Working in web site development not solely means that perpetually learning new languages and knowing once to use them, but, it conjointly means that learning additional concerning selling, necessities gathering and human-computer interaction. web site development has transitioned from easy HTML-driven sites to completely interactive informational and ecommerce portals. HTML5, jQuery and node.js didn’t even exist some years past. currently they're a locality of each project I do.
It has invariably been my goal to share internet programming tutorials and provide suggestions on correct internet style here on internet Development web log. You’ll notice articles on eCommerce Solutions, Google Services, jQuery Code, PHP Scripts and a spread of alternative topics.
What you’ll notice during this section ar conversations and ideas on web site development that don't simply slot in one amongst the prevailing classes. We’ll remark web site style as a full, web site development tools, usability and running an internet site development company. As new technologies and programming languages emerge, we’ll remark them here initial.
Winklix Delhi,India is an award-winning web design company. With innovative websites tailored to each business's clientele, Winklix Delhi,India web design helps companies attract new clients, enhance brand awareness, and increase revenue.
The atomic design methodology was created to help improve user experiences by breaking down functionality at the early stages of the design process and building the design up from there. Due to the ability of designers to identify and track individual elements for updating, atomic design promotes consistency, creates cleaner code, and aids in making prototype design concepts quickly. While atomic design may seem more complex to designers first adopting the practice, once familiar, the system will create a much more scalable and easily adaptable project. Winklix Delhi,India discusses the five components of atomic design.
1. Atoms. Color palettes, fonts, buttons, headers and other individual elements are called atoms in atomic design. Like the in science, atoms are the smallest building blocks that must combine to make a more complex element, which will be the molecules.
2. Molecules. A single element, when combined with another, becomes a molecule. For example, a button is an atom, but when partnered with an attached form when you click the button, it makes a molecule.
3. Organisms. By combining molecules, more complex pieces come together, which are called organisms. An organism might be a navigation header that includes a logo, links, and buttons.
4. Templates. Bringing multiple organisms together create templates. Once at the template stage of atomic design, the big picture starts to come together. By building a template through atomic design, designers and team members can view and track the individual pieces. This makes making changes easier, reduces the probability of duplicating code that could reduce website performance, and makes de-bugging easier.
5. Pages. In the pages stage of atomic design, the final version of the design emerges. Pages should be tested for the effectiveness of the underlying design. In pages, if there is an issue with any of the content in regards to aesthetics or functionality, designers can go back and modify any of the basic elements in atoms, molecules, or organisms.
Winklix Delhi,India is an innovating, award-winning web design Delhi,India firm dedicated to providing clients with responsive websites that help grow brands and convert visitors to customers. With an expertise in web development, branding, cloud hosting, mobile app development, and CMS and e-commerce solutions, Winklix Delhi,India top tier designers have the ability to create intelligent websites for any type of business.
Not many business owners waste time on thinking about the psychology of their website design. Typically, they’ll ask that a website is designed to match the colour palette of their logo and marketing material, and wind up with a template-like website which if functional and forgettable.
But many basic psychological principles, when applied to design, can positively affect the performance of a website- and therefore, positively influence things like subscriptions, purchases, and calls. For example, understanding the flow of visitor’s eye-tracking can help designers determine the optimal positioning of important CTAs, and knowing what colors to employ for certain actions can help increase attention spans. In short: applying a few psychologically-confirmed design metrics can increase engagement and actions.
The Most Important Element: Trust
Most visitors won’t take an action (or even linger long) on a website which they don’t feel is trustworthy. So one of the most significant things a company should focus on is building elements which convey trust to a visitor. Most modern internet browsers are wary of phishing scams and hacking, and look for specific ‘trust signals’ before taking actions on a website.
These are often familiar design elements, such as a logo and menu up at the top, and a thorough detailing of contact information at the bottom of the website. Prominent page headings or titles will immediately convey the purpose of each and every single page, and easy-to-access contact options and ‘about’ information will help to convey the sense of trustworthiness. Even most out-of-the-box website templates will encourage designers to provide at-a-glance information about employees or company leadership, to further personalize the website and encourage user trust. A web design company worth their salt will always be pro-active about adding trust elements, and encourage you to add as much identifying information as possible to consumers.
