It’s something that most young freelance designers face, especially as they improve their skills and become better designers, yet their client roster is still as uninspiring as ever.

Today, I’m going to give all you young designers out there some tips on what you can do to stop feeling like yesterday’s news, and get in on more of the exciting, high-paying action going on in the design industry.

Gaining Entry to the Clubhouse

I hate to break it to you, good designer wallowing in obscurity, but you’re being kept out of the loop. There’s a secret store of knowledge out there that you’re ignorant of, but that those bad designers around you know all about.

They’re sneaking out at night to attend the meetings, making piles of money while you’re crashed on your friend’s couch with overdue bills and empty soda cans and junk food wrappers scattered around you, like a blanket of sorrow to go with your feelings of rejection and inadequacy.

It’s okay. I know how you feel – but there’s good news! Brew yourself a pot of coffee and read on.

The secret knowledge that these successful designers all share isn’t really all that secret. I was just joking – y’know, for dramatic effect. I’ve got a story to weave here, after all.

These designers really all know just one important thing: how to sell their work to the right audience. That’s it. The “secret sauce” is marketing.

Selling yourself is something that many creatives are famously uncomfortable with, but the truth is that we all already sell ourselves. Every time we meet with a client, we have to sell them on our ideas. Convincing a client to hire you isn’t all that different from what you already do on the job.

Marketing is a skill that tends to be despised, but it really shouldn’t be. It’s the counterpart to good design. If you create the most wonderful, awe-inspiring design in the world, and hide it at the bottom of a drawer, you may as well not have created it at all.

If you don’t make the effort to put your work in front of people who will see it and want to hire you, you’re essentially doing the same thing. You’re creating work and hiding it under a veil of obscurity.

Selling the Sizzle

Marketing yourself to new clients doesn’t mean that the quality of your work has to suffer. Don’t stoop down to the level of the crappy designers around you and create work that’s equally bad.

The solution to your marketing deficiency is not to get down in the mud alongside the bad designers who are outpacing you. Your task is to outperform them with your superior talent and critical thinking skills.

You don’t need to work any differently – you just need to package that work in a way that’s more attention-grabbing to a broader audience.

Many times the biggest marketing issue that talented creatives face is that they’re just too excited about what they can do. Perhaps your code is clean as a whistle and compliant with every web standard known to humankind.

Or maybe you’re a minimalism whiz, with a perfect knack for creating simple, powerful layouts with the perfect balance of clarity, beautiful type, and whitespace.

That’s nice for you, and maybe your mom, to know about, but the cold, hard truth is that most clients couldn’t care less. They’re only concerned about whether you can get the job done competently and on deadline. It’s sad, but true.

The key to marketing yourself well is to sell an experience, not a list of qualifications. You need to be thinking about how, specifically, can your technical skills improve the quality of life for your clients.

It sounds terribly dramatic, but marketing is almost pure psychology. People are motivated, in life and in business, by things most freelancers don’t stop to consider when offering their services.

If you can connect with a client on a personal level – offer them an important benefit that will earn them more money or allow them to free up more time (a huge desire of many overworked business owners and managers), you’ll have more clients than you’ll know what to do with.

Find Your Niche

Sometimes you get beat out by the mediocre competition simply because that person has access to a wider pool of clients than you do. Perhaps they live in one city and they’re doing business all around the world with similar clients.

These competitors of yours have found a niche that works for them and they’re out finding clients wherever they happen to be. If they have to get on a plane and travel, well, it’s worth it to them to have access to clients that others in their niche can’t easily get to.

When marketing yourself and selling your services to new clients, it’s important to get specific – don’t just cater to everyone, or you’ll end up catering to no one. Find a lucrative niche within the design industry, and grow your client base from it.

Perhaps you only work with clients in the legal and medicine industries. Or maybe you work with tech startups, or fashion designers, or boutique ad agencies. Whatever your niche is, make sure there’s enough clients in it to supply you with years of new work.

If it’s hard for you to find clients in your niche (maybe you live in a small town or it’s just too competitive), perhaps it’s time to branch out. Travel has never been easier or more economical – if the clients you want to work with aren’t in your area, pack a suitcase and go to theirs.

Alternatively, you can use your design skills and technical expertise to leverage the power of your local media. Become a local design expert in one area you can master.

Marketing doesn’t have to be scary, nor does it have to be particularly hard. The majority of the effort comes at the beginning – determining your niche, finding the right clients, and establishing yourself as someone who provides just the right experience your clients are looking for.

The rest has to do with keeping yourself at the top of your clients’ minds – updating your email list, sending out mailers, etc.

There are plenty of other articles which cover these things in detail. Once you establish a system that works for you, it becomes much easier for you to accelerate your career at a rate that’s more appropriate for your knowledge and skill level.

The post How Novice Designers Can Improve Their Client Rosters appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

What is it about “your” particular brands that draws you to purchase them again and again? The answer might lie in those brands’ USP.

USP stands for Unique Selling Point. It’s a marketing concept that was developed in the 1940s to explain why certain advertising campaigns were wildly successful, and why others were not.

Basically, it stated that successful campaigns appeal to their target audiences using unique points, or “propositions,” which convince them that the brand of product being advertised is superior to the brand they currently use. Nowadays, a USP simply refers to some part of a product or service that makes it unique from other, similar products or services.

Designers can harness the power of the USP when marketing themselves. We all know that creative professionals are infamously bad at promoting their own work, but by utilizing a USP, it makes the job that much easier. Today, I’m going to show you how that’s done.

Creating Appeal

When determining a product’s USP, first advertisers must come up with a unique proposition to make to their potential consumer market. Specifically, they’ve got to come up with a specific benefit that their consumers will reap by using the product.

For example, if you buy a specific brand of mascara, advertisers might tell you that you will receive the specific benefit of “longer, fuller lashes.” Or if you buy the latest iPhone, according to Apple you will get “the most amazing iPhone yet.”

In order for these claims to be effective, they must actually be true, or at least potentially true to their ideal consumer. USPs aren’t just hyperbole or meaningless advertising – they are actual, direct benefits that you will experience by using the product.

Notice how Apple doesn’t tell you you’ll be getting “the most amazing phone yet.” That would be ridiculous and impossible to quantify since it’s completely subjective. But by having the corner market on iPhones, they’re able to confidently tell you that their latest version is their most amazing version of the iPhone so far.

Of course, any of these USP claims could also be true for the same product produced by a competing brand (how exactly is a hamburger patty from McDonald’s different from one from Burger King?), but that brand didn’t claim that benefit as its USP – your brand did.

If you’re a designer, you’re swimming in a huge pool with other people who do exactly the same thing you do. When you’re marketing yourself to clients, it’s important that you select a USP that separates you from the pack. What specific benefit do your potential clients stand to receive by working with you?

What The Competition Lacks

As a designer, your USP must be something that your competition either cannot or does not offer. If you studied psychology in college, for example, you have the ability to position yourself as “the psychologist designer” (except with a better name, because that one’s pretty lame).

To your clients, you will be known as the designer who uses your strong background in psychology to reach further into the minds of your users, which clients will definitely remember as something unique. Most designers wouldn’t be able to compete with you on that front – that’s your Unique Selling Point.

