<p>Being a freelance web designer offering a wide range of services means you can find yourself deep in projects for months and focusing on one specialist area. You are either doing front-end development work, back-end development work or digital marketing. I find that I never really have enough time to sharpen up on every area as much as I like with the high benchmarks I set and pride myself with. I always want to produce better, improve my skill set and increase the quality of the end products I’m producing.</p>

<p>I wanted to produce a resource for designers who want to read and learn more about the details of web design. I found several different resources so far that helped me personally in developing my skills.</p>

<h2>Better Web Typography for a Better Web, by Matej Latin</h2>

<p>This is a fantastic book! I began reading it this year and have yet to put a lot of it into practice, but it’s been a real eye-opener and a fantastic resource for me.</p>

<p>Before reading, my typography skills were limited. I had no idea about the technicalities of fonts, type and scale and what makes good typography. I found matching fonts, choosing the right font and utilising the design options we have available to us. The book goes through things like the anatomy of a typeface, choosing typefaces, how to design perfect paragraphs, rhythm and scale and a tonne more.</p>

<p>The book is available on <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Better-Web-Typography/dp/1999809521/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr=">Amazon</a> and the <a href="https://betterwebtype.com/">website</a> offers a free course and more!</p>

<h2>Refactoring UI, by Steve Schoger</h2>

<p>This is something I read last year having followed Steve Schoger on Twitter. He went viral in the design community with his very helpful small design tips thread that just gave developers a few tips to visually improve designs.</p>

<p>I decided to purchase his eBook and it’s well worth it. The book gave me insight into the design process by showing how design is approached by different designers. I find the book very different from other resources because it doesn't go into the very detail of design, which was actually kind of refreshing. The way the book is structured just meant you can pick up a tonne of small tips that any designer can make to improve technical aspects of design, from typography and hierarchy to increased user experience.</p>

<p>The book is available to buy on their <a href="https://refactoringui.com/">website</a> and I’d recommend following Steve on <a href="https://twitter.com/steveschoger">Twitter</a>.</p>

<h2>Design Systems, by Alla Kholmatova</h2>

<p>This is a book I read on a regular commute I make and a bit different from a lot of other books I’ve read. This book is geared more towards teams and designers who work on products and platforms. It gave me a big insight into how teams work and how designing systems can benefit a lot of the work I produce. It also gave me the confidence to work with more startups, like <a href="https://glowday.com/">Glowday</a>, in creating a digital design system rather than just producing a set of screens. I now offer a lot more value to offer clients launching products and the design work I produce is better than what I would produce before reading the book.</p>

<p>Information on the book can be found on the Smashing Magazine <a href="https://www.smashingmagazine.com/design-systems-book/">website</a>, available in multiple formats.</p>


Being a freelance web designer offering a wide range of services means you can find yourself deep in projects for months and focusing on one specialist area. You are either doing front-end development work, back-end development work or digital marketing. I find that I never really have enough time to sharpen up on every area as much as I like with the high benchmarks I set and pride myself with. I always want to produce better, improve my skill set and increase the quality of the end products I’m producing. 

I wanted to produce a resource for designers who want to read and learn more about the details of web design. I found several different resources so far that helped me personally in developing my skills.

## Better Web Typography for a Better Web, by Matej Latin
This is a fantastic book! I began reading it this year and have yet to put a lot of it into practice, but it’s been a real eye-opener and a fantastic resource for me.

Before reading, my typography skills were limited. I had no idea about the technicalities of fonts, type and scale and what makes good typography. I found matching fonts, choosing the right font and utilising the design options we have available to us. The book goes through things like the anatomy of a typeface, choosing typefaces, how to design perfect paragraphs, rhythm and scale and a tonne more.

The book is available on [Amazon](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Better-Web-Typography/dp/1999809521/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=) and the [website](https://betterwebtype.com/) offers a free course and more!

## Refactoring UI, by Steve Schoger
This is something I read last year having followed Steve Schoger on Twitter. He went viral in the design community with his very helpful small design tips thread that just gave developers a few tips to visually improve designs.

I decided to purchase his eBook and it’s well worth it. The book gave me insight into the design process by showing how design is approached by different designers. I find the book very different from other resources because it doesn't go into the very detail of design, which was actually kind of refreshing. The way the book is structured just meant you can pick up a tonne of small tips that any designer can make to improve technical aspects of design, from typography and hierarchy to increased user experience.

The book is available to buy on their [website](https://refactoringui.com/) and I’d recommend following Steve on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/steveschoger).

## Design Systems, by Alla Kholmatova
This is a book I read on a regular commute I make and a bit different from a lot of other books I’ve read. This book is geared more towards teams and designers who work on products and platforms. It gave me a big insight into how teams work and how designing systems can benefit a lot of the work I produce. It also gave me the confidence to work with more startups, like [Glowday](https://glowday.com/), in creating a digital design system rather than just producing a set of screens. I now offer a lot more value to offer clients launching products and the design work I produce is better than what I would produce before reading the book.

Information on the book can be found on the Smashing Magazine [website](https://www.smashingmagazine.com/design-systems-book/), available in multiple formats.

Web Design Books to Read in 2020

<p>I've recently made a switch from MAMP Pro, to <a href="https://laravel.com/docs/5.7/valet">Laravel Valet</a>. There's several reasons for switching:</p>

<ul>
<li>Performance - MAMP Pro had started slowing down with every major version and it'd become pretty horrible to work with.</li>
<li>Setup across machines - Valet makes it easier to setup a site from the terminal, <em>major win</em></li>
</ul>

<h3>Getting Started</h3>

<p>The <a href="https://laravel.com/docs/5.7/valet">Laravel Valet docs</a> provide a good guide to get started, but here's the low down...</p>

<ul>
<li>Make sure <a href="https://brew.sh/">Homebrew</a> is installed</li>
<li>Make sure <a href="https://getcomposer.org/">Composer</a> is installed</li>
<li>Install Valet via Composer <code>composer global require laravel/valet</code>. I had an issue with the <code>valet</code> command not being found, I fixed it by following this <a href="https://github.com/cpriego/valet-linux/issues/35">thread</a></li>
<li>Run <code>valet install</code></li>
</ul>

<h3>Creating a <code>.test</code> domain</h3>

<p>To create a project with a <code>.test</code> domain, simple <code>cd</code> to your folder, and run <code>valet link</code>. This will automatically use the folder name as the domain name, e.g. <code>ryan-gittings.test</code>.</p>

<h3>Getting Valet working with Perch</h3>

<p>Valet runs a little differently that a standard server. As Valet runs on nginx, <code>.htaccess</code> files don't work. To create a local environment that'll run Perch, and Perch Runway we need to install some <a href="https://laravel.com/docs/5.7/valet#custom-valet-drivers">drivers</a> to make sure it works out of the box. I've created two drivers for both Perch and Perch Runway, which can be found below:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://github.com/ryangittings/perch-valet-driver">Perch</a></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/ryangittings/perch-runway-valet-driver">Perch Runway</a></li>
</ul>

<p>To install these, navigate to the <code>~/.config/valet/Drivers</code> folder, and drop the two files in there. All your Perch builds should now start working locally, huzzah!</p>


I've recently made a switch from MAMP Pro, to [Laravel Valet](https://laravel.com/docs/5.7/valet). There's several reasons for switching:

- Performance - MAMP Pro had started slowing down with every major version and it'd become pretty horrible to work with.
- Setup across machines - Valet makes it easier to setup a site from the terminal, *major win*

### Getting Started

The [Laravel Valet docs](https://laravel.com/docs/5.7/valet) provide a good guide to get started, but here's the low down...

- Make sure [Homebrew](https://brew.sh/) is installed
- Make sure [Composer](https://getcomposer.org/) is installed
- Install Valet via Composer `composer global require laravel/valet`. I had an issue with the `valet` command not being found, I fixed it by following this [thread](https://github.com/cpriego/valet-linux/issues/35)
- Run `valet install`

### Creating a `.test` domain

To create a project with a `.test` domain, simple `cd` to your folder, and run `valet link`. This will automatically use the folder name as the domain name, e.g. `ryan-gittings.test`.

### Getting Valet working with Perch

Valet runs a little differently that a standard server. As Valet runs on nginx, `.htaccess` files don't work. To create a local environment that'll run Perch, and Perch Runway we need to install some [drivers](https://laravel.com/docs/5.7/valet#custom-valet-drivers) to make sure it works out of the box. I've created two drivers for both Perch and Perch Runway, which can be found below:

- [Perch](https://github.com/ryangittings/perch-valet-driver)
- [Perch Runway](https://github.com/ryangittings/perch-runway-valet-driver)

To install these, navigate to the `~/.config/valet/Drivers` folder, and drop the two files in there. All your Perch builds should now start working locally, huzzah!

Using Laravel Valet with Perch

<p>Since the introduction of the App Store, apps have been changing the world we live in. An average person has 41 apps on their phone, but here are 5 more apps that I’d recommend to any designer or developer for optimising your workflow.</p>

<h3>1) Hours Time Tracking</h3>

<p>Hours is a superb app for keeping track of projects. Timers allow you to seamlessly and simply switch between projects, allowing you to track your workflow and time spent on each projects.</p>

<p><strong>Why does this benefit you?</strong></p>

<p>Not only can it help you work out time spent per project, it can also give you an idea of how far out from your original anticipated estimate you were. This allows you to get more precise with your costings, and effectively make more money!</p>

<p>Download: <a href="http://www.hourstimetracking.com/">http://www.hourstimetracking.com</a></p>

<h3>2) Dropbox</h3>

<p>Dropbox is a great tool. It allows me to sync all my files to showcase to clients, on any tablet/smartphone, and across multiple computers, which is great! </p>

<p><strong>Why does this benefit you?</strong></p>

<p>Dropbox will allow you to access files across multiple devices, and showcase visuals to clients on an iPad, anywhere! It’s also a piece of mind, with backups across all the devices, and in the ‘cloud’.</p>

<p>Download: <a href="http://www.dropbox.com/">http://www.dropbox.com</a></p>

<h3>3) Diet Coda</h3>

<p>Diet Coda is a superb code editing tool for iPad. Got a little tweak whilst you're out and about? Noticed a small bug that’s annoying you? Diet Coda is a saviour! With built in FTP, and with syncing across to desktop Coda, its a wonderful tool.</p>

<p><strong>Why does this benefit you?</strong></p>

<p>An FTP editor, on the iPad is a handy little tool, worth having. I’ve used it several times, when noticing small bugs/glitches, or tweaking content. </p>

<p>Download: <a href="https://panic.com/dietcoda/">https://panic.com/dietcoda/</a></p>

<h3>4) Finish</h3>

<p>Finish is a wonderful app for procrastinators, a simple to do list categorised into ‘terms’, short term, mid term, long term. It’s helped me no end, in tracking all the small jobs I need to do, and keep track of.  </p>

<p><strong>Why does this benefit you?</strong></p>

<p>Everyone forgets. Finish helps you keep track of whats important, and not only that, prioritises jobs, which optimises your workflow, no end! Trust me, I speak from experience…</p>

<p>Download: <a href="http://getfinish.com/">http://getfinish.com</a></p>

<h3>5) Google Analytics</h3>

<p>Analytics is a must for anyone who uses it. I’m constantly checking visitor stats, and refining UI/UX from analysing the data. Saves me turning my laptop on, and there is always an occasion to visit it, especially in those waiting rooms!</p>

<p><strong>Why does this benefit you?</strong></p>

<p>Monitor your websites visitor statistics, from the ease of your phone. Always handy, not only for your sake, but if you are out with a client, you can easily show them stats for their site on your device.</p>

<p>Download: <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/google-analytics/id881599038?mt=8">https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/google-analytics/id881599038?mt=8</a></p>


Since the introduction of the App Store, apps have been changing the world we live in. An average person has 41 apps on their phone, but here are 5 more apps that I’d recommend to any designer or developer for optimising your workflow.

### 1) Hours Time Tracking

Hours is a superb app for keeping track of projects. Timers allow you to seamlessly and simply switch between projects, allowing you to track your workflow and time spent on each projects.

**Why does this benefit you?**

Not only can it help you work out time spent per project, it can also give you an idea of how far out from your original anticipated estimate you were. This allows you to get more precise with your costings, and effectively make more money!

Download: [http://www.hourstimetracking.com](http://www.hourstimetracking.com/)

### 2) Dropbox

Dropbox is a great tool. It allows me to sync all my files to showcase to clients, on any tablet/smartphone, and across multiple computers, which is great! 

**Why does this benefit you?**

Dropbox will allow you to access files across multiple devices, and showcase visuals to clients on an iPad, anywhere! It’s also a piece of mind, with backups across all the devices, and in the ‘cloud’.

Download: [http://www.dropbox.com](http://www.dropbox.com/)

### 3) Diet Coda

Diet Coda is a superb code editing tool for iPad. Got a little tweak whilst you're out and about? Noticed a small bug that’s annoying you? Diet Coda is a saviour! With built in FTP, and with syncing across to desktop Coda, its a wonderful tool.

**Why does this benefit you?**

An FTP editor, on the iPad is a handy little tool, worth having. I’ve used it several times, when noticing small bugs/glitches, or tweaking content. 

Download: [https://panic.com/dietcoda/](https://panic.com/dietcoda/)

### 4) Finish

Finish is a wonderful app for procrastinators, a simple to do list categorised into ‘terms’, short term, mid term, long term. It’s helped me no end, in tracking all the small jobs I need to do, and keep track of.  

