I am a self employed web developer and have been advertising on a classified site called Gumtree in Australia. I have gotten a few clients calling in from time to time however I believe expanding my postings to other regions as well as classified sites overseas can help me obtain more leads. I was wondering if anyone has experience in doing this and how I can avoid being flagged as a spammer - as well as whether I should employ people overseas to post the sites or if I should just get an IP blocker.
In my experience, classified sites have always been a total waste of time. I've been in business for 15 years now and here's what has worked for me:
- Referrals - absolutely the best method hands down
- Facebook Advertising
- Becoming a trusted expert in the forums of whatever platform you use
- Guest blogging/guest on podcasts
- Community involvement (trade groups, conferences, forums)
- SEO using long-tail - broad keywords like web developer are impossible
What hasn't worked well:
- Bidding out jobs on sites like Upwork (the competition there is tough to match on price)
- Direct marketing (mail, personal emails, cold calling)
There really are no geographic boundaries when it comes to web development - many of our clients are in Europe and Australia so don't limit yourself to just your home country!
Answered 6 years ago
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