How to Automate the Process of Hiring a Web Designer?

In the spring of 2019, two young Ukrainian entrepreneurs created a startup at their own expense, which helps companies and designers find each other, and quickly and qualitatively implement the necessary design tasks. Today this project is called Awesomic.io.

The Awesomic platform connects companies with designers. The algorithm breaks down the client’s tasks into parameters and selects a specialist for them on the same day. Awesomic clients get access to a community of professional designers capable of performing various tasks. These include logo development, branding, web and product design, presentations, animations, and printed materials.

The startup has already won the Ukrainian Startup Awards in the Bootstrap category, attracted European investors, created a library of UI animations and implemented over 2000 design tasks. Several hundred global companies have become clients of Awesomic. Among them are the Ukrainian application Reface and SilviaTerra – an AI partner of Microsoft, venture capital funds, and international agencies.

Create Competency Profile

You should start by formulating a web designer competency profile. This is your internal document, which will allow you to structure your thoughts and expectations about the candidate and thus improve the quality of your search. Later on, you will use this document when training a web designer. In it, you specify the expected result of the web designer’s work, area of expertise, and functional duties (you describe them at the level of behavior and actions).

Vacancy

The next step is to compose and post a vacancy. The essence of the vacancy is to interest a potential candidate in employment precisely in your company. During the web designer vacancy description, you should mention what you will offer the candidate, the working conditions, and what knowledge and skills you want to see in him. In detail, state what the work will be and what human qualities the candidate should have.

After creating the job vacancy, it is worth posting it on job search resources, preferably in as many places as possible, to enter as many suitable candidates as possible.

Preliminary Interview of the Web Designer Candidate

All candidates are worth a phone interview. The script for the phone call is below.

“Candidate name,” good afternoon. My name is “name,” I’m calling about the web designer position at “Company Name.” Are you comfortable talking right now? Please tell me what kind of job you are looking for. Can you please tell me if you have experience creating a layout on a grid? Do you have experience preparing a structure in layers for design? Do you have any experience with CMS? Rate your technical and aesthetic skills as a web designer on a 10-point scale. Can you argue this assessment? What salary level do you expect?

“Candidate’s name”, thank you for your time. I will send you an email with a short and exciting test assignment. Additional questions are also asked during the phone interview, if necessary, to clarify the candidate’s professional qualities. In case of a positive result of the telephone interview, you should send the test task to the candidate and ask to specify the time needed for its execution (within 15 minutes). The email should praise the candidate (at least because they have already taken the time to your company, sent examples of work, and talked on the phone – this is worthy of praise) and offer to answer some test questions.

Test Assignment

You should give the test assignment following the tasks that the web designer will need to perform. You should not abuse the web designer’s time and assign unpaid commercial tasks (which you can then use in your activity without payment). It is worth giving the task, which obviously will not have a commercial purpose.

Come up with an exciting test that it would want to do, like a quest, which will show the web designer what he will have to work with within your company. With test assignments, you can consider several web designers simultaneously without much time commitment.

Check a web designer’s verbal communication, level of interest, self-organization, and adherence to deadlines. This is what a test assignment for a web designer might look like. “Candidate Name”, good day. The following is a test assignment for the web designer position at “Company Name.”

1. Give 3 examples of websites that inspire you. Argue your point of view.
2. Check the correctness of the landing page and make edits if necessary.
3. Describe potential points of improvement for the page to increase conversions. Link to the website https://ideasoft.io/

To check the attention to detail, it’s worth setting the format of the answer file name. For example:

The answer to the task should be sent in the following format:

“AmV-web_designer_Alex_Green_120622”, where AmV – company name, web_designer – the position you are applying for, Ivan_Ivanov – your first and last name, 120614 – date of file sending (for example, here June 12, 2022).

Processing Test Assignments

You should immediately weed out the blatantly weak web designers when you have received the completed test tasks. You can write a response to them in the following format. “Candidate’s name”, thank you for completing the test assignment. Your current knowledge level is insufficient to continue being considered for this position. We wish you the best of luck in your job search.

You should answer something like this to not-so-weak web designers:

• What in the test performed well
• Point out potential points of improvement
• Ask for specific changes in the design

You can also tell them how they can improve their design skills. It won’t be redundant.

Personal or Group Interview

After the test phase, only a few web designers are left whom you need to invite for a personal interview. A group interview can be organized by inviting several web designers who have successfully completed the test.

Tell them about the company and the vacancy, and make them interested. At this point, you have already checked the practical web design skills. It’s time to go a little deeper into the theory. After that, invite the candidate to ask questions that interest them. Frequently asked questions can say a lot about the interviewer and their interests.

Requesting References and Additional Information

If you have not yet decided, collecting recommendations on the selected finalist web designers makes sense. A telephone interview with at least two or three previous employers is sufficient for this. These must be the web designer’s immediate supervisors. During the conversation, you need to get information about:

• Previous employer’s level of satisfaction with the web designer
• Specific duties and types of work the web designer performed, with a possible evaluation of the web designer for each kind of work
• Web designer’s attitude toward meeting deadlines
• Web designer’s reaction to criticism and comments on the work
• The reason the candidate was terminated

After such communication, you are likely to be able to make the right decision. If the web designer gets rejection, it is a good idea to explain what the lack was to get the job. When asking for references, it might make sense to ask for links to the web designer’s social profiles. Not always, but you can often look at the person from this angle.