Of course, you can substitute psychology for another special area of expertise you have that most other designers don’t. I use my professional background in the culinary industry as a USP to catch the attention of my design and writing clients – it helps them remember me and I can use that unique perspective to add a special kind of value to them.

This is the kind of effect you want to have. Even if you haven’t studied anything else in school or worked in any other industries, you can probably still find something in your array of hobbies, interests, and passions which will lend a unique vantage point to your personal brand. Do you like cars? Fashion? Artisanal beer? Interesting – how can you use that as a USP to draw in specially targeted clients?

If you use a side of yourself that others in the design industry don’t normally show, you will immediately stand out to potential clients, as you will have ignited their curiosity.

Of course, there’s a right way to incorporate your personal interests and hobbies into your career, and there’s a very wrong way. Most people, when they attempt it, get it wrong, which is why I’m going to show you the right way here.

Make Them “Get” You

When advertisers develop a USP, they must create something so compelling that it works on not only their existing consumers, but new consumers as well. It must have the power to “pull” in new business. Your personal USP as a designer must accomplish the same thing. It’s vital to any freelancer to have a steady stream of new work.

And potential clients must find value in your USP in order to be interested. And in order for them to find value, you have to provide them with something that they, specifically, want or need.

This is where many people make a wrong turn in using a facet of their personal interests or passions to lure in new clients. They assume that any personal interest will be just as effective, which is not the case at all.

If your special niche is clients in the legal industry, those clients aren’t going to benefit much from your latent passion in basket weaving, fine art, or cat grooming. A personal interest in sociology, philosophy, or chess, however, will catch their interest if presented in the right way. Think about what your hobby provides you in the way of practical skills.

While reading my chess example just now, you might have been tilting your head in confusion, thinking ‘how would liking chess be helpful when catering to legal professionals?’

Well, chess is a strategy game that builds critical thinking skills. As long as you present it in an intriguing way (rather than a creepy way; no one wants to hire a humorless, geeky chess master), you can position yourself as someone who can think in the same kind of way your clients are used to thinking in their own line of work.

Having those critical thinking skills makes you less exotic as someone who’s merely “creative” and possibly a loose canon. It will make you more relatable to non-creatives, or, even better, it will funnel your creativity into a vehicle that non-designers will “get.”

USPs are a powerful tool for freelancers when used correctly. They allow you to harness your own unique skills, interests, and passions to make you stand out from your competition and land exactly the kind of clients you’re perfectly tailored to.

The post As a Freelance Designer, What Is Your Unique Selling Point? appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

• A pretty-looking web site with an undesirable and/or unclear call to action equates to crappy conversions (and ultimately, disgruntled clients).
• Conversely, minimalistic sites with a clear call to action that speaks directly to the ‘lizard brain’ of the visitor have proven to convert quite nicely.

Hence a high-conversion traffic funnel superbly blends the very best elements of compelling copywriting, minimalistic design, direct-response UX/usability, and neuromarketing into a savory end-user experience.

With this in mind, we’ll be exploring simple, time-proven evergreen methods and strategies that are easy to integrate, yet can produce amazing results (often, very rapidly).

These tips and techniques work equally well with lead-capture pages (aka “squeeze pages”), up-sell sales funnels, down-sell sales funnels, straight-sale funnels (i.e., no up-sells/down-sells), and even really creative “funky hybrid” funnels.

What Exactly Does a Traffic Funnel Consist of?

Although certain multi-stage traffic funnels can be quite sophisticated, at the most basic level it is comprised of three elements:

• A landing page,
• A unified, singular, distraction-free call to action,
• And a well-crafted blend of ‘emotional triggers‘ that compel the visitor to take immediate action (typically either Subscribe or Buy Now) – without coming across as hypish or solicitous.

Essentially, a high-conversion traffic funnel is a delicate balance between ditching the hype, yet retaining all of the excitement of your service or product. While at the same time, empowering your visitors to actually envision the desirable experience you’re offering them at the lizard-brain level.

Hence one of the keys to successful Traffic Funnel design is seeing the beginning from the end (from the visitor’s point of view).

Image via Zolemia.com

Core Traffic Funnel Considerations

Understandably, most highly talented web designers have no real grasp of creating a traffic funnel that converts well. Instead, they create a ‘Mulligan’s Stew’ of sorts by slapping together a bunch of elements that they hope will impress their client (aka “Spray and Pray” method).

For example, many talented Web Designers are still under the illusion that the be-all-things-to-everyone approach is the way to go.

Simply not so.

Given the exact same offer, a minimalistic distraction-free singular call to action landing page will always out-pull a “nice-looking” (yet noisy and confusing) landing page 100% of the time without fail.

So the goal is to create a landing page which:

• Is neither over-hyped nor reads like an obituary,
• Has zero noise and confusion whatsoever.

Always remember – anything that detracts/distracts from your call to action is merely visitor repellent; hence it’s wise to get rid of any hype, noise, and confusion. Which brings us to…

The Four Crucial Questions Landing Pages Must Answer

In no particular order of importance, here’s a brief overview of each:

Question 1: What are you trying to sell me?

Whether a product or service-based offer (or even a lead-generating freebie offer), your concise value statement (aka “value proposition”) is what initially entices your prospect into becoming a subscriber, customer or client.

Think of your value statement like the teaser on the back of a book or a movie trailer. Its sole purpose is to gently lure the prospect in, wanting to discover more about your offer.

As such, your Value Statement needs to address the following in literally just a few short sentences:

• 1 or 2 main results/benefits your buyer, client, or subscriber can expect to achieve.
• What those results will do for the buyer (i.e., how your offer will change their lives for the better).
• Why should they even care about achieving those results.

Question 2: How much?

This is where a lot of creative professionals blow it. Rather than prominently displaying their prices, they instead make their prospect have to jump through one or more hoops just to find out how much.

From the prospect’s point of view, this is a complete turn-off. However, what about service-based offers that are customized/specific to each client, you ask?

At the very least, there should be an easily accessible base-rate menu of “main package” price options, along with key value-added price options, as well, to give the prospect an overall idea of what they’re looking to shell out.

Hot Tip: An enticing call to action along the lines of “contact us with your project details for your own custom quote and get 10% off your work order by mentioning this discount” (or similar) has been proven to increase conversions.

Question 3: Why should I believe you?

While an “about” page is a great place to establish your authority/expertise, equally important is social proof (i.e., testimonials, familiar “As Seen On” icons/logos within your niche, trust seals, etc.)

Question 4: What’s in it for me?

Combined with compelling copywriting skills, this is where neuromarketing comes into play.

By skillfully blending the best benefits and features of your offer together in a way that effectively communicates your story to your prospects ‘lizard brain’… a distinctly visceral emotional response is stirred up within your prospect; whereby causing them to take immediate action right now.

Landing Page Caveats

Several years back, legendary Internet Marketer, Mike Filsaime launched his butterfly marketing script, and accompanying manuscript. Long to short, the core principle behind butterfly marketing always has and always will hold true: Small changes to your traffic funnel can have profound results.

