Freelance Web Designer

Why would I hire a web designer when I can just use Squarespace or Wix?

Asked by dan79 about 11 years ago

Good question that I hear often when talking to young people in person. If someone is tech savvy, on a limited budget, and aren't building a web startup, then I recommend that they try to build the site themselves with a WYSIWYG service like Squarespace or Shopify. It'll be a good learning experience and hopefully they'll be in a position to see how their site connects with an audience.

That being said, most potential clients who reach out to me either can't build it themselves, don't have the time, or need serious web expertise. I try to mainly work with web startups who need custom work to solve non-standard problems. It's more fulfilling work to me and those clients value web work more highly than someone who just needs a static site.

I am a fresh graduate, and currently hunting for jobs, ... I love doing web related projects, but hardly found any freelance projects for web development in my area (Malaysia). What is the best way to seek for freelance projects in your living area?

Asked by Roi about 11 years ago

One of my favorite aspects of being a web professional is the ability to do work remotely.  Assuming a language barrier doesn't prevent you from working internationally, consider casting a wider net by bidding on foreign projects. I'm a US freelancer, but I've worked on Canadian, Australian and Hong Kong projects. Try using a marketplace platform like Elance.com or oDesk.com to pick up some remote work. It'll be challenging at first to compete with the other freelancers but you'll significantly improve your web and client relationship skills. It'll be a slow change at first, but you should start now to ramp up your freelancing momentum.

How do web designers handle the domain and hosting websites when the client doesn't have either? Do you host them under your existing host plan for a small fee or help guide them to get their own and have them share the access info?

Asked by graphicdesignerbabe almost 11 years ago

Some developers choose to host themselves because it makes it easier to get ongoing maintenance work from your clients. Being the gatekeeper between the client and server ensures that you'll get an email if they ever need updates or if anything goes wrong.You can easily charge clients more than their share of hosting, as long as it's less than what they would be paying on their own. This can help you cover the cost of hosting your own projects or provide you with some extra pocket cash.

I actually haven't run into this situation since I tend to work with more technologically advanced clients. The vast majority of potential clients I run into already have some web presence, so it's typically a matter of updating their website on their own server.

Would it be better to work for a company rather then Freelance? I enjoy working on site but sometime working freelance would be a pain just because some client can't make up their mind.

Asked by Samantha over 10 years ago

Do you use certain tools? I just started developing a few websites for friends and would like to know if there is a way to make my work more efficient.

Asked by Merle91 over 7 years ago