Where to find first client for website development?

hi guys, I need your help. I am 26 , working in IT area as system administrator. But in a free time I want to create sites on Wordpress, it is just simple promo sites 5-10 pages for small companies.
Advise please where can I find first clients? I am agree to make 2-3 sites for free for portfolio. I don't have idea

 

First off, you should never work for free. It will just come back to bite you later. If you can't find any clients, make mock-up sites, where you show off your skills.

Second, a good way to promote yourself, and find potential clients, is to look up local businesses, and check out their current web-presence - if it's bad, or non-existent, contact their board/owner/technical controller, and propose that they let you make them a new webpage (but for this to work, it will be useful to have an existing portfolio to show). If you want, you can say that you're in the market for new clients, and propose a lower price for them, if you're allowed to use them to promote your business.

 

There are numerous online work portal where you can get your work from. Not easiest but quite effective way to have work for you in your free time.

 

Try freelancer.com, fiverr.com and odesk. And if you have money to invest build a portfolio website and do online marketing.

 

What's the differences between mock up and free sites for some clients ? In second case I can make site for real people and get good feedback. But I dunno where to find such people

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I researched such sites of course, but there is high competition between freelancers, there are difficult tasks mostly related to programming. It is not for me. Don't have such skills. I just can make simple websites like promo site(home page, services, price, gallery, contact form and etc). I am sure that many people in the world who needs site, especially for free, I really agree to biolst2-3 sites for feedback, but dunno where find these people

 

There is a reason for not doing jobs for free. But since you don't have much deeper knowledge (I meant wordpress development such as plugins and themes.) you can check out fiverr. You can say, "I will build a promo site for your local event for $5". And if they want additional pages you can charge more.

If you don't like to start from those sites, the best way is to approach local businesses. Talk to the business owners and share your thought.

And if you want to learn web development for your future, you can use udacity and freecodecamp. Both provide free resources.

 

You need to try yourself on Odest and Guru to make your portfolio. You can try others freelancers sites too. but start from one of them.

 

The difference is that a mock-up site is something you can show off, AND sell to a client who likes the mock-up. Working for free just sets you up for potential fuckups later on, when the client who never paid anything wants you to do changes, more pages, etc. and still don't want to pay you anything. Also, word gets around, and if you do work for free, it will become a de facto standard, and you will probably have trouble getting paying clients later as well.

NEVER work for free, unless it's for volunteer organisations, where you provide a service to a community or other not-for-profit organisations.

 

Even then, it's a bad idea to do it for free. Always invoice the full value of your work, meetings, markup, programming, graphics and anything else you do on the job. Then, and only then do you credit their account with your contribution.

@OP: Making the actual value of your gift clear removes their sense of entitlement. You must also treat the job as a paid production. That includes getting the client to sign off on every decision before implementation

gary

 

I agree, to some sort, but for volunteer organisations, there are quite a bit of those were everyone works for free. Being a stickler for invoicing them and then crediting the invoice might be a good idea, but might be frowned upon. Granted, I never do actual work (the work I do for a living) for volunteer organisations - I do other things I'm qualified for

 

Freelancer.com or fiverr.com are good places for you

 

You're still doing it pro bono, but by treating it as a paying job, the organization learns to give your work a modicum of respect. Last minute and constant changes are the bane of freebies. Give if you want, but don't become their b****.

gary

 

either you can try forum service section where lots of people hiring for his projects or you can try freelance or upwork sites.

 

You can get job for the beginner level on these portals. But firstly, you do need to understand how these work portal works. It will become easy as you understand the whole procedure.
There is another options, social media. You can joins group in there and make clients.

 

Start by making flyers and distribute them in your local area. You can also create a site and advertise it on local ads like FB, Adword and the likes..

 

Thank you all for the answers. Started Fiverr, but already a few days don't have any orders :/

How to find needed groups on Facebook? Help please

 

You can find Facebook groups related to your locality, niche, industry etc. Make sure they allow you to advertise there. If you're not sure, you may want to talk to the admins of the groups before doing so.

Other places you can advertise for free include your local classifieds and local forums. Start from there and then expand to other areas as well.

 

If you want to find clients you need to create a strategy. In your case I would look in business directories and Google maps for businesses in the local area that don't have a website. Then you should offer your website services to them. As most businesses have a presence online, it's very important to not be outside. You must point out that they can lose sales because of their absence on the Internet. Moreover, there are certainly
businesses with outdated websites and you could get in touch with these businesses and offer them something modern.

As with the suggestion that you could free websites, I would advice you not to do it. I totally agree with you that there is a need for a portfolio. Then you can showcase your professional work to potential customers. But your urge to get a portfolio shouldn't make you feel forced to walk the "free website" route. For example when you go to a car mechanic, can you ask for a free repair. No. You must remember that you have the same
authority as a car mechanic to receive a payment for the work you do. To make a website you will have to put a lot of time and effort into it.

My suggestion, if you have not started already, is that you offer your services at a discounted price initially until you get your portfolio. Also don't forget to launch your own website. That will make you look professional.

Best of luck!

 

This. Point. Best quote I've seen/heard so far.

 

Well, back in 2014, I got my first online web development client on a freelancing website called Peopleperhour.com
I'm pretty sure you've heard of this website. It is very easy to win jobs there, even for beginners with no reviews at all.
All you have to do is send a very clear proposal telling the client that you've understood what they want and you can deliver the task in the shortest time possible.

If you need me to send you some of my sample proposals that won me web design jobs on peopleperhour, simply drop me a message here... Good luck!