**Why does this benefit you?**

Everyone forgets. Finish helps you keep track of whats important, and not only that, prioritises jobs, which optimises your workflow, no end! Trust me, I speak from experience…

Download: [http://getfinish.com](http://getfinish.com/)

### 5) Google Analytics

Analytics is a must for anyone who uses it. I’m constantly checking visitor stats, and refining UI/UX from analysing the data. Saves me turning my laptop on, and there is always an occasion to visit it, especially in those waiting rooms!

**Why does this benefit you?**

Monitor your websites visitor statistics, from the ease of your phone. Always handy, not only for your sake, but if you are out with a client, you can easily show them stats for their site on your device.

Download: [https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/google-analytics/id881599038?mt=8](https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/google-analytics/id881599038?mt=8)

A Big 2018

<p>In the second of my SEO series, (see: <a href="/blog/what-is-seo">What is SEO?</a>), I’m going to look at the way small businesses approach SEO, and why your business should be marketing online.</p>

<h2>Increased Traffic</h2>

<p>The obvious benefit to search engine optimisation is increased traffic. If you can appear on page 1 for a keyword, that really is great! However, if you can get to position 1, you can see huge benefits in the amount of clickthrough’s from the search engine to your site.</p>

<p>Search engine optimisation is not only about where your site appears, but also how your site appears. If the wording of both the title and description is appealing to users then you will easily entice a user into clicking your link.</p>

<p>I've been optimising my own site for some geo specifc keywords like "<a href="/web-design-hereford">web design Hereford</a>" and "<a href="/freelance-web-designer-london">web design London</a>".</p>

<h2>Increased Exposure</h2>

<p>Along with getting found for keywords you want to rank for, increasing your authority with the relevant search engines has additional benefits. If your blog has good quality content, you’ll see traffic starting to come for long tail keywords and questions, which can directly lead to more visitors and potential customers.</p>

<h2>Give Your Content an Audience</h2>

<p>Many businesses share really good quality and invaluable information online, which deserves to get found. Investing in SEO on your site means your content can get read, seen and shared to create brand awareness and giving your business the chance to go viral, or shared across social media.</p>

<h2>Change in User Habits</h2>

<p>In recent years, more and more users are grabbing their smartphones to search for local businesses rather than other methods and mediums. How many times have you been out and needed a particular service or business, and entered a search engine to find a business who will offer the service? Making sure your site is ranked locally can increase to a big influx of leads and enquiries. Making small changes and making sure your site is submitted and optimised for Google My Business, along with using newer techniques like Schema can help with increased local geo-specific keyword targeting.</p>

<h2>Enter Chirp</h2>

<p><a href="https://grabachirp.com">Chirp SEO</a> app is included with all my projects. It offers a complete suite of tools to help you with all on-site SEO aspects. It helps you optimise titles, keywords, descriptions and content to rank for a keyword and offers a rich preview of what your site would look like in a Google ranking to help analyse if your site is enticing enough for that clickthrough. It’s available to buy for all Perch users &amp; developers and has proven popular within the Perch community.</p>


In the second of my SEO series, (see: [What is SEO?](/blog/what-is-seo)), I’m going to look at the way small businesses approach SEO, and why your business should be marketing online.

## Increased Traffic
The obvious benefit to search engine optimisation is increased traffic. If you can appear on page 1 for a keyword, that really is great! However, if you can get to position 1, you can see huge benefits in the amount of clickthrough’s from the search engine to your site. 

Search engine optimisation is not only about where your site appears, but also how your site appears. If the wording of both the title and description is appealing to users then you will easily entice a user into clicking your link.

I've been optimising my own site for some geo specifc keywords like "[web design Hereford](/web-design-hereford)" and "[web design London](/freelance-web-designer-london)".

## Increased Exposure
Along with getting found for keywords you want to rank for, increasing your authority with the relevant search engines has additional benefits. If your blog has good quality content, you’ll see traffic starting to come for long tail keywords and questions, which can directly lead to more visitors and potential customers. 

## Give Your Content an Audience
Many businesses share really good quality and invaluable information online, which deserves to get found. Investing in SEO on your site means your content can get read, seen and shared to create brand awareness and giving your business the chance to go viral, or shared across social media.

## Change in User Habits
In recent years, more and more users are grabbing their smartphones to search for local businesses rather than other methods and mediums. How many times have you been out and needed a particular service or business, and entered a search engine to find a business who will offer the service? Making sure your site is ranked locally can increase to a big influx of leads and enquiries. Making small changes and making sure your site is submitted and optimised for Google My Business, along with using newer techniques like Schema can help with increased local geo-specific keyword targeting.

## Enter Chirp
[Chirp SEO](https://grabachirp.com) app is included with all my projects. It offers a complete suite of tools to help you with all on-site SEO aspects. It helps you optimise titles, keywords, descriptions and content to rank for a keyword and offers a rich preview of what your site would look like in a Google ranking to help analyse if your site is enticing enough for that clickthrough. It’s available to buy for all Perch users & developers and has proven popular within the Perch community.

Why SEO?

<p>I'm very excited to share with you an experimental project I've been working on: a redesign of the Visit Herefordshire website. Please note, this is a personal project done off my own back just for a bit of fun!</p>

<p>It's something I've been doing in my spare time between projects as a hobby, whilst trying to challenge myself in trying out new ideas. I've written up this blog post to try and document my process, thoughts and general approaches when tackling website redesigns.</p>

<p><a href="https://marvelapp.com/5ffejdb/screen/28311647" className="button" target="_blank">View Full Design</a></p>

<h2>Started from the bottom, now we're here...</h2>

<p>I wanted to overhaul the current website architecture, giving the user a brief overview of what the site is, what it's about and what it contains. I didn't want to limit myself by being constrained to using the current content as a model, so I decided to chop and change what was there. Keeping important elements whilst trying to clean up the user interface was a big priority of mine, whilst trying to introduce an expansive all new design.</p>

<p>I wanted the redesign to tackle key areas in which I think the current website could be much better. I identified the following issues:
* Static &amp; contained design that I felt didn't showcase the best of Herefordshire
* A lack of architecture to make it easy for users to get access to the content they need
* Navigation made it hard to get to the content I wanted to view</p>

<p>I felt that the redesign had to have more purpose, more of an authority stamp to showcase Herefordshire in the best light possible, right from first user interaction. I identified three key areas in which I could do this:
* Introducing what Herefordshire has to offer via the homepage
* Getting more imagery onto the initial landing page
* Breaking down content into manageable chunks for easier viewing</p>

<p><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/madebykingfisher/image/upload/v1533555024/journal/redesigning-the-herefordshire-website/visit-herefordshire-before-after.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<h2>Planning the Homepage</h2>

<p>The current site goes straight into a big bulk of text and in my opinion doesn't guide users to what they want to find. It featured some dated infographics, and other elements which I deemed secondary to what the homepage actually needed.</p>

<p>I prioritised elements that I felt were more deserving of a homepage space, so users could jump right into learning about Herefordshire and what it has to offer.</p>

<p>The redesign on the right gives users a bold and memorable introduction, as well as a clearer, cleaner navigation for users to get to what they want to, whilst maintaining this expansive and fluid design.</p>

<p><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/madebykingfisher/image/upload/v1533555081/journal/redesigning-the-herefordshire-website/vh3.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<h2>Imagery at the Forefront</h2>

<p>The Herefordshire countryside is expansive, breathtaking and unique and I really couldn't understand why the current site didn't showcase the imagery in a more immersive and fluid way. I wanted to go beyond a standard grid layout and introduce a quirky layout that engaged the user, and gave the site personality.</p>

<h2>View the Full Piece</h2>

<p>This was purely an expermental project in my spare time. It was designed using Adobe XD. You can view a mockup of the homepage by clicking the button below. Feel free to Tweet me about your thoughts and ideas, I'm always active on Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/ryangittings">@ryangittings</a>.</p>

<p>Are you a Hereford based business? Read more about my <a href="/web-design-hereford">web design Hereford</a> services.</p>


I'm very excited to share with you an experimental project I've been working on: a redesign of the Visit Herefordshire website. Please note, this is a personal project done off my own back just for a bit of fun!

It's something I've been doing in my spare time between projects as a hobby, whilst trying to challenge myself in trying out new ideas. I've written up this blog post to try and document my process, thoughts and general approaches when tackling website redesigns.

<a href="https://marvelapp.com/5ffejdb/screen/28311647" className="button" target="_blank">View Full Design</a>

## Started from the bottom, now we're here...
I wanted to overhaul the current website architecture, giving the user a brief overview of what the site is, what it's about and what it contains. I didn't want to limit myself by being constrained to using the current content as a model, so I decided to chop and change what was there. Keeping important elements whilst trying to clean up the user interface was a big priority of mine, whilst trying to introduce an expansive all new design.

I wanted the redesign to tackle key areas in which I think the current website could be much better. I identified the following issues:
* Static & contained design that I felt didn't showcase the best of Herefordshire
* A lack of architecture to make it easy for users to get access to the content they need
* Navigation made it hard to get to the content I wanted to view

I felt that the redesign had to have more purpose, more of an authority stamp to showcase Herefordshire in the best light possible, right from first user interaction. I identified three key areas in which I could do this:
* Introducing what Herefordshire has to offer via the homepage
* Getting more imagery onto the initial landing page
* Breaking down content into manageable chunks for easier viewing

![](https://res.cloudinary.com/madebykingfisher/image/upload/v1533555024/journal/redesigning-the-herefordshire-website/visit-herefordshire-before-after.jpg)

## Planning the Homepage
The current site goes straight into a big bulk of text and in my opinion doesn't guide users to what they want to find. It featured some dated infographics, and other elements which I deemed secondary to what the homepage actually needed. 

I prioritised elements that I felt were more deserving of a homepage space, so users could jump right into learning about Herefordshire and what it has to offer.

The redesign on the right gives users a bold and memorable introduction, as well as a clearer, cleaner navigation for users to get to what they want to, whilst maintaining this expansive and fluid design.

![](https://res.cloudinary.com/madebykingfisher/image/upload/v1533555081/journal/redesigning-the-herefordshire-website/vh3.jpg)

## Imagery at the Forefront
The Herefordshire countryside is expansive, breathtaking and unique and I really couldn't understand why the current site didn't showcase the imagery in a more immersive and fluid way. I wanted to go beyond a standard grid layout and introduce a quirky layout that engaged the user, and gave the site personality.

## View the Full Piece
This was purely an expermental project in my spare time. It was designed using Adobe XD. You can view a mockup of the homepage by clicking the button below. Feel free to Tweet me about your thoughts and ideas, I'm always active on Twitter, [@ryangittings](https://twitter.com/ryangittings).

Are you a Hereford based business? Read more about my [web design Hereford](/web-design-hereford) services.

Redesigning the Visit Herefordshire Website (Experimental Project)

5 things to look out for when hiring a web designer

<p>As a business owner, you've come across the term SEO. It's an acronym that gets used often and it definitely is extremely important to get your website noticed.</p>

<p>SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation is when a search engine, like Google, pulls up your website as a result for a specific phrase or word. As a business, it’s only natural you want to get found for the services you offer, either nationwide and/or in a specific location.</p>

<h2>The Bad News...</h2>

<p>The bad news about SEO is there is no magic formula. Not one single company should guarantee results, because it's beyond their control. Online marketing experts offer their experience and expertise to help your business, either via small tips and tricks, or using their wealth of resources to be able to do things to enhance your sites reputation. So this might be change page titles to include a keyword, so Google can analyse your site and know what you do, and therefore what you should rank for.</p>

<h2>Becoming SEO Aware</h2>

<p>As a business owner, I firmly believe that you're the best person to market your business, be it online or offline. I provide all the knowledge and expertise to help your business get the ranking results you require, but it does work both ways. If you put time in to market your business online, be it through social media platforms, keeping the website content up to date and relevant, and help getting links from external sites to your site to help increase reputation, then you can get results, and this is what SEO is all about.</p>

<h2>Enter Chirp</h2>

<p>I've recently built an app, <a href="https://grabachirp.com">Chirp</a>, which is an add on for my chosen content management system (where you edit your websites content), which analyses your page and tells you what you can do to improve your SEO. It not only educates websites editors on what they should be doing, but breaks down sections of SEO factors until a simple traffic light system and small sections of critique to remove jargon and make it easy to get on-site content up to scratch.</p>

<h2>Do you need help?</h2>

<p>I'm not here to offer a sales pitch, I work with small businesses on a daily basis with their SEO, and I do get results. I work with marketing agencies, built my own tools, and have over 6 years of experience. You can trust me to help with all aspects of your site, from design, build to ongoing website management and support.</p>


As a business owner, you've come across the term SEO. It's an acronym that gets used often and it definitely is extremely important to get your website noticed. 

SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation is when a search engine, like Google, pulls up your website as a result for a specific phrase or word. As a business, it’s only natural you want to get found for the services you offer, either nationwide and/or in a specific location.

## The Bad News...
The bad news about SEO is there is no magic formula. Not one single company should guarantee results, because it's beyond their control. Online marketing experts offer their experience and expertise to help your business, either via small tips and tricks, or using their wealth of resources to be able to do things to enhance your sites reputation. So this might be change page titles to include a keyword, so Google can analyse your site and know what you do, and therefore what you should rank for. 

## Becoming SEO Aware
As a business owner, I firmly believe that you're the best person to market your business, be it online or offline. I provide all the knowledge and expertise to help your business get the ranking results you require, but it does work both ways. If you put time in to market your business online, be it through social media platforms, keeping the website content up to date and relevant, and help getting links from external sites to your site to help increase reputation, then you can get results, and this is what SEO is all about. 

