Starting From Scratch: Proven Strategies to Get Your First Customers for Your Website or Business

Launching a new website or business is exciting, but also daunting—especially when it comes to attracting your very first customers. You might have the perfect product or a stellar service, but without people coming through the door (or landing on your homepage), your business won’t gain the momentum it deserves. So, today, I want to share practical, actionable steps to help you consistently find those precious initial leads.

Let’s unpack where your future customers “live” online and offline, how you can connect with them ethically, and how to turn small engagement opportunities into real business relationships.

Step 1: Identify Where Your Customers Are Before They Need You

Before anyone knows your brand, they’re already active in various communities—online forums, social media groups, local clubs, or networking sites—sharing questions, frustrations, and needs. Your task is to figure out where your ideal customers hang out before they’re even aware they need your product or service.

Online Communities: The Modern-Day Town Square

Start by researching where your target audience spends their time. Some popular options include:

- Facebook Groups: Almost every niche and local community has an active Facebook group.

- Nextdoor: Perfect for hyper-local exposure and recommendations.

- Reddit & Quora: Forums where people seek advice and share feedback.

- Craigslist: Still widely used for local gigs, services, and questions.

- LinkedIn Groups: Especially for B2B or professional services.

- Local forums and message boards: Most cities and small towns have unique community discussion boards.

Being present on these platforms puts you right where potential customers are already communicating and looking for solutions.

Step 2: Listen Before You Leap

The biggest mistake new business owners make is jumping into a group or forum and immediately pitching their services. This approach almost always backfires, leading to ignored posts, or worse, being banned. Instead, start by tuning in.

- Browse the past month’s posts: What problems are people running into? What language do they use? Any recurring themes?

- Spot unanswered questions: Find threads where people are seeking advice, help, or recommendations.

- Note the group rules: Every group has its own culture and guidelines regarding self-promotion.

Step 3: Contribute and Build Trust

When you find questions that are a natural fit for your expertise, offer thoughtful, helpful responses—but don’t immediately sell yourself. Your initial goal is to be useful, not promotional.

- Provide genuine advice: Share what you know openly. For example, if someone in a Facebook group is asking about how to get their business on Google, give them real steps they can take.

- Share resources: Direct them to high-quality articles (yours or others), tools, or relevant examples.

- Ask clarifying questions: Engage further by showing you care about their specific situation, not just giving generic advice.

This approach demonstrates your generosity and competency. Other group members will remember your name as a valuable resource—someone to trust.

Step 4: Transition to Direct Connections

When someone thanks you publicly or asks for more details, you’ll know you’ve made a connection. Now is your chance to move the conversation beyond the group in a way that feels natural and respectful.

- On Facebook: Send a friend request to those you’ve positively interacted with. After they accept, you can direct message them and offer more targeted help or schedule a call.

- On LinkedIn: Connect and follow-up with a short note referencing your public interaction.

- On platforms like Nextdoor or Craigslist: Gently offer to discuss the topic further via private message or set up a call.

- On Reddit or Quora: If direct messaging is appropriate, reach out, but always tie it back to the public conversation to maintain trust.

Remember: The key is not to pitch. Simply offer to help more specifically or answer further questions. Let the relationship drive the process.

Step 5: Take the Conversation Offline (When Appropriate)

Connections made online can be powerful, but moving the interaction offline often deepens the relationship and speeds up trust. This is especially critical for local businesses.

- Invite to coffee chats or walks: Position the invite as a collaborative networking opportunity—perhaps to see how you can support each other, not just to sell.

- Join local networking groups: Organizations like the local Chamber of Commerce or industry meetups are filled with people hungry to connect and refer business.

- Attend community events: Art walks, mixers, and charity events are fertile ground for authentic, low-pressure networking.

When meeting someone in person, your story is important. Try something like, “I’m new in business, and I’d love to learn how I can support your goals or see if you have any advice for someone starting out.” Most people love sharing their insights and helping others.