With this in mind, ask yourself the following questions – in the most brutally honest manner possible – as they relate to either your own or your clients’ sites. Start by putting yourself in the ‘shoes’ of a complete stranger visiting your site for the very first time.

Literally be your own worst possible critic, as you take copious notes on improving your own or your clients’ traffic funnels:

• Does your site display any unnecessary content/web elements whatsoever, including a distracting color scheme/theme, banners, irrelevant videos or any other “click me” crap?
• Does your Traffic Funnel design cause your visitors unnecessary confusion (i.e. no clear and concise call to action from the customer’s point of view)?
• Does your site clearly cater to a specific niche audience by properly anticipating your audience’s needs and concerns?
• Do you actually come off as someone who is truly there to help solve your reader’s difficulties (i.e. does your site exude real compassion)?

Ironing out just these ‘wrinkles’ alone will significantly amplify whatever conversions you’re typically used to. And always remember: Small changes can produce dramatic results.

A Brief Word on Squeeze Pages

In the purest sense, a squeeze page is a highly optimized and focused lead generator catering to a specific niche; the top (aka “mouth”) of a high conversion traffic funnel.

The very best converting squeeze pages are the ones that never attempt to be ‘all things to everyone.’

They excel at catering to unique problems and concerns of one specific niche. Think of your squeeze page as your rapport-building mini “solutions provider” that never sleeps and is willing to tirelessly serve your prospects 24/7.

Done right, your visitor is practically salivating to get in on the action.

And unless you have a damn good reason for doing so, your squeeze page should never, ever ask for more personally identifiable info than just an email address and, at the very most, a first name.

Numerous marketing studies over the years have shown that opt-in rates are directly related to the amount of information being collected. When split-tested, just an email address and nothing else generated the highest response.

Opt-in form conversions were discovered to rapidly decline on split tests requesting more than just an email and first name.

After your visitor submits their details, your autoresponder (i.e., Aweber, GetResponse, MailChimp, et al.) then automatically sends them an email shortly after that with an opt-in verification link (aka “double opt-in”).

Right after clicking on the verification link, they are then automatically sent a second email containing the access/download link to the promised goodies (depending on how you set your Traffic Funnel up).

Although there’s a wide variety of different squeeze page strategies, that’s the overall gist of a basic squeeze page.

Maximum Conversion Squeeze Page UX Tips

For maximum conversion, ensure that all of your squeeze pages:

• Serve the sole purpose of getting your visitor to take one very specific action: Subscribe.
• Address the “The Four Crucial Questions Landing Pages Must Answer” covered above.
• Are benefits bullet packed, with zero hype and zero unnecessary visual clutter or “click distractions” (i.e. irrelevant content, ads, etc.)
• Build trust every step of the way.

Aside from your squeeze page offers and premium offers themselves, the aesthetic appeal of your site can help turbo-boost your overall conversion across your entire traffic funnel.

The aesthetic elements I’ve found most effective when at all possible (in no particular order of importance) are:

• Familiar icons, logos and trust seals (i.e. “PayPal Verified” seal)
• Genuine end-user testimonials.
• Alluring eCover graphics.
• A crisp, clean, non-convoluted quick-scan-friendly layout (i.e. your sub-headlines and bulletpoints convey the most important elements of your story)
• A photo of you at the end of your squeeze page or sales page.
• A compact Johnson Box (or equivalent attention-grabber) and Value Statement up at the very top of your offer.

Closing Thoughts

For self-hosted WordPress users, I have found the free version of s2Member absolutely indispensable for creating password protected download pages and membership sites.

Although it does have a premium upgrade version, even just the free version is plenty robust in its own right.

Amongst numerous other highly desirable capabilities, s2Member can be configured to protect individual pages, posts, and downloadable files and limit total downloads to a certain number per day, week, etc.

It can also be configured to seamlessly integrate MailChimp’s autoresponder in the background as a single opt-in lead capture device.

In other words, it can be configured so that there’s no need for your subscriber to inconvenience themselves by having to click a ‘confirm subscription’ link in a secondary email. They simply log in with their credentials as they would with any typical WP site.

Then, once your visitor enters their credentials and logs in to download your awesome freebie offer, they would automatically be re-routed to your “Member Download Page” (automatically protected by s2Member).

Granted, it does take a bit of work to initially get everything set up right, but once you’ve done it as many times as I have, it flows like clockwork, thereby providing a remarkably smooth end-user experience.

The post Effective Traffic Funnel UX Design appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Now, imagine we think about UX in the same way: the key to a successful product is creating a solution (a better way to make a hole), and not just a tool (the drill).

“People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole!” – Theodore Levitt, Harvard Business School.

What Does Marketing Have to Do With Anything?

Sales and marketing teams often spend more in-person time with customers than the engineers or product developers do. As a result, the best information about the user’s needs may come from the people who know those users best: the marketers.

Clayton Christensen, a Harvard Business School professor and author of many books on business and marketing, has studied many successful businesses, and the solutions that made their marketing successful. He theorizes that Theodore Levitt was right: people want to buy a solution.

Fedex and Their “Jobs-To-Be-Done” Philosophy

Imagine how hard it was starting FedEx. The US Postal Service was the main competitor. Millions of dollars of startup capital were required, and, as with any new business, there was a pretty big risk that it would fail. Imagine yourself in this situation, starting a new company like FedEx with these huge risks. How would you discover what your customers really wanted?

Start by looking at things from the ‘jobs-to-be-done’ perspective. What are people who use the postal service trying to get done?

One thing only: Get their package from one place to another as quickly as possible. The traditional mail service in 1973 was highly unreliable and many packages were lost or damaged in transit. The founder of FedEx provided customers with a solution: FedEx focused on getting a package from one place to another in days, instead of weeks or months.

This illustrates an essential point. What customers do is more important than who they are. Regardless of age, social status, or gender, when you buy a drill, what you want is a hole, and marketers know this.

What Does This Mean For UX?

Selling a solution works well in marketing, but user experience designers aren’t marketers or salespeople. We don’t want to sell a solution – we want to build solutions.

Eric Schmidt describes Google as more than just a tool. In his speech at D: All Things Digital, he says, “we’re trying to move from answers that are link-based to answers that are algorithmically based, where we can actually compute the right answer.”

A search engine is a tool that responds with links. Google is a solution – a way to provide people with answers. Back in 1999, the best way to do this was by providing links to relevant sources, and Google did so. Now, as algorithms make it possible to provide answers directly, Google is moving toward that.

Try typing “London temperature” directly in Google. Before the search results, you’ll see a box where you’re shown the most recent temperature for the city and the temperature predictions for future dates.

Or type “Berlin flights.” Before any results show up, you are shown a summary of flights to Berlin. Better yet, if you turn on location, you’ll be shown flights from your location to that specific city.

In other words, you are being provided a direct answer to what you’re looking for. Google’s ultimate goal is to give you answers to even more complex queries, for example, “the best way to lose weight”. One thing they could do is to intelligently compile the most popular advice on losing weight, compare that against scientific research on what works and display the summary at the top.

