon you’re gonna want to start getting rid of these not so great fitting clients. This is going to be the roadmap you should follow to help you with that. So super excited to dive in.

Josh 2:12
Before we do though, like I mentioned, we are going to be up on episode 100 coming up next. And I talked about this last episode so if you didn’t hear that one, the cat’s already out of the bag. So I’ll just let you know I’m super excited about Episode 100 which is going to be coming out next because we are going to be welcoming a very, very special guest I will be having on none other than world class entrepreneur Pat Flynn. That’s right. You did not miss hear that I will have the man the myth, the legend Pat Flynn on for Episode 100. And oh my gosh, you guys just you wait, that interview. I’ve listened. I’ll be honest, I’ve listened to it like five times. I think I’ve just keep on pulling notes and good actionable stuff out of it. I can’t wait for you to hear that episode. Pat’s gonna dish out how to become a successful entrepreneur, which is going to apply to you as a web designer and a business owner, so super pumped about that.

Josh 3:05
The other announcement I wanted to make real quick is about episode frequency. So over the last what, like four months, I think I’ve been doing two episodes a week. And it’s been awesome. It’s I’ve had a blast doing it, I will say it’s been a lot of work. And I’ve had some people say they’re having trouble keeping up with all the episodes. So I say all that to say I am going to be adjusting the frequency moving forward for the next few months just a little bit. The plan will be to do more than likely six episodes a month. I feel personally like four episodes is not quite enough. But eight is a lot. I know it’s a lot for you to keep up with. It’s also a lot for me to keep up with because I’m doing on average four interviews a month plus for solo episodes. And even though I have Kam, who does the distribution of the podcast now shout out to you Kam for being an amazing VA and I just recently brought on Nathan, my podcast editor to edit the podcast, it’s still a lot of work. And one thing that I’ve found is I’m having trouble not retaining the information. But I just haven’t been able to really digest episodes fully and really learn a lot from all of my interviews. And I want to do that as much as I enjoy putting this show out for you. I’m also learning in the show, I mean, every podcast and every interview, I’m learning from the guests.

Josh 4:25
So I found myself more recently, almost, you know, just kind of trying to get through content. And that’s not the mindset I want to have. I want to continue to, to learn just as much as you’re learning and really focus and apply all that. So all that to say moving forward, at least for the next few months. We’ll probably have around six episodes on average, there’ll be three to four interviews, and another two to three solo episodes moving forward. So when those will come out, I’ll let you know. But just wanted to make sure I’ve got that out there that for those of you who have been loving the two a week it’s gonna change slightly but don’t worry, there’s still plenty coming your way. Again, next week, Episode 100 with Pat Flynn, it’s gonna be amazing. So with all that said, let’s dive in right now to how to attract better web design clients.

Josh 5:11
A few things I want to make note of before we dive in, in regards to this, first of all, as an underlying thought, kind of an overarching thought with getting better clients, I want to encourage you to think about it like dating. And the reason I say that is because when I met my wife, I was at a place in my life where I kind of realized this, and here, you know, you’re gonna get a little bit of Josh’s dating advice here, he didn’t sign up for that by listening to this episode, but here it comes. It’s a lot like dating, because when you want to find the person for you, you have to put yourself in their shoes. And you have to ask yourself the question, if you were in their shoes, would you want you? And I know, it’s kind of a weird question. And it’s, you know, sometimes self evaluation is the hardest thing to do. But I found that idea to be extremely helpful in the dating world. And it’s the same thing with attracting better clients, put yourself in your clients shoes, your ideal client, would they want to work with you? If not, then there are some changes that you need to make and that’s what this episode is going to help you out with. And it’s a lot like dating. When I was at a place where I thought about getting more serious with somebody and I wanted to settle down, I’d asked myself, is my dream girl gonna want to go out with me? And if she would she, you know, like me? Would she be excited about the future? If I had a dead end job, and I had no drive, I had no motivation. And I was fat and sloppy. Would my dream girl want me? Probably not. So I really worked on myself. I kind of innovated myself and marketed myself just like I would in business. Try to work out, I tried to, you know, I had my business going, I was in a place where I felt like, you know what, if I was a girl, I might dig me. And I think that’s all right to feel like that. And I want you to have the same idea in your business. I know, it sounds kind of weird. Again, you didn’t, you didn’t show up here for dating advice, but you got it. And I hope that helps for those of you who are in the dating world, and you’d love to settle down, this underlying thought may as well maybe, maybe will change your life. And if it does, let me know, I’d love to hear about that. So that’s the first thing just keep in mind, it’s kind of like dating with regards to clients.

