My three best ways for finding new clients is I have favorable ratings on Yelp, referrals from existing clients, and referrals from a Meetup group.

To get the Yelp reviews I ask clients at the end of a project if they would like to give me a review and I give them the URL to my Yelp page. Especially clients who came to me from Yelp or seem extra happy with my work.

Referrals from existing clients are especially nice because they come with an already favorable opinion of me and are generally a good match for me.

I belong to the Bay Area Joomla Meetup group. This is a group for web developers like me. At meetings, we are given opportunities to give short presentations on a web-development related topic, so we get to know each others’ areas of expertise. As Rebecca said, this presentation is like a speaking engagement but is only 10 minutes so requires less preparation and is less intimidating. The group leaders solicit referrals from potential clients and will occasionally refer one of the clients to me.

I also thank PATCA and CNSV for their networking opportunities — I believe giving my elevator pitch at these events has helped me to win new clients.