How to get web design clients (without burning out)
If you’re a website designer wondering how to get web design clients you’re not alone. It’s a super common question I see pop up in forums all the time.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re just starting out and building your portfolio or you have a few years under your belt, this question can come up at every stage of business.
There are thousands of articles out there telling you to “post consistently on social media” or “just niche down,” but I prefer to take a much more sustainable and values-aligned approach to finding clients.
Because, the truth is, you don’t just want more clients – you want more aligned clients.
And to find aligned clients, you need to “market” in a way that feels good to you and good to the people you want to work with, too.
In this blog, I’m sharing the key techniques that helped me shift from hunting for work to not only having a steady flow of aligned client inquiries, but being completely booked out months in advance!
And, don’t worry, these techniques are free of sleazy marketing tactics and do not require social media.
Table of Contents
1. Focus your energy on one type of client
We’re all probably sick and tired of hearing the phrase “pick a niche.” I know I am. So let’s try to reframe this a little.
Rather than forcing yourself to box your creativity into one narrow industry, think of this as focusing your energy in one direction to build momentum.
From my own experience, working with a specific type of client or service area (whether it’s wellness practitioners, photographers, creatives or interior designers) comes with a whole heap of benefits:
You get faster and more efficient because you’re creating similar pages, structures and strategies over and over again.
You become known in that space. People begin referring to you as the designer who “gets” that industry.
You build a portfolio that speaks directly to future clients, and they begin to see themselves in your work.
You gain experience and deep insight into what that audience needs, which means you can pre-empt client questions, streamline your process and improve your client results.
2. Learn how to make your business more findable
Posting on Instagram and hoping for the best is not a sustainable marketing strategy.
Social media has never been a strong source of enquiries for me. It demands so much time and energy, but the return on investment just isn’t there.
And if I’m honest, I don’t like the way it makes me feel.
So instead, I’ve focused on search engine optimisation (SEO).
I truly believe that Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is one of the most powerful tools we have available to us as website designers.
When you understand how to be discoverable through search (and increasingly, through AI tools), you don’t have to constantly push to be visible. Instead, your website actually does the work for you because people find you exactly when they are ready for your services.
In my own business, I started implementing small SEO updates on my website and it made a huge difference. My rankings improved, and with that, came more aligned client enquiries and then I was suddenly booked out for months in advance!
For me, most of my clients now come from organic search and AI search.
If you want to learn how to do this too, my Calm Marketing Collection was created especially for designers and teaches my exact process.
It’s a set of supportive, jargon-free guides, workbooks and video tutorials – all designed to help you get found online in a way that feels calm and true to you.
Explore the Calm Marketing Collection here.
3. Create a website product clients can see before they buy
When it comes to website design – which can feel like a big investment for a small business – trust is a huge part of the decision-making process.
This is where templates and a semi-custom or one-week website offering can be a game-changer.
These kinds of “see before you buy” offerings help clients feel an immediate sense of calm and confidence. They know exactly what they’re getting.
Not only does this improve the client experience – it also makes your business easier to market.
Plus, you’re not reinventing the wheel every time so it saves you a whole heap of time.
Here’s a little tip:
Even if you haven’t worked with many clients yet, you can create a template or base design and then mock up examples of how that design could look for different industries.
For example, take a design created for a wellness practitioner and reimagine it for a naturopath, a yoga teacher, an acupuncturist and a counsellor.
Use those mockups to build out your portfolio. It helps potential clients visualise how your design could be tailored to them – which makes hiring you feel like an easy yes.
If you’re looking for ready-to-go tools to support your semi-custom or one-week website offering, I’ve created a full Website Designers Document Toolkit, filled with editable templates for delivering these types of projects calmly and clearly.
It’s the exact system I use in my studio. It’s made projects smoother, more structured and far less overwhelming – for both me and my clients. And because clients genuinely enjoy the process, they often share my name with others.
Find out more about the designers toolkit here.