Josh 7:25
Now, there’s also a lot of components to this, when you’re talking about attracting a better web design client. It’s not just financial, there’s also a personality type aspect to this. And we’re in business, I found that you’re kind of managing both, you want to work with people who you really like working with. But at the same time, somebody who is a great person that has zero budget may not be the best person to work with. And on the flip side, somebody who has an amazing budget, but is a complete pain in the ass, you might not want to work with either. So just keep in mind, there’s personality type. And there’s financial aspects to this. And you want to kind of have a healthy mix of both that a lot of times I would work with somebody who’s a great personality type who has maybe a startup business, even if they have very limited means right then if they’re a really good person, and they’re savvy, they may be in a place in a couple years where they may be in A client. So that’s something to keep in mind as well, before we get to these points. So just keep that in mind. It’s not all about personality. And it’s not all about financials, it’s kind of a mix between the two.

Josh 8:29
And in my last note of encouragement before we dive in, is that, for those of you who are just starting out, you’re not going to land your dream clients right away. And that’s okay, you’re gonna say yes to a lot more opportunities and a lot more projects and type of clients in the beginning. But you will get to a place I think pretty quickly, or at least you should catch yourself and be intentional pretty quickly, where you learn to say no, and you’ll learn to pass up the not so great clients to leave room for the really good clients, because the worst thing that you can do, and I’m saying this from experience, is have like 10 projects going with terrible clients. And then a couple really good clients come your way, but you can’t take them on or you can’t do a good job for them because you’re loaded with all these terrible projects and terrible clients. So the more you say no moving forward, the more you’ll open yourself up for the really good yeses is a really good opportunity. So keep those three things in mind before we dive in here.

1) It All Starts With YOU!

Josh 9:25
Now, seven tips right here for attracting better clients. First of all, it all starts with you. Just like we talked about with dating, you’ve got to put yourself in your clients shoes, ask yourself the question, would they want to work with you? If you wouldn’t want to work with you? If you were them, then you’re probably going to have some glaring reasons why and those are the things you need to work on. Maybe it’s your messaging, maybe it’s all the things we’re going to get to will help with this. But really be self aware about you, your agency your services, what do you need to work on? What do you feel confident in? What do you need to learn and grow and promote better? Be very, very self aware with how you look from the outside. And you can even talk to any close colleagues or trusted professional people in your network. Ask them how you know, you come across, whether it’s from your website or whatever, what’s we are going to talk about. It all starts with you though. Remember, clients are often not buying a company or service, they are buying you, particularly in web design. This is a service business where people are going to be working with you. And as I’ve talked about numerous times on the podcast, when you sign a web design client, they’re often going to be with you for years. So it’s a relationship that is starting, which is why again, I kind of made the goofy funny reference of dating because it’s very much like that, you have to set yourself up for a very long relationship. And it all starts with you. So you need to work on your communication, your presence, there’s a quote that my upcoming guests in the next episode, Pat Flynn says all the time that I absolutely love. And I found it to be super true in my world of having a podcast and web design club and courses, but it’s equally as true as a web designer. And that is, your vibe attracts your tribe. So however you are, you’re likely going to start attracting the type of people who are like minded to you, they may not be exactly the same, like exactly the same personality type, or exactly the same place in business, but your vibe will attract your tribe. So if you’re professional, and courteous and organized, you’ll likely start attracting professional, courteous, organize people, and then the folks that aren’t like that you can start to funnel out and weed out. But if you’re scattered, and you’re cheap, and you just get done stuff, really, you know, really quick just to get it done. shocker, you’re gonna start attracting clients that are scattered and cheap, and just want to get something done really quick. So your vibe attracts your tribe, it’s all about how you come across. So the first step to attracting better clients is to start with you. That’s where it starts.

