Flaneurette
Active Member
Some honest advice from running (Internet) companies for 20 years: a website doesn't promote itself, so the chance you get any clients from having a website alone is slim, unless you are established or in the top 10 of Google. For a shop it is somewhat different. But for composers, musicians, treat your website as a business card, portfolio, to which you can send potential clients. Printing real business cards with that web address might land you customers offline.
I ran a design company for 15 years. In that 15 years I only got (if I remember it well) 3, yes, 3 customers coming directly from my website inquiring about design. All my other clients came from real world connections, networking and meeting people. Think about it: when you need a service, where do you go? if you are like me, you will look into your own network to see who is there who can do the job. When that resource is exhausted, you turn to friends who might suggest a guy. The last option will be Google, which is similar to approaching a stranger. I know no-one who goes onto soundcloud or whatever, and look for some composer to hire.
Having a network is the best thing. Probably the only thing that will make a real difference. We once hired a guy, only for his connections and network. He came to us with a little flip-box filled with hundreds of business cards of important people at important businesses. He placed this little box in front of us, and he knew he would get hired. He got the keys to castle, so to speak. His little box with business cards was worth millions.
My advice would be: get a business card and land yourself in these boxes, invest in offline connections, actively search for possible clients and networks. Go and do commercials, do some work for free, look in classified ads, connect with musicians, connect with people who make films, students, do a free score for them. If they blow up one day, they will take you with them in their blast field, if the explosion is big enough. Few people ever succeeded alone.
I ran a design company for 15 years. In that 15 years I only got (if I remember it well) 3, yes, 3 customers coming directly from my website inquiring about design. All my other clients came from real world connections, networking and meeting people. Think about it: when you need a service, where do you go? if you are like me, you will look into your own network to see who is there who can do the job. When that resource is exhausted, you turn to friends who might suggest a guy. The last option will be Google, which is similar to approaching a stranger. I know no-one who goes onto soundcloud or whatever, and look for some composer to hire.
Having a network is the best thing. Probably the only thing that will make a real difference. We once hired a guy, only for his connections and network. He came to us with a little flip-box filled with hundreds of business cards of important people at important businesses. He placed this little box in front of us, and he knew he would get hired. He got the keys to castle, so to speak. His little box with business cards was worth millions.
My advice would be: get a business card and land yourself in these boxes, invest in offline connections, actively search for possible clients and networks. Go and do commercials, do some work for free, look in classified ads, connect with musicians, connect with people who make films, students, do a free score for them. If they blow up one day, they will take you with them in their blast field, if the explosion is big enough. Few people ever succeeded alone.
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