I've been designing sites for a while but only took it seriously last year during my gap year to pay for travelling etc. Advertised for first 6 months and have relied on recommendations ever since. Have just started a run of 13 weeks of adverts in the Friday Ad a few weeks back and have only had 1 response so far. I've got a few other recommendation jobs lined up. But basically I've got 4 months-ish off for the summer from uni and want to get a lot of work to pay back student loans etc. I charge £24 p.h. currently but am now moving toward charging flat rates for my sites.
So firstly please take a look at my portfolio and make any comments (constructive please!) which can aid me. The top are the newest, I'm very happy with the top few and am at the moment trying to push out better looking/more professional sites. This is because I'm looking for bigger/better companies (more interesting/bigger jobs and bigger pay I guess but that's not the main reason!). I want to get a good portfolio as after uni I want to enter into marketing/advertising and I guess the more impressive the companies the better!
So any advice on what to do to get bigger/better jobs/companies. I live in the South-East near London but most my jobs are local, I want to get jobs in London - I've a friend there who has had a couple of pretty simple jobs where he has been paid loads (far too much for his ability and finished product to be honest!),
By the way the wording for my paper advert is:
TN DESIGN: Designing affordable, high quality websites for a broad range of customers for over 4 years. From small static sites to full e-commerce. Based in Oxted, Surrey with customers nationwide. Contact for portfolio and further information: *my business email* / 07817 280504.
Any suggestions about changing that maybe...
Any help is much appreciated!
Many Thanks
Tom
TNDesign
They are ok. I think you may run into some issues later as there seems to be lack of css layout and accessibilty, but with anything if your getting paid for it, its good enough.
My name is Martyn and I am new to the site so please go easy on me.
The reason for me posting is I am currently stuck in a Recruitment job that I would like to leave, but I want to re-train myself and join the world of web design and was looking for some good advice where to start.
I left school at GCSE level and have being working in a commercial business environment since, but now I want to gain the formal qualifications and training I need to be able to persue a career within web design and eventually be freelance.
I have looked at different ways of getting the training I need, but obviously these companies are focused on selling me the training, so i would like some impartial advice and to be told straight.
The route I am looking at is the CIW route, taking the CIW Foundation course and exam to give me the grounding, is this going to be the best route for me or can anyone shed any light on the best way for me to get the right training and qualifications I need to make this career change.
Your help and adivce will be greatly appreciated
Try the OU, they do have good web course which you can then turn into degrees.
But I wouldnt wait for a course, just get out their and do it. Are you a member of any club or do any family members have their own business. See if you can doo some freebies to get your feet wet.
Another good route, is to do general design work, because you will find a lot of rules that work in graphic design work just as well for the web.
Finally dont go down the route of templates and packages like front page, net objects or cms's until you know what you are doing .
Their reseller package is bang on your budget for £50 a month. Heard lots of good things about their API and they are oretty reliable as have used them for a few things in the past but not this package.
Good luck :)
We use them, its ok for basic PHP stuff but there database are only 300mb a pop unless you go dedicated with them (which is expensive compared to some)