How is it that Google understands exactly what visitors are trying to get done and provides such a successful product to solve visitors’ needs? It all comes down to user research.

Start with User Research

Earlier, I said that what customers do is more important than who they are. Ask yourself a few questions to see if it’s true in your case:

1. Do you identify more according to your ancestry, or your occupation?
2. How do you introduce yourself to others?
3. Are you more likely to ask someone about their activities, or their looks?

User research is about how users spend their time, what they care about, and what actions they take. By learning about your prospective customers before beginning any product development, you can create a truly successful product.

Observe What Your Visitors Already Do

Use available tools or services to get a better understanding of how people interact with your site or application. These are so-called “behavioral tools” which allow you to observe the actual way your users behave.

Before using these tools, write down your own predictions. How do you believe users interact with your site or application?

I cannot emphasize enough how important this is because of the hindsight bias, which is basically looking at past events and interpreting them as predictable. Every time you tell yourself “I knew it all along” after an event occurs, you’re probably a “victim” of this bias. Here are some examples:

• After some unexpected event occurs (like the 9/11 attacks or the 1986 space shuttle disaster), many people cited Nostradamus and some verse as a “proof” he predicted it was bound to happen.
• The “analysis” part on news networks after some event occurs. When the Madoff Ponzi scheme was busted, you saw all sorts of experts saying, “if only this and this were in place, this would not happen.”
• In one study, several students were asked if a particular person nominated for the Supreme court would be confirmed. 58% said yes. After he was confirmed, the same students were again asked if they thought he would be confirmed. This time, 78% said yes.

That’s why it’s important to try and write your predictions first to stop this bias from occurring and realize the unexpected interactions of your users with whatever it is you’re testing. Stop the “I knew it all along” thought before it’s too late.

Ask Users What They’re Trying To Do After You Observe Them

You can do this after observing what they do using various tools. Specifically, ask them what they are trying to get done by clicking on x and then on y and then on z. There are many usability testing and survey tools to accomplish this, but after all, they’re just tools.

What you’re trying to get done here is ask the right questions and come up with answers that will improve your prospects understanding.

It’s simple: First observe what they do and then try to find why they do what they’re doing by asking questions. What were you trying to accomplish while clicking on X and then on Y? Why did you click Y after clicking on Z? etc.

To give you a good idea about how to get started with this, I recommend you first:

a) Install behavior analysis tool(s) and run it for at least 7 days and make predictions how they’re going to behave before you start running the heatmap tools, as mentioned above.

b) Get at least 10 users and ask them what they are trying to get done with your tool.

If your prospects are close to you, you might consider doing live interviews. If your prospects are worldwide, get their contact info and conduct an online survey. I recommend you talk to them directly and not just sending them a generic survey via email.

c) After the heatmap study, see any unexpected occurrences and ask your users what they were trying to get done by clicking on y and then on z.

It’s Simple To Get Started

User testing provides UX designers with the information they need to create successful products. Just as marketing teams learn from speaking with users, so can UXers. And in doing so, you can come away with new insights and lessons that will help you create the perfect solution.

The post Taking the Marketing Approach to UX appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Making yourself unique to potential clients will help them understand that you are the best option available and that doing what you do isn’t cheap or something that can be delivered fast-food style. Meeting their expectations takes time and expertise, and you want to be recognized for your skills.

But how to do it, considering you probably have little money and time to spare? So here you will find a step-by-step guide on personal branding for web designers that will cost you almost nothing.

Step 1 – Define Your Brand

The first thing you will have to do to start building your personal brand is define what it really means. In other words, what you are being asked here is to decide how you want to be perceived by your clients and which promises you will be selling.

For starters, you should concentrate on your strengths and expertise. What makes you the best choice for them? Why should they contract you and not another web designer? What is the added value that you can offer to your clients?

You can list from best pricing and fast delivery to the use of specific techniques or software, unlimited reviews, a first-class portfolio, 5-star testimonials from your clients, etc. Write down what you think makes you stand out as a web designer so that you can use it on your personal branding messages.

Rest assured that even companies invest in their leaders’ personal branding, so, as a freelancer, you shouldn’t ignore it. But remember, what you are selling is yourself. Faking or exaggerating who you are might bring some clients initially, but they will run away from you as soon as they notice the fraud. And, possibly, they will leave awful feedback behind them, which is even worse in the long term. So always be yourself and find your own style.

Step 2 – Analyse Your Target Audience

Now that you know which type of service you are selling, it is time to decide who would contract it. Consider your potential clients, their characteristics, and what they might expect from a web designer.

Do they belong to a specific industry, in case you have specialized in just a few of them? Are they used to contract freelancers, or will you need to explain to them the advantages of dealing with a remote worker? Above all, where can you find them? And which is the best channel and way to communicate with them?

On the other way around, spend some time trying to learn how to communicate with your clients in a more effective way as well. So when they contact you, you won’t lose any contract out of some misinterpretation.

Step 3 – Figure Out How Much Time You Have

We all have busy schedules nowadays, but if you want to grow your brand, you must make time for it. Still, it is understandable that you will need to be realistic here, as you need to get done the job you already have in your hands and that you probably have a life as well.

So, give some thought to how much time you can spare per day or week to build and grow your personal brand as a web designer. Consider, for example, that it is not just a question of posting things online but also of answering comments and emails as quickly as possible. Plus, you will have to monitor and analyze your metrics.

More hours you can set aside, the better and faster results you will get. But you will be surprised by how much you can do with as little as 30 minutes per day.

Step 4 – Build Your Online Presence

Nowadays, the cheapest and easiest way to build a personal brand is through a strong online presence. Especially in your case, as a web designer, not having profiles on the most important social media networks, plus a well-selected online portfolio, is almost a professional suicide.

So make sure that:

1. Your LinkedIn profile is updated, as many potential clients might want to check your CV there.
2. Your Twitter is full of articles and tips about web design.
3. You explore the possibility of using Pinterest to showcase your portfolio.
4. You have, at least, a basic website with your bio and portfolio.
5. Your Facebook is set to private if you won’t be using it for professional purposes.
6. You use an app, such as Hootsuite, to schedule all your weekly posts, so you won’t waste time posting every day.

Step 5 – Write About Web Design (and publish it)

If you want to be seen as an authority in your field, you need to let them know that, which means you will have to show off your skills and write articles or posts about web design.

You can either have your own blog, possibly linked to your website, or search for a guest blogging guide, so you can take advantage of other sites’ established reputation and high traffic. And nothing is stopping you from trying both, either. You can also post texts directly on LinkedIn and other social media channels.

In order to do it, make sure that you are updated with the latest trends in digital marketing, so your texts will be relevant. And don’t forget to share your article on your social media channels and to comment on relevant sites, blogs, and forums.

Don’t be afraid if you are new in the area and think that you don’t have much to say. Share the new skills you have been learning (because this is what should be your top priority) so far, and people will follow you the same way.

Step 6 – Try Some Offline Channels as Well

Despite the fact that you work online, it shouldn’t stop you from making the most of the offline possibilities to grow your personal brand. Congresses, workshops, mass-media publications, and conferences can all bring many clients to you and turn you into an authority overnight.