## Enter Chirp
I've recently built an app, [Chirp](https://grabachirp.com), which is an add on for my chosen content management system (where you edit your websites content), which analyses your page and tells you what you can do to improve your SEO. It not only educates websites editors on what they should be doing, but breaks down sections of SEO factors until a simple traffic light system and small sections of critique to remove jargon and make it easy to get on-site content up to scratch. 

## Do you need help?
I'm not here to offer a sales pitch, I work with small businesses on a daily basis with their SEO, and I do get results. I work with marketing agencies, built my own tools, and have over 6 years of experience. You can trust me to help with all aspects of your site, from design, build to ongoing website management and support.

What is SEO?

<p>At the beginning of this year, I wanted to review my workspace setup, in terms of both physical and technical worlds, and try to become more productive, both when on the road traveling, and at home. During this process, quite a few tools have been changed to try and become more efficient, and make my transition between devices easier.</p>

<p>Here are some of my tools:</p>

<h2>Visual Studio Code</h2>

<p>I’ve switched from Atom to VS Code (https://code.visualstudio.com/), and this was a huge decision for me. As I’m a freelance web designer, I’m working on a lot of projects, so my editor needs to integrate with git smoothly, as well as be super quick to open new projects, and VS Code does all this brilliantly.</p>

<h2>iPad Pro</h2>

<p>I have a MacBook Pro, and an iMac, but this year is definitely the year of the iPad Pro. I’m using Screens App (https://edovia.com/en/) to remotely connect to my iMac in my office when I’m on the move. It works brilliantly, and allows me to be more portable, but still very powerful.</p>

<h2>Perch Developer</h2>

<p>I’ve been a really big supporter of Perch (https://grabaperch.com), but this year I’ve become a registered developer. The big change this year is that I’ve started using Runway more and more, for clients to be able to edit their sites easier, and for their management systems to become smarter. I’ve also included Chirp (https://grabachirp.com) with my latest builds, to help editors with SEO, which is super cool.</p>

<h2>Slack</h2>

<p>I’ve started using Slack for all my client communication. It’s such a good platform for managing files, quick communication and a rich experience, that allows me to produce my best work. A small, but very powerful switch from other platforms like Skype, enhance my workflow.</p>


At the beginning of this year, I wanted to review my workspace setup, in terms of both physical and technical worlds, and try to become more productive, both when on the road traveling, and at home. During this process, quite a few tools have been changed to try and become more efficient, and make my transition between devices easier. 

Here are some of my tools:

## Visual Studio Code
I’ve switched from Atom to VS Code (https://code.visualstudio.com/), and this was a huge decision for me. As I’m a freelance web designer, I’m working on a lot of projects, so my editor needs to integrate with git smoothly, as well as be super quick to open new projects, and VS Code does all this brilliantly.

## iPad Pro
I have a MacBook Pro, and an iMac, but this year is definitely the year of the iPad Pro. I’m using Screens App (https://edovia.com/en/) to remotely connect to my iMac in my office when I’m on the move. It works brilliantly, and allows me to be more portable, but still very powerful.

## Perch Developer
I’ve been a really big supporter of Perch (https://grabaperch.com), but this year I’ve become a registered developer. The big change this year is that I’ve started using Runway more and more, for clients to be able to edit their sites easier, and for their management systems to become smarter. I’ve also included Chirp (https://grabachirp.com) with my latest builds, to help editors with SEO, which is super cool.

## Slack
I’ve started using Slack for all my client communication. It’s such a good platform for managing files, quick communication and a rich experience, that allows me to produce my best work. A small, but very powerful switch from other platforms like Skype, enhance my workflow.

My Workspace Setup as a Freelance Web Designer

<p>I'm so proud to introduce <a href="https://grabachirp.com">Chirp SEO for Perch</a>.</p>

<p>I use Perch CMS for almost every project i'm involved with these days. It's a very lightweight CMS with a fantastic API to allow developers like me to create apps that pretty much allow me to create the exact functionality I want, which is fantastic. </p>

<p>I've found over time that more and more clients require SEO these days. They want to rank for keywords, but don't have the knowledge to review their on-site SEO and also don't have time to research what they need to be doing for their on-site SEO. I wanted to create a really lightweight, easy to use SEO tool for Perch that analysed content, and provided short snippets of feedback using a simple traffic light system.</p>

<p>Chirp analyses all your page content, region by region and gives content editors simple suggestions to improve. Perch developers should <a href="https://grabachirp.com">register their interest</a>, as a beta is just around the corner.</p>


I'm so proud to introduce [Chirp SEO for Perch](https://grabachirp.com).

I use Perch CMS for almost every project i'm involved with these days. It's a very lightweight CMS with a fantastic API to allow developers like me to create apps that pretty much allow me to create the exact functionality I want, which is fantastic. 

I've found over time that more and more clients require SEO these days. They want to rank for keywords, but don't have the knowledge to review their on-site SEO and also don't have time to research what they need to be doing for their on-site SEO. I wanted to create a really lightweight, easy to use SEO tool for Perch that analysed content, and provided short snippets of feedback using a simple traffic light system.

Chirp analyses all your page content, region by region and gives content editors simple suggestions to improve. Perch developers should [register their interest](https://grabachirp.com), as a beta is just around the corner.

SEO for Perch - Chirp

<p>I've been working with Humdinger Days as a freelance web designer for quite a while now, and it's really exciting to see how we've progressed. I've offered them the opportunity to introduce themselves to my readers, as well as giving them the opportunity to showcase their awesome site! So here goes...</p>

<h2>Finding Happiness</h2>

<p>We like buying things, they provide us with happiness or at least we think we do. Life in the twenty first century is a quick paced, shopper headed experience where the media is constantly telling us that happiness is the result of owning the perfect house, driving a big brand car, sporting the trendiest attire and having the most recent devices. When you buy the latest phone or take your new car for a drive you get a great thrill for a short while but the novelty soon wears off and you find yourself repeating the same process. If this sounds something like your life then rest assured there's a far better way to spend your cash and keep that feeling alive:<strong>Stop shopping for stuff and begin shopping for experiences!</strong></p>

<p>Recent analysis from San Francisco State University found that individuals who spent cash on experiences instead of material things were happier and felt the money was better spent. The fun of buying things fades quickly whilst the thrill and memory of experiences, whether epic adventures or small encounters, will last a time period. Think about Theme Parks, they aren’t for everyone but why do people queue for hours for a 30 second experience? Next time you’re feeling down and considering a shopping spree, keep in mind that achieving experiences will make you happier than accumulating stuff.</p>

<p><strong>1. It’s the Small Things</strong></p>

<p>Size doesn’t matter . . . in happiness. People often equate giant purchases with giant amounts of happiness, whereas a large expensive item might give you temporary satisfaction, small and frequent experiences add up and when spread out, make longer lasting happiness! Plus, it’s shown that those with a lot of frequent social interactions live longer, have healthier lives and experience less stress, depression and feelings of isolation.</p>

<p><strong>2. Giving is Healthier than Receiving</strong></p>

<p>Few things give a long-lasting sense of happiness and fulfilment like giving to others. The experience of surprising a friend or family member with a gift will not only bring them happiness but make you feel good about yourself as well and bring a happiness that lasts much longer than the temporary excitement of buying a new phone.</p>

<p><strong>3. Humdinger Days</strong></p>

<p><a href="http://www.humdingerdays.co.uk">Humdinger Days</a> are a new website that encourages this type of happiness. They’ve sourced top <a href="https://www.humdingerdays.co.uk/all">experience days</a> within the UK that are truly extraordinary and live up to the name ‘Humdinger’. A key feature of Humdinger Days is their <a href="https://www.humdingerdays.co.uk/index.php?route=account/bucket-list/whatis">Online Bucket List</a> which allows you to choose experiences you’ve always wanted to do, which friends &amp; family can donate to and crowdfund for birthdays, Christmas or at any time. It means you can share these experiences with others who can give something really meaningful. Humdinger Days also offer <a href="https://www.humdingerdays.co.uk/index.php?route=information/vouchers">Gift Vouchers and E-Vouchers</a> that can be used against any of their experience days.</p>

<p>It’s time for something different in the experience day market and to experience something extraordinary, not just the event but the experience as a whole’. Liz Davis from Humdinger Days says “we want our customers experience to start as soon as they find Humdinger Days and not just when they arrive at the event”. They will book the events for you if you wish or follow up on your suggestions of what you’ve always wanted to do as an individual, couple or group, with their ‘<a href="https://www.humdingerdays.co.uk/index.php?route=information/bespoke">Suggest a Day</a>’ option. You can even brand the experience under your name, if you choose, on the website.</p>

<p><strong>4. Example Experiences</strong></p>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.humdingerdays.co.uk/adventure-and-sports-experiences/conquer-the-three-peaks">Conquer The 3 Peaks</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.humdingerdays.co.uk/culture-and-crafts-experiences/metal-craft-and-blacksmith-workshops">Be A Blacksmith And Create Metal Craft</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.humdingerdays.co.uk/animals-and-plants-experiences/learn-to-rear-farm-animals-for-the-day">Learn To Rear Farm Animals For A Day</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.humdingerdays.co.uk/food-and-drink-experiences/be-a-chef-for-a-day">Be A Chef For A Day</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.humdingerdays.co.uk/flying-experiences/fly-the-skies-in-a-light-aircraft">Fly The Skies In A Light Aircraft</a></li>
</ul>

<p><strong>5. Group Experiences</strong></p>

<p>Stag &amp; Hen and <a href="https://www.humdingerdays.co.uk/index.php?route=information/corporate">Corporate Experience Days</a> are also available at Humdinger Days who have a special selection of experiences designed for groups to have maximum fun and develop team building skills.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.humdingerdays.co.uk/index.php?route=account/bucket-list/whatis">Create Your Bucket List Now</a></p>

<p>Enjoy the journey!</p>


I've been working with Humdinger Days as a freelance web designer for quite a while now, and it's really exciting to see how we've progressed. I've offered them the opportunity to introduce themselves to my readers, as well as giving them the opportunity to showcase their awesome site! So here goes...

## Finding Happiness

We like buying things, they provide us with happiness or at least we think we do. Life in the twenty first century is a quick paced, shopper headed experience where the media is constantly telling us that happiness is the result of owning the perfect house, driving a big brand car, sporting the trendiest attire and having the most recent devices. When you buy the latest phone or take your new car for a drive you get a great thrill for a short while but the novelty soon wears off and you find yourself repeating the same process. If this sounds something like your life then rest assured there's a far better way to spend your cash and keep that feeling alive:**Stop shopping for stuff and begin shopping for experiences!**

Recent analysis from San Francisco State University found that individuals who spent cash on experiences instead of material things were happier and felt the money was better spent. The fun of buying things fades quickly whilst the thrill and memory of experiences, whether epic adventures or small encounters, will last a time period. Think about Theme Parks, they aren’t for everyone but why do people queue for hours for a 30 second experience? Next time you’re feeling down and considering a shopping spree, keep in mind that achieving experiences will make you happier than accumulating stuff.

**1. It’s the Small Things**

Size doesn’t matter . . . in happiness. People often equate giant purchases with giant amounts of happiness, whereas a large expensive item might give you temporary satisfaction, small and frequent experiences add up and when spread out, make longer lasting happiness! Plus, it’s shown that those with a lot of frequent social interactions live longer, have healthier lives and experience less stress, depression and feelings of isolation.

**2. Giving is Healthier than Receiving**

Few things give a long-lasting sense of happiness and fulfilment like giving to others. The experience of surprising a friend or family member with a gift will not only bring them happiness but make you feel good about yourself as well and bring a happiness that lasts much longer than the temporary excitement of buying a new phone.

**3. Humdinger Days**

[Humdinger Days](http://www.humdingerdays.co.uk) are a new website that encourages this type of happiness. They’ve sourced top [experience days](https://www.humdingerdays.co.uk/all) within the UK that are truly extraordinary and live up to the name ‘Humdinger’. A key feature of Humdinger Days is their [Online Bucket List](https://www.humdingerdays.co.uk/index.php?route=account/bucket-list/whatis) which allows you to choose experiences you’ve always wanted to do, which friends & family can donate to and crowdfund for birthdays, Christmas or at any time. It means you can share these experiences with others who can give something really meaningful. Humdinger Days also offer [Gift Vouchers and E-Vouchers](https://www.humdingerdays.co.uk/index.php?route=information/vouchers) that can be used against any of their experience days.

It’s time for something different in the experience day market and to experience something extraordinary, not just the event but the experience as a whole’. Liz Davis from Humdinger Days says “we want our customers experience to start as soon as they find Humdinger Days and not just when they arrive at the event”. They will book the events for you if you wish or follow up on your suggestions of what you’ve always wanted to do as an individual, couple or group, with their ‘[Suggest a Day](https://www.humdingerdays.co.uk/index.php?route=information/bespoke)’ option. You can even brand the experience under your name, if you choose, on the website.

**4. Example Experiences**

* [Conquer The 3 Peaks](https://www.humdingerdays.co.uk/adventure-and-sports-experiences/conquer-the-three-peaks)
* [Be A Blacksmith And Create Metal Craft](https://www.humdingerdays.co.uk/culture-and-crafts-experiences/metal-craft-and-blacksmith-workshops)
* [Learn To Rear Farm Animals For A Day](https://www.humdingerdays.co.uk/animals-and-plants-experiences/learn-to-rear-farm-animals-for-the-day)
* [Be A Chef For A Day](https://www.humdingerdays.co.uk/food-and-drink-experiences/be-a-chef-for-a-day)
* [Fly The Skies In A Light Aircraft](https://www.humdingerdays.co.uk/flying-experiences/fly-the-skies-in-a-light-aircraft)

**5. Group Experiences**

Stag & Hen and [Corporate Experience Days](https://www.humdingerdays.co.uk/index.php?route=information/corporate) are also available at Humdinger Days who have a special selection of experiences designed for groups to have maximum fun and develop team building skills.

