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rachelweaver
15,876 PointsCritique my business website?
I just started a freelance company back in January. I have a couple clients and things haven't really been picking up(it's been rough finding new people!). In addition to this I work full time in retain(I am a budtender). I have mainly been doing visual design and work with wordpress and squarespace(I would like to transition back to front-end development via a techdegree, I have gotten lazy on that front) . Do any of you guys have suggestions?
Rebecca Riley
Courses Plus Student 2,265 PointsYou've got a good start with a website. As Andy advised, take a look around the web to see what other designer portfolios look like. Just looking around, I found http://mikekus.com/ - his text is readable, all images are high quality, and good color usage - or http://www.lottanieminen.com/ - she has great imagery as well, and nice use of white space. These sites are what you're competing against - but they didn't just magically get their skills.
These designers had to learn design principles, practice often, and spend lots of time to build their brand - and learn from their mistakes. It's not an easy path but it can be rewarding. So I'd recommend listening to design podcasts (which you may be able to do during your job), reading design books during your breaks, watching videos, and following designers that you admire - then put what you've learned into practice and buff up your Work section. Also, join communities like a slack teams for designers - often these communities will post job opportunities - and Dribbble to find inspiration.
Web design is a very competitive field and, from experience, not always a highly valued one as far as clients wanting to pay you for what it's worth. With "build your own website tools" like Wix, SquareSpace, and Wordpress, you're now competing with bigger staffed companies as well. Consider specializing rather than being so broad - for example, only do front-end development for SquareSpace or WordPress e-commerce sites. Also think about creating a theme to sell for passive income rather than having to hunt for clients, then you can have paid support, add-ons, and so on.
Have fun and good luck with your business!
rachelweaver
15,876 PointsThanks for all the great feedback everyone!
Andres Ramirez
18,094 PointsAndres Ramirez
18,094 PointsHi there!
Looking at your website, it looks more like a simple showcase portfolio at first instance, and it's not clear on first impression what the objective of the website/business is. To start off, you may want to change your slogan to something different than "make a scene" - as it repeats your business name. Also, create a short 3 - 5 word headline making it clear that you are offering web design or X service, and then a brief paragraph describing your main services/objectives, and why people should choose your service.
I would definitely change the background color - the sky blue looks very 1990'ish, and it makes a hard contrast on the sight making it hard to read anything.
You are definitely on a good start though. Take a look at other web designer portfolio's for inspiration and ideas. Don't be discouraged if you can't find new clients - they will eventually come through word of mouth if you show off your hard work!
Here's a what my first business website looked like: www.websolutmiami.com (I am working on a new one now... www.gattodigital.com)
Best of luck!
PS: One last thing... Don't stop learning! Make an effort to study at least 3 to 4 hours per week, and put your learning knowledge to practice. Eventually you will accomplish your goals!