One of the first jobs I got as a freelance designer came about when, on a whim, I e-mailed someone whose website I stumbled across. He sold PDF informational products.
Since the only thing I knew how to do at that point was 3D book covers in Photoshop, I figured I had nothing to lose in introducing myself and explaining that I could handle his 3D book cover needs. (Those are the covers you see on websites that illustrate downloadable products.)
About a day later, I got a phone call from him. He liked the samples on my website, but here’s why he decided to hire me instead of someone else: I had my phone number and my address on my website.
He said that it bothered him that some people he might use for design and copywriting didn’t include that information. There was usually an e-mail link, or an e-mail form, but from his experience very few sites he visited listed a phone number or mailing address.
Sure, he might get that information after he e-mailed or hired the freelancer. But he felt that having the phone number and mailing address on the website said something about the freelancer. To him it said that you weren’t afraid to be accessible if someone had an immediate question prior to hiring you.
Maybe he was old-school… not one who wanted to type out long e-mail messages and then wait around for answers or wonder if the e-mail got through a spam filter.
Of course, his feelings on the matter were just his opinion. Not having a phone number and address on your site doesn’t mean you’re an untrustworthy designer and it doesn’t mean you’ll never get jobs. It just meant that, in this particular case, I stood out simply because I had that information on my site.
If providing that information on your site could land you a few extra jobs here and there, would it be worth it to you?
And that’s my point… sometimes we don’t do the easy things that might sway a potential client in our favor. Was it hard to have my phone number and address on my website. Not at all! But we do have to take the time to thoroughly think through what potential clients are looking for when they visit our sites. It’s not always just about displaying your design skills.
As I was writing this, I was contacted by a freelancer who was requesting some information. I went to his site and didn’t see a phone number, address or even some indication of where he was located. That says nothing about his design skills, but there are people out there who want to see that information before they contact you. No, it doesn’t completely make sense, but it’s a reality for some clients and you’d be wise to take that into consideration.
Here’s something I did a long time ago and I’d recommend you do the same. I looked at my website, my home page in particular, and asked, “What information is missing that a potential client may want to know?” And, “What information is currently there that really doesn’t need to be there?”
In the end, I restructured my whole site to make it as lean as possible. My contact information, instead of being on a Contact page, is at the bottom of every page. I also knew that people thinking of hiring me would be in a hurry. So I made sure my home page had all the important information:
1. An overall view of what I do and my Unique Selling Proposition
2. A list of the types of projects I handle
3. A few samples of my work
4. My contact information
Now let me tell you a piece of information that I removed from my home page that I used to think had value: a list of some of the design tools I use. What I found was that, for the type of clients I target, there’s already an assumption that I’m using professional-level tools and not doing something like magalog or book layouts in Word.
While the list of tools I use only took a sentence on my home page, it didn’t meet the criteria of what I thought was the core information my target clients would want if they only had time to look at my home page.
These days, if they only look at the home page, they have a pretty good idea of what I’m all about, what my skills are, and how to reach me. If they need more information, a larger portfolio and testimonials are on sub-pages. Or, they can pick up the phone and call me.
Is your home page providing only the most useful information to your potential clients? Or are you spilling your guts and overloading people with more information than they initially need at first glance?