[Create Your Bucket List Now](https://www.humdingerdays.co.uk/index.php?route=account/bucket-list/whatis)

Enjoy the journey!

Working with Humdinger Days

<p>I’m quite active in the web design community and there’s always lots of discussions about trends. I’ll attempt to breakdown why trends happen and what that means for us web designers.</p>

<h2>Why do trends happen?</h2>

<p>Trends appear in web design on a yearly basis, that’s a fact. Sometimes trends are just purely aesthetic, for example the flat design trend, but sometimes they’re structural, going from a main column and sidebar layout, to more sectional based design for a better “flow” through a site. They tend to happen because designers are always open to ideas, they do hours of research for self-improvement, to try introduce new ideas into their own ideas and take inspiration. When a bulk of designers all see a revolutionary idea, which improves a website, they’ll try introduce it into their own projects, and therefore this trend starts to gather momentum.</p>

<h2>Should we follow trends?</h2>

<p>There’s a massive divide between some web designers, some designers really discourage the following of trends, as it causes many websites to look and work quite similarly, but is that really a bad thing?</p>

<p>Take the revolution in sectional design. A vast majority of websites use a sectional/flow type layout, rather than a main column and sidebar layout used a few years a go. Why I hear you ask…</p>

<p>The way we use and filter through content is changing. With every year that passes by, users have no time. They want everything on demand, right now. Users certainly won’t spend minutes reading through copy, they need to get to the information they need quickly. A sectioned based site breaks up content, introduces smaller paragraphs and heading for the users to scan and find the content the need much quicker, as well as working much better responsively across mobiles and tablets. Sectional design has become more than a trend though, it’s here to stay.</p>

<h2>When a trend becomes more than a trend?</h2>

<p>Flat design is easily the most popular design technique used in websites these days. It emphasises  minimum use of drop shadows, gradients, textures etc. The web took inspiration from the Metro UI, coincidently when responsive design started to take off. It was far easier for designers and developers to easily design for mobile, tablet and desktop. It also removed clutter and bloat from designs, to allow users on smaller devices to focus on the content, which is the most important thing in terms of user experience. It revolutionised the web and it’s here to stay.</p>


I’m quite active in the web design community and there’s always lots of discussions about trends. I’ll attempt to breakdown why trends happen and what that means for us web designers.

## Why do trends happen?
Trends appear in web design on a yearly basis, that’s a fact. Sometimes trends are just purely aesthetic, for example the flat design trend, but sometimes they’re structural, going from a main column and sidebar layout, to more sectional based design for a better “flow” through a site. They tend to happen because designers are always open to ideas, they do hours of research for self-improvement, to try introduce new ideas into their own ideas and take inspiration. When a bulk of designers all see a revolutionary idea, which improves a website, they’ll try introduce it into their own projects, and therefore this trend starts to gather momentum.

## Should we follow trends?
There’s a massive divide between some web designers, some designers really discourage the following of trends, as it causes many websites to look and work quite similarly, but is that really a bad thing?

Take the revolution in sectional design. A vast majority of websites use a sectional/flow type layout, rather than a main column and sidebar layout used a few years a go. Why I hear you ask…

The way we use and filter through content is changing. With every year that passes by, users have no time. They want everything on demand, right now. Users certainly won’t spend minutes reading through copy, they need to get to the information they need quickly. A sectioned based site breaks up content, introduces smaller paragraphs and heading for the users to scan and find the content the need much quicker, as well as working much better responsively across mobiles and tablets. Sectional design has become more than a trend though, it’s here to stay.

## When a trend becomes more than a trend?
Flat design is easily the most popular design technique used in websites these days. It emphasises  minimum use of drop shadows, gradients, textures etc. The web took inspiration from the Metro UI, coincidently when responsive design started to take off. It was far easier for designers and developers to easily design for mobile, tablet and desktop. It also removed clutter and bloat from designs, to allow users on smaller devices to focus on the content, which is the most important thing in terms of user experience. It revolutionised the web and it’s here to stay.

Should Web Designers Follow Trends?

<p>I wanted to write about something I felt very passionately about, user experience. In everything I do, I need to think about who I'm designing for and almost second guess how they are going to use the pieces of technology I design. I wanted to share some thoughts and opinions and what good user experience is and how we can learn from others to improve our own products.</p>

<h2>Learning from Apple</h2>

<p>The new iPhone comes with some awesome technology, including Force Touch. We first saw this type of technology on the Watch, which I must admit, I love. It feels an intuitive way to interact with the watch, keeping the user interface cleaner, and making it easier to access menus. It's a truly unique experience, that enhances the user experience for sure. In almost every aspect of the OS, that 3D touch menu is available and after repetitive use, it becomes cognitive. </p>

<p>Now, having had the iPhone since September, I don't use Force Touch no where near as much as I should. When I first found out that the feature was coming to iPhone, I was excited. It opens up the opportunities to developers to add a new level of interaction, which is always exciting, and usually always revolutionary, for example, pinch to zoom. </p>

<h3>Analysing Why I Don't Use Force Touch</h3>

<p>The biggest single problem with Force Touch on iPhone is that it's just not cognitive. The experience really isn't consistent, and there's no way you can really figure out if something can be hard pressed. There's a huge inconsistency across the platform. Some apps have introduced Force Touch, some haven't. It just hasn't become cognitive. By the time you try out to see if something can be force touched, it'd have been quicker to bypass force touch and just use it naturally. As it becomes more and more integrated, it's going to be interesting to see if I do use it more, to see if it becomes an important way to interact with iOS. Will it find a familiar/consistent use, like it has on the watchOS? Only time will tell.</p>

<h2>What We Can Learn?</h2>

<p>Monitoring the way you use and interact with technology is fascinating. As designers, we need to make it as easy as possible for a wide range of users to easily be able to use the product, be it a website, or an application. Making sure experiences are consistent and can be easily used as well as accessed is a fundamental part of any design, when making any user interface or user experience design choices.</p>


I wanted to write about something I felt very passionately about, user experience. In everything I do, I need to think about who I'm designing for and almost second guess how they are going to use the pieces of technology I design. I wanted to share some thoughts and opinions and what good user experience is and how we can learn from others to improve our own products.

## Learning from Apple

The new iPhone comes with some awesome technology, including Force Touch. We first saw this type of technology on the Watch, which I must admit, I love. It feels an intuitive way to interact with the watch, keeping the user interface cleaner, and making it easier to access menus. It's a truly unique experience, that enhances the user experience for sure. In almost every aspect of the OS, that 3D touch menu is available and after repetitive use, it becomes cognitive. 

Now, having had the iPhone since September, I don't use Force Touch no where near as much as I should. When I first found out that the feature was coming to iPhone, I was excited. It opens up the opportunities to developers to add a new level of interaction, which is always exciting, and usually always revolutionary, for example, pinch to zoom. 

### Analysing Why I Don't Use Force Touch

The biggest single problem with Force Touch on iPhone is that it's just not cognitive. The experience really isn't consistent, and there's no way you can really figure out if something can be hard pressed. There's a huge inconsistency across the platform. Some apps have introduced Force Touch, some haven't. It just hasn't become cognitive. By the time you try out to see if something can be force touched, it'd have been quicker to bypass force touch and just use it naturally. As it becomes more and more integrated, it's going to be interesting to see if I do use it more, to see if it becomes an important way to interact with iOS. Will it find a familiar/consistent use, like it has on the watchOS? Only time will tell.

## What We Can Learn?

Monitoring the way you use and interact with technology is fascinating. As designers, we need to make it as easy as possible for a wide range of users to easily be able to use the product, be it a website, or an application. Making sure experiences are consistent and can be easily used as well as accessed is a fundamental part of any design, when making any user interface or user experience design choices.

Focusing on Details - User Experience

<p>Online marketing is growing year on year. Businesses are becoming worried about the state of their online presence. However, I think that search engine 'experts' are no longer needed and here's why. Google is getting more advanced and smarter with every updat and there's no quick way to rank for some keywords anymore. It takes blood, sweat and tears with lots of dedication, as well as knowledge on how to market online. Businesses, especially in competitive areas such as London, need to spend time creating online marketing campaigns, creating strategy's on how to increase online exposure. </p>

<p><strong>I have the expertise to help with the every aspect of online marketing, from on-site search engine optimisation, to social media, to building a following online.</strong></p>

<p>And to prove it, here's some stats (as of writing):</p>

<ul>
<li>1st for <a href="/freelance-web-design">freelance web design</a></li>
<li>1st for <a href="/">freelance web designer</a></li>
<li>4th for <a href="/">freelance web design London</a></li>
</ul>

<h2>It Starts from the Beginning</h2>

<p>Online marketing doesn't start after the website is built, it needs to be start at the very start, at the planning phase. The website architecture is a vital part of the project (read more about that <a href="http://www.ryangittings.co.uk/journal/website-foundations-user-types">here</a>). I plan the website around the user, to make sure the user can find, action or research something very quickly. To make sure the website is successful, I need to put the foundations in place, the structure to allow you to add content and appeal to your users, as well as optimise the site in order to get the best search engine rankings possible. It's all part of the strategy.</p>

<h2>A Few Marketing Tips</h2>

<ul>
<li><strong>Connect with real people</strong> - the internet has allowed people all over the world to connect. Behind large websites, there are real people. I've connected with some fantastic people, and had the opportunity to share my web design thoughts one some huge blogs, because I connected with the people behind the blogs and spent a lot of time making the effort.</li>
<li><strong>You'll get out what you put in</strong> - lots of clients think they need an 'SEO expert'. You don't. You need someone to advise you, push you in the right direction, and help optimise the website to get it to the best point it can be. You also need to make sure that you have the right tools, and facilities to be able to add the content you want, to grow the site organically and naturally.</li>
<li><strong>Don't farm out the writing part</strong> - spend time in creating unique content. You know your business better than anyone else, so make use of that.</li>
<li><strong>Write content for people </strong>- too often I find blogs trying to spam in keywords. You have to write for people to make it an enjoyable read for the user. This way, the user is more likely to share and in the long run, this will be far more benificial.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Anything is Possible</h2>

<p>I wanted to rank for the term 'freelance web designer'. I was told it would be <strong>very</strong> difficult by an SEO expert, and cost thousands. I proved them wrong. I've managed to get there, after years of hard work and some failures. This is what puts me in the best position to help you.</p>

<h2>If You'd Like Some More Advice...</h2>

<p>I'm not an online marketing guru, nor do I claim to be. I'm a web designer, with strategies to make businesses succeed online. I don't have packages, or set rates. As I mentioned, online marketing starts from the beginning - and this is where I can help. Building a website from the ground up, putting a proper strategy in place, gives you the best chance of creating a sustainable online business.</p>


Online marketing is growing year on year. Businesses are becoming worried about the state of their online presence. However, I think that search engine 'experts' are no longer needed and here's why. Google is getting more advanced and smarter with every updat and there's no quick way to rank for some keywords anymore. It takes blood, sweat and tears with lots of dedication, as well as knowledge on how to market online. Businesses, especially in competitive areas such as London, need to spend time creating online marketing campaigns, creating strategy's on how to increase online exposure. 

**I have the expertise to help with the every aspect of online marketing, from on-site search engine optimisation, to social media, to building a following online.**

And to prove it, here's some stats (as of writing):

*   1st for [freelance web design](/freelance-web-design)
*   1st for [freelance web designer](/)
*   4th for [freelance web design London](/)

## It Starts from the Beginning

Online marketing doesn't start after the website is built, it needs to be start at the very start, at the planning phase. The website architecture is a vital part of the project (read more about that [here](http://www.ryangittings.co.uk/journal/website-foundations-user-types)). I plan the website around the user, to make sure the user can find, action or research something very quickly. To make sure the website is successful, I need to put the foundations in place, the structure to allow you to add content and appeal to your users, as well as optimise the site in order to get the best search engine rankings possible. It's all part of the strategy.

## A Few Marketing Tips

*   **Connect with real people** - the internet has allowed people all over the world to connect. Behind large websites, there are real people. I've connected with some fantastic people, and had the opportunity to share my web design thoughts one some huge blogs, because I connected with the people behind the blogs and spent a lot of time making the effort.
*   **You'll get out what you put in** - lots of clients think they need an 'SEO expert'. You don't. You need someone to advise you, push you in the right direction, and help optimise the website to get it to the best point it can be. You also need to make sure that you have the right tools, and facilities to be able to add the content you want, to grow the site organically and naturally.
*   **Don't farm out the writing part** - spend time in creating unique content. You know your business better than anyone else, so make use of that.
*   **Write content for people **- too often I find blogs trying to spam in keywords. You have to write for people to make it an enjoyable read for the user. This way, the user is more likely to share and in the long run, this will be far more benificial.

## Anything is Possible

I wanted to rank for the term 'freelance web designer'. I was told it would be **very** difficult by an SEO expert, and cost thousands. I proved them wrong. I've managed to get there, after years of hard work and some failures. This is what puts me in the best position to help you.