]The Future of Sales Enablement: Listen To Your Buyers, Speak To Your C-Suite
Familiar patterns can also help establish trust in subtle ways. For example, most people expect that an ecommerce website or online shop will list products prominently on the home page. Putting blogs or testimonials on the front page is another sure bet. Fulfilling expectations like these can help visitors feel more at ease with using and purchasing the website in subtle but meaningful ways.
Leveraging Your Branding
Consistency in design is another significant element which is often ignored, especially in small businesses. The colors of brand logos do matter, and should always be used throughout the website… even in such a small way as simple accent colors for icons and links. And these colors should contrast easily and significantly with background colors for easy reading.
But your logo should be in more places than just the header of the website! A smaller version should always be found preceding footer contact information, and be consistently displayed on contact and ‘about’ pages. But the choice to do so is influenced by more than the need to influence visitor psychology to trust your website: it’s about building memory and recall. It’s a well-accepted fact in most marketing circles that the more times a viewer sees a brand or logo, the more likely they are to recall it when they’re wanting to make a purchase or action relating to that brand’s niche. Prominently displaying your logo encourages this visitor recall.
Reinforcing Concepts with Imagery
Most business owners and web designers, when selecting images and video for a website, will use beautiful stock photos simply related to the subject being discussed in the accompanying text. But a far better idea to reinforce concepts, ideas, and legitimacy is to find even better-matched imagery which clearly communicates some of the subject matter actively being discussed.
For example, in an article about home security tips, a designer might opt simply to put in an image of a home, or a close-up of a lock. Instead, an image displaying a concrete example of what’s being discussed (such as a homeowner putting a home security system brand sign in their yard) is a more psychologically powerful way to reinforce concepts and build trust. With a little creativity, doing this can also be an optimal way to show off the website’s logo, putting it into the image where appropriate to demonstrate the brand’s value.
The Psychology of Colors
Did you know that many fast-food restaurant chains use red prominently in their design because it helps to encourage visitors to hurry in and out of their restaurants? Color psychology is used to great effect in many industries, and can be used in your website design to help encourage users to internalize important information or to take actions.
The Copy Written Matters
Many companies believe that if they have a well-designed website that is easy to navigate that it will convert on sales immediately. This couldn’t be further from the truth as the copy on your website can have just as large of an impact as the design of the site. Informing as well as selling on page is important as nobody will want to purchase your service or product if they aren’t quite sure what it does and how it can benefit them. Explaining something like how a CMS can benefit a company can help sell this as the reader can be better informed. Simply selling on every single page reads like one big commercial and instead of changing the channel your potential customer will simply be clicking off of your site.
Conclusion
Whether you already have a website, or are considering having one built to represent you, your business, or your product, you should consider how using psychology can help your website achieve its objective. Specific design elements and considerations can help encourage the visitors to your website to trust it, remember it (and your brand), and even to take specific actions.
Nearly two-thirds of Indians are smartphone users now in 2016. This mass adoption of dynamically changing technology is changing how we communicate and how we interact with businesses. As a small business, and probably a smartphone user yourself, you’re likely very aware of the changing dynamic. The big question if you’re a small business owner is what do you do about it? What do you need to do to adapt and maximize the emerging mobile opportunity?
Be responsive
Your website is your digital storefront, your modern marketing foundation. It’s absolutely essential your website works well on mobile devices. It’s become much, much easier to optimize your site for mobile, primarily through the implementation of a responsive website. Responsive is a term that describes exactly what a responsive site does. It senses what style of device a user has and through automated design templates adjusts your site for that device. One of the most common approaches to responsive design is utilizing a responsive WordPress template for your website. Using a responsive template will assure that users will have a positive experience regardless of what device they may be using.
Get found
Not surprisingly search is one of the most common tasks on a mobile device. When a user is searching on a mobile device, location becomes increasingly important. A user searching for restaurants may be looking for something in their immediate proximity or in a specific area. No matter what the search, often users are looking for a business nearby. Being listed in the proper business directories can help you show up more effectively in these searches.
Google +, Yelp, Yellow Pages and others can all improve your success showing up in relevant mobile searches. Regardless of the type of small business you run, there is significant benefit being listed in these directories and most offer a basic level of presence at no charge. Spend a little time and be sure your business shows up in the key directories.
