Gone are the days when a "webmaster" was responsible for doing everything. Designing pages, creating content and even promoting and advertising the web site. Today those who do this are running personal sites, or trying themselves in the lucrative online market. But no reputable business does anymore follow this scheme.
On the other hand, nowadays everyone can turn himself or herself into a web designer overnight. Software packages allow to make a whole theme, also called template, requiring absolutely no knowledge of XHTML, CSS or Photoshop. And there are thousands if not more of graduates from private and non-private schools that were well-trained to the specific task of creating custom web designs, handling CMSs and caring for a good user experience.
Thus it may seem like there’s very little to no reason to become a freelance web designer today. But there’s still space if you can provide skills the others do not possess or machines can not (yet) replicate. Yes, tools have advanced to an almost unsettling level, yet they are still just that: tools. They may select random images and find a properly defined color scheme, but no mind or soul guides their choices.
And because sites that do convert well are those that take care of their visitors, you can grab a position by marketing yourself as an innovative, and skilled web artist. As opposed to a site maker. Say you have bought Photoshop in a nice package called Creative Suite: then only fire up it and Illustrator.
You are missing out such a powerful tool as After Effects is for web video production. And also missing on Adobe Premiere new found ability to convert speech to text and synchronize it with web video.
To sum all this up in three tips:
1. Offer value only a trained human will provide. Machines do help in saving time, and somebody employing a simple application will manufacture twenty web templates faster than you can set up the first. However they will end up being all too similar, lacking sparkle and emotion. The type of website that doesn’t mirror the owner’s ambitions and desires. So just make this point clear, and spell it out on your job offering: no factory designer can provide your clients with the amount of care and reasoning you are able to provide.
2. Reassure the potential employer your newly designed sites will convert. Conversion is the "be all end all" when it comes to web design. And it will not stop at web marketing. Each web site needs its visitors to convert. Signing up for news, visiting a link, or maybe simply hearing the "Message" the owner is set to spread. Conversion can solely be achieved when you plan the positioning for a very specific target visitor. And once more this is often something solely an human can do. Begin clean, do not assume an eCommerce site has to look corporate or a gaming website must have strong contrast. Instead, produce an exceptional analysis effort before you start writing down CSS selectors and think about DOCTYPES.
3. Be on the forefront to new technologies. Do you remember the amount of "flash intros" and cheesy pictures of blueish people shaking hands? Currently they have disappeared from all the websites where trained, intelligent, internet designers are at works. However they still live, and I will assure you one thing: those web site’s owners suffer from an absence of conversion that makes them uncomfortable. Go ahead and take advantage of this! Show them you can soothe their pain with a video analysis of how to improve conversion. Surely you own a webcam, therefore don’t wait and have a smart haircut, purchase some liquorice (it improves your voice recordings) and put a day aside to produce a brief section where you justify how and why they will profit from a fashionable, well thought out approach.
Do not go overboard with a Keynote flashy demo, keep it pro however stay on a private level. And ensure you show them how an unpleasant website will be turned into a juggernaut converter if they let you perform your magic changing a static Photoshop logo into an After Effects’ smooth presentation followed by a screencast of benefits and advantages.
In outline, all you’ve got to do is to produce what unskilled individuals with auto-tools will not be able to provide: a artistic, personal advantage. Of course this means more hours in front of your Mac or Laptop, and some education time with After Effects comps or delving deeper in the minutiae of digital video postproduction. But it’s well worth it and will provide you results that will last.