2) “Certain” Clients Attract “Certain” Clients

Josh 12:01
Now, You’ve been going for a little while more than likely. And here’s a here’s a shocker that I kind of realized later on. And that is that if you keep working with certain types of clients, again, whether it’s a personality type or a certain industry, you’re going to keep getting those type of clients. So many of you know, I started out in the band world, and I started doing t shirt designs and graphic design and artwork. And when I became more serious in my business, and I did more web design, I really wanted to pivot into more businesses that had budgets and actually were organized at getting content wouldn’t nickel and dime me for a $50 t shirt. And it dawned on me that you know what, in order to move from these clients, I need to stop working with these clients, I had to rebrand myself and not appeal to bands. And and a lot of cases I had to let them go I had to fire clients, which is easier said than done. That’s tricky. But a lot of times you do have to fire clients if they’re not good fit. Number one for your sanity, which I want to give a quick shout out to Jacob, who recently joined my web design club who is going through this right now who just fired a client who was a drag on him. But he fired he fired this client and he said immediately it light was like weight lifted off his shoulders. And it was an amazing feeling. A lot of you are going to have to do that same thing. You might have to fire some clients and you need to reposition yourself. Because if you keep on working with bad clients, you’re gonna get more clients like that. And this is very true in the professional world as well. I’ll be honest, for a while I was working with a lot of auctioneers, and I had some great auctioneers, I want to I want to state that for any auctioneers or past clients who might listen to this. Some of you are awesome. But I have to say there were a lot auctioneers, who were terrible clients. And it’s probably pretty clear why. Because there are auctioneers there used to selling stuff quick. And they’re used to quite frankly being kind of cheap or getting products that are going to be cheap. So I realized I was attracting a lot of cheap auctioneers. And I realized really quickly I did not want more clients like that. Now if an auctioneer came to me, did I immediately say no, I’m not going to work with you because you’re an auctioneer? No. But what I did have was a very much more rigorous weed out funnel in place, which I didn’t I don’t have that on the list, but having some sort of funnel and kind of weed out process is also a big key to attracting better clients because you’re automatically going to weed out the bad fitting clients. So that’s gonna come into play here moving forward as well. Actually, yeah, weeding out and having a funnel will be in a lot of these moving for but yes, that’s a biggie. Make sure that you are attracting good clients. And if you have a bunch of bad clients, you might need to pivot and go to a different industry or a different type of clientele. Because if you keep on working with bad clients, you’re going to attract bad clients. And one thing I do want to say real quick before we move on to point number three here If you have a really good client, don’t forget to ask for referrals from them. If there is one thing I could tell Josh from 10 years ago to do is, it would be if you get a really good client, first of all, keep engaged with them, because the likely pay you a lot more and a lot more frequently moving forward. And you don’t have to just do a one and done and be gone, you can actually keep the relationship going. But I would also say, ask for referrals from them. Because if you meet a really good client, and a really good industry that has a healthy budget, chances are, they probably know a lot of really good people who have a healthy budget and are going to attract clients just like them. So don’t forget to ask for referrals from your really good clients.