Step 6: Seek Out Strategic Partnerships

When starting out, partnering with other local businesses or complementary service providers can be a fast track to trusted referrals.

- Identify natural fit partners: For example, if you build websites, align with local photographers, printers, real estate agents, or marketing consultants.

- Reach out with a “help first” mindset: Offer to refer business their way, or propose a joint event, bundle, or workshop.

- Ask for introductions: If you meet someone well-connected, don’t be shy about asking who else you should meet or who else might benefit from your help.

Step 7: Provide Immense Value Over Time

The truth is, few people will buy on first contact. But the more consistently helpful and visible you are in these communities, the more you cement your reputation as a go-to expert.

- Follow up thoughtfully: After helping someone, check in a few weeks later to see if their problem was resolved or if they need additional resources.

- Create free resources: Things like checklists, guides, or video walkthroughs can be shared in response to common questions (and can be hosted on your own website for ongoing lead generation).

- Share small wins and testimonials: As you help more people, share anonymized stories and results with permission. This builds social proof.

Step 8: Ask and Answer Questions Publicly

Your journey doesn’t stop at being helpful; participate in the knowledge ecosystem by asking questions as well.

- Ask group members what tools they recommend or what challenges they’re facing.

- Share your own learning process—both the successes and the mistakes.

- When you answer, don’t just answer once—follow up and deepen the conversation over time.

This openness shows you value continual learning and see yourself as part of the community, not just a service provider trying to “extract value.”

Step 9: Leverage Content for Visibility (without Spamming)

While it’s critical not to push your blog or website everywhere at first, you can subtly enhance your reputation by creating content tailored to group discussions:

- Post “how-to” guides or tips in response to group needs.

- Create short videos answering common questions and share the link when relevant.

- Develop resource lists or toolkits that can serve as go-to assets.

Whenever someone thanks you or finds your posts helpful, they’ll be more likely to check out your profile and website—no hard selling needed.

Step 10: Track What Works and Optimize Your Approach

Treat your outreach like an ongoing experiment. Keep a simple journal or spreadsheet tracking:

- What groups or events lead to the most engaging conversations?

- What type of responses generate the most direct inquiries or connections?

- Which direct messages or pitches get the best response rates?

As you learn what your market responds to, double down on those methods and drop the rest. Sometimes, what works for one community or platform will fall flat in another.

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Bonus: Mistakes to Avoid When Getting Your First Customers

1. Copy-Paste Messaging: Generic outreach rarely works. Personalize every comment, message, and invitation with a reference to your shared conversation.

2. Hard Selling Too Soon: Pushiness is the fastest way to burn bridges, especially in tight-knit communities.

3. Ignoring Group Rules: Even a helpful post can get you banned if it violates the group’s self-promotion policies.

4. Vanity Metrics Over Genuine Relationships: 100 meaningful conversations will outperform 10,000 likes.

5. Neglecting Follow-up: Most new business happens after several touchpoints, not just one.

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Getting Customers is About Generosity, Not Gimmicks

When you’re new, it can feel scary putting yourself out there. But remember: every successful business owner started from zero. The ones who succeed long-term show up consistently, give value generously, and treat every interaction as an opportunity to build—not just their business, but their reputation.

Recap & Next Steps

- Find your customers before they need you, in groups and forums where they already gather.

- Listen empathetically before offering help.

- Answer questions thoughtfully, and build relationships by taking conversations from public to private channels.

- Meet people in real life and online, and offer partnerships whenever possible.

- Stay visible and valuable, creating and sharing resources as your audience grows.

- Study what works and course-correct when necessary.

- Above all: focus more on relationships and less on instant transactions. The customers will come.

If you have any questions about how to kickstart your business’s online presence or need personalized advice about building your first website, I’m just a comment or message away. As your local Santa Barbara Web Guy, my goal is to help you cut through the noise and reach the people who need you most.

Thanks for reading, and to your business success—see you next time!