Find and Hire a Web Designer in 2022 – Final Points

You should pay special attention to the playlist of the web designer. Music preferences can sometimes be used to determine a person’s character traits. For example, there may be a situation: a young web designer has a musical preference associated with protest or challenge. With a high degree of probability in such a case, you will encounter difficulties making edits and comments on the layouts.

The post How To Find and Hire a Web Designer in 2022 appeared first on DesignWebKit.

Apart from all that, you’ll want to create a website for your company that will present your business in the best possible way. To get to that point, you’ll likely want to contact a web design company or an individual who does website design. If you know very little about website design, you may not be sure what to look for in this area. We’ll talk about some of what you’ll want to see from your website designer right now.

You Might Want a Website Designer Who Can Handle Your Updates

Working with a web design agency can spare you some major headaches. They can do the actual site design, and maybe when they show you the finished product, you’ll feel enthusiastic about what they’ve created for you. The thing is, though, you can’t regard a website as “finished.” Maybe it looks and runs great when you first see it, but some of the inbound and outbound links might break after some time has passed. Perhaps you’ll want to update the graphics, and you’ll need someone to update the plugins as well. If you don’t update the plugins, it is easier for hackers to penetrate the site. They might shut it down or demand a ransom for you to take control of it again. You need someone who can patch any coding issues that come up.

You can hire someone and have them on staff who can do all of that for you. Maybe you have the money for some permanent IT staff members who can take care of these issues. However, you might also keep your original web designer on the payroll or keep their number handy. You can ask your web designer to handle any patches or updates your site will eventually require. Make no mistake, websites need maintenance. When you reach out to a web designer about creating a site for your business, you can also ask them if they can maintain that site for you when you need it. If they can, that makes them doubly useful to you.

You Want One that Doesn’t Charge Too Much

Much like any service or product that you buy, you will find web designers that charge more or less for their services. You might locate one that comes highly recommended. You can see that they have plenty of positive online feedback, and they have been in the business a long time. If they demand too much for their services, though, it doesn’t make sense to hire them. You want the best web designer available, but if you don’t have the operating budget to hire them, you will have little choice but to go with someone else.

Generally, you can find website designers at lower prices if they have not been in the industry for a very long time. A neophyte web designer may not cost as much, but you can’t be sure they can do the job very well if they’ve only just started doing this kind of work. You will need to find a website designer about whom you feel confident but who you can also afford. It’s not always the easiest thing to do, especially if you just got your company off the ground and you’re operating on a shoestring budget.

You Might Want One Who Knows About SEO

SEO means search engine optimization, and you should know a little about it as a business owner, even if you don’t work in your company’s IT department. Generally, it’s not a website designer’s job to optimize your site so that it gets lots of organic search traffic. If you can find a site designer who can also optimize your website while they set it up, that’s a huge bonus. Otherwise, you’ll need to hire a separate person who can do that. Maybe you can have a permanent IT staff member who does that, or you could bring in a freelancer if that makes more sense for you from a monetary standpoint.

SEO is the way you bring organic traffic to your company’s site. You need someone who can optimize your content. That means writing copy with relevant keyword integration. It means adding the appropriate pictures and graphics. It could mean adding social media components on your landing page that will direct site visitors to follow your company on social media. Having an FAQ section, a company blog and other elements can all be a part of your SEO strategy as well.

If you can find an individual or agency that can not only create your site but optimize it too, that’s a huge bonus. You should talk to the individual or agency you employ to see whether they do that. Of course, if you can find someone who says they’ll do it, they will likely charge you more money because of that extra added service.

Find a Website Designer or Agency with Whom You Get Along

Maybe you find an individual or agency in the Kansas City area who seems perfect in every way. They know about website design with WordPress or Wix. They charge an amount that seems reasonable to you. Maybe they can even do some SEO work while they set up your site. All of that doesn’t count for much if you can’t seem to get along with them. You don’t have to be best friends with your website creator. However, you need to have a cordial, working relationship with them.

The post 4 Things to Look for From Your Kansas City Website Designer appeared first on DesignWebKit.

Who Is a Web Designer?

Before we go deeper into the issues of where you can learn web design, consider the meaning of the existence of this profession. Web design is a type of design and a branch of web development. Web-designer – a specialist responsible for how a particular site is perceived and displayed on the Internet. Using computer technology, he creates and handles the elements of graphics, comes up with logos, banners, develops the structure and navigation of the site.

Thus, the scope of competence of a typical web designer can be divided into programmatic, visual, and style components. This is the organization of electronic information and its pleasant design, the development of interfaces for websites and applications, the creation of amazing graphics that serve the main tasks of the site and the needs of the target audience. To create compelling websites or the best networking presentation, a web designer works closely with brand managers, web programmers, layout designers, marketing specialists, and SEO web promotion specialists.

A good web designer – a specialist who knows how to work with graphics editors and has good artistic taste. A great designer is both a talented artist, an intuitive psychologist, and a strong technical expert.

Become a Web Designer – Essential Knowledge and Skills

A good craftsman should make a functional website that will be convenient for visitors to use. For this reason, he must have the following skills and knowledge:

• knowledge and capabilities in working with typography, colors, and other structural design elements;
• make user-friendly functionality, think through UI/UX;
• know how to work with essential tools such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, Corel DRAW, and others. In addition, knowledge of the programs GIF Animator, FineReader is welcome. This list is not complete, as in the process of work may need other specialized programs;
• be competent in specifics of work with the layout in HTML and CSS;
• competently prepare design layouts before sending them to the layout designer;
• be able to intelligently design advertising, know how best to attract potential customers, and have the marketing competencies to ensure effective sales or other important goals;
• have an individual, good taste, sense of style;
• process images based on a predetermined model through the use of special programs.