Try targeted mobile ads
Google, YouTube and a host of other publishers offer access to targeted mobile advertising. These ads are usually driven by specific keywords and are available on either a per click or per impression basis. The key is relevance, if you’re a local bike shop you probably only want to target users in a specific geographic area who demonstrate interest in something topically relevant. It’s an opportunity to experiment, the bike shop might want to target people interested in yoga given a potentially similar fitness/health-oriented lifestyle. Facebook and Instagram offer targeted mobile advertising options as well with detailed targeting criteria.
Beware of the hype
While it’s true there is a huge potential audience and a many options for leveraging mobile, be careful about new publishers, technology providers and agencies. We aren’t saying steer clear, just take your time and due a little additional diligence on a vendor you’re not familiar with. The tremendous explosion of activity in the mobile space has launched an exciting set of new potential partners, but like any other boom it includes a population of opportunists a small business should be mindful of.
The big message is that mobile is changing the way we behave as consumers and should be on your radar as a small business. Make sure your website is ready, you’re easy to find in the right directories and experiment with different targeted mobile advertising options. Make mobile mania work for your business.
The meaning of "design" is perceived solely as a visual aspect. Everything about your website - including the content, the way it looks, and the way it works - is determined by the website design. Web design is a similar process of creation, with the intention of presenting the content on electronic web pages, which the end-users can access through the Internet with the help of a web browser.
Never fall in love with an idea. They’re whores. If the one you’re with isn’t doing the job, there’s always, always, always another
Elements of Web Design
Web design uses many of the same key visual elements as all types of design such as:
Layout: Arranging of things in perfect position is layout. In the web world, a key goal is to help the view find the information they seek at a glance. This includes maintaining the balance, consistency, and integrity of the design.
Colour : The choice of colour depends on the purpose and clientele; it could be simple black-and-white to multi-colour design, conveying the personality of a person or the brand of an organization, using web-safe colours.
Fonts: The use of various fonts can enhance a website design. Most web browsers can only read a select number of fonts, known as "web-safe fonts", so your designer will generally work within this widely accepted group.
Content: Content and design can work together to enhance the message of the site through visuals and text. Written text should always be relevant and useful, so as not to confuse the reader and to give them what they want so they will remain on the site. Content should be optimized for search engines and be of a suitable length, incorporating relevant keywords.
There are three responses to a piece of design – yes, no, and WOW! Wow is the one to aim for winklix.
The competition of showing business brands online takes severs souls and hearts of business person,as it simply takes lots and lots of time and investment. Although search engine optimization(SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) can make more greedy for your brand on the results page — and if you’re not there, your competition surely will be at zero level.
So, if you’re still confused about PPC, or if just haven’t given it much consideration until now, allow me to discuss why PPC is a no-brainer for your brand — even if you’re already a successful big business brand.
PPC Matters To Big Brands, And It Drives Revenue
Let’s look at a few stats that highlight why PPC as an advertising channel to be consider in 2016.
First, if you’re already focusing on the organic search side, why not take it to the paid side as well? Take note that this data shows pay-per-click definatelty has a positive impact on organic click-through rate in many cases.
And, if there’s ever any doubt that big brands need to have a presence in paid search, too, look no further than these tops luxury brands and their paid ad spend, as well as these top health insurance advertisers vying for visibility in the search results.
5 Practical Reasons You Should Consider PPC Marketing
Apart from the data we have about how PPC can drive more traffic for all types of brands, you should also consider the benefits of PPC advertising in general terms....
Here are five reasons why PPC marketing is proves beneficial for business owners:
You only pay when an desirious person clicks. One of the reasons PPC is so straightforward is because you know exactly where your rupees are going, and you only pay when an interested party clicks. This is different than traditional advertising offline, where you spend X amount of rupees and hope your target market actually engages with the ad, but you never really know.
You set your budget on daily or monthly basis to control costs. Speaking of budgets, with pay-per-click, you set the budget to your needs. You can put a cap on what you spend daily, and it’s flexible for you to change at any time. That doesn’t mean you can expect to see huge results with a limited budget, of course; it all depends on how competitive the keyword and industry are. (You can learn more about setting budget in Google AdWords.)
You can reach your target consumer at the right time with the right ad at right place as well. Want to target a person in a specific place at a specific time of day with a specific ad? No problem. With PPC’s location targeting and delivery options along with device-specific preferences (like mobile), you can deliver very specific messages to your target consumer at prime time when they are close by.
Unlike organic search, PPC can show results very quickly. We all know how important organic search traffic is for long-term website marketing; however, it has a longer cycle to prove ROI. PPC can show results fast. You can start a PPC campaign on Monday and literally start seeing results in terms of traffic and conversions the next day (depending on a variety of factors, obviously).
