How to get more web development clients in the early stages in India.

Hi, I'm Harsh Vats, a full stack web developer and a designer.

I'm in my 6th semester while writing this blog post and I've done contributions to 3 startups and successfully delivered more than 20 websites to clients, some Indian and some International.

The below points are some ways to get more website development clients. However, it's not necessary to follow them in order but that's how it worked for me atleast.

1. Find clients in your family or friends.

This is where you should start. Don't charge too much. In India, if you are doing designing and development yourself, then you can easily charge minimum of 2000 rupees for static sites like a gym of your friend, real estate business of your uncle, etc.

If you don't have any projects to show at this point, just ask them to pay for hosting and domain and do the development for free. Consider these are your projects which will help you later. A project is a project and no one knows how much you charged for the website.

2. Be active on social media.

This one might seem a bit over work for now but trust me, it'll eventually help you build your profile and trust.

I never worked on my social media and always thought that it's just a waste of time. But I realised later that social media is "The Thing" in coming times.

You need to build your good presence on social media like instagram or linkedIn. LinkedIn can also help you in getting jobs or generating leads. Keep posting your original thoughts.

Don't post any motivational stuff all the time. Sometimes it's okay but most of the time it just feels like someone is trying to make connections or increase followers without doing any effort. In short, it just feels annoying.

3. You should have atleast 3 complete websites to show.

Except your friends or family, nobody is going to believe that you can make good websites without actually seeing some of the websites that you have built in the past.

So the more the good websites, the easier it would be for you to get web development clients.

These websites can be those which you built for your family. You can tell clients that you built the website for "x" amount of money and there's high chance of getting your next project from there.

4. Print your visiting card

Believe me, you need a visiting card to show that you actually are a professional developer and can make some great websites.

Not only it reflects professionalism but also shows authenticity.

In India, you can easily print cards with a rate of 2rupees/card.

Here is a great visiting card design for you.

5. Go to meetups/functions.

This is very important to not miss meetups and functions. After my admission to IIT, I never really went to marriages because I thought that they won't benefit me.

You know how many functions happen in India daily and we get invitaitions a lot. This is the best opportunity to go and meet different people and tell them that you make websites, give them your visiting card.

They might call you one day for a website.

6. It's time to go in the market and tell people about your service.

You are now ready to go the market and talk to real customers where you can charge good amount.

Show them your previous projects and tell them the benefits of having a website.

If they want a website, it's good otherwise leave your card and tell them to call you if they change their mind or they know someone who wants a website.

You are not only getting clients by this but also making connections and building your profile.

7. Start on online platforms like Upwork.

There are many platforms for freelancers like upwork, freelancer to start your freelancing but it's very tough to get work at the beginning.

Keep applying and don't loose hope. Trust me, you will get some work eventually from these platform. I personally use upwork and have never used any other platform. It's very good source of income and I also build some good connections from here.

Thank you for reading till here. I know it's hard to get clients in the starting but this is how the world works. You need to put some efforts.

Getting clients is tough but not impossible.

Thank you
Harsh Vats