If you've just opened a web design business, you will need to promote it as well as possible to ensure you have a wide enough client base to earn money. There are many different things you can do to advertise your business, from the basics (design business cards, build an online portfolio) to the more costly (purchase ad space on websites). By following these steps to market your web design business, you should have no trouble keeping a steady stream of clients.

Step 1: Build a Website

It would look silly for a web design business to not have a website. Design a website that represents the very best of your design ability, and include many visual examples of your web design capabilities. It's alright if you only design it and hire someone else to code it, as long as you make it clear to your clients that you only provide design services, not coding. Make sure all the elements of a good website are there: it should be clean and functional, but still engaging. Visitors should have an easy time navigating the site.

Step 2: Get SEO Content

SEO, which stands for Search Engine Optimization, is writing which has strategically placed keywords to help your website appear higher in search engine rankings. Ideally, if someone typed "web design" into a search engine, your website would be right at the top of the results. Since you won't be the only one with SEO content, this likely won't happen; however, you can still make sure you're as near to the top as possible.

If you don't know how to write SEO style, you can hire a freelancer to write the copy for your website pages.

Step 3: Start a Blog

By starting a blog, you accomplish 2 things:

• You can get page views from people who weren't specifically searching for web design services
• You can backlink to your main website

Backlinking is when a site links to a different site, which helps build the different site's credibility and helps it rank higher in search engine results. Starting a blog with entries relevant to web design can help promote your business for free. For maximum effectiveness, you'll also want to have SEO content on your blog if at all possible.

Step 4: Buy Ad Space

Now that your website and related sites are all ready, you can begin advertising in earnest. A good place to start is by buying PPC (Pay Per Click) ads from websites such as Google and Bing. This sort of advertising is a good choice because you only pay when people actually click your ad, so if someone isn't interested, you're not wasting your money.

Step 5: Advertise Within Your Community

Just because your web design business is based online doesn't mean you have to solely operate there. Taking out an ad in the local newspaper, using any connections you may have with business-owning friends and simply letting word of mouth spread can bring you plenty of local clients. Also, reach out to new businesses to see if you can help them develop a web presence.

By following these 5 steps, you will be able to drive traffic to your website and hopefully capture some local attention as well. The more clients you can attract, the more likely your web design business is to succeed.