There are several ways of attracting web design business to your company. More and more web design business use the search engines to generate traffic through their web sites and generate leads. While this is certainly an effective way of securing web design orders, it is inevitably expensive. Indeed, to generate any amount of reasonable traffic through your web site, you need to be at least on the first page of the SERPS (Search Engine Results Page) and there are two ways of getting there. One is pay per click where you pay search engines like Google every time somebody clicks on your web site. The bill for this form of advertising can quickly run into thousands and unless you are attracting the right kind of business, might not be financially viable. Then there is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) where you have your web site optimised by SEO specialists so that your site ranks high in the natural or organic ranking on search engines. There is also the traditional media advertising in the papers and through brochures. Whilst all these advertising media are necessary and you will not avoid them altogether, there is a more viable way of expanding your business in the long term and this is word of mouth.
Never underestimate word of mouth as a reliable source of web design order. Consider the benefits: a reliable source of business, quality customers and better value projects.

If you have looked after your existing and past customers, the chances are you will have repeat web design business from the same customers or they will refer friends and family to your web design services for new web design work. This is what we called word of mouth route. A good proportion of your web design clients will, at some point, require additions or alterations to the web design you did for them. Sometimes they will require a new web site altogether. And who else will they go to if they were satisfied with your web design services and products? Nobody. People prefer to stick to what they know if they are happy with what they got the first time round. What's more, the additional web design work are often not as complicated as the initial web design project, making the additional work usually more profitable than the initial project.

Word of mouth also means referrals from your happy customers. Referrals are leads coming from people who have recommended your web design services. These are customers who have heard good things about your web design business, who have probably looked at the web sites you have designed and who like what you do. This means these potential customers are already in the best frame of mind when hey come to you. You have won half the battle in terms of selling your web design services. If your web design quote is reasonable, more than likely you will secure the order from the referral. Again, price here less of an issue and you can generally make a good deal, as well as offer a good deal.

Word of mouth can also imply leads that you get from social networking like business clubs, chambers of commerce, speed networking. Although these leads are not as reliable as referrals, do not discount their value. One thing usually leads to another and you will very likely get a few web design orders from social networking.

Clearly, word of mouth is a reliable and profitable avenue that every web design business should pursue and certainly not neglect. It is too easy to forget a customer once you have completed his or her web design project. Other new web design projects come along and we only tend to think of our ‘old' customers when we are short of new business. This is a mistake. Nurture your existing web design portfolio, talk to your existing customers once in a while and you will be surprised how much web design work can come through this channel.
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Ralph Ramah is the webmaster of Discount Web Design, one of the leading web design company in the UK offering quality web site design and SEO services