3) Does Your Price Point Reflect Your Worth

Josh 15:43
Now, number three, your price point, if you are cheap, you are going to attract cheap clients. And one of the biggest lessons I learned early on was when I first started my business, and I was in the band world and I started working with more established businesses, I did an ad on Craigslist, and I did an ad in our local newspaper here. And in the ad, I said, cheap web design. So guess what kind of clients I got when I released that ad, you can probably guess, cheap clients who wanted a lot for basically nothing. And I learned a very valuable lesson early on, which was never to put cheap in your advertisements. Now the same principle is true with your price point. If you’re charging 500 bucks for your website services, you are going to get clients that are cheap and are looking for kind of the bottom of the barrel. And that’s the problem with having a low price point, you’re going to win the race to the bottom, you’re going to get the worst clients who are diyers who want to do things themselves or have no budget and are going to be a pain in the ass to get content from. It’s just not worth it. Now, for those of you just starting out, it’s okay, you’re going to have a lower price point. But for all of you who have been through, you know, my web design business course, in particular, you know what I’m about to say, and that is to raise your rates immediately. And then as soon as you become more valuable, raise those rates and get them to a point where just by your price point alone, you’re automatically going to weed out those two or $300 clients, you want to be working with two to three to $4,000 clients, not two to three to $400 clients. So your price point right away is going to help with that. And that kind of goes back to the idea of funneling and having a weed out type of process, which, again, your price point is a weed out. For those of you who listened to the last episode 98 with one of my amazing students, Leo Rees-Evans, he talks about this, his price point before coming through my business course was about 800 bucks on average. And he was having terrible clients. He was having terrible scope creep problems, all sorts of issues. And when he went through my course, if you haven’t listened to it, make sure excuse me go back to that episode, because he talks about this. In the lesson where I told everyone to raise your rates, he did that right. Then he said he stopped the video, he went and raised his rates. Now Leo was pretty dramatic and raising his rates because he went to two to 3000. You don’t have to do that right away. But if you feel like you’re valuable enough, then I would highly encourage that because you can raise your rates from 800 to 1000, or 1500. And that’s a big price increase in the same price bucket. But what he did by doing that was he started attracting $3,000 clients. He says in that episode, you can go back and listen to Episode 98. He said that as soon as he raised his rates, he started getting better leads. And he landed one of his best A clients right off the bat because of the price point because it attracted somebody who was worth that much. And it made him want to make sure his business was valuable enough for that. So just by raising your price point, you’re going to attract better clients, it’s also going to make you a better business owner and a better web designer. So raise your rates right now, you don’t have to double or triple them. But raise them in that same price bucket. If you’re charging 1000 jumping up to 1500. If you charge them 1500, jumping up to 1997, and so on. And even just an extra 250 500 bucks, a project is going to be life changing for you. So raise those rates. All right.

4) Does Your Client Prefer a Solopreneur or a Team

Josh 19:17
Number four, we need to look at your agency that your actual business will determine on who is going to potentially want to work with you. Your agency the size of it is you know, sometimes businesses want to work with a solopreneur. But sometimes they want an agency but in a lot of cases, especially nowadays, a lot of people are burned from agencies and they want to work with a solopreneur or what I found to be super successful is a small team. The perfect mix between being a solopreneur freelancer, as opposed to an agency is a small team. So I don’t want to discourage those of you who are solopreneurs because I was for six years before I started scaling my business and that’s fine. The only thing is as a solopreneur, you’re likely going to get clients who want to just work with one person. Now, there’s a lot of benefits with that. But if you run across a really good agency, or excuse me a really good business with a healthy budget, sometimes they’ll be fine with a solopreneur. But sometimes they’re going to want somebody with a small team, just for reliability. In worst case scenario, like if you get hit by a bus, what’s going to happen with our website? It’s a very, very valid question. So if you are a solopreneur, my recommendation is to first of all, surround yourself with an amazing community. And you can do that I just recently, Episode 95, I talked about online communities that you can surround yourself with that way, even if you’re a solopreneur, you’re not alone, that was a big one. But I would highly recommend if you start scaling, have a small team. And you don’t have to be a huge agency. Because again, a lot of clients are very leery of big agencies, they’ve been burned, they felt like a number. And if you want a little free piece of content advice for your homepage, which we’re actually going to talk about next, say that you’re not going to treat your clients like a number, like you’re gonna treat them like an actual person and somebody who you want to be in their corner for the long haul, that right there will help boost your conversion. So think about your agency, though, and how you come across. Because again, if you are a solopreneur, but you want to work with businesses that are doing seven figures, they’re probably going to want a small team because they’re gonna have a lot of different needs. So something to consider. But again, if you come across like a big agency, you might be doing yourself a disservice. Because a lot of small businesses might want to work with just one person or a small team. So just think about that when you think about who your ideal clients are. And again, your ideal client might be a certain industry, it might be a certain place in their business, or it might be certain personality type.

