How To Find new clients: 21 ways to grow your business

Wonderful World of Websites | Website Wonder Woman

Find new clients to grow your business

Do you want to find new clients? Run out of places to look? Or don’t have a budget to spend on getting leads?

We all want to find new clients, people who are enthusiastic about working with us and respect what we do. But where do you begin? Sometimes we just need a little inspiration to help us. So, with a wave of my magic wand, here are my top 21 ways to find new clients to help you grow your business successfully.

Find New Clients Through People You Know:

1. YOUR FAMILY:

As I like to say to my clients and community online, 'Your network is your net-worth!' So with that in mind, do any of your family members have a spouse, friend, or colleague whom they could introduce you to?

2. YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS:

The same as above. If you don't ask, you will never find out!

 3. EX-COLLEAGUES AND MANAGERS:

For example, I spoke to my ex-director recently, and he gave me an introduction to be a speaker at a networking event. A perfect opportunity for me to find new clients.

Find new clients - a variety of common social media outlet logos

How to Find New Clients on Social Media: 

 4. LINKEDIN:

Who are you connected to? Are they your ideal client, OR are they connected to someone who is, whom they can introduce you to? (You can do this via LinkedIn messaging.)

5. X:

X is a great place to interact with your dream clients, and busy people are much more likely to reply to a tweet than a DM. Use relevant hashtags to get seen and find people. 

6. X CHATS:

Are a good way to interact with your ideal clients. Search for industry-relevant X chats or start your own! 

7. INSTAGRAM:

This is another great platform for finding clients. For certain industries, DM’ing businesses with a good pitch can work. 

 8. YOUTUBE:

It's a great place to build an audience of ideal clients. Utilise keywords to skyrocket your results. 

 9. PINTEREST:

It's a good platform for utilising SEO and driving traffic to your website/blog, and often very underrated.

 10. FACEBOOK:

Is there someone on Facebook who always likes and comments on your posts or videos that you have never reached out to?

11.  FACEBOOK BUSINESS PAGE:

If you have a FB biz page, check if you have connected with EVERYONE who likes your page? If not, you are missing a trick! They are very likely to be your ideal clients! Why else would they like your page?

12. ONLINE COMMUNITIES:

Do you have an online community? Have you personally contacted EVERYONE in there? If not, you have not exhausted all your potential leads! Go and introduce yourself to the ones you’ve never spoken to. I personally also like to check in with people I haven’t heard from in a while.

 

Participating in Online Discussions to Get New Clients: 

 13. FB GROUPS:

It’s so easy to find people who need help. FB groups, for example, are great for this. You can search for ‘keywords’ in the search box (for example ‘sales’ or ‘mindset’) and find people that you could help. 

14. QUORA:

Quora is also another great site for this. Answer questions and make sure you link back to your page/site/blog. There are so many different questions asked every day, and I’m sure you can find your set of posts where you can give value and get people to move over to your own platform. 

 15. BLOGS/ONLINE FORUMS:

These can be great for finding leads. For example, mumsnet.com in the UK is full of mums online talking about their issues. This is an ideal place to be if you sell to mums (or your country equivalent). My tip is to join forums where your ICA is going for a hobby/interest - think outside the box! 

 16. MEETUP.COM:

It's an amazing place to find your dream clients! Have you heard of it? Join a Meetup or start your own! 

People networking with one man stood detached from the group, nervous, but he wants to find new clients

In-Person Networking to Look for New Clients: 

 17. LOCAL MEETUPS:

Network events in your area are a great place to meet your ideal clients. Search your local area to find upcoming events near you. Try meetup.com. I've also written a blog about Networking Events (click this link to read it)

18. EVENTS:

Organised events are great for getting in front of your ideal clients. You can use eventbrite.co.uk to find local events and search for national and global events specific to your industry. 

 19. YOUR CHURCH:

Have you spoken to them about your biz? There may be people there who can help you. 

 20. YOUR CHILDREN'S SCHOOL:

Have you mentioned your business to other parents? They may have a spouse or friend who could be your ideal client! Why not start a business coffee morning for the parents to see how you can support each other? 

 21. CURRENT AND PREVIOUS CLIENTS:

People often forget this! Have you reached out to see if they know anyone you can help or whom they could introduce you to? Do you have a referral scheme to encourage this? Have you checked if they may wish to hire you again?!

