As you must know by now, nothing good comes without hard work and dedication. Becoming a professional at a skill is not an easy task, which is why you must have clicked on this article, to learn how to become a professional freelance website designer. Congratulations to you because you have just taken your first step towards success.
Sometimes, we want to do something that will make our lives better, but we do not take the right steps because we do not know where to start from or which way to go. A lot of young minds who aspire to become professional freelance website designers are unaware of how to achieve this feat because they fail to seek assistance from already made professionals. And that’s the first step to failure. This article explains in full details 7 steps that you can follow to become a self-renowned professional freelance website designer. It also holds the answers to most questions you might have about website designing.
Whether you already have a little knowledge about web design or not, this article is for you. We will break down step by step guide to be as self-explanatory as possible so, please pay attention.
01. Learn graphic designing
People love to see beautiful and well-thought out graphics and illustrations when they log on to a website. It makes them actually want to stay longer on the website and also continue to pay visits to the website from time to time. Aesthetics is everything. Learning the fundamentals of graphic designing and how to use tools like Adobe or Photoshop will help enable you increase your skill to know what aesthetic is best in order to satisfy your client’s preference.
One way to become a professional freelance website designer is to pay attention to the littlest of details. Those details that you think people won’t notice and can be overlooked may be the very thing that makes your work stand out and make you the hottest website designer on the block.
02. Build a portfolio
There are a number of sites that serve as job seeking platforms to freelancers. However, these websites are usually very competitive, especially for beginners. Sometimes, it will take a while to land your first client, because clients on these websites want people who are already in the game and can deliver what they want with little or no supervision. One way to land clients faster on freelance websites is to build a portfolio. You can try to approach people you know will be interested in your skill directly and offer to do some work for them free of charge.
By doing this, you are building a standard portfolio that tells clients who click on your page that you might not be a professional yet, but you have a really good idea of what you’re doing and you’re also capable of giving them what they want. You are giving them an avenue to trust you to do their work and deliver right.
03. Find a web designing website that works best for you
There are many web designing platforms but some reliable web designing platforms that will help make you a professional freelance website designer in no time, if you keep practicing, are:
- Squarespace: You can make an award-winning website using this platform. It helps you to get your own domain name. They ensure 24/7 customer service and have beautiful and modern templates.
- WordPress: It is an open source software that can help you create a beautiful website or blog easily and efficiently.
- Shopify: It’s an e-commerce platform that would enables people build online e-commerce stores to sell online.
- Wix: It helps you create a free website even without any coding knowledge. Wix has hundreds of attractive and unique templates available.
- Instapage: It is a landing page platform designed to scale marketing efforts while lowering the costs.
- Unbounce: It helps you get leads and customers with landing pages. Easy to use platform.
There are many other sites as well. Make sure to do your research and use whichever is convenient for you.
04. Stay updated to Freelance Website Designer
The greatest step to advancing in any career is to have enough knowledge about the environment you are entering, which also applies to website design. Being a freelance website designer is even more interesting because over the years, freelancing has been known to help beginners sharpen their skills until they become professionals. Freelancing keeps you on your toes because different clients will introduce you to things you’ve never heard or seen before, which you’ll constantly have to learn about because there’s only so much work you can reject. So, it’s a great platform to stay up to date on new things that’ll eventually pave your way into becoming a professional freelance website designer.
Also, read about designing every day, as it is a niche with much diversity. Feed your mind with creative content and spill all the talent you have through your work. Never miss a chance to become better. Going through other people’s work will also help you to explore your mind and enhance your work.
05. Stay hungry & Be Humble
Be a learner. Always have space to welcome new ideas and thoughts. Never forget that there’s always something new to learn. There will always be someone who knows more than you. Website designing requires a lot of creativity and focus. Just knowing how to code is not enough; you need to have presentation skills, as well as a good catch on UXD (user experience design). This comes with experience, so be open to knowledge always.
Some other things you would need to know about are domains, servers and web hosting. In case you have a web designing contract for a company, your clients will expect you to buy a domain name and a hosting server so as to set up their whole website.
06. Patience for Freelance Website Designer
Making a career as a freelancer requires lots of time, hard work and commitment. You have to strive consistently in order to gain a spot and make a name. You have to be patient and trust the process. Becoming a freelancer may take you a couple of months before you start to make good money out of it. You have to bededicated to the cause of your profession and make deliberate efforts to keep moving forward.
07. Go offline
Look for jobs near you. This helps to ensure you learn how to communicate and negotiate better. Communication and negotiation skills are very essential skills to have on your way to becoming a professional freelance website designer. Working remotely offline, while also having online clients all over the world, will give you the autonomy you want to run daily activities as you please. After all, that’s the essence of freelancing, right?
Once you have yourself set up and grounded in these seven steps, you can expect better payment, more work and improvement of skills that make every professional freelance website designer you see and know today.