Become a Web Designer – Individual Qualities

In addition to the necessary skills to perform certain types of work, a web designer must have qualities important to his profession. Let’s list the basic ones:

• communication skills: be able to express thoughts, work in a team, work with clients, focus on their needs, find an approach to everyone;
• curiosity: to find uncommon solutions, to look for different ways of solving tasks within one job
• analytical skills: to plan all the stages of the work, to analyze, structure, determine the steps and their sequence to get the best result
• diligence: to work on the task without the distraction of the social networks, messengers;
• assiduity: to work on the task for a long time, not devoting much time to rest and “smoke breaks
• responsibility: understand the importance of meeting deadlines and the timeliness of reporting to the customer of the service;
• imagination: to imagine the result – the final look of the site or page after all stages of work.

An essential thing in the work of a web designer should be considered a sense of taste. However, you should not think that taste – it is an innate quality. It develops gradually, in which a significant role is played by self-development. For this reason, it is vital to work on yourself.

6 Ways to Become a Web Designer: Online, Free, and Paid

Watch videos on YouTube, take Photoshop lessons or still enroll in a specialty at a university? Learn how to become a web designer when everything is developing rapidly.

Option 1: Online University

Enroll in an online university majoring in “web design” or “graphic design” and take several years to receive a traditional online education, aside from special subjects, brand design, interface design, web design, animation, and analytics. It may even seem like a plus. Only there’s a nuance.

Pros:

• You can study at a convenient time (if deadlines are not tight).
• Diploma of state standard.

Cons:

Even in long courses, all the best teachers from the best studios in the country and the world do not teach. This is just private practice, like everywhere else.

Option 2. Self-education

The most challenging way. To move forward on it, you must first find the process of a web designer and then, for each stage of work to find a selection of books and videos, as well as intermediate product samples.

Pros:

• You can learn at your convenience.
• Almost everything can be found for free.
• International outlook on theory, ready-made design solutions, and a good bar.

Cons:

• The path will require considerable experimentation, time, persistence, passion, and the will to win.
• You need to find a project and a mentor on your own. Otherwise, everything you learn may not add up to a coherent picture.
• There is a risk of not picking the best agencies.

Option 3. Online Courses

An excellent option to start is if you carefully study the teachers, their work, and their approach. Take a free piece and then decide.

Pros:

• You can study at a convenient time.
• You can buy courses in installments.

Cons:

• Most likely, another series of courses will be required.
• Sometimes you come across expensive trajectories with an emphasis on tools, not projects and skills.

Option 4: Online MasterClass Courses and Workshops

This approach is good for sharing experiences. You get the essentials right away, dive into the project, and start doing and adjusting with feedback. Then, the mentor parses the work and recommends what the participant should work through on his own. This is the same as when preparing a research paper. Of course, you can ask someone to write my research paper for me, but working with a mentor is invaluable. He will help the investigators with the structure, literature search, and general outline of the work. Such cooperation will only bring positive results.

Pros:

• The program contains relevant and applied information.
• You learn how to solve problems close to reality.

Cons:

High cost of working with a mentor.

Option 5: Freelance

There are a lot of clients in the marketplace who need help—ideal for work and training.

Pros:

• Opportunity to get an actual case study in your portfolio.
• You can try anything you want.

Cons:

• You may have to work nights and weekends to meet deadlines (combined with your main job).
• You set your standards, set the bar yourself. In the end, quality can suffer.

Option 6: A Balanced Approach

You practice in the tools on combat projects. Then build up your horizons and courage through a series of short courses from well-known design agencies and companies. And pack a portfolio. And then start submitting applications for test assignments, attaching portfolios and logos of agencies where you studied (will show your serious attitude).

Pros:

• You can study at a convenient time.
• You are guaranteed to learn from experienced experts and studios in the country and get an outlook on practice.
• International outlook on theory, ready-made design solutions, and an excellent global bar.
• Gain only relevant and applied information.
• Learn how to solve problems close to reality.
• Get serious pre-conditioning before the fight.
• Gather a diverse portfolio (with status studio logos) and show a severe attitude before going in for a test assignment and project.
• Get more combat experience for less time and money.
• You can buy everything inexpensively.

Cons:

• You need to do scouting experts and companies to learn from and plan your development.
• You won’t get a state diploma and an international degree.

The post How to Become a Web Designer: Features of The Profession and Where to Study appeared first on DesignWebKit.

Develop a Good Reputation

You are going to struggle to start off a graphic design business in the first place unless you are able to show off your work. For this reason, a lot of people start off in a freelance capacity before gradually building up to taking the business full-time. In California, there are plenty of companies that could utilize your services. Therefore, this is a good opportunity to start to develop your niche. While your ultimate ambition may be to work with a major company like Google or Facebook, this is inevitably going to take a lot of time and effort. You are going to need to cut your teeth in the world of design first and show that you are able to do the job well. Not only this, but you need to develop a reputation for reliability and deliver great results on time, every time.

Set Your Branding and Website

Obviously, if you are going to be running a design business, it is inevitably the case that you need to have a beautifully branded logo, color scheme, etc. Not only this, but you also need a website that is all singing and all dancing. This is likely to be the first impression that potential clients form of your company, so you need to make sure that you are doing it in the right way. Of course, when in California, there are also plenty of business-focused events on offer. Therefore, you need to produce a range of business-focused marketing materials that you are able to distribute to leave a good impression a long time into the future.