You Can Find New Clients Everywhere! 

As you can see, once you start looking closer, you can find new clients EVERYWHERE! You just need to get really good at: 

  • Constantly look for opportunities everywhere you are/go. 
  • Being consistent and relentless in building your list (your 'sales pipeline') of people you can help! 
  • Having a drive and enthusiasm to keep going (GRIT!!!)

Recommendations still remain the most credible form of advertising, with 83% of people saying they trust the recommendations of friends.

So… what are you waiting for? It's time to find new clients!

I hope this list was helpful and brought you one step, if not several steps, closer to finding them!

Jade Jemma, Sales Strategist, London - Find New Clients author

> More blog posts by Jade Jemma

> Her website Freedomzest.com

About the Author

Jade Jemma is a sought after sales growth expert and speaker based in London, UK.

Through her private mentoring, group programs and online courses Jade helps freedom-focused entrepreneurs to simplify and accelerate their sales growth so that they can create their ultimate freedom lifestyle.

Help ChatGPT find your website a laptop with a megaphone coming out of the screen

I know that sounds ridiculous, but spend a few minutes browsing small-business websites, and you will see why it matters.

For example: A homepage might say: "Helping you achieve your goals." That's great, but what goals? Who are you helping?

A web visitor might work it out from the logo, photographs and navigation. Machines have less tolerance for ambiguity.

Compare that with: " We provide commercial cleaning services to offices, schools and healthcare businesses across South Wales."

Suddenly, there's much less to decipher. Who are you? A commercial cleaning company. What do you do? Clean commercial premises. Who for? Offices, schools, and healthcare businesses. Where? South Wales.

Clear website copy isn't unsophisticated copy. If you want to help ChatGPT find your website, clarity can be a big advantage.

3. Create Proper Pages for Your Main Services

One mistake I regularly see is businesses trying to squeeze everything they offer onto one service page. Imagine a building company offering extensions, loft conversions, kitchen renovations, and garage conversions. Giving each important service its own useful page creates far more context than mentioning all four in a short bullet list.

A strong page can explain:

  • what the service involves;
  • who it is suitable for;
  • common questions customers ask;
  • the process;
  • relevant experience;
  • examples of completed work;
  • geographical areas covered.

This is not only useful information for potential customers, but also useful for conventional SEO and will help ChatGPT find your website and understand exactly what your business provides.

However, a word of caution. The important word here is useful. Creating 30 near-identical pages simply to target 30 slightly different phrases isn't the answer. Websites are ultimately for people, so create pages because you have something worthwhile to tell them.

4. Answer the Questions Your Customers Really Ask

3d speech bubbles with Q & A in them for Help ChatGPT find your website blog

This is where good blog content becomes particularly valuable and can help ChatGPT find your website.

People often interact with ChatGPT and other AI bots in a conversational way. Rather than searching for something like: "loft conversion Cardiff", they might ask "Do I need planning permission for a loft conversion in Cardiff?" or "Is my house suitable for a loft conversion?". You get my drift.

Think about the questions customers ask you on the phone, in emails, during quotations, or at meetings. Those questions can become extremely useful website content. And don't limit yourself to just obvious FAQs. Some of the best content comes from the questions that require actual expertise to answer: comparisons, costs, pitfalls, misconceptions, alternatives, and situations where one option is better than another. That is where your knowledge becomes valuable. Put that into blogs, and it will help ChatGPT find your website.

5. Don't Just Say You're an Expert - Demonstrate It

Almost every business website claims some variation of: "We pride ourselves on providing a professional, high-quality service." The problem is that anybody can write it. Evidence is much more persuasive.

If you want to help ChatGPT find your website and understand why your business might be a credible source, then you need to give your website substance.

That could include detailed case studies, named authors with relevant experience, customer reviews, original photographs, accreditations, qualifications, awards, research or data you've produced, and genuinely knowledgeable articles/blogs.

A case study saying: We recently completed this project for a client in Newport", isn't particularly informative. Explain the problem. What did the customer need? What did you recommend? Why? What difficulties arose? How did you solve them? What was the outcome?

That is useful information for humans, and it gives search and AI systems considerably more context about your real-world expertise.

