Mitch Paioff has been an independent computer consultant for over eight years. He credits much of his success to using creative strategies to land lucrative consulting projects. This is the third in a series of three articles on this topic.

In Part I of this series, I told you about the benefits of cold calling as a strategy for getting short-term consulting assignments. It is hard work and takes a lot of discipline, but it is the absolute best way to find unadvertised opportunities.

Another great strategy is what I call personal appearances. In Part II of the series, I described how showing up at trade shows, conferences, user group meetings, industry events and luncheons can increase your chances of finding short-term projects.

Part III is much different from the other two in that:

1. You’ll have to spend some money.
2. The results can be sporadic and impossible to predict.

However, some of my best consulting projects have come to me as a result of using this approach – online marketing.

Online Marketing

Online marketing is the term I use for promoting yourself on the Internet. It has nothing to do with Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn or other social networking Web sites. It is separate from job Web sites like Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com.

I have nothing against social networking Web sites. I have accounts with Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn. I have experimented with all four and have never landed a project or even generated one solid business lead from participating in those sites. My problem with the social networking sites is that there is too much meaningless junk in them. I just don’t have the time or patience to sort through it all.

My approach to online marketing is broken down into two phases:

1. Creating an inexpensive but effective Web site of your own
2. Promoting the heck out of your Web site

Creating Your Web Site

It is amazing to me how few independent computer consultants have Web sites. For me, having a Web site is a no-brainer. A site will give you instant credibility. It makes you visible and reachable to the entire world.

Nowadays, there are companies that will create your Web site for a few hundred bucks. Many companies use pre-designed templates to help you quickly put together a basic site. There are technologies, such as text editors and user interfaces, that will enable you to upload images, insert links, and customize your site yourself without having to rely on a Web design company. I am constantly updating and improving my own two sites, MitchPaioff.com and Consultant Training Institute.

Promoting Your Web Site

Once you have your Web site, you can start promoting it. You will want to add a lot of content to your site to increase its visibility on search engines like Google. There are many companies that will help you to increase the number of hits you get using a technique called search engine optimization (SEO). Their fees vary.

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