How to Start a Design Business – Start on the SEO

As so many people search for products and services online these days, it makes sense that your business is as searchable as it possibly can be. A big part of SEO activities should be dedicated to attracting local traffic. This means that you are regularly including California in your search terms. However, when you are first starting out, you may even want to be more localized than this. Therefore, think about being more specific with the name of your town or your region. Remember, SEO is an ongoing battle, and you cannot expect to get brilliant results overnight. It is going to take time to reach the level that you would like to.

Think About Your Price Structure

You next have the task of charging clients to cover off. This means thinking about whether you would like to charge them by the hour or based on the project completion. It also means that you are going to need to compare and contrast what you are offering with other local enterprises. If you are going to position your price point a long way above them, you need to have a clear justification as to why this is the case. At the same time, you do not want to undersell yourself. As California is clearly such a creative hub, it may well be that you want to charge more than you would in another part of the country.

Set Your Business Up for Success

Beyond the obvious skill that you need in the field of design, you also need to be prepared to set your business up for success in other areas. It means that you set up your business to be tax compliant to ensure that you are not going to be hit with a huge bill further down the line. It also means that you should make sure that you get the proper legal advice to ensure that you are compliant. You should also look into how you can get business coverage in California. This way, if you need it, you have it to rely upon. Of course, another central aspect is ensuring that you have a solid business plan that you can follow through as closely as possible and some market research that shows clearly when and where you are going to position yourself on the market.

How to Start a Design Business – Chase Up Your Payments

When you start to produce work for people, it is essential that you make sure that you get paid. Otherwise, you are not managing your cash flow situation properly. In a new business, this can be extremely damaging, and you can easily find yourself in a situation when you are not able to sustain yourself. Making sure that you work with people who are reliable is an important starting point. Also, some businesses find that they are better able to encourage people to pay on time by giving them an incentive such as a reduced payment or a discount on their next order.

Build Up a Referral System

It is important that you are able to spread your good name as widely as possible. One central way of doing this is by coming up with a referral system. This way, you are incentivizing people to pass your details onto others. Hopefully, once you get the ball rolling, you are then going to be able to spread a referral code from one person to the next.

How to Start a Design Business – Keep Innovating

When you live in a highly innovative environment such as California, you need to make sure that you are constantly innovating and coming up with new ways of doing things. This way, you are going to be able to stand out from the crowd rather than producing the same thing over and over again. Of course, when you are setting up a graphic design business in California, you are going to have your work cut out, but these are some of the ways of achieving success.

The post How to Start a Design Business in California appeared first on DesignWebKit.

Sublime Text 3

After you have chosen to use a video calling app such as WhatsApp Web for establishing the plans with your teammates, the next step is to choose the right text editor for writing your lines of code. We recommend Sublime Text 3 from the bottom of our heart, as it will ease your programming work tremendously. When you’re typing an opening tag, for instance, the program will automatically place the ending tag and set your writing between them. There are also a lot of useful shortcuts to use in the app once you highlight the desired text.

Productivity Tools for Web Designers – Trello

Trello is more like the program for web pros, and it gives them the opportunity to organize their projects. You can use Trello for grouping projects out into boards. Each card will have its own notes, attachments, comments, due date, and checklists. You can always use Trello for adding other users to your boards to help you in your projects.

Top Productivity Tools for Web Designers – Harvest

Web pros can use Harvest to track the time of their clients through the built-in timer to see how much time is being spent for each client and project. Harvest even allows the user to add unlimited projects. It surely means a lot for a mainly free-of-charge app, although it has some paid options. Over 70,000 companies are tracking time using Harvest, and there’s no wonder why. As the description itself says, we’re talking about a modern time tracking app that involves less effort, improved profitability, and more joy.

WhatsApp Web

WhatsApp Web recently received the long-awaited video-calling feature, although it was initially available only for the mobile version of the Facebook-owned instant messaging app. This means that web designers and programmers, in general, can easily use WhatsApp Web for video calling each other and therefore collaborate in a more efficient way. Almost everyone has a WhatsApp account these days, considering that the service has more than 2 billion users worldwide. This could only mean that you can find pretty much anyone while using WhatsApp Web, the desktop version of WhatsApp. You can also use a secondary account using BlueStacks.

Productivity Tools for Web Designers – Jing

Jing is basically the Snipping Tool built into Windows but on steroids! Whenever you need screenshots for edits and revisions, you can trustfully use Jing to snap them and mark them up. The sharing part is also easy. You’ll instantly get links to your screenshots that you can give to others via emails or WhatsApp. With technology constantly evolving and never ceasing to amaze us all, we can be sure of at least one thing: web design will always be an exciting domain.

The post Productivity Tools for Web Designers – 5 Best Ones in 2021 appeared first on DesignWebKit.

Examples of Web and App Designs – Lua

Lua is an online app built for those who want to convert, merge, and compress text files such as PDFs. This powerful software will do any tasks in literally seconds, and it has a very deductible and simple interface that makes it even more popular. Lua’s stronghold remains the PDF conversion area. Convert Doc to PDF and Compress PDF to reduce the file size without decreasing the document quality.

Tinder

Tinder is one of the world’s most popular dating apps, and for a good reason. Award-winning UI/UX designer, Michelle Dipp, pointed out that the software has a simple and friendly design for the interface, as anybody will easily figure out how to use it. There are simple icons for chats, the user’s profile, the search field, and more. As of September 2019, Tinder is used by 7.86 million users only in the US, proving that the simple design was indeed a successful recipe. If you don’t like Tinder and you still need a dating app, there are plenty of reliable alternatives. We also recommend OkCupid, Bumble, and eharmony.