6. Make Your Location Clear

Naturally, this is particularly important for local businesses.

If you are an electrician serving customers across South Wales, make that clear on your website. Your address, service areas, and contact details shouldn't require detective work to find.

Your About and Contact pages can reinforce where you are based, while individual service pages can naturally explain areas you cover. However, avoid creating dozens of thin location pages where the only difference is swapping one town name for another, like "Electrician Newport", "Electrician Cardiff", and "Electrician Cwmbran."

That's not useful content. If a location genuinely warrants its own page, give the reader something specific and worthwhile.

7. Build Your Reputation Beyond Your Own Website

Your website doesn't exist in isolation.

If you claim to be a leading expert in your field but nobody else on the internet appears to know you exist, that's not a particularly convincing signal. Therefore, I want you to think about your wider digital footprint.

Are you listed accurately on relevant professional or industry websites? Have local publications mentioned your business? Do reputable websites link to you? Are there genuine customer reviews? Have you contributed expert comments or guest articles elsewhere?

You see, digital PR, quality guest blogging, and traditional link building still have a place. However, the aim shouldn't be to scatter links across hundreds of low-quality websites to help ChatGPT find your website. On the contrary, it's to build a recognisable business with a credible online presence.

8. Write Content Worth Citing

Graphic woman sat at a computer with pages of content coming out of it

This may be one of the biggest opportunities created by AI search.

If everybody writes a generic article called "10 benefits of X", then there is very little reason for any search or AI system to favour yours above the others. To help ChatGPT find your website, you need to give it something better:

Share your experience.

    • Explain what customers commonly get wrong.
    • Compare two approaches and say when you'd choose each one.
    • Publish original examples.
    • Answer awkward questions.
    • Discuss pricing honestly where possible.
    • Challenge a commonly repeated piece of industry advice if you disagree with it – and explain why.

The internet doesn't desperately need another 800-word blog saying the same thing as the previous 100 ones. What it does need are people who actually know their subject sharing information that isn't available everywhere else. Tricky, yes. Impossible, no.

9. Don't Forget Traditional SEO

As I mentioned right at the beginning of this article, trying to help ChatGPT find your website doesn't mean forgetting Google and other search engines. In fact, as I'm sure you've realised by now, many of the fundamentals overlap.

You still need a technically sound, crawlable website with logical navigation, descriptive page titles, useful headings, strong internal links and well-written pages focused on genuine customer needs. Ultimately, your content should make sense to a person first; I always stress this to my clients. There is little to be gained by contorting every single paragraph into something you imagine AI or search engines want to read.

Cater for your customer. Ensure your website clearly explains who you are, what you do, where you operate, and why you know what you're talking about. That's what they need to know, and by doing that you are already building a much stronger foundation for both traditional and AI-driven searches.

Help ChatGPT Find Your Website - But Write For People

Help ChatGPT find your website a 3d graphic of a person in front of a laptop with books and text

AI is changing how people discover information online, but that doesn't mean websites suddenly need to be written for robots. Quite the opposite. After all, humans, your potential customers, are asking ChatGPT the questions. So, if you want to help ChatGPT find your website, you must make it clear, informative, and more authoritative for the people you're trying to reach.

Follow the guidance listed above. None of it is particularly technical (save point 1); it is simply about making sure you have good website content. The difference is that today, a well-written website isn't only helping a potential customer decide whether to contact you; it may also help ChatGPT find your website and decide whether or not to list it in response to a query, ultimately driving fresh traffic your way.

If you would like help reviewing your website content, or creating quality blogs that appeal to both humans and bots, please do not hesitate to get in touch. My name is Heather, and I'm The Content Creator.

Heather the Content Creator A lady with blonde hair in a bob, smiling, wearing a black top

A bit about the author

Heather founded The Content Creator nearly three years ago, combining her love of writing with a genuine passion for helping small businesses and solopreneurs get seen online. She supports her clients with everything from website copy and SEO to AI search visibility, newsletters and social media, taking the stress out of creating content that not only sounds like them, but helps their business grow.

If you need a helping hand with any of these areas, Heather is your go-to girl! We can speak from experience, too, because she works on our own website, helping us keep up with the ever-changing world of SEO and AI search and making sure our content continues to work hard for our business.

MORE ABOUT HEATHER