[P&R]

Difficult to think of a title for this thread, but I was wondering something. How many people would choose to hire a web designer who was not from their home town? Surely this has to be highly unliklely.

Recently, someone I know in Oxford offered to advertise my web design services free of charge on their "What's On in Oxfordshire" type website. I declined this, despite it being free of charge. I wondered why anybody in Oxfordshire would wish to purchase the services of a web designer 100 miles away. They wouldn't. Right? I am certain the customer would wish to meet the people concerned. Tell me if I'm wrong there.

As it happens, I am currently building websites for businesses as far away as Manchester and Kings Lynn, but I happen to know the people concerned, so these would be an exception.

My point is that, it would be pointless to pay for any kind of national advertising campaign or Google Pay-Per-Click type service. Or maybe you can tell me otherwise.

[cjgraphix]

I have clients across the United States, and in multiple countries. I have more national clients than I do local clients. Maybe once a year I'll take a trip and see the ones on the West Coast, but that's about it.

Why do you think your limited to your local area? seems like a very finite number of opportunities.

[P&R]

That's very interesting cjg. I would not have expected this.

How does it work though? There has to be a certain amount of trust on the part of the customer if they never actually meet you.

I presume everything is discussed and planned over the phone and online, etc.

[cjgraphix]

Originally Posted by P&R

How does it work though? There has to be a certain amount of trust on the part of the customer if they never actually meet you.

I presume everything is discussed and planned over the phone and online, etc.

I'm am very confident at the sales part of my business, which helps.

Lots of good documentation throughout the pitch / design / development process. I make the client feel comfortable with my experience typically. Even today, found myself in a conversation with a new client in Texas.. who is probably ready to sign a contract. But this client found me through one of my public sites and already had it in mind that they wanted to work with me because of previous projects.