4. Build referral partnerships with people who serve the same audience
When I first launched my studio, I wanted to work with coaches and wellness practitioners.
So I naturally built a relationship with a business coach who worked with those same audiences. Over time, we began referring to each other – and that connection brought in consistent, aligned work.
Think about cross-industry referral partnerships with businesses who serve the same industries as you – think photographers, copywriters, virtual assistants, business coaches, coaching schools, certification programs, social media managers, digital marketers, brand specialists – who will likely all have clients needing websites at some point.
These partnerships don’t need to be super formal. Sometimes, it’s just about reaching out, sharing your work and seeing how you could mutually support each other.
5. Focus on giving exceptional service to the clients you already have
If you’ve only got a small number of clients right now, focus on giving them the absolute best, most premium service you can. You’ve got the time and space so why not?
Use this time to develop a calm and thoughtful experience.
Work on improving your communication, onboarding process, off boarding process. Create reusable document templates and email scripts.
Providing a seamless, calm and enjoyable experience for your clients – it naturally leads to more referrals.
Plus, by investing in your systems now, you’re setting yourself up to manage more projects seamlessly when the enquiries do start flowing.
There was a time in my business when almost all of my mental energy was spent thinking about how to get web design clients.
I’d ask myself constantly: Where will the next enquiry come from? Am I doing enough? Am I good enough? Why isn’t this working faster?
I’d binge post on social media because I felt like I had to. I’d say yes to projects that didn’t quite feel aligned, because I didn’t know when the next one would come.
The mental load of this was exhausting. My creativity shrank. My confidence dipped. My vision narrowed to survival mode.
If this feels like you, I want to say that: it may not feel like it right now but it is totally possible for you to build a steady flow of client enquiries (without relying on social media or burning yourself out with constant posting).
The techniques I shared above are the exact things I did to stabilise my client flow.
And here’s the cool thing: when my client flow stabilised, and I no longer had to scramble for the next sale, something unexpected happened and so much more became possible.
Of course, consistent client enquiries come with some tangible, practical benefits:
You’re not glued to social media 24/7
You don’t feel like you have to say yes to every enquiry
Your income becomes more stable (and less emotionally charged)
You have breathing room between projects, and permission to rest
But what surprised me most were the less tangible shifts:
You stop second-guessing yourself
For a long time, I assumed that the lack of web design clients meant something was wrong with me.
Maybe I wasn’t good enough as a designer.
Maybe my work didn’t stand out.
Maybe I wasn’t cut out for this.
But when enquiries became consistent, the self-doubt started to evaporate. I started to trust myself more.
There’s something about having steady interest in your work that reminds you: Oh. I’m doing something right.
You become more selective
When you’re in scarcity mode, you feel like you have to say yes to every enquiry and opportunity.
Even if the project isn’t quite right, or the timeline is rushed, or the energy just doesn’t feel aligned.
But when you have options, you can choose.
You can tune in and ask: Is this the right fit? You can create better boundaries. You can design your schedule around the kind of work you love most.
What flows from that: Better projects. Better outcomes. More ease. Less friction. Because you’re working with clients who align with your values, your process, your pace.
You access a bigger, more visionary part of yourself
When you’re no longer worrying about how to get web design clients, something opens up in your business. You begin to think long-term. You give yourself permission to dream again. You create because you want to, not because you have to.
You start asking new questions:
What do I really want to create next?
What would feel expansive, meaningful, or joyful?
What legacy do I want to build through my work?
It’s like a shift from doing business to designing a business that is true to you.
This is what I want for more small business owners — to feel confident and clear about how new clients find them.
It’s why I created the Calm Marketing Collection.
A practical toolkit to help you build lasting discoverability in your business.
Inside, I share the exact methods I’ve used to create a steady client flow in my own business and for my clients – without the pressure of being constantly online.
Because when marketing feels calm and sustainable, you can step out of survival mode and into something more intentional and expansive.