PPC data can inform your other marketing channels. Does your search engine optimization (SEO) team want to know if a particular keyword or set of keywords is converting well? PPC can tell them. You can also test the waters with new products or offerings using PPC in order to gauge demand and get an early look at its reception. You can even use PPC to promote oddball events or things that wouldn’t be appropriate for other forms of advertising. This article by Harsh also gives good information on how PPC can inform SEO in other ways.
3 Things To Watch For If You’re Just Starting PPC
PPC might be sounding more fantastic by the minute — but not so fast. If you think you’re ready to dive into PPC, here are a few additional considerations to explore before you start:
PPC is not easy. No, you can’t just hire a college student to plug in data and monitor the account. Good PPC takes skill, and great PPC takes strategy, a through understanding of the advertising platforms, a solid knowledge of rules and guidelines, and a little creativity and marketing sense. That said, you should work hard to identify a credible, trustworthy agency or in-house professional. And be wary of those that promise the world and don’t help you understand what results will truly impact business objectives.
PPC is collaborative. As much as you might like to hand it all over to the PPC pro and never have to look at the pay-per-click account again, true PPC strategy comes with collaboration. You are the expert of your business; your PPC manager is the expert of PPC. Together, you collaborate and forge great ideas and ways to execute on any goals you may have for the business, its products and services.
PPC is ongoing — for the lifespan of your business. When PPC is done right, you’re investing and making a nice return on that investment. So even when your business is booming, PPC is there to continue to drive revenue and be a support system for any event in the life of your business. New website launch? PPC is there. New product? PPC can help. New color of widget? Look to PPC. Got a webinar around how to make widgets? PPC can help there, too. Need to rebrand? Yep, PPC does that. The key is that when looking for a PPC manager, look for a long-term partner to help you grow your business with you.
So, are you beginning to see how PPC is a viable marketing channel for your brand? Even if you’ve never done it before, throw caution to the wind and test it out in 2016. Chances are good that it can work for your brand!
The SEO vs SEM showdown comes down to which search marketing strategy works best to help you secure leads for your web design or development business. Can you generate enough leads organically solely via search engine optimization? Or do you need the strength of paid search engine marketing for the knockout?
First off, let’s define some terms. SEO is Search Engine Optimization, and refers to tuning your content and website to be most relevant and attractive to search engines. SEM is Search Engine Marketing, which refers to a strategy that involves investing in advertising on search engine results pages. (SEM is also referred to as PPC, short for ‘Pay-Per-Click,’ however, that is too restrictive a term with all the options available these days.)
In both cases, the name of the game is to get visitors to your website and turn those visitors into leads who may later be converted to paying customers.
Leads are the lifeblood of a business.
Leads are the fuel that powers a business. Every lead, no matter whether it comes in via SEO or SEM, needs nurturing to the completed sale through contact, follow-ups and follow-through.
Web designers and developers need more leads to produce more sales, just like all businesses that want to grow. The more leads you have, then the more choices you have, which will result in you being happier doing what you love to do.
It’s when you don’t have enough leads that when the troubles start.
If you don’t have enough leads (or more importantly, enough high quality leads), you may be tempted to work on projects or with clients that your gut is telling you to run away from. Let’s help you avoid this as much as possible with the help of SEO and SEM tactics.
SEO vs SEM: A quick refresher
In today’s digital world, you’ve likely had a time daily where you had a question and immediately went to Google. Why is that? Because Google helps users solve problems by serving up the best results to match their search queries.
SEOandSEM will help YOU be the solution Google presents to its searchers.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tactics can improve your website’s position in the organic (unpaid) search results and in the organic local maps results. In part, SEO address factors of your site’s pages like target keywords in your title tags, H1 and H2 headlines, sprinkled within the body copy with target keyword variations, and content relevancy. These SEO tactics require knowledge and manpower to implement.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) tactics put advertising dollars behind your efforts to appear in search results. Instead of appearing in the organic results, your site appears above them as one of the four ads, or in the four below the ten organic listings:
Google AdWords advertisements are the cornerstone of SEM since they have most of the search traffic. In addition to the search results, AdWords’ Global Display Network (GDN) includes more than 2 million display network placements reaching over 90% of internet users worldwide. That’s a LOT of opportunities for your SEM efforts to reach prospective leads.