Web and App Designs – GitHub Desktop

There are a lot of people out there who don’t like icons, and GitHub Desktop is for them! We’re talking here about an app for programmers, meaning that you definitely need one of its kind if you’re into web design. GitHub Desktop has a very modern and attractive look, although we have to admit that you’ll need a little online research to figure out what specific terms like ‘fork’ or ‘pull’ mean in this case. The app allows the users to work together on various projects and start again from where they left the work itself. All changes will appear in one place – GitHub is used by 56 million people around the world.

Mozilla Thunderbird

Thunderbird is another simple app that does its work in an efficient way, as it was built for keeping all the user’s emails into a single account. If the person has multiple email addresses, as many of us have, there will be no problem for Mozilla’s program. Thunderbird has a plain and deductible interface, with almost no icons and useless design aspects.

Simplicity in Web and App Designs – Skype

Skype remains a good alternative to WhatsApp, Zoom, and other video calling apps. Skype offers pretty much anything a user would want from such an app, and the design is also pretty good-looking. However, there are plenty of people who consider the design of Skype to be a little too ‘sparkling’, but we don’t agree. There’s even a dark mode for the program to activate by the user, which makes it even more pleasant to use at night when you need to relax your eyes and save some battery power.

There are simple ways of achieving an efficient simplicity when it comes to web design for apps. If you’ve just finished a programming course, you don’t have to build an app by trying to implement as much as possible of what you’ve learned. We know that it’s tempting to demonstrate your skills at first, but you must remember that you’re building an app for other people as well, not only for yourself. The last thing those people want is a complicated interface that bombards them will all sorts of links, icons, and suggestions. People usually prefer simple, direct, and efficient apps.

The post 5 Great Examples of Simplicity in Web and App Designs appeared first on DesignWebKit.

Familiarize Yourself with the Field

Before you go rushing full-steam ahead, it’s important that you slow down and take the time to understand what exactly this job entails. One of the biggest misconceptions people have when learning how to become a web designer is that it’s all about making pretty sites. Aesthetic appeal is important, but there are a lot of underlying factors that have to be taken into account.

Experts know that a good site is all about form and function. The visual elements all come together to create an experience that helps clients achieve their goals. From connecting with an audience to converting viewers into customers, there’s a lot riding on a web designer’s shoulders.

The process is long and often filled with revisions. You’ll be collaborating with a team if you’re in an office or going back and forth with clients as an independent contractor. Make sure that you’re prepared to handle constant feedback without taking it too personally. After all, this is a job, and your sites are the product. It’s not just about artistic expression. Another thing you need to be familiar with is all the other key factors that go into this field. Aside from the HTML coding, there are all sorts of things you need to learn including:

• HTML and CSS formatting
• Digital marketing principles and best practices
• Graphic design fundamentals
• Time and project management skills
• User experience (UX) and user interface (UI) knowledge
• Educate Yourself on How to Become a Web Designer

Speaking of educational requirements, this brings us to the next topic: college. It should go without saying that you won’t ever get a long-lasting career without a proper education. This is especially true regarding the one that’s very technical like web design. There are various types of web designers, like freelancers, agencies and in-house. Freelancers work at their own pace and agenda. In-house designers typically work for a company that has them work on a certain part or the entire website. Agencies are in charge of managing the company, but the thing is that you won’t have as much freedom as the other two options.

How you choose to work is up to you, but you’ll still need a strong education to support your journey. When you research how to become a web designer, you’ll likely find that a degree is considered a bonus rather than a hard requirement. If you decide to be self-taught, then you’ll need the portfolio and references to prove to future employers that you’re the right hire. Because so many people do enter the field on their own, companies are raising the requirements for candidates to ensure they only get the best talent. If finances are holding you back, you can take out a student loan from a private lender in order to pay for your higher education and invest in yourself, while starting repayment after graduation.

Become a Web Designer Sharpening Your Skills

We briefly touched upon the basics of how to become a web designer. Now, let’s explore them in a bit more detail.

HTML & CSS Formatting

HTML primarily focuses on the overall structure of the site and how everything is laid out. It is, however, possible to aesthetically customize the website using only HTML. The problem with this is that it can get mixed up in the main code, which can make it really confusing. CSS lets you focus on the overall base of the website before going into the design aspects. We’ll begin with the HTML’s companion; CSS. CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets. This is mainly used for the aesthetic of the website such as coloring, pictures, and unique fonts that will be displayed. CSS makes developing a website much easier because it separates the needs from the wants, per se.

Graphic Design

Continuing on the topic of design, you need to learn how to properly implement the coding for it. The colors and pictures you add are also in various forms of code. There are four ways of adding colors; RGB values, HSL values, Hex color codes, and HTML color names. RGB is short for red, green, and blue. HSL stands for hue, saturation, and lightness. Hex color codes use a hexadecimal value and HTML color names when you simply write the name of the color within the code. As for the pictures, they’re embedded into an internal link from a designated location. Each web designer has their own way of doing things, so experiment with each method to see which one you are most comfortable with.

