How To Find Clients Online: 10 Working Steps

Spending hours on marketing with little to show for it? You’re not alone! But what if there was a way to attract clients online without the struggle?

This blog post is your ultimate guide to building a strong online presence that attracts ideal clients naturally. We’ll ditch the complicated tactics and show you simple and effective strategies to find freelance clients online, grow your marketing agency’s client base, or simply expand your customer reach.

How to find new clients online

Here are 10 steps you can use to find new online clients for your business:

1. Leverage your current client base for referrals

The people you already helped are a great way to find new clients online! They know how awesome you are and can tell others who might need your help too. Here’s how to get them talking about you online:

• Referral Programs: Set up a system where you reward happy customers for recommending you to their friends. You could offer discounts, free stuff, or other goodies for each person they send your way.
• Online Reviews: Good reviews online are like gold! Ask your happy customers to leave nice comments about you on Google, Yelp, or other websites where people look for businesses like yours.
• Social Media Shoutouts: Make it easy for your customers to brag about you online! Give them quotes, pictures, or other things they can share on Facebook, Instagram, or other social media to tell their friends why you’re the best.

2. Follow up with “lost” leads

Sometimes people who show interest in your services online might not convert into clients right away. These are called “lost leads,” but don’t write them off just yet! With a friendly follow-up, you can turn them into paying customers.

Here’s how to reconnect with lost leads online:

• Stay in Touch: When someone expresses interest but doesn’t buy right away, capture their contact information (email address is ideal). This allows you to send them updates, special offers, or helpful content related to their needs.
• Targeted Communication: Don’t blast generic emails. Tailor your follow-up messages to address their specific interests. Remind them of the benefits you offer and how you can solve their problems.
• Offer Value, Not Just Sales: Don’t just push for a sale. Provide valuable content or resources that demonstrate your expertise and build trust. This could be free consultations, informative blog posts, or helpful videos.

3. Consider your SEO strategy

Many potential clients start their product search online using a search engine, so it’s important that they can find your website quickly and easily in online searches. SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of improving your website’s ranking in search engine results pages, which can increase your website’s traffic. Although you can buy ad space to help your website rank higher, you can also improve your SEO organically, which can naturally increase your website’s rankings in search engine results. Some methods to improve your SEO organically include:

• Researching keywords that your potential clients search for and using them on your website
• Linking resources within your site
• Creating unique website content, like blog posts, videos, and e-books

4. Create insightful content for your website

Struggling to find new clients online? Your website can be a game-changer! Instead of just listing prices, transform it into a treasure trove of useful info for potential clients.

Imagine your ideal client searching online with questions. Craft blog posts, articles, or videos that answer those questions and show how you solve their problems. Become an online authority by sharing your knowledge and expertise. Don’t forget to use keywords throughout your content, so they can easily find you. Plus, make it easy for visitors to share your content on social media, expanding your reach and attracting new clients from their network. By providing value online, you turn your website into a client magnet!

5. Consider using a lead capture on your website

A lead capture allows potential clients to enter their contact information directly into your website. Once you’ve gained a lead’s contact information, you can connect with them directly to engage them in a conversation about their needs. To encourage potential clients to fill out your lead capture, consider offering exclusive content to anyone who gives you their contact information. Here are some examples of content you can offer potential clients in exchange for contact information:

• Recordings of past webinars
• Access to e-books or PDFs
• Interactive content like quizzes or surveys
• Entry into a drawing for a special offer

6. Launch a lead-generation campaign

Stuck finding clients online? Here’s a trick! Imagine giving away a free ebook or hosting a helpful webinar in exchange for someone’s email address. That’s lead generation! It’s a way to attract potential clients who aren’t quite ready to pay yet. By offering something valuable for free, you get their email and can follow up later with more info about your services.

This lets you build a relationship and turn them into real clients down the line. Plus, you can make the offer exclusive for a short time to encourage people to sign up quickly. Lead generation is a great way to turn your website into a client-finding machine!

7. Use social media wisely

Social media can be a rewarding long-term strategy. It’s important to develop a social media marketing plan before creating social media account to maintain focus and brand consistency. If you consider your audience and their needs, your content can appeal strongly to your ideal client. Just like website content, strong social marketing content encourages potential clients to engage with your business.

Most large social media platforms have business account options, so you have different options for your business’s social media presence. An ideal social media platform has a high usage rate of people who fit your ideal client in terms of age, gender and interests. Consider linking your website and social media to each other using a banner or button on both pages. That way, potential clients can click through and engage your services easily.

8. Develop effective calls to action for your potential clients

A call to action directs potential clients to complete a specific action after they read your emails, interact with your social media posts or visit your website. A strong call to action brings your potential client into a more in-depth conversation with your business. Here are some effective calls to action that you can add to your client-facing communications:

• Signing up for a webinar
• Downloading a resource
• Contacting a sales representative

9. Try cold emailing

Cold emailing involves reaching out to people or businesses who haven’t interacted with your business before. Cold emailing works best when your ideal client is a business or other organization because institutions have public contact information. Compiling a prospecting list manually takes time, but it can result in a high-quality list of potential clients.

When writing an email to a prospective client, personalize your message based on their needs. Your emails can offer the recipient a glimpse into your business and what it can do for them. If you send out a cold email, consider adding a call to action that drives them into a further conversation with you.

10. Get involved in your industry and community

The more connected you are with your industry, the more your potential clients may see you as an expert in the field. One way you can get connected is by joining a professional organization in your industry. Being a member of a professional organization can offer the opportunity to take part in marketing events, like webinars and conferences. These associations often have online membership directories, which can bring your business to the attention of potential clients. Membership in these organizations often allows you to put their seal of approval on your website.