Some designers focus on trendy techniques or cool animations without considering the negative effect it has on the usability and the performance of the web site. As a designer, I want to show off my skills. As one who peruses the Internet, I regularly see bothersome techniques that I try to avoid in my designs. I focus on practicality and the user experience.
- No annoying popups or autoplay videos.
- Use of simple user-friendly forms.
- Continue to learn current design best practices.
- Add my craftsmanship attitude.
- Complete tasks in a timely manner.
- Effectively listen to customers' comments and ideas.
- Explain technological aspects in layman's terms.
- Charge a fair price for my work.
In addition to my Information Technology degree, I spend countless hours learning current web design practices. I combine over a thousand hours of self-taught techniques with those learned in the classroom and add my craftsmanship attitude to yield a honed skill as a web designer. Check out the list of books that I have read and/or purchased to enhance my web design skills.
My work ethic and old-fashioned values enable me to complete tasks in a timely manner while charging a fair price for my work. Moreover, I effectively communicate with customers face-to-face, listen to their comments and ideas, and explain technological aspects in layman’s terms.
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Here Are 11 Valid Reasons.
Click/Tap Reasons to Open & Close.
1My designs are done from scratch using current industry best practices.
Nowadays, technology changes so quickly. Designs done using techniques from just a few years ago may not reap the full benefits of current best practices. I continue to spend countless hours learning current web design practices from online learning sites to blogs of renowned web designers. It's not acceptable to just have a web site. Preferably, it is one that is well thought out, meets your business and customers' needs, and is appealing and easy-to-use on all Internet-ready devices. My web designs not only achieve these criteria, but also will make your business STAND OUT from the crowd.
2I use the popular Bootstrap framework and FontAwesome web font (icon gallery) to design my web sites.
Bootstrap is a sleek, intuitive, and powerful mobile first front-end framework for faster and easier web development. According to SimilarTech.com, over 3.7 million web sites currently use this framework. According to WappAlyzer.com who identifies software used on the web, over 5 million web sites currently use FontAwesome icons. The popularity of these two products makes it easy to find examples of techniques and layouts as well as assistance for issues encountered.
3My designs are easy to navigate and well organized.
Finding a web site is only half the battle. Finding the information you want on a web site can be frustrating sometimes. I structure my navigation to make it straight forward and easy to understand. The web pages are clean and uncluttered so users can easily find the information they seek. One technique I use is to make contact information highly visible especially the phone number and directions to the business.
4I employ techniques to improve organic (free) search engine results.
Ranking high in organic (free) search engine results is a high priority for web site owners. What good is a web site if people have difficulty finding it. My designs are mobile-friendly, integrate social media, and include a favicon to help brand the web site. The folks at Google offer additional valuable tips and techniques to improve search engine results including proper metadata, rich snippets, and best design practices. Over 79% of all searches are done with Google. Both Google and Bing now downgrade search results of web sites that are not mobile-friendly. View my SEO Tips.
5Call to action (CTA) buttons STAND OUT.
A user clicks/taps a CTA button to purchase a service/product, request a quote/estimate, join an organization, or any other priority action the business wants the user to act upon. I make these buttons stand out by making them larger, their own color (usually a red color), and add a subtle animation.
6Web design is appealing on all devices and browsers.
There are so many Internet ready devices from cell phones to tablets to desktop computers. A web design needs to be attractive and easy to use and understand on all devices. The layout and font-size change to adapt to the device. The Bootstrap framework incorporates methods to easily accomplish this. In addition, there are numerous desktop and mobile browsers ( 
). My designs are cross-browser compatible so the user gets a similar experience no matter which browser is used to navigate the Internet.
7Faster loading web site even on cell phones.
Have you ever waited a long time for a web site to load? Maybe you just got frustrated and searched for a competitor’s web site. Many people abandon a web site if it takes more than 3 second to load. Web sites today include a variety of images and plugins to make the user experience more enjoyable. This means more data to download to view a web site. My designs are optimized for mobile devices. This yields a faster loading web site without reducing the user experience.
8Easy to work with.
I make the web design process easy and pleasant. I effectively communicate with clients via email, phone, or face-to-face, listen to their comments and ideas, and explain technological aspects in layman’s terms. Check out my Testimonials page to see what clients have said about working with me. Most important, I enjoy designing web sites.
9Quick turnaround on updates.
After discussing or receiving changes from a client, I usually update the web site within 24 hours. Sometimes changes are made as we discuss them on the phone so the client can review them instantly. If it is an idea that requires research and development, I do my best to resolve it promptly.
10Testing - Testing - Testing.
A time consuming and sometimes overlooked aspect of web design is the testing phase. Testing plays a critical role in the development of a web site and its long-term maintenance. It needs to be thoroughly tested to ensure that it’s error-free, user-friendly, accessible, and standards compliant. Tasks include:
- Validating markup to ensure each web page uses structural compliant markup.
- Fixing broken links and optimizing images.
- Proofreading each web page and correcting typos and grammar mistakes. I encourage the client to proofread as well.
- Testing forms and form submissions.
- Testing each web page on multiple browsers and platforms.
11Fair price for my work.
I prefer not to disclose my rates publicly. Many times, the cost depends on what the client wants and what content and graphics are supplied by them. It's safe to say that I charge less than many and more than some. Be assured, my rates are quite reasonable.
The web design process can be complex and time consuming. First is the consultation with the client to discuss the project. This includes ideas, goals, target audiences, key messages to convey, and competitors. With this information in hand combined with some research, development of a site architecture and key pages lead to a visual design that conveys key brand perceptual ideas and to easily connect all aspects of the web site. Now, it's time for site development.
A typical custom web site includes 5 pages/tabs/sections. Examples are: Home Page, About, Contact (Contact Thank You), Products, Services, Portfolio, Store, Photo Gallery, Media, and Events. If a Contact/Sign up Form is designed, a corresponding Thank You Page is displayed after a successful submission of information. In addition to these pages are the Site Map (visitors and search engines look for these), Privacy Policy (if the site includes a form submission), and a 404 Error Page (Hopefully no one will ever see this. It displays when a customer clicks on a broken link). I integrate social media into the web site so visitors can easily find your social media pages as well as share items on the web site they like with their social media friends. I also include a favicon to help brand the web site and insert Rich Snippets to improve search engine results.
The web design process continues with the testing stage. Scroll to Reason 10 for more details. Upon completion, the web site is submitted to the major search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo) for indexing. Scroll to Reason 4 for the importance of this step or view my Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tips for more information. Upon completion, the web site is submitted to the major search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo) for indexing.
Refer to my Frequently Asked Questions for more information or view my Testimonials page to see what clients say about me.