According to figures released by the classifieds website, Viv street, more and more Britons are choosing to work from home. One of the consequences of the recent economic downturn is that many businesses made their employees redundant or asked them to work from home rather than on-site. Viv street’s figures show that the number of people looking for work that they could carry out from their own homes rose by 142% in 2009. While this may be a testament to British resourcefulness, it also increases the competition amongst freelancers, including web designers. Many job seekers have put themselves through web design courses to generate another source of income. So, what is the best advice to ensure that you stand out from the crowd?
1) Use your time wisely
The best tip of all is to ensure that you are able to complete the maximum amount of work in the minimum amount of time, but without compromising on quality. Using website templates is a good way of reducing the amount of time you have to spend on constructing the fundamentals of a website design. Whether you choose to build your own or use one you have found on the Internet, it pays to renew it every so often. Repetition is not necessarily the way you want to make your name in web design, especially if you are dealing with clients who specifically want a unique and bespoke site.
2) Keep your codes
As a web designer, you will establish your trademarks or signature through the use of certain coding. Rather than having to build the code fresh every time you come to design a new website, it can save you a lot of time and effort to build a library of these codes so that you can easily access them whenever they are required. They can also be updated more easily as you discover new and exciting codes as you become more established and experienced.
3) Free resources
As anyone who’s attended web design courses knows, there is a lot of free software available on the Internet. As an up-and-coming web designer, you will need to focus on bringing in as much custom as you can, whilst keeping a firm eye on your outgoings. Internet resources are being constantly updated, so it is worth setting aside some time to research what is available and appropriate to you. In addition, when choosing a computer it is worth noting the types of software that come with the various models available.
4) Brand yourself
As a web designer, you will spend a lot of time designing logos and brands for your clients. It is worth using the skills you picked up during your web design training to apply the same courtesy to yourself and your business. Being ‘your own client’ may seem difficult at first, but approach it as you would any other project: decide what it is you want to say and who it is you want to attract.
5) Quality not quantity
Although you will initially want as many clients as possible, it pays to remember that taking on too many clients at one time can do you more damage than good. It is far better to be known as a designer who turns out a select number of quality products than it is to be renowned as a designer who turns out sub-standard or ‘average at best’ work in vast quantities.
