Web design is a $34 billion industry. As users clamor for innovative designs that pop, businesses crave smart web design.

But that doesn’t mean it’s sunshine and roses for web designers. Competition is fierce, and it can be tough differentiating yourself from the thousands of other designers online.

How can you make your business stand out?

The answer comes from a surprising place: your middle school math class. Remember how your teacher always told you to show your work? Web design is no different.

Your customers are investing a great deal of money into your work, and they want what’s best for their business. To stand out from the pack, web designers need to assure businesses that you’re the one for the job. You have to prove that your clients’ budgets are in safe hands.

This means you need to foster trust with not only your current clients but all of your prospects.

The best way to do this is by demonstrating your experience and expertise. There are so many ways to showcase your talent as a web designer. The goal is to make your talents so pronounced and obvious that clients would be crazy to hire your competition.

Need some ideas for showing your work? Choose a few from this list that make the most sense for your business. Let’s make customer doubt a thing of the past and foster greater customer trust.

Four ways to show your work

1.What’s your USP?

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of displaying your work, we have to know what makes your business different.

Your clients aren’t just buying web design services; they’re buying you. There are thousands of other web designers out there. Why are you the obvious choice?

This can be a tough question to answer. It’s tempting to avoid defining a unique selling proposition, or USP. But knowing what makes your business unique makes a big, big difference in how you show your work.

Define your USP to set yourself apart from the pack. There are so many talented designers out there. A USP helps you transcend beyond raw talent. It highlights your process, the market you work with, and your unique approach to web design.

Once you define your USP, use it everywhere. It needs to be on your website, business cards, social media, and anywhere else that you promote your business.

All roads lead back to your USP, because this is what makes your work special and craveable. It should be the first thing that people think of when they see your business.

Need a little help defining your USP? I love this guide from Entrepreneur.

2. Create a portfolio site

When it comes to design, showing is always better than telling. Your prospects can tell within seven seconds whether they want to hire you.

For this reason, it’s incredibly important to have an online portfolio that makes your work shine.

Mind you, this isn’t just about showcasing your work. It should be a place where prospects can learn everything about you as a brand.

Include who you are, work samples, how you work, and how you help clients. Don’t forget the all-important About and Contact pages, too.

For the portfolio itself, keep things visual. You want prospects to literally see your past work. This helps them see if your aesthetic fits their needs while building credibility in your expertise as a web designer.

Your portfolio is a chance to impress. It’s not the time to take blurry screenshots and paste them into WordPress.

Get screen grabs that are as hi-res as possible. Better yet, rebuild the web pages with hi-res graphics in InDesign. This ensures your portfolio pieces are the highest quality possible, so prospects can see what they’re getting. Don’t let blurry images stand between you and closing a deal.

What happens if you’re just starting out and don’t have projects to showcase in your portfolio?

You don’t need to have years of experience to create a wow-worthy portfolio. All you need are work samples to show that you know your stuff.

Work samples don’t need to be from real clients, either. Take on pro bono work with charities to build your portfolio, or showcase personal or ‘made up’ projects.

I know it’s hard to do unpaid work in the beginning, but this builds the foundation for easier sales and more earnings down the road.

I recommend creating a proper website for your portfolio. However, if you’re really bootstrapping right now, here are 10 free online portfolio websites to get you started.

3. Testimonials and case studies

Did you know that 84 percent of people trust reviews as much as referrals from their friends? Aside from showing your web design work, it’s important to showcase your success stories and client experiences, too.

Enter testimonials and case studies.

Testimonials are short, one to three sentence statements from current and past clients. Sprinkle testimonials throughout your portfolio site to enhance your image and build trust with prospects perusing your site.

I know you’re busy with your business. It’s easy to forget to ask for testimonials when you’re in the weeds.

Fortunately, it’s never too late to ask! Ask past clients if they would be willing to write a brief overview of their experience with your services. I’ve found they’re much more willing to give a testimonial if you add their business name and a backlink in the testimonial, too.

Case studies are much more in-depth than testimonials, but they’re worth the extra work.

A case study gives a high-level overview of a past client’s problem and how you helped them. Include multiple case studies with a diverse range of clients. This will show your ability to adapt, your quality of work, and how you directly improve your clients’ lives.

Here’s a great guide from Neil Patel on how to write case studies that get you more sales.

4. Offer value

The secret to effective promotion is giving value to your prospects. And when I say “value,” that doesn’t mean you need to work for free. Value is about giving your prospects the information they want while subtly promoting your web design business. 

Tutorials and webinars

You’re likely targeting entrepreneurs or businesses to sell your design services. It’s complicated and stressful to run a business. Businesses are always looking for resources and how-to guides that make their jobs easier.

Put your expertise to work by offering fast video tutorials on a YouTube channel.

If you have the budget, consider hosting live or recorded webinars. The topics can be as simple as “How to hire a web designer,” “CSS 101 Overview,” or any other beginner topic.

You get to provide valuable information to your prospects, and in turn, they value you as a professional. It increases the likelihood that they’ll give you a ring when it’s time to design their website.

Podcasts and blogs

It seems like everybody and their mother has a blog or podcast these days. That’s with good reason.

Podcasts and blogs are fun, but they also give you a chance to mention your work in a way that’s subtle and genuine. Try hosting a blog on your portfolio page, or starting a podcast on the cheap.

Free downloads

A free download shows off your work and expertise in a way that your prospects will love. After all, who doesn’t want free stuff?

But don’t let the word “free” scare you off. I don’t mean that you should do free work for your prospects.

It’s valuable to offer guides, checklists, and worksheets for free on your site. These enhance the value of your portfolio site to your prospects, encouraging them to return regularly for more downloads.

And more visits are a recipe for growing your brand and making more sales.

Try gating your content so prospects have to enter their contact information to score their freebies. This will help you not only build your sales pipeline but establish a reputation for providing quality work.

The bottom line

Web design is a cutthroat industry, but you can still rise above the noise by showing your work.

Showcasing your work isn’t difficult or expensive, either. You might have to put in the elbow grease and time, but these suggestions will help web designers improve trust with prospects, grow your brand, and improve the bottom line.

What’s not to love?