Nonimage Blog

It looks like I have gained a new client. I had a meeting yesterday with him, and as is routine when I speak to new potential clients who have contacted me, I asked him where he found out about me. I feel it will help me in the long run to know what or who is driving my clients and potential clients to me. He replied that he had asked an associate of his for a recommendation. This associate had gone onto Facebook, and looked in the new(ish) Marketplace for anyone advertising graphic design services in Edinburgh. He had seen my ad and followed the link to my portfolio website, where he had liked what he saw and alerted his associate. Great, a new potential client, finding me from a referral from an friend or associate, then checking out my portfolio and giving me a call. Fairly standard. But the thing that surprised me was that the initial lead had come from Facebook. I never expected someone to use Facebook to find a designer. I had had a quick look around the new Marketplace feature when it was first launched, and decided to add a listing advertising my services, more out of curiosity than anything else. I added the very, very simple listing, and then added that listing to my profile page using the Marketplace application. It took up 2 minutes of my time, but now it has potentially rewarded me with a good amount of contract work. It got me thinking about possibles avenues for free advertising of my services. There must be lots of places that people will look these days for services of various kinds, that differ from traditional conventional advertising places. More and more people are realising the importance of good design, but many might not know the most obvious ways to go about hiring someone. Yet someone who has been thinking about hiring a designer can now stumble across the right designer just by visiting the personal page of a friend and following a link. Add to that the amount of design sites that act as a directory of designers, and the list of potential places you can advertise for free becomes pretty long. Let’s face it, for the small amount of time it will take for you to register with these services, you might as well give it a shot. You might get some great business from it. The list so far for places I can advertise for free looks like this-

Marketplaces
Facebook Marketplace - Advertise anything, including your design services. Allows you to show your ads on your profile page too
Craigslist - The site that Facebook Marketplace (and so many others) emulates
Gumtree - Very similar to Craigslist, but British

Social Networks
Flickr - Add examples of your work, and leave a link to your portfolio in the description
Myspace - Add examples of your work and links to your portfolio site to your Myspace page. Make your page look pretty as further proof of your incredible wb design skills
Bebo - Similar to Myspace, very UK orientated
Virb - Similar to both Myspace and Bebo, but with the necessary access to the CSS of your page to give you the chance to really work your magic. Make your page look amazing, an then post images of your work, with the necessary links to your portfolio site.

Design Networking, Portfolio Hosting, etc
You Work For Them MyPage - Designers community. Show work and link to your portfolio
Coroflot - Create a portfolio, look for jobs and potential clients and employers
Computerlove - Creative network
View Creatives - Free version lets you add 3 images, your CV and links to other work
Finalcrit - Create a portfolio and enter the community

What am I missing. I would love to hear of anywhere else where you can pimp your service (so to speak) which I am missing.