In web design, one of the most important things to know is how to sell yourself. Some of the best designers in the world have the knowledge and skill to create beautiful websites, but they don’t know how to get out there. Here are three tips to getting your foot in the door.

1. Give Stuff Away

Here’s the best one to start off with. When you first start off as a web designer or developer, you don’t have a portfolio. Nobody is going to pay you if they don’t know what you can do. In almost all businesses you’re going to have to put a little  in to get anything out. In web design, it’s not actually materials or money, but time. Every time you give something away for free, you can put your name on it. You can even link to your own site. There are endless opportunities for offering free services.

My favorite is to create a WordPress theme and give it away on WordPress.org. If you searched my name on Google about five months ago, you would have gotten about twenty results total. Today if I search my name the results are around seven thousand, and the climb higher every day. That’s not because people are talking about me, it’s because I put my name on the bottom of every wordpress theme I make. People really do click on that stuff.

Another way is to do something for your local community. You could offer to do something for a local charity, like a food bank. Another great way to get your name out is to offer to do websites for your family. Chances are someone in your extended family owns a business, is in a school club, or has some sort of project they’d like a site for.

2. Undercharge Your Clients

This is a little harder to justify to yourself. You know your services are worth more, so why can’t you charge what they’re worth? Once you do have your name out there, you’re still not as credible as the local design company that’s been working in tables since 1996. They’ve done hundreds of websites, it doesn’t matter how bad they look. Your clients don’t really care if you’re the next big thing; they want someone they can trust. If they’re trying to decide between you and the local design company, who makes things look prettier is barely a factor in their decision. The two big things are money and reliability. You can’t provide them with the latter.

3. Word of Mouth

This is what the first two lead up to. The very best way to get clients is  from other clients. By giving your previous clients a good experience and an even better website, you’re getting the best PR available. Business owners will talk to other business owners, friends will talk to friends, bloggers will talk to bloggers, and in the end, you want that talk to be about you. Part of this is making sure that your clients are really happy with what you’ve done. Go above and beyond what you’ve promised them. Meet or beat the agreed upon completion date. Give them a reason to talk about you. You also have to make your information available to talk about. Give you clients a few of your business cards, create a portfolio, and make sure it’s on the first page of Google. After you’ve gotten all of this in place, clients will be seeking out you, not the other way around.