The holidays are upon us and the economy is shot to hell so desperate times call for desperate measures. The recession hit my web design business hard the past 2 years so I figured a little free advertising can’t hurt. I did a Google search for free classifieds in my area and as you would expect, Craigslist is number one. I figured that I could place an add and If I got one client out of it I would be happy. I created a simple 3 sentence add describing my business and what I had to offer. I felt like a anxious kid on Christmas eve, waiting to see what will come of my little snipplet. I didn’t receive any calls the first day so I decided to check my ad and make sure I had the right phone number on it, I’m known for typo’s. OK, where is it? Nobody told me that when you place an ad on craigslist it immediately disappears off the page because 30 other people have the same idea as you. I just need more posts! My obsessive nature came out and from now one no one will have more post than me! Ads three times a day, every day. This has to work.
About a week later I received a call from someone who saw my ad! Yippie, free business. It only took me 15 minutes 3 times a day for a week to get this guy. He proceeded to tell me what he was looking for and It sounded like every other client I have met. I asked him all the usual questions and then I asked what his budget was. Budget? He replied. Well I have a few puppies I can give you. Dogs? He wants to trade dogs for my labor intensive, mind boggling design work. Don’t get me wrong, I love dogs, but bartering is not what I had in mind.
I guess the moral of the story is, If you want to attract quality customers, do the footwork, pay the money and do it right!
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