I had to smile about “tossing up a website and hoping for business to magically appear”. It feels that it’s often pretty much what I’m doing… Although, I think that the Wix Arena, delivering quality work, and having a “help don’s sell” mentality, and having an excellent relationship with my clients have been my main marketing.
Most clients that I got from inside and outside the Wix Arena, I got by helping them with a few little things for free. Almost all of them turned into clients giving me large well paid projects. From several of them I got ongoing monthly work.
Almost all the websites I’m currently working I got through referrals from others that I already designed a side for.
These are all clients located outside of the country where I live. They are mostly located in the US, Canada, and Australia.
Not sure if you can call the above marketing at all but it works for me, I get more work then I can do if I would stick to a regular 8 hour day.
Curious to hear how others experience this!