5) Your Site Reflects You

Josh 21:46
Now, number five, this all segues into your website, and your brand. Shocker! On this web design podcast, we’re gonna talk about your website. And I get it most web designers, some have really good websites. But a lot of web designers are like the plumber with a broken toilet. We don’t always have time to work on our websites. But what I will tell you is that it’s absolutely critical that your website reflects you. So you don’t have to have the most amazing website in the world. But you do have to have a website that is going to represent you well. So be intentional, particularly on your homepage, make sure your website is going to attract the right type of clients, and even your brand, your brand itself is going to attract clients, if you have a website that doesn’t have any recent work. And it’s not designed very well, maybe maybe not because you’re a bad designer, but maybe because you just haven’t had time. It’s not going to represent you well. And if you’re a web designer who has a lot of focus on content and SEO, and maybe you’re not the best designer, you need to work on that design. Honestly, what I would do, and I know this sounds crazy, but I have an SEO contact who bless his heart. He is great at SEO, and he’s great at database and development. But you know what, he’s terrible at design and his website is so bad I, I need to tell him, dude, hire somebody to design your site, even though you’re a web designer, hire somebody to do that, because it looks so bad. But he’s really good at these other aspects. So if that’s you, if you’re really good at development, really good at copy and SEO, focus on that. But it sounds weird to be a web designer and to hire that out. But hire somebody to do your design.

Josh 23:33
Honestly, make sure your design looks professional and is going to attract really good clients. And the same thing goes with your branding, how you represent yourself, what your colors are like, is your brand modern and sleek, or is it geared towards something else that again, your brand and your website is going to be huge for when traffic gets to your site, either pulling them in or pushing them away, and we want to pull them in. And on some notes. We’re going to talk about what to do with your services and your your actual, your offerings next, but when you think about your website and thinking about your brand, just remember that in itself can be a funnel without having without processes are even before they get to your price points. If you’re a brand is catered to a certain type of person or a certain type of client, that’s a great way to start attracting better clients.

Josh 24:22
I think about Lisa, Lisa Breedt, shout out to Lisa, one of my members and awesome web design students. She caters just to entrepreneurial women, and she does their branding and their websites. Her website is very clear who she’s catered to. And because of her branding and her colors and her style. It’s kind of its feminine, but clean and sleek and professional. She is attracting professional women who want a clean and sleek brand. Now, if a construction companies with a bunch of burly dudes wants a masculine website, she’s probably not the best fit and that’s where she can you know, refer out to somebody who is a really good fit. And that’s a great process and model to have when you know your ideal client. Now, this really boils down to going niche for her. It’s it’s all about this one type of client. But there’s other ways you can utilize this. I mean, again, even if you’re working with a lot of different industries, you can still have a brand that’s universal, but it’s still clean, and still sleek and still professional. And again, I would just highly recommend you as a website designer or a business owner, be intentional about your website, you don’t have to kill yourself with you know, spending hours and hours and hours and hours and hours on it. But make sure at least the homepage and the main things that we’ve gone over in recent podcasts are there, because that’s going to be a big, big tip for helping attracting the right people.