So if there is an opportunity for you to get an article published by a local newspaper, to give an interview to a radio station, or for a presentation at a congress, go for it. Take some old-fashioned business cards with you and reach out to as many people as possible.

And don’t ignore small events as well. If you are invited to talk to a small class of students about what it is to be a web designer, accept it with a smile. You never know who their parents are.

In Conclusion

Building and growing your personal brand as a web designer might seem daunting, but you can easily achieve it. You just need to make sure that you know your strengths and that you make people aware of them as well.

Keep everything consistent, and don’t be afraid to show off your skills. With a bit of time and money, you are bound to bring to yourself the best clients out there.

The post How to Build & Grow Your Freelance Web Design Personal Brand appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

The massive piles of data Google Analytics provide hasn’t necessarily kept up with an evolving web, however. Privacy regulations and competitors with leaner products have forced the venerable tool to reconsider its practices.

That’s why the next version is likely to surprise some longtime users. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) takes a vastly different approach, with a focus on user events rather than sessions. This eliminates some privacy concerns – not to mention user-specific data that was of interest to those of us reading the reports.

And it’s also going to require action on our part. Google Analytics 4 is not compatible with the previous Universal Analytics (UA) functionality. That means you’ll have to set up your site to be a GA4 property, then implement tracking. UA is set to be retired on July 1, 2023, and data will only be available for a short period afterward.

Indeed, things will be different. But not to worry! With the help of an expert, we’ve put together a list of things you’ll need to know about the switch to Google Analytics 4.

Making a Slow Transition to Google Analytics 4

If you manage Google Analytics for your clients, you’ll need to transition them to GA4 at some point. But you don’t have to go all in right away.

It’s possible to run GA4 alongside legacy UA tracking. This allows you to compare and contrast the available reports. And it also ensures that you’ll hit the ground running when UA is officially retired.

The first step is to create a GA4 version of your existing property. Google has a handy guide that outlines the steps. Once you’ve established the GA4 property, you’ll need to implement its tracking code on your website.

As with previous incarnations, it may take up to 48 hours to see data populate into the GA4 dashboard. And the visual differences between versions are apparent, if not stark.

Google Analytics (UA version) Dashboard

Google Analytics 4 Dashboard

What’s Different about GA4?

“The changing scope and schemas. It will be in line with other product-focused analytics marketing such as Mixpanel, Segment, etc.” That’s how analytics manager and software engineer Victor Ramirez describes the renewed focus of Google Analytics 4.

While UA has traditionally given us a “User > Session > Hits” view of data, GA4 will simply be “Users and Events,” Ramirez says. This pares down the information available in reports, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

In the long run, Ramirez thinks GA4 will end up being more useful to stakeholders. That’s in part because the old UA reports are an apples-to-oranges comparison to other tools. He says, “Because GA UA is so different from other analytics tools, it is very hard to test if the data is accurate.”

Privacy has also been a driver of change – and GA4 offers more controls to help with existing compliance regulations such as GDPR. Ramirez notes that “GA4 has a ‘privacy first’ version that is enabled via consent mode.”

There’s some debate as to whether consent mode will pass muster with GDPR. But Ramirez says it may be a matter of configuring the tool with the right settings.

What You Need to Know about Historical Data

So, what happens to those years of analytical data your UA property has accrued? Simply put: it’s going to be deleted at some point after UA is retired by Google. There’s no word on an official deletion date.

And you can’t bring it over to GA4. Ramirez tells us, “There is no easy way to bring historical data, and in 2023 it will be deleted.”

If UA historical data is still important to you, it’s possible to export it. If you want to combine UA and GA4 data, Ramirez advises that can be accomplished via Google’s BigQuery tool.

“The best plan is to export UA data to BigQuery and also connect GA4 to BigQuery. You can then view both in Data Studio. A no-code solution such as Supermetrics can handle merging UA and GA4 data to be read by BigQuery.”

Also of note, don’t expect Google Analytics 4 to hold onto your data for the long term. It will only retain user-level data for a maximum of 14 months. Google explains that this does not affect their standard aggregated reports, however.

A Different Take On Website Analytics

Taking a look around the web design community, there have been concerns about the changes brought about in GA4. But whatever your feelings on the shift, it’s the undisputed future of the platform. As such, we’ll have to adjust.

It’s about time that Google takes a privacy-focused approach. While it was nice to see detailed data tied to specific users, that’s simply not sustainable in today’s climate.

For those of us that work with clients, Ramirez recommends running both UA and GA4 in parallel for the time being. If clients require having their data all in one place, then tying both versions together with a tool like BigQuery is the way to go.

Looking ahead, it’s worth studying GA4 and how its reporting and configuration differ from previous versions. That will help to make the transition smoother for you and your clients.

Helpful Google Analytics 4 Resources

If you’d like to take a deeper dive into GA4, you’ll want to check out the following resources:

• An In-Depth Guide to Google Analytics 4 by Neil Patel
• Get to Know Google Analytics 4: A Complete Guide by Kayle Larkin, Search Engine Journal
• Introduction to Google Analytics 4 by Google Developers Documentation
• Prepare for the future with Google Analytics 4 by Russell Ketchum, Google Analytics
• The Next Generation of Google Analytics by Moz

The post Taking a Look at Google Analytics 4 appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

The average person may think that all landing pages do is capture email addresses, but that’s not the case. Landing pages may also be used to facilitate downloads, persuade visitors to subscribe to newsletters, show videos, pitch sales, upsell existing customers, or offer other navigational options.

Technically, any web page that’s being used as the go-to destination for advertising and SEO can be classified as a landing page. This is particularly true in multi-channel marketing where different promotional avenues may require different configurations and styles of landing pages that are best fitted to receive the kind of traffic that each channel pushes.

Optimizing a Landing Page

Advertising and SEO aren’t enough to turn visits into qualified leads. Most of the time, marketers have to do varying levels of optimization to make sure the pages get good visibility while serving up good user experiences that encourage conversions. Here are nine steps to optimize a landing page for various promotional channels:

1. Determine the Landing Page’s Purpose

The first step in creating a functional landing page is deciding what it’s for. Are you using it to generate leads? Perhaps to pitch a sale? Whatever it is, the purpose has to be solitary and focused. Trying to get a visitor to do more than one thing usually leads to confusion and failure.

The landing page’s purpose sets the tone for everything from its headline to the body text and right down to its call to action. Keep in mind that Internet browsing attention span is short and volatile. If you bore or confuse your audience, your conversion rate suffers. Keep the messaging simple and united at all times.

2. Identify and Set the Value Proposition

In marketing, it’s never about you and what you want. It’s always about what’s in it for the target audience and how you can leverage that to get what you want in the process. That principle applies strongly to landing pages. It’s never about you, your mailing list or your sales figures. It’s always about the perceived value that your audience will get from absorbing your content and heeding your call to action.

When writing the copy, make the promise explicit every step of the way. Tell the reader how your offering either increases their pleasures or takes away their pains. Write about that in the opening paragraph and make it lead nicely to the benefit statement. Underscore your offers other benefits by enumerating them in short but impactful bullet points. Lastly, make it clear that your audience can only help you fulfill your promise by taking on your call to action.

