Thread: hello I need some constructive criticism...

Hi there,

I'm a freelance designer/artworker with 16 years experience and I'm finding it really difficult to find new clients. I'm not sure if it's how much i'm charging or I just don't have a very strong website and portfolio.

If anyone has a spare 5 minutes could you have a wee look at my site and let me know where I'm going wrong!

www.rockpoolgd.com

thanks!
Nicola

Your work and website look fine to me, what do you charge compared to other designers? Are you working hard enough at marketing your business, maybe people just can't find you and that is the problem??

Thanks Boss Hogg.

Marketing? well I kind of rely on word of mouth but not much wording from mouths is going on.
I also send out a million emails to clients that I'd like to work with but either no response or they have their own in-house designers.

As far as costs is £250.00 too much for a logo? and I just charged £280.00 for a 12 pp brochure is that a bit steep?


Thanks again
Nicola

Hi Nicola,

I think your work and website looks very good. I also don't think your prices are too high (if anything, £280 for a 12pp brochure is a bit low).

One thing I'd suggest is to concentrate on optimising your website so it's a bit more SEO-friendly. I've just done a search for 'graphic design Ayrshire, Scotland' and your website doesn't appear on the first 5 or 6 pages.

Whilst appearing on the first page of Google for that search term won't automatically bring in lots of work, I don't think it'll harm your chances.

I would also look consider joining a local business enterprise or a chamber of commerce so you get the opportunity to meet other businesses that might need a graphic designer.

There's a great book that I recently finishing reading called 'Speak Human' by Eric Karjaluoto that talks about small businesses and the advantages it has over larger corporate companies.

Good luck

Scott

I work largely on word of mouth but I make efforts with my current/former clients to keep the word moving through regular contact - and I do find that it works. If you're not already on Linked-In, invite everyone you know to join your network and, when they accept the invite, follow it up by establishing direct contact and laying out your offer in more detail: this has initiated some solid working relationships for me in the past.

Your site and portfolio look fine to me, by the way (although I'm not overkeen on the cutesy cat thing)...

Originally Posted by Nicola

Thanks Boss Hogg.

Marketing? well I kind of rely on word of mouth but not much wording from mouths is going on.
I also send out a million emails to clients that I'd like to work with but either no response or they have their own in-house designers.

As far as costs is £250.00 too much for a logo? and I just charged £280.00 for a 12 pp brochure is that a bit steep?


Thanks again
Nicola

Judging by where i work (as an in house graphic designer), an email is going to go straight in the bin. nobody will read it. The only things that ever get paid even the slightest bit of attention by the managers here are physical things sent through the post that involve them somehow (interactive), or a very well timed phonecall that catches them in and not too busy to talk (very rare!)

Could i suggest maybe getting some flyers printed and passing them around all local businesses, or paying a small fee to have them distributed with the local newspapers?