6) Streamline Your Services

Josh 25:43
Now let’s wrap up with these last couple. Number six, your offerings, your services, what you do is going to be a huge factor in in attracting the right clients. Now we just talked about going niche. And again, my example with Lisa, there she is catering her service to that type of client. Now what’s interesting is her niche or niche, I still don’t know what’s technically correct, but don’t come to this podcast for technically correct vocabulary, not my recommendation, I’m gonna say niche because I’m from Ohio. So when you have a niche, you can there’s a bunch of different ways to go about going niche. First of all, make sure you listen to Episode 94 that I just released recently with Jason, I’m sorry that I keep on referencing other podcast episodes, but they all apply here. And they go into more detail because in that example, Jason in Episode 94, he works with just online coaches. It’s a little bit different than Lisa and her brand, though, because she works with female entrepreneurs. Now, female entrepreneurs are going to be in different industries. So there’s different ways to go niche like Lisa, her website is to entrepreneurs who are women primarily. But she works with a lot of different industries within that brand. Whereas Jason in Episode 94, who talks about how to go niche, he just works with online coaches. So there are different ways to go about that. But either way, your services, and what you offer is going to be a big determining factor in the type of clients you’re attracting. So there’s a bunch of different ways to go about this. For me, I worked with all sorts of industries. And what I basically learned to do is that I wanted to work with businesses who did what needed web design services, maintenance, and SEO. So I framed it to where it was a very ongoing type of relationship, I did not want the DI wires, I did not want the people who just wanted a quick website, I made it very clear that we are going to be your partner and growing your brand moving forward. Now I didn’t lock them in, I didn’t say that only we will do the hosting and you won’t have any control your site, I didn’t go about it like that. I simply said, if you wanted a quick one off design and one and done, we’re not going to be the best fit for you.

Josh 27:51
So just by framing my services like that, that brought a lot of really good business owner, type of businesses and clients to me, and you can do the same. What you offer is going to be huge. And the same thing goes for your actual services. If you just do web design, maintenance and SEO, which is very common, then you’re going to attract clients who need that, if you are a full service type of agency where you do those, and then you also do marketing and digital ads, and you do videography and photography, and you do social media. And you know, if you offer a lot of that, then you’re gonna get a very wide net of clients, which has its pros and cons. But you’re often going to get people who might just want to do Facebook campaigns. Whereas if you really want to focus on web design, maybe you want to cut out Facebook, that’s all honestly, another big point here is you might want to cut out a lot of your services in order to focus on the really good ones that are most high paying. And I’ve done this a number of times in the past, but the big pivot and the big shift for me came when I cut out my print design.

Josh 28:56
In the early days, a lot of my print designs segued into really good web design clients because I would do their brochure or business card. And then they loved that they would find out Oh, you do websites? Cool. Well, the problem was, though, when I was working on websites, and I was working on 4,5,6, $7,000 projects, I was still working on two to $300 business card designs. And I realized I’ve got to cut this out. This worked for me really well. This helped me get to this point. But it’s not going to help me get to that point over there. And I want you to have the same mindset. And this goes back to the idea of you not landing your dream clients right away. And even with your services, you may be doing something that was really beneficial in the beginning. And it might be what I recommend you do now, like I might recommend if you do branding and logo design that you offer it now along with web design, but as soon as you get to that point where you know where the money is coming in, you need to focus on that biggest items that are going to help you quote unquote move the needle forward. That’s what you need to focus on. So cutting services out will also be a big factor. Attracting really good web design clients.

7) Create Good Content 

Josh 30:02
And then finally, number seven. This is a bit of not off topic but if it’s a different approach, because up to this point, we’ve talked about you, but I want to talk about what you are giving out and what you are producing. And that is your content. Now, you might think content, I’m not a content creator, or an authority, I’m a web designer or a business owner, well, you are still providing content, whether you know it or not. And a lot of this has to do with the type of resources that you offer clients, and even how you respond to clients, if you are giving advice to clients about hosting, or about tools that you use, or about SEO strategies, or social media strategies, anything like that. That is all content. Every single one of you, whether you realize it or not in your email, and in your project management software, have created a bunch of content that you can repurpose, and reuse as free resources for your clients. And I’m telling you, this is the best way to build likeability trust and authority. And it’s also a great way to build an email list and have free resources on your site and to have content that you can push out on other platforms. But the thing is, the type of content that you’re giving out is going to often attract that type of client. And what I mean is, if let’s say you have like a free ebook that you wrote, or a free cheat sheet on how to build a website, you might put that out there. And I’m saying this, because I’ve seen some, some people do this, you might be a web designer that puts out you know, some information on how to build a website. But the thing is, is you’re gonna get leads that are people who want to learn how to build their own website.

