How to get your designs seen and found by clients
When you start your career as a graphic designer it’s hard to get your work seen by potential clients and people in general. Even if your portfolio is a well designed website, it’s just one more in the sea of graphic design websites.
So how can you get your designs seen and found by clients?
Getting visibility is not the same as actively looking for clients, nor is it about building your portfolio. Sure all three things merge with each other but in this case we will talk about mainly about getting your work out in the world. Getting clients and building your portfolio can be considered “collateral damage.”
Search Engine Optimization (if you have a website portfolio)
If you, in fact, have a website portfolio, your SEO needs to be on point for it to even be found anywhere. SEO can help you get found locally in your area and it can help you get found online for anyone in the world.
The key is to use the proper Title and Headline tags, meta descriptions, and keywords. If your portfolio is on WordPress, using an SEO helper like Yoast can make this process much easier. Wix and Squarespace have integrated SEO sections which you need to fill in.
Let’s use an example for a graphic designer in Miami. She wants her work seen in Miami mostly but is open to it being seen anywhere in the world too.
Title: Graphic design services by Vanessa Gonzales
Meta description: Graphic design services for small businesses, branding and logo design, business cards, storefront signs, personalized social media images. Design services in the greater Miami Area. Free design consultation via Skype or over coffee.
Keywords: Graphic design services for small businesses, Graphic design services for Miami entrepreneurs, Logo design services in Miami, branding and logo design services in Miami, business card designs, storefront sign design, personalized social media images. Design services in the greater Miami Area, Freelance designer for small businesses.
The keywords should be used inside the content of your pages, strategically. Don’t keyword dump because that will make your portfolio seem spammy and Google will not like it. A great way to use the keywords is to have different pages for different types of designs inside your portfolio. A page of logo design, another page of print design, another page for social media etc.
ALWAYS USE IMAGE SEO
One of the biggest supporters of SEO inside your portfolio are your images. If your site is a visual paradise of wonderful designs, no one will ever see your work if the images aren’t optimized for SEO.
Images need three things: First they have to be uploaded with a good file name. If it’s a logo for example it can be called; Logo design by Vanessa Gonzales for *insert client*. This needs to be changed in your computer before it’s even uploaded! Once the image is in the website it will need a title tag and alt text. The title should be the same as the file name, but the alt tag should include a bit more.
It should look like this:
File name: Logo design by Vanessa Gonzales for *insert client*
Title: Logo design by Vanessa Gonzales for *insert client*
Alt text: Logo design by Vanessa Gonzales for *insert client*. Graphic design services in the Greater Miami Area. Logo design services in Miami.
If you need to find out more about how to have killer SEO on your portfolio here are couple handy links:
How to do SEO for your Design Portfolio
Long tail keywords for your design website
If you don’t have a website portfolio yet, you should really consider making one
as soon as possible.
Promoting your work
Design Hubs
There are a few ways to promote your design work online. One is to create an account in a site like Behance or Dribble and start showing your work there. Make sure everything looks top notch since you are competing with thousands of other designers. Use relevant titles and descriptions, just how you would on your portfolio website.
Social Media
This is where things start to get intense. You need to show off your work on Social Media, relying on SEO will not be enough. You can either share straight from your portfolio site, or from your Behance or Dribble profile. Experts say that to really be noticed on social media you should only concentrate on two social media channels at a time. This is true to some extent, but depending on your time capacity you should be able to post everywhere.
Create a Facebook Page and Twitter account for yourself as a designer. Use great headers designed by you of course. Create a Tumblr and a Pinterest account where you can also share your work. Use relevant hashtags. Take a cue from your keywords and then use words that describe the specific project you are sharing about.
Post your designs to Instagram along with Instagram stories showing off your design style. Design everything yourself and be proud of it.
Design resource websites
Create some designs that will help other designers or entrepreneurs with their business. Sell them on sites like Freepik or Creative Market. Make sure your profile includes a link to your website portfolio and social media. A lot of designers get discovered this way.
Process and behind the scenes
On either a blog section of your site or on Behance or even Facebook, show process photos of your projects. Take photos of the first sketches of your favorite projects and show them off. Create a slideshow or photo essay of the process from sketch to final design.
If you are consistent and put in the effort to get your designs seen online, people will start to notice you. When you get an interested client email, you will have lots of places to direct them to for examples of your work. If you have titled and tagged everything, when they google your name to online stalk you (everyone does it), they will see lots of examples of your work right there in the images search.
Good Luck and happy designing!