While Google handles a majority of the search queries, it’s not the only game in town. There’s also Bing, as well as a number of other search engines that are popular in other countries. We’ll talk mostly about Google in this post.
SEO for lead generation: Pros and cons
The advantage of digital marketing tactics over traditional marketing tactics is that you can directly measure most interactions with your site from different sources. Because of that, you can make changes that incrementally improve your results over time. The more resources you have to iterate on your SEO strategies, the faster you can improve.
Pros of using SEO for lead gen
Organic rankings brings in consistent traffic.
You can target very specific customer intent. Ideally, more specific intent will lead to more conversions. Your speed and ability to rank for target keywords depends on the quality of your content, on-page SEO elements, off-page SEO – citations & backlinks, and the level of competition for that keyword.
You can learn SEO tactics if you are willing to put in the elbow grease. All the information you need can be found online for free.
Cons of using SEO for lead gen
It can take anywhere from nine months to a year to rank in the top five organic results for competitive keywords.
If you aren’t well-versed in SEO tactics or don’t feel like putting in the effort to learn, you might need to invest in hiring talent, like an SEO specialist.
It takes time to create remarkable content, especially if your goal is to attract links from other websites.
SEM for lead generation: Pros and cons
Within Google Adwords, there are remarketing opportunities available to serve your display banner ads to the Display Network of website partnerships. Google has a 93% reach on US websites. SEM is great for lead generation — if you have the budget to invest in it.
Pros of using SEM for lead gen
SEM (and remarketing in particular) gives you multiple chances to market to people who already know you because they have been on your site before. They’ve demonstrated an interest in your brand and are more likely to convert.
You don’t pay unless someone clicks your ads.
You can layer your targeting with geo-specific and demographic restraints, so you don’t display ads in locations that you won’t benefit from. (This is especially important if you choose to only work with clients in your immediate vicinity.)
Cons of using SEM for lead gen
It can take time to ramp up for remarketing campaigns, because your site must have at least 1,000 visitors on a remarketing list before your banner ads will begin to show.
For the search ads at the top of each search engine results page (SERP), if your industry has highly competitive keywords, then SEM gets costly, very quickly.
SEO vs SEM? Nah.
SEO and SEM are different, and can give varying results depending on your target audiences and your specific service offering. But in an ideal world, you can — and should — do both.
SEO and SEM can work together beautifully.
If potential leads visit your website via organic search results, they’ll also have the impression that you are everywhere via your SEM ads — your brand will be in multiple spots for multiple search queries.
Having said that, most web designers and developers need just enough leads flowing in to get the engine moving to book work. You can start small and work your way forward:
Start with fundamental SEO tactics
Basic SEO best practices are relatively simple to learn to implement and have a positive impact on your search ranking over time for your target keywords.
Try AdWords Express for Local Ads
AdWords Express for Local Ads is a great place to start exploring. It’s fast, affordable, and simple to set up. You are essentially skipping the line for local SEO tactics by having the opportunity to be in the few ads on top of the local search results.
Graduate to AdWords for Remarketing
AdWords for Remarketing should be next on your to-do list. Start by putting the AdWords tracking code on each page of your website. Create some simple banner ads and AdWords starts building a list of your site visitors, regardless of where they came from. If they land on any page on your site, they will get tracked. When you are ready to put some ad spend behind your remarketing campaign, you won’t have to start at zero — you can simply turn it on and start testing.
Don’t forget Local SEO
Local Search Engine Optimization can get you results within three to six months, and provide a good flow of monthly leads by being in the top three local rank positions.
Explore online display ads
Google AdWords Display Ads is where you could focus next. Choose the sites you think your target audience also visits, or even specific pages on a particular site. Limit yourself to a dozen selections and broaden your reach if there is more traffic needed. You can also target users by demographics: gender, age, household income, etc.
Try, test, repeat
SEO and SEM tactics are not disappearing any time soon, so why not use them to your advantage? There are a lot of people using search engines to look for what you have to offer, and in the area you are offering them in.
Test out the various tactics, and remember that it will take time to see results. Like most things in life, there’s no magic Easy Button to know what will bring in the most leads for your business.
Have an opinion about the SEO vs SEM smackdown? Let us know in the comments how you’ve benefitted from SEO and SEM for lead generation. We’d love to hear about your experiences!
