Dive into the archives.
- Web Designer Magazine Thinks I’m Awesome!
About two weeks ago I sent off an introductory email to Web Designer magazine, a UK magazine that I subscribe to and highly recommend to anyone interested in web design. I introduced myself to them and told them my story.
The short version of said story - I designed my first website when I was 11, went on to teach myself XHTML, CSS, PHP, Photoshop and Dreamweaver and after completing a certificate III in VET Multimedia I received a vocational award for my talent from the Australian government. I then studied a Diploma in Information Technology at university, worked as a junior web developer for 3 months, moved to England and now work as a freelance web designer full time.
They were so impressed with my work that they’re going to publish a couple of pages featuring me in issue 150 which is on sale on the 23rd of October, 2008.
Awesome!
Ashleigh
x x x
- How to Get Your First Few Web Design Jobs When You’re a Student or Graduate
Web design is a very sought after skill - almost everyone wants to have some sort of online presence. Web design is also something you can learn fairly quickly and to the computer literate it isn’t overly hard. If you want to be really good however, that’s another story, but generally speaking if you have an interest in web design you can teach yourself the ropes pretty easil through books, tutorial websites and trial and error.
The bad news is that there’s a lot of competition when it comes to getting work. When I first started offering web design to people in exchange for money I got very little out of it in the monetary department. At one point I even found myself working for free just so I could get some experience.
With websites such as oDesk, Guru and RentaCoder that allow you to apply to web design jobs, I’d say that there are more opportunities to get web design work - but websites like this don’t make it any easier. I’ve often found that by quoting a reasonable price for a web design project I’ll be declined simply because I won’t work for $5 USD an hour or less. My minimum hourly rate is actually £10 which is more like $19 USD.
So - if it’s so hard to get work - what chance does a student or graduate have of getting their first few jobs? Well, for students and recent graduates in the UK, there is Student Gems, a website where businesses and individuals can find students to work on various jobs, including web design projects, by matching their needs with student skills. Though still in beta, the site has quite a following already so if you’re in the UK and looking for work, check it out!
Ashleigh
x x x
- I Can Has Web Design?
My cat, Link - aptly named of course.
Ashleigh
x x x
- Earn Money From My Web Design Services
As a freelance web designer a lot of my time is spent trying to find projects to work on. In all honesty, I’m not much of a sales person and I would love nothing more than to decrease the amount of time spent emailing potential clients and focus on designing and building websites full time. It is with this thought in mind that I have decided to take the ‘referral’ approach and start up a comission based system.
I am a professional web designer and I offer web design, web development and search engine optimization services. If you know of anyone who might be interested in having a website designed, redesigned or optimized - if you refer them to me I will pay you 10% of the total project cost once it is complete, regardless of how much it comes to.
If you are interested in earning 10% on all clients you refer to me, send me an email. A unique referral code will be generated for you and you will be required to give it to the people you refer. They must quote this code in order for you to receive the 10% payment when the project is complete.
Ashleigh
x x x