## If You'd Like Some More Advice...

I'm not an online marketing guru, nor do I claim to be. I'm a web designer, with strategies to make businesses succeed online. I don't have packages, or set rates. As I mentioned, online marketing starts from the beginning - and this is where I can help. Building a website from the ground up, putting a proper strategy in place, gives you the best chance of creating a sustainable online business.

Website Foundations - Online Marketing

<p>The end of the year is fast approaching and what a year it's been. It's always a good time to reflect as we prepare for Christmas, so here we go.</p>

<h2>A Learning Curve</h2>

<p>This year has been a huge rollercoaster, but I wouldn't change it for the world. I absolutely love what I do. I've been involved in some pretty awesome projects already and I've got some pretty huge things lined up. I'm improving all the time, trying to refine my skills to become even better all the time.  I work hard and I'm so excited to see what the future holds.</p>

<h2>Progress and Career Wins</h2>

<p>When reviewing the year, I think it's important to take a look at yourself, and see how far you've come. In my first year, I’ve managed to have projects all year round, as well as launch my first iOS app. I've managed to refine my skills on many fronts: from web design, to front-end development and back-end languages. Keeping up to date and refined in all these languages is very difficult, keeps me on my toes, but I do see dramatic progress after each project.</p>

<h2>tWDF Moderator</h2>

<p>Earlier this year I become a moderator for <a href="http://thewebdesignforum.co.uk">http://thewebdesignforum.co.uk</a>. All the members are fantastic and I've made some great friends who have helped me through all sorts of issues. We've got some exciting things planned for tWDF, can't wait to be part of it's journey. With the staff and members we have, we can really take it places. Exciting times. </p>

<h2>A Successful First Year as a Freelancer</h2>

<p>Since turning freelance, I've managed to build up an excellent client base and worked with some fantastic people. I've launched some sites that I'm super proud of. Just a few to name:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://candeconsultancy.com">http://candeconsultancy.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://uksca.org.uk">http://uksca.org.uk</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.standrewsfashion.co.uk">http://www.standrewsfashion.co.uk</a></li>
</ul>

<p>I've worked on networking with clients all over the country. I've worked really hard in optimising my website to target keywords such as 'web design London', and the term 'freelance web designer' to give me the chance of working with as many clients as possible, and help create some very special projects. At the time of writing, here's a summary of where I'm at on that front:</p>

<ul>
<li>'Freelance web design' - 2nd.</li>
<li>'Freelance web design London - 4th.</li>
<li>'Freelance web designer' - 2nd.</li>
<li>'Web design London - 89th (boo!)</li>
</ul>

<p>I've progressed on this front too. I want to keep working hard, keep progressing to start competing with some larger agencies for some larger projects too. Ambitious - yes. Possible - <strong>yes.</strong></p>

<h2>A Huge Thank You</h2>

<p>A few thank you's to people who have really helped me along the way this year:</p>

<ul>
<li>Mike Bishop - <a href="http://miniman-webdesign.co.uk">http://miniman-webdesign.co.uk</a></li>
<li>Kevin Robertson - <a href="http://digitalsquid.net">http://digitalsquid.net</a></li>
<li>Anthony Lane - <a href="http://copyshoppe.co.uk">http://copyshoppe.co.uk</a></li>
<li>Supal Desai - <a href="http://candeconsultancy.com">http://candeconsultancy.com</a></li>
</ul>

<p>I also want to say a <strong>huge thank you</strong> to all my clients, it's been such a pleasure. I hope you have a very Merry Christmas, and a happy, healthy and prosperous 2016. </p>


The end of the year is fast approaching and what a year it's been. It's always a good time to reflect as we prepare for Christmas, so here we go.

## A Learning Curve

This year has been a huge rollercoaster, but I wouldn't change it for the world. I absolutely love what I do. I've been involved in some pretty awesome projects already and I've got some pretty huge things lined up. I'm improving all the time, trying to refine my skills to become even better all the time.  I work hard and I'm so excited to see what the future holds.

## Progress and Career Wins

When reviewing the year, I think it's important to take a look at yourself, and see how far you've come. In my first year, I’ve managed to have projects all year round, as well as launch my first iOS app. I've managed to refine my skills on many fronts: from web design, to front-end development and back-end languages. Keeping up to date and refined in all these languages is very difficult, keeps me on my toes, but I do see dramatic progress after each project.

## tWDF Moderator

Earlier this year I become a moderator for [http://thewebdesignforum.co.uk](http://thewebdesignforum.co.uk). All the members are fantastic and I've made some great friends who have helped me through all sorts of issues. We've got some exciting things planned for tWDF, can't wait to be part of it's journey. With the staff and members we have, we can really take it places. Exciting times. 

## A Successful First Year as a Freelancer

Since turning freelance, I've managed to build up an excellent client base and worked with some fantastic people. I've launched some sites that I'm super proud of. Just a few to name:

*   [http://candeconsultancy.com](http://candeconsultancy.com)
*   [http://uksca.org.uk](http://uksca.org.uk)
*   [http://www.standrewsfashion.co.uk](http://www.standrewsfashion.co.uk)

I've worked on networking with clients all over the country. I've worked really hard in optimising my website to target keywords such as 'web design London', and the term 'freelance web designer' to give me the chance of working with as many clients as possible, and help create some very special projects. At the time of writing, here's a summary of where I'm at on that front:

*   'Freelance web design' - 2nd.
*   'Freelance web design London - 4th.
*   'Freelance web designer' - 2nd.
*   'Web design London - 89th (boo!)

I've progressed on this front too. I want to keep working hard, keep progressing to start competing with some larger agencies for some larger projects too. Ambitious - yes. Possible - **yes.**

## A Huge Thank You

A few thank you's to people who have really helped me along the way this year:

*   Mike Bishop - [http://miniman-webdesign.co.uk](http://miniman-webdesign.co.uk)
*   Kevin Robertson - [http://digitalsquid.net](http://digitalsquid.net)
*   Anthony Lane - [http://copyshoppe.co.uk](http://copyshoppe.co.uk)
*   Supal Desai - [http://candeconsultancy.com](http://candeconsultancy.com)

I also want to say a **huge thank you** to all my clients, it's been such a pleasure. I hope you have a very Merry Christmas, and a happy, healthy and prosperous 2016. 

My First Year as a Freelance Web Designer

<p>A simple search on the internet will provide you with multiple choices when it comes to appointing a web designer or design firm to look after the development of your website. One of the choices you will have to make is whether to go with a local designer or to look further afield.</p>

<p>Certainly, with the internet being so commonplace as a business tool nowadays, it may seem as though there’s no real need to have face to face communication with the people who supply products and services to you – Amazon, ebay, Argos etc certainly proving this point when it comes to product purchases.</p>

<p>And there are many websites I’ve designed over the years where I’ve only had email and phone conversations with the client, without any communication problems ensuing as a result.</p>

<p>However, when it comes to something as important as your company website – your “shop window on the world” – you may well be of the belief that the personal touch is going to work best for you, through building up the sort of rapport with your designer that can really only come from physically meeting them.</p>

<p>Which is where you’ll probably be looking to work with someone local to you, rather than having to travel miles out of the way to attend these meetings.</p>

<p>For myself, I have a range of locations I work from. London is obviously the biggest market for my web design services so I work from there. But I also focus on a couple of other regions that I find I can easily provide design expertise to – Hereford and Bristol.</p>

<p>Hereford is a town to the west of London, lying approximately 15 miles east of the English border with Wales, and is somewhere I’ve been helping businesses with their websites for several years.</p>

<p>Bristol, too, is west of London. It is counted as being in south west England – pretty much directly south of Hereford across the River Severn / Bristol Channel – and is another area where my website design skills have been put to good use for helping to promote local companies and organisations.</p>

<p>Indeed, there are plenty of contacts I’ve made in these areas that I’ve never actually met up with in person, but my reputation and links with the different types of business in these places has led to my attracting a constant stream of enquiries – whether it be for a web designer in London, a website developer in Hereford, a web design company in Bristol etc.</p>

<h2>So what are the main advantages of going local?</h2>

<h3>1) Face to face communication</h3>

<p>If desired, you can more easily arrange to meet up with you designer if they are based in a location that you can get to without too much hassle – or that they are based near enough to you to be able to visit you easily, such as with my clients in London, Bristol or Hereford.</p>

<h3>2) Trustworthy reputation</h3>

<p>Chances are you may know some of the other businesses that the local web designer has worked with, which may make it easier for you to get in touch with them for references and to discover what the working relationship is going to be like.</p>

<h3>3) Possible networking opportunities</h3>

<p>As a result of my having provided web design services to multiple clients in London, I’ve been able to suggest relationships between clients of mine that may prove beneficial to the other client. This has actually worked out well for web clients of mine across the regions I focus on, with a car spares firm in Bristol developing an additional side to their business through being able to offer automotive locksmith services through a company I knew of that were based in London.</p>

<p>Similarly, two of my design clients in the Bristol area ended up forging a strategic partnership based on their respective specialities – none of which would have happened if they hadn’t been using a designer with knowledge of other businesses in their local area.</p>

<h3>4) Community spirit</h3>

<p>Not always something we associate with the world of commerce, but I’ve found that there is a great sense of satisfaction through being able to work with local companies – whether in the guise of me providing design work for them or them providing their services to me – which just doesn’t happen when you work with a larger, more remote organisation.</p>

<h3>5) Additional services</h3>

<p>Another great thing about using someone nearby for your web design is that they are almost certainly already in touch with other internet-related businesses that deal with things in your locality. So, for instance, when you want to promote your site through SEO or Facebook advertising or something, you’ll want to use the same local-based thought process as you did when choosing your designer – a process which can actually be shortened through simply asking the designer in the first place! (I’ve been able to help many clients over the years in this regard through my association with local internet marketing specialists).</p>

<h3>6) Local knowledge</h3>

<p>If your business is primarily focused on the local area, it makes sense that you should use someone in that area to help you out with your website. There are things that will be unique to Bristol, Hereford, London, Glasgow, Manchester etc that people from outside these regions may well be unaware of, which is where the local knowledge can come into its own when developing your site.</p>

<h2>Conclusion</h2>

<p>There are, of course, good reasons for using different types of design firm, but if you’re serious about promoting yourself online, there’s no reason not to look locally as your first port of call. And several reasons – as above – that you should consider your own area before looking further afield.</p>


A simple search on the internet will provide you with multiple choices when it comes to appointing a web designer or design firm to look after the development of your website. One of the choices you will have to make is whether to go with a local designer or to look further afield.

Certainly, with the internet being so commonplace as a business tool nowadays, it may seem as though there’s no real need to have face to face communication with the people who supply products and services to you – Amazon, ebay, Argos etc certainly proving this point when it comes to product purchases.

And there are many websites I’ve designed over the years where I’ve only had email and phone conversations with the client, without any communication problems ensuing as a result.

However, when it comes to something as important as your company website – your “shop window on the world” – you may well be of the belief that the personal touch is going to work best for you, through building up the sort of rapport with your designer that can really only come from physically meeting them.

Which is where you’ll probably be looking to work with someone local to you, rather than having to travel miles out of the way to attend these meetings.

For myself, I have a range of locations I work from. London is obviously the biggest market for my web design services so I work from there. But I also focus on a couple of other regions that I find I can easily provide design expertise to – Hereford and Bristol.

Hereford is a town to the west of London, lying approximately 15 miles east of the English border with Wales, and is somewhere I’ve been helping businesses with their websites for several years.

Bristol, too, is west of London. It is counted as being in south west England – pretty much directly south of Hereford across the River Severn / Bristol Channel – and is another area where my website design skills have been put to good use for helping to promote local companies and organisations.

Indeed, there are plenty of contacts I’ve made in these areas that I’ve never actually met up with in person, but my reputation and links with the different types of business in these places has led to my attracting a constant stream of enquiries – whether it be for a web designer in London, a website developer in Hereford, a web design company in Bristol etc.

## So what are the main advantages of going local?

### 1) Face to face communication

If desired, you can more easily arrange to meet up with you designer if they are based in a location that you can get to without too much hassle – or that they are based near enough to you to be able to visit you easily, such as with my clients in London, Bristol or Hereford.

### 2) Trustworthy reputation

Chances are you may know some of the other businesses that the local web designer has worked with, which may make it easier for you to get in touch with them for references and to discover what the working relationship is going to be like.

### 3) Possible networking opportunities

As a result of my having provided web design services to multiple clients in London, I’ve been able to suggest relationships between clients of mine that may prove beneficial to the other client. This has actually worked out well for web clients of mine across the regions I focus on, with a car spares firm in Bristol developing an additional side to their business through being able to offer automotive locksmith services through a company I knew of that were based in London.

Similarly, two of my design clients in the Bristol area ended up forging a strategic partnership based on their respective specialities – none of which would have happened if they hadn’t been using a designer with knowledge of other businesses in their local area.

### 4) Community spirit

Not always something we associate with the world of commerce, but I’ve found that there is a great sense of satisfaction through being able to work with local companies – whether in the guise of me providing design work for them or them providing their services to me – which just doesn’t happen when you work with a larger, more remote organisation.

### 5) Additional services

Another great thing about using someone nearby for your web design is that they are almost certainly already in touch with other internet-related businesses that deal with things in your locality. So, for instance, when you want to promote your site through SEO or Facebook advertising or something, you’ll want to use the same local-based thought process as you did when choosing your designer – a process which can actually be shortened through simply asking the designer in the first place! (I’ve been able to help many clients over the years in this regard through my association with local internet marketing specialists).