3. Create at Least Two of Each Element

Landing page design and copywriting aren’t the most exact of sciences. You may have every reason to think that one headline or color scheme is better than another, but the majority of your audience could think otherwise. For that reason, testing is an essential part of landing page optimization. It provides empirical data straight from the field that helps you assess which parts of your landing page are working and which ones need to be improved.

Practically anything in a landing page can be tested. Headlines, buttons, calls-to-action and color palettes can be exposed to a sample set of the audience to gauge visitor responses. Tools such as Google Analytics can streamline the process and help you crunch the numbers for accurate result analysis.

There are two main types of testing used in landing page optimization: A/B testing and multivariate testing. A/B testing, also known as split testing, is the type that switches out singular landing page elements to see which one performs better. Multivariate tests, on the other hand, are experiments that measure which combination of elements performs best.

4. Determine Where the Page Fold is

In newspaper parlance, the fold is the not-so-imaginary line separating the top half from the bottom half of a broadsheet. The most important headlines, images, and news stories are placed above the fold while everything else is positioned below it.

We may be in a day and age where news publications have gone online and folds no longer exist as we knew them, but they go on in a different form. As far as web pages go, “above the fold” pertains to the area that’s immediately visible when the page fully loads. This area is prime online real estate and it will determine whether or not the majority of your audience will stay and scroll down.

Having said that, it’s crucial for a landing page to position vital elements such as the headline and important images above the fold. The promise of value has to be sensed by the audience within a few seconds and without scrolling down.

Granted, users will vary in devices and screen resolution preferences which means the fold may vary from person to person. However, you can compensate for that by planning for what the majority will use. For desktop devices, it’s a safe bet to assume that the average screen resolution will be 1600×900 or close variants of that.

Smartphones and tablets may have totally different display specifications and you’ll want to cater for them with either mobile-friendly counterparts of your landing pages or well-planned responsive webpages that scale down accurately to the devices viewing them.

5. Apply Basic SEO

Search engine traffic is still the best driver of qualified visitors to a landing page. Make sure to use keywords in important elements such as title tags, header tags, image alternate text and body copy. Make sure you use canonical URLs and if you can direct some internal and external links to the landing page, by all means do so.

Even when you’re not relying on organic search traffic to feed visitors to your landing page, you should still apply these optimizations. Title tags and meta descriptions display prominently when your landing page URL is shared on social media. PPC bots also crawl landing pages and award relevance points when these important SEO elements are filled in accurately. Basic SEO doesn’t require a lot of effort but it will reward your landing page in more ways than one.

6. Make Sure It’s Mobile-Friendly

By the end of 2014, it was reported that mobile Internet use has officially surpassed desktop usage. This is a huge development and the trend seems to only be getting started.

The mobile web is a big, open market and early adopters are bound to be rewarded. If you want to tap the latest evolution of the Internet as we know it, it’s in your best interest to make your landing pages mobile-friendly.

7. Remove Unnecessary Links

Think of links within your landing page as exit routes. The more of them you have, the greater the chances that visitors will wander off somewhere and never come back. To maximize your conversion rate, it’s usually best to have only one clickable item: the call-to-action button. This helps you funnel your traffic more easily towards the kind of user action that results in the fulfilment of your conversion goals.

Links aren’t bad per se, but make sure you absolutely have to have them before you place them on the landing page. Examples of these links are the ones leading to your privacy policy and terms of use. Just make sure they’re set up to open in new tabs or windows so you don’t end up pulling visitors away from the landing page itself.

8. Add Social Proof

Social proof is the psychological phenomenon where people assume that the actions and thoughts of others is the correct one. More often than not, adding elements of social proof to a landing page helps increase conversion rates by reducing the audience’s perception of risk.

By that token, badges, testimonials and statistics help you build a better case for your call to action. Social proof widgets are usually placed either on the sidebars or the bottom part of the landing page. They’re completely optional but they’re great to have whenever you can get hold of them.

9. Track it All with Analytics

No matter how good your landing page does when you launch it, there’s always room for you to improve it en route to better conversion rates. Track it with Google Analytics or other web analytics platforms and monitor key metrics such as bounce rates, average times on the page and conversion rates.

This will help you measure user engagement and understand visitor behavior. It will also shed insights on whether or not you need to make adjustments in order to get the most out of the page and the promotions you’re doing.

Finished

Using landing pages for multichannel marketing isn’t the most exact of sciences and it needs constant testing with corresponding adjustments to yield the best results. Keep refining your craft and better traction won’t be far behind.

The post How to Optimize Landing Pages for Multichannel Marketing appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Today’s business owners know a great website is an important part of their marketing toolkit, and since this is your career you should have an awesome website yourself. While a great site is critical for a web designer, don’t depend on it as your only marketing tool.

Whether you are a novice designer or already have a good book of existing clients, gaining new clients is vital to the ongoing success of your business. Use these offline and online tips and tricks to find clients in unusual ways and keep your freelance web design business growing.

Disclaimer: Yes, these methods require some old-fashioned face-to-face communication. However, they are effective, especially when coupled with some new-fangled technology tricks.

Make a List of Your Centres of Influences

“My whats?” you say. Centres of influences are people you know whose standing or success in the community can influence the decisions of others. They are often asked for recommendations to other professionals. For example, doctors, dentists, real estate agents, accountants and lawyers.

The next time you see one of these fine folks, give them a business card and let them know you can help them set up a new website or spruce up the one they already have. Centres of influence can be a wonderful source of referrals to others who need your services.

Target Businesses in Industrial Parks

Drive to an industrial park and actually check out the businesses or stores. New businesses and those undergoing renovations make great web design clients because they are enthusiastic about their new ventures and want to promote them. Older, more established businesses may not even have a website, especially if they started before the internet! Make a list of five to ten businesses and contact them by email, phone or in person to offer your services.

Join Business Networking Organizations

Join a breakfast club where other small business owners discuss the joys and difficulties of running a business. Mingle. Make small talk. (Don’t shudder.) Offer to look at websites, and if you have time, use your mobile device to take a quick look right there. Give one or two suggestions and your card.

Research Resources Catering to Small Businesses

Look for classes, workshops or seminars for new businesspeople. Inquire about speaking to a class about setting up a website for new businesses. Better yet, offer to design a website for the resource itself. If they are happy with your work they are more likely to promote your web design services to the students.

Also look for programs offering municipal or federal funding to new businesses. Small business owners who have just received a grant from the government have money to spend on marketing, including a professionally designed site.

Local Restaurants or Coffee Shops

Seriously. Target establishments in business districts. Begin by looking at the website for the restaurant itself, and get in touch with the owner to offer your services to update or design the restaurant website. Ask to put up a poster, brochure, or leave paper coasters with your logo or QR code on them.

Tradesmen are Good Sources

As more people turn to the internet to find local tradespeople, these professionals need websites. Leave marketing material in building supply stores, lumber yards, plumbing supply outlets, and any other places you think they will hang out – even your neighbourhood pub.

