Without a doubt, one of the biggest questions we get asked about runnin’ an online biz is this….

“How the heck do you actually land clients?”

So today we’re breaking down the exact strategies we used to land our dream clients. This post is for you if you’re ready to dive deep into how to actually land your ideal clients with our exact step-by-step process.

The first strategy is what we like to call: The Wildfire Strategy.

What is the Wildfire Strategy you ask?

The Wildfire Strategy is our proven system that will teach you how to market yourself and network to get irresistible client referrals…for free, so you can start growing your online biz like wildfire!

Ready to jump in? Get that notepad ready, and let’s do this thang, chica!

STEP 1: BUILD A VIRTUAL STOREFRONT USING SQUARESPACE

Now, I know what you might be thinkin’ build a storefront? Say whaaat. Not that kinda storefront, girl. This is a virtual storefront! 

Think about it like this: let’s imagine for a moment you’re baker, and your true passion in life was to sell cupcakes.

In order to do that, you’d need a bakery storefront to display all your yummy cupcake flavors, showcase your awesome brand and you’d need a place for people to come in and make their orders.

So if your passion in life is to sell online services, you need a storefront so you can showcase your epic services! But instead of a physical storefront…you’re going to need a virtual one.

You need that place on the internet that you can display your services, showcase your awesome brand and a place for potential clients to book your services

What does this look like, exactly? I’m talkin’ about a professional, client-magnetizing business website!  

And it’s one of the most crucial elements to attracting quality clients online. It’s the number one thing you need before you start reaching out to potential clients.

If you’re thinkin’…

“But I have no idea how to build a website. It sounds complicated!”

Don’t worry, chica! We’ve got your answer. We’d like to introduce you to a super simple and easy website building platform that will allow you to get your website launched in as little as one week!

Ready to dive into it…?

Enter: Squarespace.

Squarespace is one of the TOP website building platforms, because it’s supes easy to use, and seriously professional looking! It’s also inexpensive, and has gorgeous templates for you to just plop in your content to achieve a gorgeous, professional looking website.

Let’s take a look at one of our incredible student Katie’s website she built using Squarespace, for example.

One of the first things you’ll notice is that her website has a few must-have items that you need to attract quality clients.

First, she includes the 5 most important website pages: your About Page, your Services Page, your Portfolio Page and your Contact page.

You’ll also see here that Katie makes it easy for clients to immediately know what services her business offers.

She totally nails this homepage introduction by clearly stating: what her business does, who she does it for, the value she has to offer and an easy link to get in touch with her. 

Even if you’ve never built a website before, this is the place to start, girl.

But now you might be wondering….

What the heck do you put on the website, if you don’t have any client work yet?

It’s like we’re readin’ your mind over here  this leads us to Step 2… ????

STEP 2: CREATE MOCKUP PROJECTS

Okay, so at this point, you totes know you need to create your epic virtual storefront, aka your Squarespace website. But what the heck do you put on it?

Enter: Mockup Projects!

In a nutshell, mockup projects are real-life client scenarios that will allow you to gain experience and build your portfolio — it’s a total win-win!

Let’s break it down a bit. Let’s say you’re a graphic designer who loooves interior design. You can totally design a logo and branding for an interior design shop.

Or…

Maybe you’re a social media manager who is obsessed with fitness. You can 100% design graphics for a conceptual pilates studio!

Or…

Maybe you’re a virtual assistant who wants to work with health coaches, you can totes design a landing page for a health and wellness retreat!

But let’s break down what this looks like a bit more, shall we? Let’s take our student Toni’s mockup projects featuring a female-only coworking space, for example:

You can see that she took that concept, and brought to life a gorgeous brand. She created logos, a color palette and fonts that she can now use in her design portfolio! #BOOMBBABY

Now, once you have your mockup projects created, what is the best way to showcase your projects on your website for potential clients to see?

That’s where that Squarespace website we talked about earlier comes in, girl! Let’s take a peek at what this really looks like, and jump back to Katie’s portfolio page. She does a great job of displaying her work in a very visually appealing way.  

Katie’s portfolio page is super clean, and seriously visually appealing. But most importantly, it’s also easy for potential clients to navigate and understand what exactly they’re looking at. You don’t want to keep your potential clients guessin’ here ????

See what we mean, chica? You’ve totally got this! Just use these projects as display on your website…

And voila! You now have an epic #girlboss portfolio! 

Okay, so you’ve officially launched your website, have a killer portfolio, now where do the clients come in?

Let’s jump to Step 3, girl!

STEP 3: THE WILDFIRE RIPPLE EFFECT

Let’s break a common myth right now: once you hit “launch” the clients won’t just magically roll in. We know, we know. If only it were that easy!

But lucky for you, we have the perfect solution! You know we wouldn’t leave ya hangin ????

So, what is the wildfire ripple effect? The Wildfire Ripple Effect is about tapping into your own network for referrals, a strategy to quickly find your first clients who need your business services.

Don’t think you’ve got anyone in your network? Think again! Right now, I want you to make a list of of people in your life:

• Friends & Family
• Past colleagues
• Past internships
• University/college professors
• Volunteer work

Boom! Looks like you’ve got a network, girl! Now…it’s time to reach out to them!

Let allll those contacts of yours know that you’ve started your new biz (you’ll be surprised how excited they’ll be for you!) and make sure you send them these 5 elements in your message:

• Let them know you’re excited to share that you launched your own online business!
• Describe what services you offer
• Make it clear you’re looking for clients
• Ask for a referral (don’t be shy, girl!)
• Provide a link to your business website (ya know, that epic storefront we talked about earlier!)

That’s it! Your goal is that for each person you reach out to, they’ll recommend you to at least three people.

Then, those 3 people will introduce you to at least 2 more people and on and on it goes until you my friend, have a business that’s spreading like wildfire ????

BONUS STEP: CREATE REFERRAL INCENTIVES

You know we love bonuses here at BB headquarters, and this bonus step is a goodie! An additional element you can add to this wildfire networking strategy is to add what is what we like to call a “referral incentive”.

What exactly is a referral incentive?  It’s a way to entice people in your network to refer clients your way. 

Essentially it’s a monetary incentive and a nice gesture to say “thank you” for you work together, in the hopes that they will pass your name on.

Now this part is especially important: you only give the referral incentive once that person has officially booked your services.

What can you do for incentives? In the beginning, we recommend that you choose a flat amount for all referrals in the beginning, say $50 off your services, or a Starbucks gift card, to keep it simple.

YOUR ACTION STEPS:

Wanna recap what we learned today? Here’s the deets, in a nutshell:

• Step 1: Use Squarespace to easily build a high-converting, client-magnetizing business website to attract clients! Remember, think about the bakery method. If you want to sell the goods, you’ve got to make an epic storefront, chica! #BOOMBABY
• Step 2: Create Mockup projects to showcase your skills and services to potential clients (show off those skillz, girl!). Remember that you can display these on your brand new Squarespace website to totally draw in your ideal clients.
• Step 3: Reach out to people in your network using the Wildfire Ripple Effect (and watch those referrals roll in!). Don’t be nervous to reach out to your network, you’ll be surprised at how much they want to help you! Remember, for an extra bonus
• BONUS: Add a referral incentive for your current clients, like a Starbucks gift card, so that they’ll pass your name along in the future!

These are the exact tactics we utilized to help take our online businesses to the next level, and start booking our dream clients online.

Let us know in the comments below what your biggest takeaway was! We can’t wait to see you out there totally killin’ the game and putting these steps to use! ????

When you put these strategies to use, we know that your business will spread like wildfire