Do you have online product to sale?Then you will need to let everyone know that you have good stuff. But you don't have interesting ideas to increase the sale or show up your products to customers. Besides that, you have an unstoppable deadline.If you don't have much revenue,then unfortunately you have to shut your shop and this can lead to complete closure of your dream commerce website.You’re bright, inventive, ambitious.
And in a bit of a jam.
Enter customer testimonials. These customer stories are told from your purchasers’ perspectives. They are stories with a point, featuring a real customer who has experienced your product — stories that will connect with your readers in ways that boring sales messages cannot. And that can inspire more people to buy your product.
Where do you find customer testimonials?
Think of customer testimonials as mini-case studies. Someone had a problem or need and your product was the answer. All you need is a happy customer or two.
Where do you find them? First, look at your sales records to find your most popular products. Then read a few of your customers’ questionnaire responses to jumpstart your thinking.
Haven’t sent any out? Well, get on that. Because from the information on your questionnaires, you’ll be able to extract gems — small snippets that will be a perfect starting place for a story. It’s all right there: the details and personal experiences that will make your stories come alive.
Here are some questions to start with (you will want to word the questions to bring out specific information and details that will make your story memorable). Avoid questions that can be answered with just yes or no. Ask things like:
What problem was your customer trying to solve that brought them to you?
When and exactly how did they use your product (encourage very specific details here)
What product did they use before?
What inspired them to switch to your product?
How does it work for them now?
What are their future plans?
Then ask them for a quote related to your product or service, specifically, what has changed for them and how they feel about that.
How to tell a memorable customer story on your ecommerce site
Every reader is a potential happy customer. All you have to do is tell this one story in a way that inspires their curiosity, connects with their most pressing problems, and shows them that you can solve them, just like you did this customer’s.
Every reader is a potential happy customer.
To tell your story, you’re going to need a few things:
Your main character (this, of course, is your customer)
The story problem (the needs that the customer had before buying your product)
The ending (the point of your story, how your product changed your customer’s life or made things better)
If you have asked the right things in your customer questionnaire, you should have plenty of rich information to work with. Now let’s walk through the process.
Start with a bang.
This is sometimes called the hook. It’s your opening sentence or two. Use it to surprise or intrigue your readers. Tell them something small, something that makes them want to learn more. But don’t give everything away. Tell them just enough to make them curious.
Set your story up.
Now you can go back and fill in some of the details. Where was your customer before they found your product? What was her most important, unfulfilled need? Be very specific with the details. In each post or story you write, you will focus on a different set of circumstances, a different set of details.
Maybe this customer had limited financial resources. Or nerve-wracking project deadlines. Maybe her business’s sales were down. Or she was not getting enough signups for her newsletter. Set your story up so your product has a starring role in helping her solve her problem.
Develop your story.
This is where you get exact. Use the details of what your customer did, how they used your product. Tell a story that your readers can project themselves into. Make it easy for them to jump into the story, to put themselves in your customer’s shoes, to imagine that this could be them.
Show the resolution.
The ending is your most important part — it’s your point, the reason you are writing this story. From the beginning, you have been leading your readers straight to it. By telling how the problem was solved from your customer’s point of view, you are showing your readers that you can help them, too. Your final couple of sentences should give them the payoff. If it feels right, that quote from the questionnaire might fit here: in that buyer’s own words, what it means to be a happy customer.
Of course, you should always get permission from your customer to tell their personal story. Send them a copy to review and approve. And it doesn’t hurt to send them a small token of your thanks — promotional items from your stock, a Starbucks gift card, flowers, or whatever seems appropriate.
There you have it: a blueprint for telling a real-life story about how your product made someone’s life better, easier. And an invitation to your readers to become happy customers, too.
We’re living in the dynamic economy. With every day that passes, more and more of us come to the realization that we don’t need the hectic nine-to-five office job to fulfill our needs. Being a freelance web developer today doesn’t elicit the same side-eyed skepticism that it used to in years past. We’re no longer limited (motivationally or financially) to sitting at a desk and trading hours for dollars. I’m living proof of this — my last nine-to-five job title was “creative strategist,” which roughly translated to “complete many tasks, adequately.”
Freelancers can now pursue the projects they want to work on, not those they’re forced to endure. Instead of completing many tasks adequately, they can complete fewer tasks exceptionally — and that is the recipe for an extremely rewarding and fulfilling career.