Josh 31:43
Now, even if they’re not going to be a web designer, a lot of DIY, or business owners are trying to figure out how to build their own Wix site, or even if they’re using WordPress, they might be savvy enough to figure out how to do it. But you’re gonna get those type of people who maybe are not the best client, you know, you might be able to teach them how to build a website, but they’re not gonna sign up for your maintenance plan. They’re not gonna do SEO with you, they might hire you to build the website. But that’s it. Now, if you switch that positioning for your content, to do something like how to increase conversions on your website, well, then all of a sudden, your content is going to be attracting people who already have a website, and who want to make it work for them more, which generally means you’re going to be talking with business owners. So just by thinking about your content, and being intentional about Okay, if I were to put something out there, is it you know how to get started with with websites? Or is it better conversions. Or you can even do this with SEO, how to get better local SEO rankings, you know, who’s going to be interested in that business owners who want to invest and want to up their SEO game, it’s a great lead magnet, great resource. So your content, what you produce is going to help you attract better clients as well. And again, you don’t have to be somebody like myself who’s doing a podcast, or YouTube channel, a simple free guide on your website or something. If you’re in networking groups, if you have a presentation that you dish out to to your your professional network, or even just a small following on Facebook, or even in your chamber of commerce or something like that. Anything like that is going to help you attract some clients. But again, the better content that you have that is catered towards those high paying clients, and clients that actually, you know, have an online presence that they want to do something with, you’re going to get better clients that way.

Josh 33:34
So that’s another sweet little tip there on how to attract better clients is think about that content and the resources you’re putting out. Because you can likely get a lot of really good clients if you just shift the type of information you’re putting out there.

Josh 33:49
So there you go, guys, those are the seven tips. let me recap them real quick for you. Number one, it all starts with you. Again, your vibe attracts your tribe. Remember that statement? Also very true when it comes to dating again, you’re welcome. Number two, your current and past clients, do you need to move away from them? Or if you have a lot of really good clients? Do you need to ask for referrals from them do that right now, if that’s the case, number three, your price point. If you’re charging way too little, you’re going to get terrible clients, and then you’re going to want to go out of business and I don’t want that for you. I want you to raise your rates and attract better clients. And I want you to be able to have a blast doing work and make a good living and provide for your family and, and have fun. So raise your rates. Number four, the agency itself, how are you positioned? Are you a solopreneur? Are you you in a small team? Or are you a big agency? there’s pros and cons to every model. My recommendation is to go in the middle. Number five, your website and your brand. Again, just ask yourself, Is this representing me? Well, even if you’re not getting a ton of traffic, it’s better to get 10 visitors a month and then five move forward rather than 100 visitors that all bounce off. So be really intentional about how you look online as a web designer. In your brand and again, that kind of segues into number six, what you offer with your services and then a lot of cases, you might want to consider going niche and which I’d recommend you check out Episode 94 on how to go niche or niche with your services. But however you come across, that’s what you’re gonna attract vibe attracts your tribe. And again, number seven, the type of content you put out for free resources and education and empowerment for future clients or really any lead generator. Those are the type of clients are going to get so I would focus on SEO related stuff, conversion related stuff, anything that’s going to bring business owners in what I would do.

Josh 35:37
There we go, guys hope this one helped out. Those are seven tips for attracting better clients. There’s probably 100 more but we’ll stop with those seven right now. Again, just reminder, episode frequency is going to change just a little bit four to six episodes on average, probably six a month. I like six four doesn’t seem like enough. Eight seems like a lot. So we’re gonna stick with six for a while. And then next up, Episode 100 Pat, freaking Flynn is going to be joining us I hope you’re as excited as I am to release it because oh my gosh, you guys want a conversation. We’ve got some other really great great guests coming up as well. I’m super pumped. Alright guys, hope this one helps. Enjoy, make sure you subscribe, and I can’t wait to hear how this one helps you out if it does, leave a comment on the post go to Josh hall.co/099 leave a leave a comment on the bottom I want to hear how this one helps you out and then cheers to attracting better web design clients.