UX and UI

Understanding how to properly implement UX and UI will help the website you’re building soar. The UI of the website is how the website is laid out. Each website has its own unique layout that makes it different from the rest. In today’s day and age, you want to keep things as simple and accessible as possible. Having a complex UI can deter a lot of people. In this context, UX is how a consumer interacts with the website. This can include how long it took for the page to load, what they clicked on, and things they actively searched out. One way to ensure the UX is sufficient is to constantly optimize it. Optimizing simply means making something more functional. You can do this by getting rid of unnecessary clutter, like miscellaneous images.

Become a Web Designer – Start the Job Search

While you’re in college or once you’re confident in your skills, you can start taking on jobs. It can be helpful to offer your services free to family and friends, building sites for them that you can show off in your portfolio. Low-pressure opportunities like this are ideal for newcomers who want to establish a professional image. One of the best things about this career is that there is almost no shortage of jobs. Companies are always on the lookout for aspiring designers to bring on to their team. All you have to do is search, be patient and compare each job offer until you find the one. The road to being a successful web designer may be a long path, but it’s one worth walking if you’re passionate about it.

The post How to Become a Web Designer – Main Tips appeared first on DesignWebKit.

The Final Product Is Far From Final

While creating a website might be a nightmare, it’s also far, far from enough to increase your online presence. What’s that? Are you rolling your eyes right now, saying something along the lines of “oh, come on, what more could I possibly need”? Well, my friend, you do need a lot more than that and I’m pretty sure that you’ll be aware of that the moment your website’s finished and nobody is visiting it, let alone scheduling your HVAC services. In case you don’t have a clue what I am talking about, I suggest you visit Proven Marketing Now and check out a little service called SEO. I bet this is now starting to ring a bell. How could you have forgotten about marketing? No business can succeed without it and that definitely goes for online businesses too.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the online marketing technique you need to employ in order to make your website visible to the right people at the right time. In other words, if you don’t want your grandmother to be the only person talking about your HVAC services and your website, then you need to do some SEO and get your site seen by a lot of other people. More precisely, if you want those people who need HVAC services to stumble upon your site at the exact time when they need those services, then you must do SEO.

I’m talking as if you knew exactly how to do SEO, but that’s probably not the case. Remember how building a website was a nightmare? Well, doing search engine optimization if you know nothing about it is much, much worse. It’s like your worst nightmare multiplied by your biggest fears. Stop frowning and read on, there’s something you should know.

Experts To The Rescue

There’s absolutely no need for you to bang your head against the wall when there are people out there trained and skillet specifically for designing your website and doing SEO, thus making sure that you’ll be seen in no time. When you have found the right experts, you can rest assured that their design and their SEO skills will be a game-changer for your HVAC business. That’s the trick, though. You need to make sure to find the right experts with great HVAC advertising ideas and here’s how to do that.

HVAC SEO – Check Reputation

The company you hire to do these tasks for you must be really, really good at what they are doing. That’s a no brainer. How will you make sure that they are good? There’s a pretty simple way to do that and it involves you becoming a kind of an investigator. No, you don’t need a license or anything, this is a much simpler process.

It’s true that your reputation precedes you. Use that logic to check the reputation of a particular company you are thinking of hiring. If people don’t seem to be happy with the services they got from certain specialists, it’s best to avoid them and continue looking further. You can easily check someone’s reputation by reading reviews and testimonials that people leave about the services they got.

You may also request case studies or success stories from potential SEO specialists. These documents highlight their previous achievements and demonstrate their expertise in improving HVAC companies’ online visibility. By examining their past accomplishments, you can gain insight into their strategies and determine if they align with your business goals.

Also, check whether the SEO specialists have received industry recognition or certifications. Awards or accolades from reputable organizations indicate their commitment to excellence and their dedication to staying updated with the latest SEO practices. Such recognition can reassure you that you’re working with professionals who deeply understand SEO.

Quality Of Service Comes First

While reading those reviews, you should always keep in mind that there are all kinds of people out there and that everyone values different things. Their sets of values will influence their reviews, which means that you might come across someone stating that a particular service is expensive. What should you do in cases like those?

What you should do is remember that website design and SEO are rather complex tasks that take up a lot of time and require a lot of effort. Some people won’t even know why these two things go together and you can learn that here. My point is that quality of service should always be your number one priority if you want to make sure that your HVAC business will succeed.

Look for specialists who customize to meet your specific HVAC business needs. A one-size-fits-all strategy may not yield the desired results. Quality specialists will take the time to understand your unique goals, target audience, and competitive landscape. They will tailor their SEO and website design services to align with your business objectives, ensuring a personalized and effective approach.

More importantly, they should be responsive, proactive, and attentive to your needs and concerns. Quality specialists will maintain open lines of communication throughout the project, providing regular updates and progress reports and seeking your feedback. They will actively collaborate with you to meet your vision and goals.

HVAC – Prices Do Matter, Though

I have explained above that quality should always come first and that the cost shouldn’t be your number one priority. That’s correct, but does that mean that you should pay no attention whatsoever to the price? It definitely doesn’t. This is your business we are talking about here and you should be ready to invest, but you shouldn’t be ready to pay just anyone a huge amount of money to do something that can be done for a lot less. Make some comparisons and make sure to choose the price that works for you best, but keep in mind to never compromise quality.

The post 3 Tips For Choosing HVAC SEO and Website Design Specialists appeared first on DesignWebKit.

However, the reality may not be as attractive as your dreams. Starting a business on your own brings not only freedom but much additional work you’ve never done before. Since you become your own boss, you’re responsible for every aspect of running your business. There’ll be no one to blame if anything goes wrong except yourself. Are you emotionally ready for such a challenge? Then, let’s move on.

