[KYE]

Hi guys. I've been going at it 'officially' (self employed, depending on the money I earn freelancing) for about 2 months now.

The first month was really steady, I was getting a job every 3-4 days sometimes 2-3 per day. Now it seems to have slowed down. I have saved enough to live on and pay the bills for now, but I want to bring in more regular work

Whats the best way to advertise my services? I can't keep scouring forums and job boards for work, its driving me crazy. I was thinking about printing business cards and putting adverts in the local paper, but I think the costs will become a problem if neither are successful.

I was also thinking about buying some addspace on a popular site to get the hits needed. Anyone know any places to start? or could share with us what they do to get the hits/exposure? Im UK based btw. (And I already have a twitter account etc for networking in case anyone suggests that)

Any advice is good advice.

[Sam Granger]

Word of mouth is the best advertisement. Try to approach people directly. And if you do make a site for someone, try and get a linkback so visitors can see who designed it.

I'll ask Will Roberts to answer this topic too, since he probably has a lot more good advice.

[Bob]

If you are going to start investing money in advertising locally and banner ads, you should probably also look into creating a whole portfolio site presenting your work, contact info, etc (example: http://asantedev.com/), it will give potential customers a much better first impression, which you will need when you start getting a decent amount of new visitors/potential customers for when you roll out your advertising campaign, which will ultimately lead to more business for you theoretically

[Will Roberts]

The first thing you need to do is figure out your strongest area of expertise as that should be what you primarily focus on if thinking about any form of advertising. A lot of companies i have seen open and close is because they offer too many services and try to push them all onto potential clients.

Primarily, the local newspapers or classified mags are the best form of advertisment for a starter company as there rates are cheaper but with that also comes the "lower paying customers". If you are advertising in the local free paper then the chances are higher of a hobbyist reading your ad and using your services as opposed to businesses.

Business cards are a must have. On top of this you could buy them local also ask the business card printers to display a box of yours on the desk in the main office. A business man, woman or colleague walks in to collect their ordered cards and have a large chance of seeing yours on the desk.

The most powerful form of advertising though is word of mouth but its a catch 22 when you havent got many clients.

Local pet shelter websites are very popular with the general public aswell as business people. Offer a free site to the shelter in return for an advertisement on the site.

Next thing i would recommend is building up your ecommerce side of things. This is the real money making side of website design and can bring in repeat thousands per year from your clients for additions etc. Dont overload the functions initially and start offering small updates every month or so.

Lastly, none of this will happen overnight. My business has been running for a bit over 3 years now and up until last year was not doing everything i wanted it too but with regular clients and word of mouth tied in with all the other points i suggested have pushed it a million miles ahead.

Dont take my word as gospel but i am simply passing on what has worked for me.

Good Luck