This was my thought process when I first started contemplating leaving my cushy agency job back in August 2015. I wanted to build something that was all me — my network, my skills, my successes. It’s been roughly 10 months since I embarked on my journey to become a full-time freelance WordPress developer. Making the transition from full-time employee to full-time freelance web developer was hands-down the best decision I’ve ever made for my career, improving my quality of life and yes, even giving me financial security.
Here are eight lessons I’ve encountered on my path to full-time freedom. I hope they help you as you make the transition yourself.
Get your finances in order
As a financially responsible adult, you’ve probably budgeted your entire life around your salary.
If you’re currently peering over the edge of the proverbial cliff and considering making the switch to full-time freelancing, I’d encourage you to ask yourself a few financial questions first, like:
Can you pay next month’s rent?
How about the next six months’ rent?
Will the lights stay on?
Will you make your car payment on time?
My point here is that you must account for doomsday — no incoming work. This is a lesson you absolutely do not want to learn the hard way.
Every new freelancer should understand that day-to-day income is often less than predictable.
Make sure you have a rock-solid financial game plan in case you-know-what hits the fan.
To set myself up for success, I worked two full-time jobs as I transitioned. The first was my standard nine-to-five at the agency. The other, my five-to-nine (and then some) at home, finding my first freelance clients and supplementing my income. After six-months I’d managed to save enough money to keep all my bills paid for a full year, even if I didn’t earn another cent.
Financial freedom, even in a limited sense, is comforting when you first start off as a freelance web developer.
Specialize in something
Do you think neurosurgeons feel less capable at their job because they can’t perform an open heart surgery? Hell no! Own what you’re great at and don’t get stressed when you can’t do it all. Be honest with your clients, but more importantly, be honest with yourself.
Taking on projects beyond your area of expertise is only going to cause you unnecessary and easily avoidable stress.
I’m a certified expert WordPress developer, but that doesn’t mean I’ll work on every single WordPress project that comes my way. I’ve curated a small list of tasks that are directly aligned with my specific skill set; those I know I can complete with extreme efficiency.
If you stretch yourself too thin (likely by offering too many services) you’ll end up getting hired for more tasks while getting paid less. Conversely, as an expert, you’ll command much higher premiums while cornering just a segment of the market. At the end of the day the difference between and expert and a novice is this — experts work smarter, not harder.
Join freelancing websites
Once you’ve identified your specialization, find a network that promotes your skills and gets you in front of potential clients. There are a ton of great networks out there, so depending on your industry and your skills, some will inevitably be more appropriate for you than others.
Online networks for freelance web developers, such as Codeable, provide new freelancers the opportunity to get some experience under their belt and hone client communication skills.
A few options out there today (granted, less specialized) are Upwork, Fiverr, and PeoplePerHour. As a freelance web developer, I’ve found the most success with a premium network called Codeable.
The biggest benefit to joining a freelance network is inbound leads.
The fact that there are already people on these networks looking for qualified talent saves you the annoying and often frustrating hassles of chasing down new clients on your own. The most common exchange for the unlimited supply of awesome inbound leads is that a small portion of your total earned income will be retained by the network (likely in the neighborhood of 10 percent).
Premium freelancing networks like Codeable understand that experts like you provide the most value to your clients when you’re focused on your work, so they’ll also take care of billing. The best networks have systems built-in which enable you to focus the maximum amount of your time and energy doing what you do best and not dealing with those accounts receivable nightmares.
Build your street cred
The harsh reality of getting started as a freelancer is that no one knows who you are or why they should trust you. When you first join a freelancing network you might only convert five or 10 percent of the people you engage with into paying customers. This is perfectly normal so don’t get discouraged!
The first few months of freelancing are about embracing the grind. Just because the last 10 people turned you down shouldn’t affect how vigorously you approach your eleventh prospect.
Here’s how I scored my first few projects:
Create a portfolio website, and give it some personality. It’s far more important to communicate why someone should work with you rather than listing what your skills and qualifications are.
Engage with as many clients as possible. Accept every project that you know you can complete and deliver quality work. It might take you longer than others to meet the minimum ratings/reviews threshold to tip the scales in your favor and get a majority of the clients to take you seriously, but it’s well worth it when you do.
Freelancing is a marathon, not a sprint. As a freelancer you’re more-than-likely going to be working alone, which means you’re in charge of quality control. As Henry Ford said, “quality means doing it right when no one is looking.”