### 6) Local knowledge

If your business is primarily focused on the local area, it makes sense that you should use someone in that area to help you out with your website. There are things that will be unique to Bristol, Hereford, London, Glasgow, Manchester etc that people from outside these regions may well be unaware of, which is where the local knowledge can come into its own when developing your site.

## Conclusion

There are, of course, good reasons for using different types of design firm, but if you’re serious about promoting yourself online, there’s no reason not to look locally as your first port of call. And several reasons – as above – that you should consider your own area before looking further afield.

Using a Local Web Designer

<p>Any business owner knows there’s more to web design than simply putting a website together with a Home page, an About Us page, a Contact page and a few pages worth of info about your products or services. But just what is it that your site needs in order to really generate quality sales leads and ongoing revenue?</p>

<p>Of course you want a good looking site that converts well and fulfils the main purpose of the site in the first place (see this blog post on <a href="http://www.ryangittings.co.uk/journal/web-design-should-be-primarily-about-sales-not-looking-pretty">web design for sales</a> for more on that), but there’s another thing you need for your site to demonstrate its value as a tool for your business – traffic.</p>

<p>And when I talk about traffic, I’m really talking about potential customers of yours who have already expressed an interest in what it is you offer through the fact that they’re visiting your site in the first place.</p>

<p>So how do we get traffic? Well, one of the most well-known and most effective means of getting people to visit your site is to attract people who are searching on Google. No major revelations there, of course, but how can we go about getting this kind of visitor to come to our site rather than our competitor sites?</p>

<p>Outside of the paid listings facility provided by Google’s AdWords programme (an extremely powerful and potentially beneficial system in its own right, of course, though not the subject of this particular post), what we’re after is to generate traffic from the so-called “organic” rankings – ie the non-paid search results that appear when someone performs a relevant search.</p>

<p>There are many factors that go into making a website “Google friendly” so that it will appear in these search results. Given that this is a web design blog, though, I’m going to concentrate in this article on the Top 5 design-specific factors that we can control when we’re designing or redesigning your site.</p>

<h2>1) Responsive, Mobile Friendly Design</h2>

<p>In April 2015, Google released an algorithm update specifically aimed at people who search on mobile devices (essentially tablets or phones). You can find out more about this update here - <a href="https://developers.google.com/webmasters/mobile-sites/get-started/why">https://developers.google.com/webmasters/mobile-sites/get-started/why</a>. </p>

<p>So far, it seems the update has only affected the mobile-specific search results, but my experience with Google is that, once it has implemented a particular change, it will roll it out comprehensively before too long.</p>

<p>So you need to make sure your site is Responsive – in that it changes layout to fit the screen size of the device it’s being viewed on – or that there is a mobile-specific version of the site that gets shown to people browsing on mobile devices.</p>

<p>By preference, I would recommend making your site Responsive. As mentioned above, Google tends to want to adopt the same principles across all its search results, so having a mobile version of the site, rather than 1 site that is Responsive, may well become a hindrance to overall rankings at some point in the future.</p>

<h2>2) URL Structure</h2>

<p>When naming your pages, you should try to ensure their URL’s are readable from a keyword perspective, rather than filled with technical parameters.</p>

<p>For example:</p>

<p>www.example.com/category/widgets.asp</p>

<p>is much better as a URL than:</p>

<p>www.example.com/xyz/123/?id=12345.asp</p>

<h2>3) Page Load Speeds</h2>

<p>Google is placing more emphasis on the fact that a page loads quickly for determining whether it should be ranked well in its search results.</p>

<p>Limiting unnecessary code and the size of images / overall file size of the page will assist with helping the page to load quicker and thus be deemed a better page in Google’s estimation.</p>

<h2>4) Internal Links</h2>

<p>It’s well-known that links are a key part of the Google algorithm. While people obsess about getting links from other websites, though, they often ignore an element of link building that they have more control over – their own internal page links.</p>

<p>Since Google started penalising sites for “over optimisation” of keyword rich links (that is, sites that feature far too many SEO style links that are purely there to drive search traffic by being purely keyword-based), designers have been worried about over optimising their internal links as well.</p>

<p>However, there is much more leeway with internal links than with external links, so you can have a higher percentage of your internal links being keyword-based without fear of penalisation. My own recommendation is to simply read the text and determine whether it makes sense to link the keywords or to use a full URL hyperlink.</p>

<h2>5) Time on Site</h2>

<p>The time your site visitors spend on your site is thought to have a substantial effect when it comes to Google rankings.</p>

<p>What you want to ensure is that people are convinced to stay on your site for as long as possible – preferably staying on each page for as long as possible, too, before clicking to the next one – through making the site easy to navigate and providing quality content that engages the site visitor and keeps them reading the text, watching the videos, listening to the podcasts etc.</p>

<p>There are, of course, plenty of other things that go into making a site Google-friendly, but these are what I consider to be the Top 5 that we can look at from a design perspective</p>


Any business owner knows there’s more to web design than simply putting a website together with a Home page, an About Us page, a Contact page and a few pages worth of info about your products or services. But just what is it that your site needs in order to really generate quality sales leads and ongoing revenue?

Of course you want a good looking site that converts well and fulfils the main purpose of the site in the first place (see this blog post on [web design for sales](http://www.ryangittings.co.uk/journal/web-design-should-be-primarily-about-sales-not-looking-pretty) for more on that), but there’s another thing you need for your site to demonstrate its value as a tool for your business – traffic.

And when I talk about traffic, I’m really talking about potential customers of yours who have already expressed an interest in what it is you offer through the fact that they’re visiting your site in the first place.

So how do we get traffic? Well, one of the most well-known and most effective means of getting people to visit your site is to attract people who are searching on Google. No major revelations there, of course, but how can we go about getting this kind of visitor to come to our site rather than our competitor sites?

Outside of the paid listings facility provided by Google’s AdWords programme (an extremely powerful and potentially beneficial system in its own right, of course, though not the subject of this particular post), what we’re after is to generate traffic from the so-called “organic” rankings – ie the non-paid search results that appear when someone performs a relevant search.

There are many factors that go into making a website “Google friendly” so that it will appear in these search results. Given that this is a web design blog, though, I’m going to concentrate in this article on the Top 5 design-specific factors that we can control when we’re designing or redesigning your site.

## 1) Responsive, Mobile Friendly Design

In April 2015, Google released an algorithm update specifically aimed at people who search on mobile devices (essentially tablets or phones). You can find out more about this update here - [https://developers.google.com/webmasters/mobile-sites/get-started/why](https://developers.google.com/webmasters/mobile-sites/get-started/why). 

So far, it seems the update has only affected the mobile-specific search results, but my experience with Google is that, once it has implemented a particular change, it will roll it out comprehensively before too long.

So you need to make sure your site is Responsive – in that it changes layout to fit the screen size of the device it’s being viewed on – or that there is a mobile-specific version of the site that gets shown to people browsing on mobile devices.

By preference, I would recommend making your site Responsive. As mentioned above, Google tends to want to adopt the same principles across all its search results, so having a mobile version of the site, rather than 1 site that is Responsive, may well become a hindrance to overall rankings at some point in the future.

## 2) URL Structure

When naming your pages, you should try to ensure their URL’s are readable from a keyword perspective, rather than filled with technical parameters.

For example:

www.example.com/category/widgets.asp

is much better as a URL than:

www.example.com/xyz/123/?id=12345.asp

## 3) Page Load Speeds

Google is placing more emphasis on the fact that a page loads quickly for determining whether it should be ranked well in its search results.

Limiting unnecessary code and the size of images / overall file size of the page will assist with helping the page to load quicker and thus be deemed a better page in Google’s estimation.

## 4) Internal Links

It’s well-known that links are a key part of the Google algorithm. While people obsess about getting links from other websites, though, they often ignore an element of link building that they have more control over – their own internal page links.

Since Google started penalising sites for “over optimisation” of keyword rich links (that is, sites that feature far too many SEO style links that are purely there to drive search traffic by being purely keyword-based), designers have been worried about over optimising their internal links as well.

However, there is much more leeway with internal links than with external links, so you can have a higher percentage of your internal links being keyword-based without fear of penalisation. My own recommendation is to simply read the text and determine whether it makes sense to link the keywords or to use a full URL hyperlink.

## 5) Time on Site

The time your site visitors spend on your site is thought to have a substantial effect when it comes to Google rankings.

What you want to ensure is that people are convinced to stay on your site for as long as possible – preferably staying on each page for as long as possible, too, before clicking to the next one – through making the site easy to navigate and providing quality content that engages the site visitor and keeps them reading the text, watching the videos, listening to the podcasts etc.

There are, of course, plenty of other things that go into making a site Google-friendly, but these are what I consider to be the Top 5 that we can look at from a design perspective

SEO Friendly Web Design – Top Five Tips

<p>One of the things I most hate about web design is “design for its own sake”. There are plenty of examples of what I’m talking about around the internet. The sort of sites where the designer has put together a great looking layout, with marvellous colours and beautiful design touches here and there. Sounds like exactly what you’d be after from your site’s web design, right?</p>

<p>Wrong. What a website needs to be first and foremost is a sales tool. So you only have to ask yourself two questions when confronted by a design for your site:</p>

<ol>
<li>Will it help me generate more sales?</li>
<li>Or is it simply a showcase for the designer’s graphical capabilities?</li>
</ol>

<p>It’s worth looking into this further, as it’s a concept that many designers – especially inexperienced or ineffective ones – don’t seem to be able to grasp.</p>

<p>Sure, we all want to show off our outstanding talents to the world and be able to point to something with a sense of pride, as we say “I did that”. But that’s about art, not business. And essentially the internet is about business, not art. At least, for the vast majority of organisations that wish to have a website, it is.</p>

<p>In my spare time, I may wish to put together a conceptual multimedia artwork that expresses everything I want to say about the human condition.</p>

<p>But when I’m working for you, I’m focused on achieving your goals – the main one of which is almost certainly to generate more sales from your website.</p>

<p>Which is why I’ll never suggest the inclusion of something on your site that I have to explain by saying something like “It’s design, it looks nice”. And if you have a web designer who does try to justify things in this fashion, you should call a halt to the process now and send them straight back to the drawing board with a big “£” sign strapped to the top of it, to focus their mind on what you really want them to deliver. (That, or simply sack them and find a designer who does understand the fundamental purpose of having a website in the first place).</p>

<p>Am I saying that it isn’t possible to have a good looking site that performs well as a sales tool? No, certainly not. But what I am saying is that every element of the site should be there to enhance the primary purpose, not distract from it.</p>

<p>That primary purpose being to generate more business for you, not generate more design kudos for me.</p>


One of the things I most hate about web design is “design for its own sake”. There are plenty of examples of what I’m talking about around the internet. The sort of sites where the designer has put together a great looking layout, with marvellous colours and beautiful design touches here and there. Sounds like exactly what you’d be after from your site’s web design, right?

Wrong. What a website needs to be first and foremost is a sales tool. So you only have to ask yourself two questions when confronted by a design for your site:

1.  Will it help me generate more sales?
2.  Or is it simply a showcase for the designer’s graphical capabilities?

It’s worth looking into this further, as it’s a concept that many designers – especially inexperienced or ineffective ones – don’t seem to be able to grasp.

Sure, we all want to show off our outstanding talents to the world and be able to point to something with a sense of pride, as we say “I did that”. But that’s about art, not business. And essentially the internet is about business, not art. At least, for the vast majority of organisations that wish to have a website, it is.

In my spare time, I may wish to put together a conceptual multimedia artwork that expresses everything I want to say about the human condition.

But when I’m working for you, I’m focused on achieving your goals – the main one of which is almost certainly to generate more sales from your website.

Which is why I’ll never suggest the inclusion of something on your site that I have to explain by saying something like “It’s design, it looks nice”. And if you have a web designer who does try to justify things in this fashion, you should call a halt to the process now and send them straight back to the drawing board with a big “£” sign strapped to the top of it, to focus their mind on what you really want them to deliver. (That, or simply sack them and find a designer who does understand the fundamental purpose of having a website in the first place).

Am I saying that it isn’t possible to have a good looking site that performs well as a sales tool? No, certainly not. But what I am saying is that every element of the site should be there to enhance the primary purpose, not distract from it.

That primary purpose being to generate more business for you, not generate more design kudos for me.

Web Design Should be Primarily about Sales Not Looking Pretty

<p>Anything that has the word “design” in it, is often considered to be a creative artform that requires some kind of magical inspiration before it can be embarked on. Which is where web designers can get a bit of a reputation for being “creative types” with their head in the clouds (quite literally in the popular perception of a type of skydiving web designer!).</p>

<p>And anything that is based on creativity is often perceived as requiring a “creative mindset”, of the type you might encounter in a wandering poet, ambling along the clifftops in search of the perfect rhyming couplet.</p>

<p>Well, for the most part, I disagree with this view of creativity – especially when it comes to web designing. </p>

<p>Don’t get me wrong, I thrive on creativity and inspiration. Just not necessarily in the way some people might expect me to, if they subscribe to the ideas outlined above regarding what a creative type should fill their time doing.</p>

<p>I share my own belief about creativity with Thomas Edison’s thoughts about genius:</p>

<p>“1 percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration”.</p>

<p>Which is why, when I’m building a website, I spend most of my time working, not wandering around waiting for inspiration to strike.</p>

<p>It’s true that there are as many different types of designer as there are types of website. And certainly some of them may be able to do a good job whilst not putting in as much effort as I do. But these will be few and far between, and you’d be very lucky to find one who could emulate the quality of the finished product I deliver through inspiration + hard work, simply through putting down the first thing that comes into their head.</p>

<p>Which is why the fundamental truth about web design is that it is about effort just as much as it is about talent.</p>

<p>Certainly, your web designer will need to possess some talent in order to do a good job (something I believe I can demonstrate through some examples of the <a href="http://www.ryangittings.co.uk/work/">web design work</a> I’ve been involved with).</p>

<p>But as well as talent, it’s essential to have the right kind of work ethic, in order to build on that talent to deliver an effective website that achieves your internet goals.</p>

<p>So yes, design inspiration is essential. But it requires perspiration to develop it into a finished website that you’ll be proud to call your own.</p>


Anything that has the word “design” in it, is often considered to be a creative artform that requires some kind of magical inspiration before it can be embarked on. Which is where web designers can get a bit of a reputation for being “creative types” with their head in the clouds (quite literally in the popular perception of a type of skydiving web designer!).

