To say that we are currently in the digital age is an understatement and almost all businesses out they, whether big or small are looking for ways to embrace the evolving e-trend. In fact, a lot of owners and managers of big corporations, SMEs, churches, government establishments etc, are increasingly realizing that they have just one route to being viable – either they innovate or they die, it’s that simple.
The principal factor fueling the digital trend we are experiencing these days is the rapid changes in consumer behaviors and their buying habits. Customers are getting increasingly sophisticated in their buying decisions and it is only businesses that offer them a convenient way to acquire what they want that get the most patronage.
It is therefore understandable why the quest by businesses to go online have reached a record high. They is no business that is worth its onions that does not have one form of online presence or the other. And as long as old businesses exist and new ones are founded, the demand for web savvy professionals would continue to be on the increase. There is therefore no better time to establish a web design and development outfit than now.
However, if you want to run a web design outfit that would stand the test of time and remain profitable for a long time, it is advisable to adopt the following tested and trusted strategies:
1) Let Your Website Speak for You
The easiest way to convince a potential customer that you are a good web designer and developer is by ensuring that your own website looks great both on desktop and mobile devices. This is pure common sense and nothing more.
So if you want customers to take you seriously, then you must have to devote some considerable time and expertise in ensuring that your own website is simply superb and equal to none. The design, layout, functionality and user experience of your website speaks a lot about your competence and deliverable.
We always feel disappointed when we visit the websites of some people who claim they are web-savvy only to see scrap. That is a complete red-flag regardless of what such people claim they can do or the price they are charging. The truth is that such people can never get useful patronage because potential customers will always see them as unserious and lacking in professionalism.
2) Always Showcase your Portfolio
Another sure way to speed up your web design and development business is by showcasing your portfolio of past jobs on your website and other social media platforms. The more lovely your portfolio of past job is and the more visible it is to potential customers, the more patronage you will get, all things being equal.
It is an open secret that most businesses that want to engage web designers and developers always ask for samples of their past jobs. So if you desire to run a highly successful web design and development business, you must be prepared to build and showcase your best jobs to potential customers.
At the starting stage of the business, you may not have much track record to display, so it is important to focus less on price and dwell more on creating value at this stage. One of the reasons why most new web design and development outfit die in their first year of business is because their owners want to start making fast money as soon as possible. If you focus more on making money at the early stage instead of creating value, you may end up driving away your early set of customers. But if you dwell more on creating value for your customers and building good portfolio over time, you will end up becoming a web designer and developer of choice.
3) Run a Referral Program
The easiest way to grow your web design and development business is to run a referral or affiliate marketing program that compensates people for new businesses they introduce to you. This is a win-win marketing strategy that delivers results.
The best way to do this is to start with people you have done jobs for in the time past. Let them know you run a referral program and that they stand to get a certain percentage as commission for any new customer they help onboard for you.
Another approach is to share your affiliate marketing link with serious minded bloggers who can blog about your services on their website and get a commission for any new customer they are able to convert for you.
Whatever approach you adopt, make sure you stand by your word because trust is very key in any affiliate marketing arrangement. People can only stick out their neck to market your services when they believe in you and your capability to deliver on the service promise to customers. It is also important that you pay your affiliate marketers on time to sustain their drive to do more.
4) Offer Freebies
Everyone wants free things and customers are usually excited when they get a value added service they never bargained for. So if you want to grow your web design and development business into a great empire, you must be willing to offer some services free of charge to your customers.
There are numerous value added service you can offer to your customers for free and get them to do repeat business with you. A good example is to offer to carry out occasional website maintenance for them free of charge. You can also offer to handle some graphic designs for them without asking for a dine.
5) Charge Right and Offer a Flexible Payment Plan
One of the factors that would determine the success of your web design and development business is the price you charge your customers and the payment plan you have in place. Web design and development is a service-oriented business and it is important that your price is not perceived as being too high or too low.
There are pros and cons associated with adopting either a high or low price strategy.
For instance, charging a very high price would portray you as a core professional who knows his worth and this will only work well for you when you have an outstanding track record of performance in the business. Charging a high fee also makes sense when you deliberately want to operate as a premium designer/developer that offers upscale services. But the downside with this pricing strategy is that it will drive away price sensitive customers from you.
On the other hand, charging your customers too low would make them see you as an amateur web designer/developer. The only time it is advisable to bill your customers low fee is when you are just starting out, but as you grow in the business it is always better to adjust your price level to reflect the industry average.
We wish you all the best as you apply these strategies in growing your web design and development business.
Regards.
Contact: contentwritersng@gmail.com
Lagos, Nigeria
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