Put in the work
As a freelancer, your schedule will be undeniably awesome. You’ll wake up when you want to. You’ll go grocery shopping when there’s no one else in the store. It’s a life you can get used to easily.
But remember, no one is forcing you to work.
Personally, I’m still putting in at least 40 hours a week to consistently hit my numbers. Now, I do get to choose which 40 hours these are, but I don’t forget there’s a reason this is called full-time freelancing.
Time, energy and effort are the fundamental building blocks of your career as a freelancer.
Another prerequisite in becoming a successful freelancer is self-discipline. It’s absolutely imperative that you have the mental capacity to keep yourself on task, because let’s face it, there won’t be anyone else making sure you do.
Build your network
Here’s an obvious one — your network will be composed of the clients you work for and the other qualified professionals you meet. It’s best to cast a wide net in order to meet new associates and make connections with people of various backgrounds.
Referrals are the backbone of the freelance world, and I have absolutely no problem pointing someone in the direction of another qualified professional whom I trust because I know it’ll come back around my way when the time is right.
For me, the leads passed back and forth within my network convert into paying customers much faster than other projects.
As you continue to grow your network you’ll start seeing more and more of these private leads coming in. This allows you to slowly reduce the amount of time you spend trolling for new projects in a public forum. Another perk of preferred leads is drastically reduced competition — these projects are typically only shared with one or two highly qualified professionals, instead of potentially a hundred or more.
Stay in direct touch
This is a big one, and I can’t stress it enough. Repeat business is your best friend.
Personally, I’ve set up a system where my clients can click one link to quickly share their next project with me. Then, after a quick chat, they can hire me directly to complete the task. Creating a direct line of communication for your clients ultimately saves them time and allows them to bypass the public forum altogether. Once you’ve demonstrated the value you add, you’ll very likely earn direct bookings for all their future projects, too.
Join affiliate programs
If you find clients consistently asking for your advice on the vendors you use throughout the development or design process, consider joining affiliate programs to earn money for your referrals.
If you get involved with a program such as Winklix’s Affiliate Program, it’s important to do so because you genuinely love the service, not because you think it’ll be a quick passive buck.
These are professional opportunities, so don’t be a spammer and offer unsolicited advice to clients with the sole interest of padding your bank account — clients can sniff this nonsense out from a mile away. I’ve found that the best products or service endorsements that you can provide your clients are for those that you actually use yourself, and that you can share success stories about firsthand.
Faith + calculation = freelance web developer
When I made the transition to full-time freelance, I was able to lean on those who came before me to understand the right and wrong ways of going about it. I’ve discovered a system that works for me, and my success over the past 10 months is proof positive of that. For anyone thinking about making the move from full-time employment to full-time freelance web developer, I hope the lessons I’ve learned will inspired you take a calculated leap of faith.
Today we are going to discuss on a topic whether website optimisation is necessary for website and does it affect website ranking and seo???
No matter how you measure it, a faster page speed is better. Many people have found that faster pages both rank and convert better.
Google has indicated site speed (and as a result, page speed) is one of the signals used by its algorithm to rank pages. And research has shown that Google might be specifically measuring time to first byte as when it considers page speed. In addition, a slow page speed means that search engines can crawl fewer pages using their allocated crawl budget, and this could negatively affect your indexation.
Pagespeed is also one of the most important term for user experience.
Speed can be reduce by following ways:
1)Enable compression
2)Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML
3) Reduce redirects
4)Leverage browser caching
5)Improve server response time
6)Use a content distribution network
7)Optimise images
Google did an interesting experiment with regard to load times. Google Vice President Marissa Mayer asked web surfers – would you rather see 10 or 30 results for your Google search? The users agreed that 30 results per page sounded like a good idea. So Google implemented it on some results pages.
Then the shock came.
Pages that displayed 30 results each had traffic to them drop an astounding 20%. Google tested the loading difference between the 10 and 30 results pages and found that it was just half of a second. If half of a second made that much of a difference in how long users were willing to wait, how much of a difference could it make to your site if you carved a second or two off of load time?
Overall, while load time isn’t a significant contributor to Google rankings, it can contribute to the rise and fall of your conversion rate. Remember that for every second you shave off of load time, you’ll tend to boost customer confidence and trust in your site, and sow the seeds that will make them way to tell others about you. In those cases, a few seconds can make all the difference!
