Web design, logos, graphics, and ecommerce

Advantages of joining freelance design contests.

As a freelancer, participating in design competitions on crowd-sourcing sites can bring benefits to your graphic design career. Although some are easily turned off by the fact that there is only a small chance that your work will be paid, there are still valuable positives to be gained for your long term career.

Experience

• The process and formulation of your entry will give you practice on designing a project based on the specifications and requirements of your client. It also allows you to get updated with the trends and workings of graphic design in that particular business area. Some contests are open and you can see how other designers present their work and learn new techniques that might help you in your next project.

Exposure

• Your entries that doesn't get selected can still be of use by adding them to your portfolio. They can also be used as references whenever the time comes that you land a project with similar specifications and themes. Potential clients will be given a sample of your work that might be related to their field. Opportunities are limitless and the more your design reaches out to people. the better it is for your career in the long run.

Reputation

• Winning contests or getting high scores on your designs will help you land more bids. Clients will always trust those designers with an extensive portfolio and good crowd sourcing site ratings.

How to get more online work as a Web Designer.

Getting online work as a Web Designer is not as easy as it sounds. Yes, the web holds thousands if not millions of potential customers, however the competition is extremely
fierce and the competition for these clients is numerous as well. The problem lies with how you can connect to your potential clients and make conversions to get work.

1.) Boost your chances of getting hired by providing easy access to your portfolio and previous works.

If potential clients like what they see on your portfolio, chances are they will hire you to design their website and potentially form a long term client-designer relationship. Keeping an updated portfolio is a must to show your clients that you are up to date with the latest trends and can design a website for them that will be well received by their market.

2.) Stay up to date with the latest in Web Design.

Web design is always evolving. It is one of the fastest evolving fields and is always changing with new design tools, search engine optimization practices, cross platform compatibility, and user interface design. Customers will always want the new and trendy design for their sites. It will be harder for you to connect with clients if you are not familiar with the latest in web design and will make you look like the wrong choice of a web designer to them.

3.) Improve your communication skills.

People will always find it easier to work with someone that

they can communicate well with. In web design, team work is essential in making the best possible website to satisfy the customer's needs. Confidence and being able to market yourself well are a great help whenever there are discussions or disputes along the development stages.

4.) Be an expert in Responsive web design.

Mobile-friendly browsing has been the craze since the rapid growth of users who search the internet using their phones and tablets. Businesses around the world are learning it's importance and are beginning to change their websites to target the mobile consumers. The ability to make a responsive website is now a must for designers and will also increase your job opportunities as customers are looking to jump on the mobile-friendly wagon.

The world of web design is a jungle and is a survival of the fittest arena. As you gain more experience and skills working as a web designer, you will become better and more adept at this field and along with hard work will be bound for long-term success.

by: masterofvectors
yourwebdesignjobs.blogspot.com

5 Questions to ask before hiring a web design firm.

Before you finalize a purchase or a contract with your web design firm, it is best to make things clear and ensure that you are getting what you pay for. Web design can be a tricky endeavor, one that can directly affect your business. Like all important decisions in life, you must be careful in checking out all the details first and how they fulfill your business needs before finalizing your decision.

1. How long have they been in the Web Design business?

Upstart freelancers and small firms can offer you lower

rates compared to well established web design companies. The risk though, is that they may not have the required experience to effectively build the web design to cater to your various needs. Web design is a very complex field, one that has a very steep learning curve and is regularly evolving. It would also depend on what you want the designer to do with your site. If it's a basic and simple model , inexperienced designers would be able to do the job but an experienced hand would still be the better option in the long run.
Usually web design for small businesses start as a short-term project. However, since web design is an ongoing venture and one that will evolve as your business expands, a firm that has in-depth knowledge on how to prepare your site for future developments will be better equipped to help you start a potential game changer for your business.

2. Can they show you some of their recent works and clients?

Portfolios or past projects can give you an idea on what

they can do for you and will give you an idea on which features from their past projects you'd like to be included in your design. It will also give you an impression of whether or not they are the right people to build your website. It will also allow you to determine the quality of their work. Web design firms with years of experience in the field are a reliable option for long-term web development.

3. Will they charge you everything upfront or will they have additional charges later on in the development stages?

Making sure that everything is black and white and that you don't have to pay extra for something after the start of the project will protect you from hidden charges. Getting a fixed price for the whole project and being given a reasonable time table is what you should ask for from your design firm. Other elements like web hosting and support should also be included in the design.

4. Can they provide you with a Content Management System or CMS?

When you get your website, it is important that you have

access to make updates and certain changes to the contents of the site. Whenever you need to update your products or release new articles about your company, having a CMS in place will allow you or your staff to make the changes yourself without having to call your web design company or a freelancer to make the changes for you for a certain fee. This eliminates unnecessary costs for you. Websites with industry standard content management systems are the best. Some CMS sites that are free and popularly used are Wordpress, Joomla!, and Drupal.

5. How good is their customer support service?

It is important to have a web design company that offers practical and reliable customer support. Running and maintaining a website can be complicated with many elements like web hosting, domain name, eCommerce, and content management training. Having an ongoing support system in place from your web design firm will save you from a lot of frustration as well as extra charges from hiring freelancers to do the job for you instead.

Google Chrome Beta 42 release can help your business retain mobile users.

image from blog.chromium.org

With the push for a better mobile browsing experience, Chrome Beta have released it's new update that includes support for ES6 Classes and several new features that allow developers to create more immersive web applications. This will allow website owners to send push notifications to visitors of their site and to add a home screen icon.

This is a huge step in mobile browsing as it aims to make the browsing experience of mobile users better. It also allows website owners and web admins to keep their users engaged and up to date. Mobile users usually browse the internet to pass time and timely push notifications coupled with home screen icons will not only keep them up to date with all the new features of your business, it will also make it easier for them to access your website.

This allows developers to bridge the gap of accessibility between native applications and


image from blog.chromium.org

mobile sites. People are now living at a very fast pace and ease of access and push notifications are very crucial in keeping users engaged and notified with your site. This is very good news for online businesses who are making an effort to provide excellent service to it's mobile users.

Mobile friendly web design can get you more hits from Google.

Recently Google has announced and implemented a change in their mobile search algorithms that will boost the search rankings of mobile friendly websites. Meaning that the more mobile friendly web pages you have on your site, the better your chance of getting a higher ranking on Google search results.With the aim to provide mobile users with the most relevant and timely results, Google have made yet another stride in giving it's users excellent service.

To check whether your web pages are mobile friendly you can do a test using Google's Mobile-Friendly Test.

The change is page level, having most of your pages passing Google's mobile friendly test will greatly boost your ranking. Desktops and tablets will not be affected by the change but since more people are browsing the internet using mobile, upgrading your website to meet the standards will boost your business in the long run.

If your site is not mobile friendly and if you haven't upgraded your online business to meet the demands of the ever changing market, now is the time to make changes and keep up with the ever evolving trends.

by:masterofvectors
http://yourwebdesignjobs.blogspot.com/

Top 4 Logo Design Trends for 2015

12 Best Website Hosting Providers in 2015

Make a Free Mobile Website with DudaMobile

Powering 50k+ Online Stores! Try it Free Now with Bigcommerce!