How To Get Webflow Agency Agency Work: 5 Tips

Recently, I received this message from a Webflower who was starting out. I have received a few of these types of messages asking for work since starting Webflail which is flattering but also makes me wonder how many messages agency owners receive every week!

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In my limited experience, I have found reaching out cold to someone on Twitter asking for work has a low success rate. I tried to give some advice to this person who reached out which I have added to here. I’ve also brought in some nuggets from Webflail podcast episode advice. I strongly believe there is a good dollop of luck about getting work but maybe these points will help you improve the surface area of that luck.

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Let’s go!

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How To Get Webflow Agency Work: 5 Tips

1) Have a portfolio

This one is pretty obvious but worth clarifying what this actually in relation to getting hired.

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Someone that you’re reaching out to to get work doesn’t care about you - they care about what you can do for them.

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It’s important to say that even though you want to learn on the job after getting hired by an agency, people are hiring you because you offer value to them in some sense. Simply saying ‘I want to learn from you,’ isn’t the most compelling offer for a potential employer.

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Don’t just say you can make beautiful websites - show the person you want to get hired by a beautiful website.

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What if you don’t have real clients yet? Create dummy projects, redesign and rebuild terrible websites you find online, create passion projects of websites about your idols that wish were out in the world (eg. A Lionel Messi tribute website), take part in web design challenges like Flow Party Challenges. There are so many possible things to do here so take the initiative and put together a potfolio of work you want to be hired for!

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So, your website should clearly show what you offer (eg webflow website development), how it will make their life better and how to contact you.

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As Diego Toda De Oliveira says, a portfolio:

1. Shows off your work
2. Shows who you are
3. Your offer
4. Social Proof
5. Clear next steps

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I recommend watching this excellent video from Diego which goes through building a portfolio website using webflow. Also, I recently got my portfolio roasted so check that article out here.

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2) Have A Social Media Profile

As Chris Do mentions, social media is social.

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In the Twittersphere for example, you meet people who are freelancers, agency owners and marketers who all have work going on. Rather than trying to cold dm people to find work, I’ve found it’s helpful to meet people and if you like them, you will naturally get along. This may lead to new opportunities. You might collaborate on projects or get offered the occasional bit of work to do as a white label dev. This might become more consistent over time if you do a good job.

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You might be thinking, “That’s all well and good but I need work NOW.”

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Work comes often from the randomest places. You might think you are wasting your time going to online events, answering questions in slack groups and sharing your webflow journey on social media but connecting with others has been a vitally important method for me to get work.

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Making your social media profile really punchy for when people do land on your portfolio is helpful though! Here are some tips about that.

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Joana Galvão talks about 2 key concepts that helped me think about approaching social media differently.

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1) Dig The Well Before Your Thirsty

Connect with people who you aspire to be like. DM people to congratulate them on winning awards. Share content you think is helpful made by others. Curate the best Webflow agencies’ work. Opportunities come when you are known, liked and trusted!

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2) Always be planting seeds

Sometimes, job opportunities that seem unlikely happen and jobs that were almost certain fall through. This is freelancing in my experience. BUT that means that it’s always helpful to plant seeds. By that, Joana means spreading your surface area for luck by keeping in contact with your network.

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3) Engage with people you want to work with

It’s helpful to follow, engage with, comment and share things of the person you want to get hired by. It's great to give someone that dopamine hit by showing how helpful/entertaining/valuable their content is before asking for a job. The law of reciprocity means people are more likely to help you if you offer something first to them.

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4) Personalise the message

Any messages you send to people, make sure you personalize them! Putting something generic makes it sound ctrl c + ctrl v. Doing a little bit of research when you message someone, personalizing the message by putting their name and why you particularly want to learn from them would be a great thing to do!

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5) Offer Value

It might be powerful to show how you can particularly offer something to the person hiring you. If you’re reading this, I know you're starting out but it might be powerful to send a website redesign you have done, a video of your process when you work with a client or maybe how you would redesign a bad website. I know you're early on in your webflow journey but someone will hire you if you can offer value to them in some way so it would be helpful to at least show off your potential!

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