5 Useful Tips for Starting a Business as a Freelancer

No one says that starting a business as a freelancer is as easy as ABC. Nevertheless, there’s nothing impossible for a person with a really strong desire. “Where there is a will, there is a way”, they say. Of course, just a desire itself won’t work wonders without at least the basic knowledge. That’s why we decided to give you a helping hand and offer several hints on starting a business as a freelance web designer.

Decide on Your Brand

Before starting a business as a freelancer, try to define your final purpose clearly. Do you plan to work on your own forever or turn yourself into a web design studio after a little while? Do you want clients to perceive you as an individual or a young company? The answer to this question will help you think of a suitable name for your brand.

On the one hand, if you’re a “solo artist,” it’s a wise thing to use your own name as a brand. This way, you’ll give your brand a personal touch. On the other hand, a more known name will work better in case your business grows into an art studio.

Think of the Ways to Find Clients

Perhaps, finding new clients is one of the greatest challenges you’ll face starting a business as a freelancer. There are two main solutions here. Firstly, you can try finding clients via freelance job websites or connect with them using social media channels, for instance, LinkedIn. However, this way may appear too time-consuming and not too effective.

Secondly, you can start acting by searching for local small businesses without an online presence. As usual, going door-to-door and cold calling performs better than sitting and waiting for your prospects online.

Create an Eye-Catching Online Portfolio

As soon as you find the first clients they’ll be eager to see your works. Consequently, an online portfolio is a must-have for anyone starting a business as a freelancer.

Possibly, you’re just a beginner and haven’t done any breathtaking projects yet. It’s not a problem. Start right now. Do some work for free for a local non-profit organization or school. You’ll get both user experience and the projects to showcase your skill alongside their gratitude.

Define the Price of Your Services

It goes without saying that starting a business, you intend to be profitable. This means that you should define how much to charge.

First and foremost, decide if you want to be paid for the final product or on an hourly basis. Then study the pricing among your competitors to come up with a reasonable price. In fact, the price of your services should be neither too high nor too low. It should make your clients say “Yes” but at the same time not look suspiciously cheap.

Wisely Schedule Your Daily Routine

Even though you’ll work from home, learn to plan your days in detail to get the most out of them.

Find out your most productive hours and devote them to the hardest part of your work. Plan time for making phone calls and answering e-mails. Include some time for personal meetings with your clients. If you stick to a similar daily schedule, it will considerably lighten your work.

Indeed, everything mentioned above is essential for starting a business as a freelance designer. However, there’s one more thing you won’t be able to do without. And here it is.

All-in-One Solution for Your Successful Start

It’s quite apparent that you need an “online working place” as a web designer. In other words, you should have everything for your effective online presence. MotoCMS Startup Bundle is your lucky chance to get it all at once. To tell the truth, their offer is a real treasure if you want to create startup website as a freelancer. This unique pack from MotoCMS includes eleven web design items capable of taking your business to the top. The best thing is that you can get them at the meager price of just $99! This means more than 80% off the usual cost. (Actually, the total regular price of the elements is $523.) Hardly have you ever come across such a bargain in your life. Are you anxious to know what’s inside?

The number of multi-purpose templates is simply colossal today. That is why we offer to take a look at an innovative ready-made solution that can be used to create an online store on any topic. Just a huge variety of pages to help you sell jewelry, electronics, accessories, cosmetics, and more. Delori Shopify theme for Instagram store will definitely impress you. And the ability to compare products with each other and add them to the wish list will attract the attention of many visitors to the site.

Delori is organized and easy to use. Even novice webmasters will be able to figure out how this theme works. However, you can start your online business in no time with an amazing template and all of its impressive features and assets. Use it to your advantage, home page layout, inner pages, and all other exclusive features. It all becomes child’s play with a ready-made theme, even if you’re new to web development.

AllyEvent Landing Page Template

Remember we’ve mentioned the importance of an eye-catching online portfolio? AllyEvent landing page template is able not only to provide you with an online presence. It’s a simple way to showcase your best projects and transform your prospects into clients.

To begin with, this theme is 100% responsive and cross-browser compatible. Responsiveness is really important nowadays. Therefore it will perform well in all browsers and look awesome on any modern device. Next, you don’t have to know a single line of coding to customize it according to your requirements. Then, a convenient admin panel contains each and every element necessary for creating a highly-functional landing page. Finally, you’ll constantly get free regular updates via one click right inside your admin panel.

Evolution Business Website Template

Whereas a landing page is a perfect solution for your online portfolio, any web designer still needs a fully functional website to start a business. That’s why the MotoCMS pack includes Evolution Business Website Template.

Evolution is a gorgeous universal business theme prevalent among MotoCMS customers. Thanks to its breathtaking cosmic design it grabs your attention at first sight. However, the attractive look is only the first advantage among the variety the theme possesses.

Firstly, the template comes with six child and 16 pre-made pages. In fact, you get almost a ready-to-use website. Secondly, it won’t take you long to build your future website using 120 ready-made blocks and a powerful Block Editor. Thirdly, a wide collection of fascinating widgets will help you add any imaginable functionality to your website.

10 Business Logo Templates

Starting a business as a freelance web designer is impossible until you have your unique logo. Haven’t you designed one yet? If not, you’ll easily do it with the bundle of 10 business logo templates.

The templates are simply editable resizable vector files available in 6 formats: AI, JPG, EPS, PDF, SVG, and PSD. You’ll be able to change almost anything in their pre-made design using either Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator.

