Getting web designing jobs

If you’ve been a web designer for any reasonable amount of time, then you would have no doubt witnessed the recent surge of designers, all trying to make it online with their designs. With all these new competitors, how can you compete with the masses to get a decent amount of designing jobs?

Networking

Networking is definitely the best way of getting designing jobs, and is surprisingly simple, too. All networking consists of is making friends or colleagues that will hire you as a designer. You can do this anyway you want, whether it’s through a social networking site (eg. Facebook, MySpace and Twitter), through instant messaging services (that includes chat rooms) and also through other sites such as web forums.

Forums in particular are a great way of networking with potential customers, giving you the chance to find recurring work as well as new clients. The trick to successfully using web forums for networking is to build yourself a positive reputation, and, more importantly, respect. To do this you’ll have to be more than a designer… you’ll have to be helpful and kind, at the same time getting a good post count and making friends with other respected people. Once people see you’re trustable, they’re bound to hire you.

Contests

Entering designing contests is also a great way to give your designing business maximum exposure and even win some money at the same time. Even if you don’t win the contest, by publically entering your design you are effectively showing people an example of your work, and if people like it then you’re bound to get a few jobs. This method probably isn’t going to get you that many jobs, but you can still earn money by winning, and there is potential to get your name out to some new clients.

Build a Website

If you’re serious about getting designing jobs, you should definitely setup a website. Doing this is an essential part of your company as it shows you’re there to stay, as well as being a great way to showcase your work. You should include an up to date portfolio, information on the exact services you provide, a guideline of your pricing system and also an easy to use contact form.

You should advertise your designing website the same way you design any other website. SEO (search engine optimisation) is a must, as ranking highly for different design related keywords will be sure to get you a load of clients. Another great way is to comment on design related blogs with your URL in the website box. This should get you a bit of targeted traffic.

Get Some Affiliates

This method is relatively unused by designers, but is a great way of getting lots of new clients. The system works by setting up an affiliate program on your website and getting affiliates to come and work for you. Basically, whenever the affiliates get you a paying customer, you pay the affiliate a certain percentage of that amount. So, basically, they’re advertising your business for you and you’re paying them on a per client basis.

Show You’re A Pro

Showing you’re a good designer is bound to get you quite a few jobs. Yes, it sounds obvious, but it’s true, and the way of demonstrating that you’re a good designer is how to make this method work effectively.

The best way is to post tutorial videos on your site using a program such as Camtasia, then uploading it to YouTube and other video sharing sites with a watermark for your site on it. The other way is to help out other designers whose designs aren’t quite up to scratch, although if you’re going to do this, make sure you do it publicly (usually on an internet forum) so that other people can see you know what you’re talking about.