Go Old-School & Print a Stack of Notices or Posters

Include a QR code leading to your website or a coupon for a discount on your web design services. Post these notices on the bulletin board at your local post office and business supply stores, where all the local entrepreneurs end up sooner or later.

Libraries Often Offer Free Talks on a Variety of Subjects

Contact the information desk at your local library and offer a half hour presentation on websites for businesses. This is your chance to speak loudly in the library without getting kicked out.

Pre-Emptive Referrals

When a client mentions a problem – for example a leaky faucet in the lunchroom, suggest the name of an area plumber you like and trust. Write the name and phone number on the back of your own business card. You are more likely to get a referral back or even get work from the plumber himself.

Ongoing Online Marketing for Web Designers

Not all of us are fantastically proactive and outgoing marketers in the real world. In that case, be proactive online, especially if you prefer to avoid or limit your offline marketing techniques.

Introduce Your Business to Online Organizations

For example, engineers, doctors, lawyers or veterinarians belong to professional national or regional organizations which grant them their licenses or designations to practice. They pay fees to these organizations which often have websites, newsletters, and blogs for their online readers.

Write a guest post for the organization blog aimed at the membership – something along the lines of “5 Things to Remember When Designing Your Veterinarian Website.”

Many entrepreneurs say “I’ll do my own website, thank you very much,” not realizing the work involved and expertise required. Soon they discover they are too busy designing bridges or neutering cats to worry about getting their websites up and running. They will read the post, think “yikes, I have to remember all that?” and decide they need a professional website designer.

Send Warm Emails to Businesses You Regularly Visit

Personalize the email so it stands out, and begin by pointing out a product or service you love. For example, ” I just wanted to tell you that your new butter pecan lattes are fantastic.” Mention you looked them up online to find something – (hours, other locations, whatever) and offer a tip or two to improve their site.

I noticed x y z – I can make it better. If you change a and b you will increase your traffic. I can help you with this. Let me know. Be nice, and don’t tell them their website is awful, even if it is. Instead, focus on what you can do to help them improve the site. Keep your email short and friendly.

Ask For Referral as Part of Your Email Signature

“We value your business. The greatest compliment you can give ABC Design is to tell your friends, family and business colleagues about the services we offer. Thank you for trusting us with your web design needs!

Write a Guest Blog Targeting Specific Groups

You are probably sick of being told to write guest blogs, but you know what? It works, and it works better to specialize in a specific niche and market yourself as an expert in designing plumbing sites, or recipe sites, or landscaping sites.

Even better, target a specific professional niche of individuals that are likely too busy to nickel and dime you over your fees, such as architects, engineers, doctors, lawyers, dentists, investment professionals, and real estate agents.

Become an Online Authority

People want to deal with an expert. Build your reputation as an expert online and offline. Become active in forums and discussions around marketing and small business and entrepreneur issues. Open a Quora account and answer questions on web design issues.

Write in Your Local Newspaper

Okay, this may be offline, but it requires minimal face to face interaction. Provide a free weekly or biweekly column. It establishes you as a local web design business, and as a reliable professional.

Read your local paper (online or offline) for announcements about new businesses or other places that may need a website revamp.

Join LinkedIn Business Groups for B2B Sales Leads

They can be location-based or represent a niche or demographic you would like to specialize in. Join in conversations, provide thoughtful and insightful information as well as links to websites you have created (or your own website) when suitable.

Connect With Other Technology-Related Businesses

Web hosting providers, IT support businesses, graphic artists and content writing professionals all serve customers who are likely to need web design services. It is well worth developing a relationship with professionals in these fields as they can be an excellent source of referrals to new clients, as well as provide opportunity for you to branch out into other areas if you want to spread your wings beyond a career as a freelance web designer.

Provide Great Service to Existing Customers

How many of your clients are serial entrepreneurs, the kind of people who always have a new idea? More businesses mean more websites. Do an awesome job on the first one and you’ll have more work to come. Ask clients what they are working on, and tell them about new techniques, technology or other tips that could suit their new projects – Mobility First, anyone?

Ask For Referrals From Existing Customers

at the end of every meeting or interaction. Provide incentives for referrals that result in new clients, such as a discount on a future site upgrade.

Finished!

These are just a few techniques used by successful freelancers to find new clients and new work. Use them to inspire your marketing and networking techniques. If you have a really fantastic story of what works for you, please feel free to share it in the comments section!

The post Some Useful Tips For Finding New Web Design Clients appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Of course, nobody said the same thing about other promotional items like clothing and assorted swag. If anything, they’re more prevalent than ever, with online services dedicated to letting us design and order our own gear.

And, despite the fact that we web designers spend the bulk of our days online, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t invest in these items. They can come in handy when attending a conference, or having a face-to-face meeting with a prospective client. If you want to go really old-school, you might even send them via postal mail.

So, what printed and promotional items does a freelance web designer or small agency need? Much of it depends on the goals of your business. Therefore, some items will be more essential than others. But if you’re looking for ideas, here are some things to consider.

Business Cards

In a world with online portfolios and social media, you’d think society would have moved beyond the business card. But these staples of work continue to have their place.

We still hand them out at events and client meetings. And many of us collect the ones we receive from others as well. There’s just something about having that little card that’s comforting. Plus, they’re often one of the most affordable ways to promote your business in the physical world.

The only catch here is that, as someone who works in a creative industry, your card really needs to stand out. Whether you design your own or hire a graphic designer, the goal is to make them memorable. That can be achieved through great design, high-quality paper or other cool effects we’ve seen recently.

Invoices, Contracts and Letterhead

This may be one area where we’ve made a bit of progress towards that paperless world. People are increasingly becoming more comfortable with online invoicing and even electronic signatures. Email has proven to be a great alternative. But not everyone is on board.

Some clients prefer, and might even require, physical copies of these documents. Therefore, it’s best to hang onto that office printer. It’s still a necessary evil.

The bright side of this is that it offers another opportunity to show off your design skills. Both invoices and contracts can be great ways to communicate your branding. In addition, they can be an effective way to get important messages to your clients – at least, those who tend to not read their email.

When it comes to letterhead, this simply looks more professional than tapping out a note on a blank piece of paper. Despite its simplicity, it’s one of those items that can make a small business look on par with the corporate behemoths.

What’s truly great about these assets is that you really can design and print them yourself. You can even level up by using fancy paper if you like.

T-Shirts

Let’s start by saying that t-shirts aren’t a necessity. There is a little bit of financial investment required to have a supply on hand – which can be tough for the budget-conscious. Still, they can be a tremendous marketing resource.

Case in point: If you’ve attended any sort of conference or trade show, then you likely know that the exhibitors giving away shirts tend to have the busiest tables. Shirts are a promotional item that just about everyone wants to snag.

Plus, people do wear them. And, even if they only wear your shirt in public a couple of times, that’s still a walking billboard for your business. They create brand awareness both for the people who wear them and those who simply notice them while out and about.

This is yet another item you can put your own personal spin on. Even if you haven’t designed a t-shirt before, there are a number of mockup templates that can give you a fast start.

