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 (nobody)...and 651 guests Last 5 registered Oplandisks nothingstar N_loop yipe foxtrotromeo Browse members... |
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I am currently in business, but thing might change and thre is a chance it could crash...I was wondering if it would be worth doing web design? would it be hard to get work with so many people doing it? |
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if you're worried about your and other business crashing, then there also might be less need for specialised jobs like rookie web designers in the near future? what are your talents? and which *basic* jobs rely on these? |
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It's not something you can just jump into like a warehouse/retail job. It takes a long time to learn the fundamentals, let alone specialist skills. Even after 3 years at uni, many of my web design friends still sucked at it. You might be able to pull the odd little job if you blag hard enough, but without the proper skillset and portfolio, you're not going to get any clients who actually pay in money. |
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my dad spent over twelve months making this cabbage website. he was lazy and was drinking tooo much and never really got down to doing it. he was just some guy working out of a shed, did a rubbish job, and got payed plenty. there seemes to be plenty of room for people with no talent, despite the amount of people out there that are good and inexpensive. there's still room i think |
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but will you get clients consistantly, especially if you do a rubbish job of the first one? in my experience (not in web design i may add, but print design), if you do a good job, they'll tell someone else and more jobs will come you way. on the other hand, do a rubbish job and they'll probably tell even more people. i'm not trying to be negative, just realistic. also understand that unless you use a CMS, you'll be expected to maintain and update the clients website too. it's more hassle than you think. |
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my dad just had a history in print n stuff. he was asked to design websites from the ground up. he got away with it...he is now doing crafts (wind chimes made of folks ect.) it's tragic. |
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The bonus with Web Design is that not only do a lot of people want websites, but that those that already have websites always want them redesigned. Also, if you've got a computer, text editor and a copy of ... what's that free Photoshop ... something with a dog in it, ... oh it doesn't matter, but the thing is your overheads aren't all that much. You could probably afford to do it in your spare time and make reasonable money, it's a pain in the arse to do it all day everyday. Well, for me, anyway. You don't have to be SUPER SHIT HOT designer as a lot of clients just want Professional rather than Hyper Designed Flashy stuff. So.. think clean, professional... functional... the most important thing you can ask yourself is "Is this shit, or not?" And then go from there. In short, it's worth doing. |
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google rentacoder, and I think there's similar sites, but I 've visited none of them cuz my broken hello world failures won't help anyone. What do you use/learn for this? Is it the programming language called 'php'? I would like a webpage, but I don't know how in the shit piss ass to do it. Too many cryptic decisions to make; do i need a 'server' whatever that is, or do I get someone else to 'host' it.. which zillion security issues do I have to worry about.. how the piss do I get my own www.whatevernameiwant.com or .net.. can I make it .ass? Which programming language, is python ok? How much does this shit cost, nigga, 4 realz. Ok. |
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also, given that wiki's seem to trump google rank, why don't you just create as many wikis you can think of... oh here's a wiki on dogs, here's one on um, musical instruments, yeah. etc. and then slap ads on each of them. is that like a good money making idea and shit nigga? peace. I have secret viral marketing weapons. |
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How about quantity not quality. Like make a single template website, then a zillion spin offs of it. Like I saw this stupid site howtobakeapotatoe.com or some gay shit, and the site probably had ads as one source of income, but it also was selling some stupid potatoe recipe ebook or some shit. So make a separate site for potatoes, brocolli, every food you can imagine. Maybe even make a program just automate new sites with food names, like mad libs, each selling some stupid recipe ebook. Then somehow automate the whole process of receiving payment and emailing buyers the dumb ebook. Use tricks to manipulate page rank. Then you just go on a permanent vacation and make money, yeah. |
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I asked because if my business fails, then i will put allot of hard work into something else, I am creative and good with computers so i figured this might be worth getting into. I'm only 27 so i'm not too old to study My only concern is how much work there will be, I suppose your right about word of mouth being the most effective promotion.. |
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no, it's not worth it |
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aren't there nicer things to design anyway than websites. |
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if you really want to do it, and are already good with computers, start learning, get some books, etc. in the meantime, get a job at a copy/print shop which will cover your basic income and be relatively secure as a day job. then start trying to eye out potential clients that come in to the shop that are maybe opening a new business, don't have the money for an established designer but could afford someone just starting out/doing it on the side. ask them if they have a web site, let them know that you do it on the side and give them a card (be discreet, your manager might not be keen on this). i had a guy working for me that made a decent amount of extra income doing this. he wasn't really that good yet, but he knew how to pick people that were on a budget and didn't need all the bells and whistles. |
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This might cause offense but basically this is what I've found. If in business you have a good network of contacts and are pretty good at blagging a CV you set yourself up as a consultant until you get another job...otherwise you claim to be a web designer. I am a coder by trade and I can turn my hand to a bit of design but I am not anywhere close to being at Brisk's level for example. When I have developed web solutions in my younger days I tapped local universities for design students and paid them to design the front end whilst I dealt with the back end code...if I couldn't find anyone I would just rip off another sites design (not good but when needs must). The biggest thing is recognise straight away what you aren't good at and find people who are good but don't cost much (students and illegal immigrants are a good place to start) |
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Or exiles living in the third world. |
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I am more then qualified to do web design. I just don't know where to start finding people to pay me to do it. I don't want to work for a company anymore.I've decided that much. The question is , how does one find clients ? I was thinking maybe I can higher one of my friends who is in business, he's an amazing sales person, to do all the nitty gritty people stuff. How do successful freelancers do it ? |
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I think it must come with being overly confident and almost pushy with people, sell them an idea, and get them hooked into it. I however am shit at doing that myself, im too shy... But I am creative and i have good taste, i know what looks good and i have allot of patience. anyway thank you for saying your piece, I will think over what advice has been given to me. i think i will do some reading and maybe some tutorials, I have the flash mx bible and dream weaver bible which has been on my shelf for a few years untouched |
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I tried starting on my own a few years back but quickly abandoned that idea. The problem wasn't finding clients, but the sort of clients I found. Without a lot of good contacts you mostly end up doing boring and crappy work that's way under your skill level. So I looked for a small firm with nice projects and a good atmosphere and got in as a developer. And it has been fantastic! Most of the companies I visited when I was looking for work sucked. Boring and repetitive work, low quality and awful atmosphere. I recommend those small, passionate companies with a nice portfolio. |
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Don't get confused between web DESIGN and web DEVELOPMENT. You could do both but if you want to learn how to design websites you will need to learn about design (form, content, contrast, space, colour, texture, proportion, etc.) then you will be a good designer. Development is easy so long as you stick with CSS and XHTML, just takes time to learn. |
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I don't have any design education, but I've been doing it since forever. If you just get that first job, it's strange how other people suddenly find out and want a web page, no matter how crap that first one was. My first one was paid with office space, the second with beer, and from then on -- money. I still can't rely on it for a living, though, but then I do not want to. Find an ugly web site, mail the company and tell them you'll make it nice 4 cheap, and go from there. |
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Proves my point. You would make money if you could be arsed to learn how to design. |
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No, it's a question of me taking the time to make stuff to profile myself as a web-designer instead of just sitting here and accepting those jobs that people ask me to do; if I were to "market" myself, I could probably make more money on this, but design just isn't something I want to work with... doing it for money and with a time-frame makes the entire creative process incredibly boring and forced, so I usually just get slightly annoyed and want to finish the designs quickly. |
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If there is no passion involved, then it probably isn't for you. This applies to most creative careers. Doing something you hate just for the money is no good in the long term. |
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