Webdesigners: How do you advertise?

I am looking to grow my customer base but don't have a lot of money to invest in advertising. Can someone recommend some ways they have advertised in their communities for little to no money? How do you go about finding companies who might list your company for free? Bartering arrangements?

Also, has anyone had any luck advertising with SuperPages.com?

Thanks!!

 

I don't know about advertising in your community, but one of the easiest ways to advertise is to become active on DP and use your signature to advertise.

 

Yes, the good thing about adding your link to your signature is that if a spider crawls a page where your link is, it may crawl your site!

So, the more posts you have, the more chances.

 

Print out basic business cards and hand them out to your friends and family.

 

Put your portfolio online, spread you business card to potential customers, flyers advertising, mostly you aim for abroad customers cause you are greedy, but you just dont see the potential around you spread anywhere

 

I also agree with aspidov but be warned I find it to be one of the biggest pains to deal with people offline. You can run into some very rude and demanding people. Best advice I have for offline is to be firm with your price and don't let them take advantage of you. No freebies. It is far easier to push someone (you) into doing something in person they don't want for free then it is online. Just my 2 cents

Best way is stay online and build your rep on great forums like DP. You will find DP to be a great source of some of the most friendly, honest and loyal customers you will ever meet. Better then you can find anywhere else.

 

Keep your best info in your signature. That could bring in some visitors for sure.

 

Best advertisement is your portfolio , and if you are good you will get new work by word of mouth from your past clients. Also, post your offer/ad on forums and ask from the clients you get to leave you a feedback in the same thread.