So You Wanna Be A Web Designer…
A lot of people are moving more into virtual work. Whether this is writing online content, setting up video logs to sell products, social media managing or designing websites for other people, it’s definitely something that will not be going out of fashion any time soon. And why would it? The internet has been the biggest resource that the world has ever had. The degrees of separation between people (how many people you have to go through before you get to another person – for example your uncle’s wife’s brother’s sister-in-law could be the aunt of Barack Obama) have considerably dropped since people start using social media. With so many platforms of social media to utilise to your advantage, amongst a load of other tools, the internet is your safe bet at keeping work continual and constant. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s an easy ride to get there…
Market Yourself
As aforementioned, social media is big – and this is the best (and cheapest) way to market yourself. Obviously, if you are getting into designing websites, you will want to have your own where people can come and peruse your work. It’s just common sense. You can’t advertise something that you don’t own. Make yourself a portfolio and, in the beginning, you could even offer to work for free for promotion. A lot of people are currently paying for promotion, but something that could take you limited time to complete may just be the best thing that you can do in order to save yourself a bit of money and give yourself an example to use.
Make Sure Everything Works
A lot of web designers have a big of knowledge of code in their heads. It’s something that has naturally progressed from the good ol’ days of HTML and CSS. Codes have developed over time, and what we were using in the early naughties to keep our simple websites up and running have been updated time and time again. You can look at different functional testing types to ensure that any software you are creating for your job is working and keep you on track; a lot of web designers have resorted to making their own programs to help them with their development.
Keep Training
Always keep new codes, designs and other tips and tricks floating around your head. You need to keep extremely focused on what you are doing each and every day, and don’t be scared to have a scout around online to magpie ideas – it’s not stealing if you put your own spin on it. Nobody is so creative that they can come up with every single idea, and a lot of your prospective clients will be wanting something that they have actually seen on another website. Take advantage of this shared flair of creativity and keep your brain active by constantly working to improve and better yourself. There are a lot of web designers out there all vying for the same line of work; take the time to make sure that you stand out amongst them.