30 PSD Web Banners

Undoubtedly, one of the primary tasks of a freelancer is the promotion of his services. This is where the banner set for AdWords will suit perfectly.

The bundle contains three sets of professionally-designed Google AdWords Banners (10 banners per set). Each banner is a PSD file that is entirely editable and meets all Google requirements for advertising.

Social Media Pack

Perhaps there’s no need to explain the power of social media when it comes to business promotion. It’s quite obvious that as soon as your website is complete, you’ll take steps to promote it via social media channels.

The ultimate social media pack is a part of the MotoCMS Startup Bundle. It’ll allow you to tell the whole world about your work.

Free Installation and 1 Year Hosting

Maybe, “free” is one of the sweetest words in the business world. And here it is! As a rule, installation of any theme costs $49, whereas 1-year hosting is available for $27. MotoCMS Startup Bundle includes free installation for landing page and business theme and free 1-year hosting. Sounds great, doesn’t it?

Other Useful Constituents

There are some more valuable components that the MotoCMS Startup Bundle includes.

• The eCommerce plugin enables you to create a fully-functional online store without any additional software.
• Page Speed Booster allows optimizing the images to increase your website loading speed.
• SEO Audit Service offers a complete analysis of your website’s SEO performance and recommendations for improvement.
• White Label License lets you build your own brand, not to mention MotoCMS.

So, don’t miss such a lucky chance. Take advantage of the MotoCMS Bundle and use our hints on starting a business as a freelance web designer. Take a deep breath and take a step towards your successful future.

Roxxe Beauty Salon WooCommerce Theme

Online shopping is must-have in this day and age, so developing a store online is easy with the Roxxe WordPress theme. This theme will come in handy to the beauty center owners or Korean cosmetics shops. It’s based on Elementor builder, which contains dozens of widgets for creating infinite functionality on the website. At the same time, it works in combination with the WooCommerce plugin that comes with the whole pack of elements for a shop:

• Product and Single product page,
• Wishlist,
• Shopping cart, etc.

Roxxe theme is fully responsive and SEO friendly, so your eCommerce website will look brilliant on any device with an adaptive appeal. Create your custom header and footer and fill them with the informative widgets. Finally, make a mega menu to promote your bestsellers and increase the store usability times. Forget any coding skills while building a website and wait for new skins very soon.

Vendy Multipurpose Shopify Theme for Fashion

Are you searching for a new eCommerce design? What about a fresh full-value Shopify theme? Then meet Vendy! It’s a clean, responsive theme packed with several ready-made homepages for fashion. Using it, you will quickly create an online store for selling clothes, accessories, and shoes.

Or, feel free to implement Vendy the way you want, as its multipurpose design will be helpful in many projects. With this Shopify theme, you can promote anything and attract new clients every day. To do this, you shouldn’t be tech-savvy, as Vendy is perfect for code-free store customization. Plus, it goes with several helpful features. And in the well-commented documentation, you will find out how to edit pre-made layouts, change section size, add product descriptions, and more.  Luckily, the Vendy Multipurpose Shopify Theme for Fashion goes with ready-to-use:

• Homepage layouts;
• Listing pages;
• Product pages;
• About Us pages
• Lookbook pages;
• Collections pages;
• newsletter pop-ups.

So, boost your eCommerce business with Vendy!

The post Starting a Business Online – All You Need in One Startup Pack appeared first on DesignWebKit.

It’s not enough to just say web design Shropshire is the ideal match for you. This isn’t the case because there are so many variables. What works for one person won’t work for another. We all want different things from a designer. These are just some of the things which you should look for in a web designer.

Online Portfolio

Every creative web designer has a unique style. This style might not be what you’re looking for. They can design in other styles, but it won’t have the same power as their primary style. Carefully inspect the designer’s online portfolio and see if it’s compatible with the type of site you’re thinking of.

There’s no shortage of competent designers, so you shouldn’t feel guilty about passing on one.

Talk to Them

You should be able to talk to them without feeling obligated to give them the job. They should never charge you for time spent talking to them. This is poor practice and demonstrates a complete lack of regard for the customer.

A sign of a good designer is one who wants to find out about your company. They’ll ask about what you do, your domain name, and your goals for the future. They’ll incorporate all this into your design.

Google Promises

Some designers will claim proudly how they can get you onto the front page of Google. See this as a warning sign. It gives them the excuse to inflate their prices for no real reason. The web design has very little bearing on your search engine ranking. Unless he’s part of a company with a strong SEO department, you shouldn’t trust him.

Either way, SEO and web design are two entirely different things. If you want to employ someone for both, do it. But never employ them for web design and believe they’ll get you to the front page of Google without a separate SEO plan.

CMS

The Content Management System (CMS) of a website is where you replace content and add new things. You should gain a few documents outlining how to use this system. Most CMS don’t take long to learn or any real technical expertise.

In fact, if you know how to use WordPress (one of the simplest systems) you’ll have few issues with a CMS made by a web designer.

Stay away from designers which charge you for making minor tweaks to web content. By withholding information about the CMS, they’re making more money from you and ripping you off.

Referrals

Search for designers through customer referrals and testimonials. It’s the only endorsement free from the designer’s marketing strategy. This makes it the most honest endorsement around. Ask some of your friends and colleagues if they can recommend a good web designer.

Alternatively, seek out reviews on a specific designer. Even if you find someone by yourself, you should always inspect the latest reviews to see what other people are saying about him.

The post How to Find a Web Designer That Is the Perfect Match for You appeared first on DesignWebKit.