Stickers and Magnets

Much like business cards, stickers and magnets can serve as handy reminders when someone wants to get in touch. And they tend to go places where business cards can’t.

Laptops, for example, are often decorated with a variety of stickers. It’s a very common sight in the design and development industry. If those folks are in your target market, a small investment in a few hundred sticky pieces of paper can really pay off.

Magnets probably shouldn’t go anywhere near your computer (at least not the hard drive). But they do go great with filing cabinets, office refrigerators and even cars. They can also be a nice alternative to stickers, as they don’t damage painted surfaces. That alone may make the ones you give away more widely used.

Those Unexpected Goodies

Sometimes, it pays to go against the grain when it comes to promotional items. Unique giveaways that catch people by surprise are often treated with more care than a card or brochure.

Things like USB sticks, water bottles, clocks or reusable shopping bags are more likely to be kept in a prominent place – thus promoting your business at the same time.

Of course, the downside to these types of goods is their cost. So perhaps it’s wise to reserve them for your high-end clientele or a sporadic giveaway here and there.

But if you’re looking to make a splash and have some extra budget, this could be a fun way to splurge. And it just might further endear you to a good client.

Promoting Web Design in the Physical World

Maybe it is a bit ironic that those of us who work in the virtual world need to promote our businesses in such an old-school manner. But the reason to do so is simple: it works.

The exciting part of this is that you have a lot of flexibility on the items you invest in. Some, like documents, can be made on demand in your office. You have complete control of the design process and can print them out anytime. Best of all, they’re cheap!

More traditional goods may have a higher cost. But, if you shop around, you might be able to purchase them in minimal quantities. This ensures you don’t go over budget or, even worse, have cases of unused tchotchkes stacked up in your living room.

At the very minimum, a web designer should have business cards, along with contracts, invoices and letterhead. But why limit yourself? There are tons of unique items that can help spread the word about your brand.

The post What Print and Promotional Materials do Web Designers Need? appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

As the IoT (Internet of Things) expands to encompass virtually every aspect of life, there’s been no better time for web designers to start their own companies. If you’re considering entrepreneurship as a web designer, here’s what you need to know.

Key Skills to Possess as a Web Designer

Web designers, like other digital startup owners, need key skills to continue onward. These skills include marketing, data analysis, and, of course, fundamental knowledge of design. Marketing today involves a savvy understanding of social media, SEO, and the newest methods of getting your message across.

Luckily, web designers don’t necessarily have to be marketing experts to start their own companies. They can hire a marketer specifically for this purpose if they have the resources to do so.

While today’s web designers have to be on top of current trends to stay relevant, they cannot bypass basic design fundamentals. Trends will come and go, but the fundamentals of design are here to stay.

To become an entrepreneur, a web designer needs to have a firm grasp of design elements such as layout, space, navigation, image techniques, and best code practices. Without the building blocks of web design, a designer can’t establish themselves as an expert in the field.

Data analysis is the new face of a successful business, regardless of the industry. Learning to collect and analyze website data is imperative for a designer’s success as a business owner. Obtaining data such as website traffic, user behavior, and click-through rates are the only way to tweak parts of a website that aren’t performing optimally.

Data analysis is what makes a successful web designer able to help so many different clients in different industries – they can optimize any website according to its individual needs.

Perks of Choosing Web Design

Web designers have a few advantages over other types of entrepreneurs. They don’t need a brick-and-mortar shop, for one. Creating a digital franchise has its own difficulties, but it eliminates several major costs of finding a property to do business from.

Web designers also have another major gain – the ability to create a website. A web designer’s website is the crux of their business, and it’s also one of the easiest achievements for a designer.

An additional perk of web design is that it doesn’t require oodles of expensive equipment to start – at least at first. Entrepreneur.com estimates the startup costs for a web designer at only $2,000.

A web designer typically already has most, if not all of the tools needed to start designing websites: a computer, a fast Internet connection, and webpage creation knowledge.

Today, many important tools and apps are free to download and use on most systems. Basic hardware and software, combined with raw talent, can be enough to get a startup off the ground.

These immediate advantages can give web designers a leg up they need to start their own company without the risk of major losses.

Lessons From Designers Who’ve Been There

Web design is an overcrowded industry. However, it’s also the fastest-growing industry with a need for designers who know what they’re doing.

If you want to embark on becoming a web design entrepreneur, take a few tips from people who’ve been there.

Mark Atkinson, who owns and operates a web design studio in South Africa, encourages aspiring website designers not to give up even when the competition is more experienced than you. It took Atkinson several years to build a successful design studio – and more than one pitfall.

Atkinson had created a mildly successful design business when he realized one major thing his company wasn’t doing – setting itself apart. The websites his company created were template-based and boring. He was taking advantage of “consumer naivety” in the technological age to merely get by.

After this realization, Atkinson brushed up on the latest design trends, created a unique selling proposition to differentiate his firm from others, and focused on exceeding client expectations. His main takeaway is to always keep learning to grow as a business.

Other web design entrepreneurs stress the importance of making relationships with others and networking. Some admit that while they have skillsets that are desirable and provide valuable services to customers, it’s the relationships they build with clients that keep their businesses afloat.

Networking in your niche, making connections, and cultivating real relationships with your clients are ultimately what make people talk about your brand. Organic growth depends on a web designer’s ability to leave clients with a lasting impression.

The Five Pillars of Entrepreneurship

Some people were born to be entrepreneurs. Others work hard and craft the businessperson they want to be from the ground up. There is no wrong way to become an entrepreneur, but there are a few pillars that serve as cornerstones for aspiring business owners:

1. Love what you do. Consumers can differentiate a brand created by someone who’s lukewarm about the subject from one with a passion. Web designers who become successful entrepreneurs truly love web design, and have the backgrounds to prove it. They surround themselves with web design, taking courses and doing everything they can to build a life around their passion.

2. Fill a gap in the market. Entrepreneurs see a gap in their desired industry and can’t sleep until they’ve figured out a way to fill the need. A web designer may work for a design firm that ignores responsive design and so wants to start a business that emphasizes this aspect instead. As long as a web designer’s contributions to the field are fresh and relevant, they can become a stand-alone enterprise.

3. Have a vision. Web designers who branch out on their own know how to capitalize on burgeoning trends and predict new ones based on user behavior. They have a vision for what they’re capable of creating and know they can do it better than the competition. Maintaining a goal-based vision is important for the focus of a new company.

4. Gather resources. Hire the right people or do it on your own at first. Either way, entrepreneurial web designers need to have certain tools of the trade to succeed. These include design tools such as Atomic, Sketch, etc. Stay on top of the latest resources available to consistently beat the competition.

5. Make a plan. Without a hard-copy business plan, web designers can’t expect their visions to become realities. Entrepreneurship is full of freedoms in many ways, but there’s no avoiding the business plan. Take a page out of a successful web designer’s book and learn from others’ mistakes. Include everything you need to start your business in your plan, and take small steps toward your final goal.

Once you’ve established the five pillars of entrepreneurship, begin your journey toward being your own boss. With the right amount of determination and creativity, a web designer can certainly be an entrepreneur – a highly successful one.

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