Graphic Designer with great online Portfolio !

When you are a fresh freelancer you will not have no previous works to show to your prospective clients and win projects. During that time while you are hunting for freelance jobs I would advice you to spend some time every day to build some sample website designs to showcase on your freelancer website. You may form some fictitious client names in your mind say Fine Dine Restaurant or Jenny’s hair dressing and build website designs on their lines of business. Also remember to write a brief description of the business for whom you are building the website design.

In this article we are going to analyse how buyer psyche work. If a buyer is looking for a freelancer and you somehow happen to get in touch with him or her, it will depend on you to convince him to use your freelance service.
Simple awesome design skills are difficult to acquire and is often attributed to the genius inside a graphic artist but intelligent designing skills which sell well can be attained through work and following some basic tips which I am going to discuss in this article.

Great visual design is truly an art form and a challenging skill to acquire. Smart design, which converts well, should never be confused with good artistic design. While artistic skills are always an asset when crafting a well-converting web site, they are neither sufficient nor completely necessary to succeed. We’ll look at ten principles, techniques, and strategies to creating a website that converts.

Tip 1 : Keep your first freelancing rates very competitive

Remember that you are starting your freelancing career and you have no client base to vouch for your work standards. So price your website design projects accordingly. Do a small survey on the market rates. This can be easily done by posting a project for free on any freelancing website and checking out what designers are bidding for the project. In this way you can make an intelligent guess of the asking market rate. Make your freelancing fee at least 20% lower for the first few clients.A low quote almost always attracts the buyer.

Tip 2 : Never loose focus

Always concentrate on the job at hand and never forget what your final objective is. Also if a customer thinks of using your freelance service then have a very clear line of action for him or her so that they know what to do and what to expect at which point of time. This will make your services appear more professional. Remember there is more to graphic design business or any business rather than only providing good work!

Tip 3 : Talk in their terms

In your freelancing career you shall mostly find clients who do not understand the graphic design jargon. Try not to use jargon with them. Try to follow what they want and give them what they want. Try to read their mind and understand what kind of design they have in their mind. Give them what they want. If you have a better design in mind then explain it to them or you may try showing them the alternative design but never try to force yourself on them. Try convincing them in the language they are familiar with so that your concept does not appear confusing to them. This will increase the credibility of your total offer and your credibility as a freelancer.    

Tip 4 : Try to be different in design as well as a freelancer

Graphic design is more of an art than science. If you are unique in your ways and means then you will be considered ‘different’. This will give you a definite advantage over others. Your designs will also be remembered by you client and he or she will again call upon you when they need any kind of design work be it a new logo design or a website design. But this ‘standing out’ act should be exercised with extreme caution. It might sometimes so happen that your client is just looking for a very conventional design so while exercising this tip you should also keep tip 4 in mind. Talk in their terms. Also remember that sometimes conventions are desirable. For example if you name the ‘login’ or ‘sign in’ button as ‘Enter’ then people might get confused.  People might be able to figure it out but it will reduce the ‘advantage of convention’. So please remember that conventions are sometimes desirable.  

Tip 5 : Don’t compromise understandability for speed

Say you are working on a sales landing page. You must have heard things like reducing number of clicks by users increases chances of conversion but let me tell you that it does not matter at all. Rather you should concentrate on the page design and do it in such a way that it keeps the user deeply engrossed and convinces him to click the ‘next’ button. So I would urge you not to compromise on user perception in order to reduce number of clicks

Tip 6 : Get the message across as fast as possible !

Always remember the most basic principle on the internet : users don’t want to read a lot online. I have discussed in another article of mine how difficult it is to read on screen. So what should you do? You should start motivating your audience in the first few lines of your website. As a freelancer its your duty to convey this to your clients as well. You should start with a strong pitch and try motivating your customers right away when they land on your website.

Also if you are trying to sell something then minimize cross reference as much as possible. This means don’t make your audience click on links to make them read something they don’t want to know.

Remember this even when you are pitching your clients as a freelancer on your website.

Tip 7 : Different specialized areas for different target audience

All those who come to your website should not be treated in the same way. Suppose two clients land on your portfolio website one on the web design page and one on logo design page. Hence their requirements are different. They should be treated accordingly.

You should talk in a relevant way. Also if someone lands on your homepage he or she should understand the navigation clearly. There should be clear menus to follow. A person who is looking for a logo design for his new business will be least interested in a sales copy landing page.

Hence treat your visitors according to the areas of their interest.

Tip 8 : Page Formatting

Gone are the days when web designers used to put all the text in one page column. Information now is distributed in small chunks in different columns. Make each column small, clean and targeted. This will help you to retain the concentration of your visitors and quicken conversion. This really works. In your initial freelancing days this trick will help you bag some quick projects.

Tip 9 : Judicious use of white

Sometimes it is seen that a clean design speaks volumes rather than a cluttered and busy design. Blank and white space sometimes adds to the design element and makes the website look more interactive and professional. Great use of white space speaks volumes about its designer’s ability.

Tip 10 : Take opinions of others

If you have built your own website it is very common to overlook some small and obvious aspects. But when you ask someone else to navigate your website he or she might find some aspects ambiguous or confusing. Take their opinions and improve accordingly. Ask members of your family and friends and ask them for a critical appreciation.
Following the above tips will give you a fairly good profile website which will convey a very good impression about the freelancer who built it and will make you land up in some great initial freelancing projects.