And anything that is based on creativity is often perceived as requiring a “creative mindset”, of the type you might encounter in a wandering poet, ambling along the clifftops in search of the perfect rhyming couplet.

Well, for the most part, I disagree with this view of creativity – especially when it comes to web designing. 

Don’t get me wrong, I thrive on creativity and inspiration. Just not necessarily in the way some people might expect me to, if they subscribe to the ideas outlined above regarding what a creative type should fill their time doing.

I share my own belief about creativity with Thomas Edison’s thoughts about genius:

“1 percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration”.

Which is why, when I’m building a website, I spend most of my time working, not wandering around waiting for inspiration to strike.

It’s true that there are as many different types of designer as there are types of website. And certainly some of them may be able to do a good job whilst not putting in as much effort as I do. But these will be few and far between, and you’d be very lucky to find one who could emulate the quality of the finished product I deliver through inspiration + hard work, simply through putting down the first thing that comes into their head.

Which is why the fundamental truth about web design is that it is about effort just as much as it is about talent.

Certainly, your web designer will need to possess some talent in order to do a good job (something I believe I can demonstrate through some examples of the [web design work](http://www.ryangittings.co.uk/work/) I’ve been involved with).

But as well as talent, it’s essential to have the right kind of work ethic, in order to build on that talent to deliver an effective website that achieves your internet goals.

So yes, design inspiration is essential. But it requires perspiration to develop it into a finished website that you’ll be proud to call your own.

The Truth about Web Design

<p>As a business owner, let’s take a look at one of the biggest questions you’ll have to ask yourself when deciding to develop or redevelop your website – should I use a freelance designer or should I go with a larger agency?</p>

<p>You probably already have an idea of some of the Pros and Cons involved in each choice, but let’s outline them in more detail here so you have all the information you require to make an informed decision.</p>

<h2>Freelance Web Designer – Pros</h2>

<h3>1) Flexibility</h3>

<p>As a freelancer, there is much more opportunity for being flexible when it comes to working practices. This isn’t just in the arena of timekeeping, where obviously the freelance designer is more likely to be interested in working outside of normal office hours, but also in general working methods.</p>

<p>A freelancer, for example, is more likely to be willing to experiment with new ideas – if you want them to – and will be much more open to making multiple changes until you’re happy, rather than necessarily charging a fee each time you want to see what the design looks like in a slightly different colour or with slightly larger text sizes.</p>

<h3>2) Affordability</h3>

<p>This almost goes without saying – almost, but not quite, as it’s quite often overlooked that an agency will have bigger overheads and thus will need to charge you the client more in order to simply cover its operating costs, never mind make a profit.</p>

<p>Freelance web designers, on the other hand, essentially being self employed, are much more likely to be able to provide a high level of service without having to charge the higher prices associated with agencies. Most freelancers won’t be having to pay for a large office, multiple members of staff, accountants, lawyers, administration staff etc, with even the London-based freelancers usually offering a significant saving over the agencies.</p>

<p>Plus the agency will almost certainly employ a sales team / salesperson that needs to be compensated for their time in generating your business – usually through some kind of commission arrangement. Whereas a freelancer will usually generate their own new business, thus being able to dispense with the higher fees associated with commissions and sales bonuses.</p>

<h3>3) Communication</h3>

<p>When using a freelancer, you are generally going to be dealing with the “organ grinder” themselves – ie the person who actually makes the decisions – rather than having to go through multiple layers of administration before getting anything sorted out.</p>

<p>This is particularly useful for when you want to ensure you get things done the way you want them to be, rather than having to wade through an endless round of minor alterations before you finally settle on something suitable. The ability to talk directly to the person that’s making the changes to your site is one that is very valuable and is the hallmark of the independent web designer, rather than the web design agency.</p>

<h2>Freelance Web Designer – Usual Freelancer Cons</h2>

<h3>1) Time Constraints</h3>

<p>When you are working with only one person, it can be difficult for them to fit you in with their other clients – there are only 24 hours in a day, after all. They will almost certainly have other clients that may take priority, due to the size of the account with them, so you may find yourself being pushed back in the queue when it comes to getting the work done.</p>

<p><strong>Why I am different: </strong>I manage time to the minute. I love efficiency, keeping things moving. I won’t partake any project I cannot deliver 100% on, so anything I am involved in, is done the best it can be done, within the constraints. </p>

<h3>2) Narrow Focus</h3>

<p>It’s impossible for 1 person to be good at everything, so you may find that the freelance web designer has a speciality in a particular area – eg PHP coding, design and layout, backend software integration – but is unlikely to have good skills in all the areas you require. Internet marketing, in particular, is one area where many freelancers say they have a specialist knowledge, but actually they’re working on out of date information as they haven’t been able to keep up with the latest developments due to being a designer, not an SEO specialist.</p>

<p><strong>Why I am different: </strong>I’m a design-led developer. This means, I love to design, but I have the technical capability to also carry out my ideas, to fine tune every single detail exactly how I want it. From websites, to apps, to graphic design, I have every area covered.</p>

<h2>Web Design Agencies – Pros</h2>

<h3>1) Team of People</h3>

<p>Unlike the freelancer, a design agency will have a team of people they can call on to work on your project. Each of these individuals will have their own skills and specialisms, so the agency may be better placed to provide what you’re after, drawing from the specialist talents of multiple people rather than the generalist talents of one.</p>

<h3>2) Time Availability</h3>

<p>With more people to allocate tasks to, the agency may be better able to do things quickly, with any overspill of work being able to be given to another member of the team, rather than having to wait until a particular task is completed for it to be looked at.</p>

<h3>3) Reliability</h3>

<p>An agency is sometimes more likely to be able to cope with the demands you place on them, simply through the fact of having more people available to do the work. This can lead to them being more reliable than the odd rogue freelancer who might not be able to give you the attention you deserve.</p>

<h3>4) Cashflow</h3>

<p>The agency is more likely to have cash reserves in the bank, and thus not necessarily be so reliant on upfront or instant payment as the freelancer.</p>

<h2>Web Design Agencies – Cons</h2>

<h3>1) Lack of Flexibility</h3>

<p>An agency, for example, may have a rigid set of rules to follow regarding what they can and can’t include in their fees, and may be tied in to a “house style” that doesn’t allow for much of a variation from the pre-determined layouts and design cues they’re familiar with.</p>

<p>This can lead to you having to pay over and over again for minor changes to the design they come up with, plus they may not be keen to adjust things if they feel that what they’ve done is “the right thing” for your site.</p>

<h3>2) Cost</h3>

<p>Pretty much goes without saying that an agency will almost certainly be more expensive than a freelancer. The reasons for this are generally to do with the overheads that are involved in keeping a larger firm running, rather than the costs of being self employed or a 1 person outfit. Looking at the costs in more detail:</p>

<ol>
<li>Office – though there are no doubt some agencies that operate a “work from home” policy, most agencies will have an office they use as their central base for both housing employees and meeting potential clients. We all know what sort of costs will be involved here if the office is in central London, but even outside of that extraordinarily expensive location, office rental and servicing fees will probably add a hefty price onto your bill.</li>
<li>Staff – as the agency is not just 1 person, they’ll need to cover all the staffing costs depending on how many employees they have. So the fee you’re being charged will have to include an element of administration costs, rather than being solely dedicated to the work involved.</li>
<li>Sales Commission – agencies usually employ separate salespeople, who will need to take their share of your fee as a commission, again putting up the prices.</li>
<li>Advertising &amp; Marketing – it’s not that freelancers don’t promote themselves, but given all the associated costs as above, agencies need to keep generating more and more business in order to cover their ongoing overheads. For that reason, they are likely to have to pay for advertising and marketing to promote themselves much more than a freelance designer might. (Most freelancers generating a lot of their business through word of mouth and referrals).</li>
</ol>

<h3>3) Lack of Focus</h3>

<p>Whilst there are some agencies that are able to concentrate on their multiple projects adequately, many will have to prioritise their biggest clients at the expense of other projects. Of course, this is not that different from how a freelancer might operate, but when dealing with an agency, a client can often feel like their needs are swamped by the overwhelming needs of others, depending on the size of the agency being dealt with.</p>

<h3>4) Communication</h3>

<p>Similar to the point above, agencies are more likely to have multiple points of contact – account handler, designer, administrator etc – so you might never actually get much chance to speak with someone who can deal with any issue you might be having.</p>

<h2>Conclusion</h2>

<p>Many businesses are happy with freelance web designers for their flexibility and affordability, whereas many others swear by the idea of using an agency for potential peace of mind.</p>

<p>As can be seen above, there are pluses and minuses with every type of web design organisation. So you’ll have to decide which type makes most sense for you, based on the issues highlighted here.</p>


As a business owner, let’s take a look at one of the biggest questions you’ll have to ask yourself when deciding to develop or redevelop your website – should I use a freelance designer or should I go with a larger agency?

You probably already have an idea of some of the Pros and Cons involved in each choice, but let’s outline them in more detail here so you have all the information you require to make an informed decision.

## Freelance Web Designer – Pros

### 1) Flexibility

As a freelancer, there is much more opportunity for being flexible when it comes to working practices. This isn’t just in the arena of timekeeping, where obviously the freelance designer is more likely to be interested in working outside of normal office hours, but also in general working methods.

A freelancer, for example, is more likely to be willing to experiment with new ideas – if you want them to – and will be much more open to making multiple changes until you’re happy, rather than necessarily charging a fee each time you want to see what the design looks like in a slightly different colour or with slightly larger text sizes.

### 2) Affordability

This almost goes without saying – almost, but not quite, as it’s quite often overlooked that an agency will have bigger overheads and thus will need to charge you the client more in order to simply cover its operating costs, never mind make a profit.

Freelance web designers, on the other hand, essentially being self employed, are much more likely to be able to provide a high level of service without having to charge the higher prices associated with agencies. Most freelancers won’t be having to pay for a large office, multiple members of staff, accountants, lawyers, administration staff etc, with even the London-based freelancers usually offering a significant saving over the agencies.

Plus the agency will almost certainly employ a sales team / salesperson that needs to be compensated for their time in generating your business – usually through some kind of commission arrangement. Whereas a freelancer will usually generate their own new business, thus being able to dispense with the higher fees associated with commissions and sales bonuses.

### 3) Communication

When using a freelancer, you are generally going to be dealing with the “organ grinder” themselves – ie the person who actually makes the decisions – rather than having to go through multiple layers of administration before getting anything sorted out.

This is particularly useful for when you want to ensure you get things done the way you want them to be, rather than having to wade through an endless round of minor alterations before you finally settle on something suitable. The ability to talk directly to the person that’s making the changes to your site is one that is very valuable and is the hallmark of the independent web designer, rather than the web design agency.

## Freelance Web Designer – Usual Freelancer Cons

### 1) Time Constraints

When you are working with only one person, it can be difficult for them to fit you in with their other clients – there are only 24 hours in a day, after all. They will almost certainly have other clients that may take priority, due to the size of the account with them, so you may find yourself being pushed back in the queue when it comes to getting the work done.

**Why I am different: **I manage time to the minute. I love efficiency, keeping things moving. I won’t partake any project I cannot deliver 100% on, so anything I am involved in, is done the best it can be done, within the constraints. 

### 2) Narrow Focus

It’s impossible for 1 person to be good at everything, so you may find that the freelance web designer has a speciality in a particular area – eg PHP coding, design and layout, backend software integration – but is unlikely to have good skills in all the areas you require. Internet marketing, in particular, is one area where many freelancers say they have a specialist knowledge, but actually they’re working on out of date information as they haven’t been able to keep up with the latest developments due to being a designer, not an SEO specialist.

**Why I am different: **I’m a design-led developer. This means, I love to design, but I have the technical capability to also carry out my ideas, to fine tune every single detail exactly how I want it. From websites, to apps, to graphic design, I have every area covered.

## Web Design Agencies – Pros

### 1) Team of People

Unlike the freelancer, a design agency will have a team of people they can call on to work on your project. Each of these individuals will have their own skills and specialisms, so the agency may be better placed to provide what you’re after, drawing from the specialist talents of multiple people rather than the generalist talents of one.

### 2) Time Availability

With more people to allocate tasks to, the agency may be better able to do things quickly, with any overspill of work being able to be given to another member of the team, rather than having to wait until a particular task is completed for it to be looked at.

### 3) Reliability

An agency is sometimes more likely to be able to cope with the demands you place on them, simply through the fact of having more people available to do the work. This can lead to them being more reliable than the odd rogue freelancer who might not be able to give you the attention you deserve.

### 4) Cashflow

The agency is more likely to have cash reserves in the bank, and thus not necessarily be so reliant on upfront or instant payment as the freelancer.

