How Doing Free Stuff Can Increase Traffic and Attract Clients
Published on September 20, 2009 / Freelance
“Do cool free stuff that doesn’t make you any money. It will totally grow your brand and get you clients” said Jeffrey Zeldman, founder of Happy Cog Studios, in a July .net interview. When reading this statement, a past experience resonated in my mind.
I am a frequent user of iGoogle, a customizable web portal, using it as means of organizing my workday. Over a year ago, I saw an opportunity to enhance the look of iGoogle by creating a custom theme design, one that would provide a visually-relaxing user-experience and enable a smooth transition through a stressful workday. So my theme Phantasea was born. I continued experimentation and created Phantasea Renewal, an upgrade from my previous theme, and put many uncompensated hours into theme creation.
Phantasea Renewal became a quick success and, at one point, gained as many as 200,000 iGoogle users. In Fall of 2008, I was contacted by Google, who asked for permission to use my theme on a major project that was under development. In return, I asked for some form of credit for my work. Google obliged and, in November, launched Gmail Themes. Phantasea Renewal became 1 of 18 Gmail themes offered to the world of Gmail users.
The first full day after launch brought in 11,000 unique visitors to my website via the credit link from Google. This was a massive spike for me. I received emails from all over the world, ranging from foreigners asking me to visit Iraq to potential clients inquiring about work. I acquired a new freelance contract, which ended up paying for the time I put into theme creation.
iGoogle may presently be a worn-out option for attracting new clients with its high-volume gallery of user-created themes. However, there are plenty of alternatives, like designing a desktop calendar for Smashing Magazine subscribers. Use your own judgment and think of something small that has big potential and go for it. Design for a community without the expectation of receiving something back. Lastly, always have your website prepared to handle a rush of new traffic!
What methods have worked for you?
Subscribe to get the latest posts via RSS or follow me on Twitter.
Email Post / Print Post / Leave a Reply
Great post, thanks