## Web Design Agencies – Cons

### 1) Lack of Flexibility

An agency, for example, may have a rigid set of rules to follow regarding what they can and can’t include in their fees, and may be tied in to a “house style” that doesn’t allow for much of a variation from the pre-determined layouts and design cues they’re familiar with.

This can lead to you having to pay over and over again for minor changes to the design they come up with, plus they may not be keen to adjust things if they feel that what they’ve done is “the right thing” for your site.

### 2) Cost

Pretty much goes without saying that an agency will almost certainly be more expensive than a freelancer. The reasons for this are generally to do with the overheads that are involved in keeping a larger firm running, rather than the costs of being self employed or a 1 person outfit. Looking at the costs in more detail:

1.  Office – though there are no doubt some agencies that operate a “work from home” policy, most agencies will have an office they use as their central base for both housing employees and meeting potential clients. We all know what sort of costs will be involved here if the office is in central London, but even outside of that extraordinarily expensive location, office rental and servicing fees will probably add a hefty price onto your bill.
2.  Staff – as the agency is not just 1 person, they’ll need to cover all the staffing costs depending on how many employees they have. So the fee you’re being charged will have to include an element of administration costs, rather than being solely dedicated to the work involved.
3.  Sales Commission – agencies usually employ separate salespeople, who will need to take their share of your fee as a commission, again putting up the prices.
4.  Advertising & Marketing – it’s not that freelancers don’t promote themselves, but given all the associated costs as above, agencies need to keep generating more and more business in order to cover their ongoing overheads. For that reason, they are likely to have to pay for advertising and marketing to promote themselves much more than a freelance designer might. (Most freelancers generating a lot of their business through word of mouth and referrals).

### 3) Lack of Focus

Whilst there are some agencies that are able to concentrate on their multiple projects adequately, many will have to prioritise their biggest clients at the expense of other projects. Of course, this is not that different from how a freelancer might operate, but when dealing with an agency, a client can often feel like their needs are swamped by the overwhelming needs of others, depending on the size of the agency being dealt with.

### 4) Communication

Similar to the point above, agencies are more likely to have multiple points of contact – account handler, designer, administrator etc – so you might never actually get much chance to speak with someone who can deal with any issue you might be having.

## Conclusion

Many businesses are happy with freelance web designers for their flexibility and affordability, whereas many others swear by the idea of using an agency for potential peace of mind.

As can be seen above, there are pluses and minuses with every type of web design organisation. So you’ll have to decide which type makes most sense for you, based on the issues highlighted here.

Using a Freelance Web Designer Rather than an Agency

<p>In my last article, I started talking about the role of the user in web design, and how we should be basing the site around them. This article is a follow up to that, explaining the thorough process I go through with each and every website and mobile application.</p>

<h3>User Personas</h3>

<p>When starting to design a website, before I even pickup my scrapbook, I do some research on the clients business. This research starts with me building user personas. For example, I am working on a project for St. Andrews Fashion, the most successful student run event in the UK. They come to me, and had an initial idea of what they wanted, which I adhered to. Though, I wanted to take it a step further, not take the easy option and just listen to what they wanted, but I wanted to make sure the site could be the best it can be, user experience wise.</p>

<p>So, with St. Andrews Fashion I started building user personas. Who is likely to be visiting the site? What sort of information are they wanting to find out. I identified these 3 types of user:</p>

<ul>
<li>The new user - the user who has just heard about them, and want to find out information about them. This user needs convincing, and immediately I knew we needed to build<strong>trust</strong>.</li>
<li>The returning user - the user who may have been to an event before, or already know about them, and wanted to find out <strong>key</strong> information, such as when the event is.</li>
<li>The press - the corporate user who already knew about them, and wants to find out more information than the average user, but at the same time, doesn't want to be overwhelmed by content.</li>
</ul>

<h3> Content Design</h3>

<p>Having done some user persona research, it makes my job much easier now when designing content. I made a list of content that needed to be included on the homepage, and gave it a hierarchy of importance.</p>

<ul>
<li>About - having evaluated up all the user personas, I felt information about them needed to be right up there, as the first bulk of information they see.. </li>
<li>Testimonials - The guys at St. Andrews were keen to get some big quotes in, from major press. I dedicated a section of immersive, interactive content full of testimonials, to really reinforce trust into the user, to show the user exactly how big they are, and literally make the user go 'wow'.</li>
</ul>

<h3>The User Interface</h3>

<p>Having not designed any visuals until this point, I put all the planning into action. I was really pleased with the initial draft. I wanted to make sure the interface showcased everything that they are, classy, modern and <strong>huge</strong>. </p>

<h3>Proven Success</h3>

<p>I've been lucky enough to work on lots of really exciting projects, and I like to show the difference between me, and lots of other web designers. I go the extra mile, not only to make sure the process is smooth, and efficient, but the actual product is top draw, and the best it can possibly be.</p>


In my last article, I started talking about the role of the user in web design, and how we should be basing the site around them. This article is a follow up to that, explaining the thorough process I go through with each and every website and mobile application.

### User Personas

When starting to design a website, before I even pickup my scrapbook, I do some research on the clients business. This research starts with me building user personas. For example, I am working on a project for St. Andrews Fashion, the most successful student run event in the UK. They come to me, and had an initial idea of what they wanted, which I adhered to. Though, I wanted to take it a step further, not take the easy option and just listen to what they wanted, but I wanted to make sure the site could be the best it can be, user experience wise.

So, with St. Andrews Fashion I started building user personas. Who is likely to be visiting the site? What sort of information are they wanting to find out. I identified these 3 types of user:

*   The new user - the user who has just heard about them, and want to find out information about them. This user needs convincing, and immediately I knew we needed to build**trust**.
*   The returning user - the user who may have been to an event before, or already know about them, and wanted to find out **key** information, such as when the event is.
*   The press - the corporate user who already knew about them, and wants to find out more information than the average user, but at the same time, doesn't want to be overwhelmed by content.

###  Content Design

Having done some user persona research, it makes my job much easier now when designing content. I made a list of content that needed to be included on the homepage, and gave it a hierarchy of importance.

*   About - having evaluated up all the user personas, I felt information about them needed to be right up there, as the first bulk of information they see.. 
*   Testimonials - The guys at St. Andrews were keen to get some big quotes in, from major press. I dedicated a section of immersive, interactive content full of testimonials, to really reinforce trust into the user, to show the user exactly how big they are, and literally make the user go 'wow'.

### The User Interface

Having not designed any visuals until this point, I put all the planning into action. I was really pleased with the initial draft. I wanted to make sure the interface showcased everything that they are, classy, modern and **huge**. 

### Proven Success

I've been lucky enough to work on lots of really exciting projects, and I like to show the difference between me, and lots of other web designers. I go the extra mile, not only to make sure the process is smooth, and efficient, but the actual product is top draw, and the best it can possibly be.

Website Foundations - User Types

<p>I love what I do, and I feel very privileged to be involved in so many exciting projects. But being a freelance web designer is hard. Here are just 3 reasons why it's hard being a freelance web designer:</p>

<h3>Dividing Your Time</h3>

<p>I constantly find myself checking emails, replying even when I am out and about, just because I am literally obsessed with work, I truly love what I do - being a freelance web designer.</p>

<h3>Keeping Focused</h3>

<p>With you being your own boss, it's very easy to get distracted! I've spoken to lots of freelance web designers and they do struggle with keeping focused. Luckily, I am pretty good, I'm committed to getting something finished, meeting deadlines, and not procrastinating.</p>

<h3>Schedules</h3>

<p>Deadlines come thick and fast, and somehow they always seem to collide. As a freelance web designer, you need to be on the ball, and spend time planning. Planning is the key to success, and you do need to be really good and comfortable with allocating your time.</p>

<h3>My Advice</h3>

<p>Whenever you get on the computer to start working, you need to be 100% focused with a goal in mind. If you are not in the right state of mind, you aren't going to produce your best work. Take a break, take the day off if necessary. Go to the gym, or just do some exercise, clear your head, and when you are back, you'll be determined to produce some really high quality work.</p>


I love what I do, and I feel very privileged to be involved in so many exciting projects. But being a freelance web designer is hard. Here are just 3 reasons why it's hard being a freelance web designer:

### Dividing Your Time

I constantly find myself checking emails, replying even when I am out and about, just because I am literally obsessed with work, I truly love what I do - being a freelance web designer.

### Keeping Focused

With you being your own boss, it's very easy to get distracted! I've spoken to lots of freelance web designers and they do struggle with keeping focused. Luckily, I am pretty good, I'm committed to getting something finished, meeting deadlines, and not procrastinating.

### Schedules

Deadlines come thick and fast, and somehow they always seem to collide. As a freelance web designer, you need to be on the ball, and spend time planning. Planning is the key to success, and you do need to be really good and comfortable with allocating your time.

### My Advice

Whenever you get on the computer to start working, you need to be 100% focused with a goal in mind. If you are not in the right state of mind, you aren't going to produce your best work. Take a break, take the day off if necessary. Go to the gym, or just do some exercise, clear your head, and when you are back, you'll be determined to produce some really high quality work.

Why it's Hard Being a Freelance Web Designer

<p>I hear lots of web designers/developers say, "I can't design", or "I let other people design". Some people are natural designers, and have a raw talent for design, others have the eye for it, and can learn very quickly, whilst others genuinely do struggle.</p>

<p>Web design is hard, because of the complexity of the technologies, the browsers, the devices and getting the user experience right, as well as a consistent, and aesthetically beautiful UI is tough.</p>

<h3>Being Creative</h3>

<p>A good web designer must be creative. They must be able to innovate, not to just be creative, but to have a purpose, and sole reason to justify a new experience, or a new way of doing things. </p>

<p>I wanted to take the opportunity to blog about why I think I'm different to other agencies/freelance web designers, and why I'd be perfect to work with.</p>

<h3>An Obsession with Efficiency</h3>

<p>Clients are stunned by how quickly I can do work, but we all no quantity doesn't equal quality. But that's the thing that shocks clients, I can turn around projects quickly, without a loss of quality. If you drop me an email, I'll reply pretty freaking quickly, I literally am obsessed...</p>

<h3>A Passion For Quality</h3>

<p>I've honed it on my process, making sure I can deliver quality products. I have a burning passion to be part of projects. As a freelance web designer, I can never switch off, I'm constantly thinking about how I can improve, how I can make a website better. The first thing I do when I wake up is check my emails, because I have a burning passion for web design.</p>

<h3>You Pay For Me Working On Your Project</h3>

<p>Working remotely has a huge advantage, I can be paid for just working on your project, no travelling costs, no wasted time, just time I can spend perfecting your project, focusing on the details.</p>

<h3>Escape Their Comfort Zone</h3>

<p>Lots of sites follow a similar format, sidebar here, heading there, but a really good designer tries and changes it up, creates something fresh, modern, sets the trend, and doesn't follow. </p>

<h3>Clean, please!</h3>

<p>This really is a personal opinion, but a site must not be cluttered, and noisy, but must have a clear focus, a clear direction for the user to follow. As a designer, you are in control of the user, so every detail must be looked at! How many times do you click away from a site because it doesn't do what you expect, or something is broken. A clean design allows you to control that journey, by not overwhelming the user, and allowing them to find things easily and quickly.</p>


I hear lots of web designers/developers say, "I can't design", or "I let other people design". Some people are natural designers, and have a raw talent for design, others have the eye for it, and can learn very quickly, whilst others genuinely do struggle.

Web design is hard, because of the complexity of the technologies, the browsers, the devices and getting the user experience right, as well as a consistent, and aesthetically beautiful UI is tough.

### Being Creative

A good web designer must be creative. They must be able to innovate, not to just be creative, but to have a purpose, and sole reason to justify a new experience, or a new way of doing things. 

I wanted to take the opportunity to blog about why I think I'm different to other agencies/freelance web designers, and why I'd be perfect to work with.

### An Obsession with Efficiency

Clients are stunned by how quickly I can do work, but we all no quantity doesn't equal quality. But that's the thing that shocks clients, I can turn around projects quickly, without a loss of quality. If you drop me an email, I'll reply pretty freaking quickly, I literally am obsessed...

### A Passion For Quality

I've honed it on my process, making sure I can deliver quality products. I have a burning passion to be part of projects. As a freelance web designer, I can never switch off, I'm constantly thinking about how I can improve, how I can make a website better. The first thing I do when I wake up is check my emails, because I have a burning passion for web design.

### You Pay For Me Working On Your Project

Working remotely has a huge advantage, I can be paid for just working on your project, no travelling costs, no wasted time, just time I can spend perfecting your project, focusing on the details.

### Escape Their Comfort Zone

Lots of sites follow a similar format, sidebar here, heading there, but a really good designer tries and changes it up, creates something fresh, modern, sets the trend, and doesn't follow. 

### Clean, please!

This really is a personal opinion, but a site must not be cluttered, and noisy, but must have a clear focus, a clear direction for the user to follow. As a designer, you are in control of the user, so every detail must be looked at! How many times do you click away from a site because it doesn't do what you expect, or something is broken. A clean design allows you to control that journey, by not overwhelming the user, and allowing them to find things easily and quickly.

A Freelance Web Designer Like No Other

5 Apps to Help Optimise Your Workflow

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Helping We Are 4C launch on a global scale.

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One Abacus

With the support of UK Sport, the UK Strength and Conditioning Association launched in 2004. It has since grown to represent over 2,600 members who are supported in maintaining the highest standards of practice, knowledge and research in their field.

The Professional Body for Strength and Conditioning in the UK

Multidisciplinary freelance web designer and developer.

I've been trusted by over 150 businesses across the UK.

Recent Work