Web Design - Getting your foot in the door!

This post was originally a reply to a comment Nadeem made on a few peoples walls. Basically if your just starting out in WebDesign here's a few tips to get you up and running.

If your looking to further your knowledge try a subscription @ http://www.lynda.com they have very detailed tutorials on everything you need and for a relatively small price. Alternatively most collages and university's do short one semester courses in web design at higher and lower levels.

If your looking for clients or getting a foothold in the market, id recommend first setting up a portfolio of your recent work with a contact form. (dont include everything you've ever done just the best work - It's not quantity its creative quality) Then simply start networking through sites like this one, twitter, behance, design:realated, designfloat and digg are all great places too start.

You'll gain a better understanding of the industry and hopefully find your niche and some clients. Offer your own advice to people interested in your field and I always find offering small amounts of non-paid work (under 1hour) leads to commissioned work 30 - 40% of the time (with the right kind of client). Always try to choose exciting and unique projects that express your talents, interests and vary your portfolio + if your starting out the other material can always be used to simply build your portfolio if they produce no leads.

The only other tips i can recommend is just to keep going, its tuff at the moment so finding clients is difficult, but make sure your offering a full range of skills and services they never even knew they needed and talk to other designers to make sure your not underselling yourself. Always ensure your producing good quality work to specification and most importantly on-time. Attend seminars in your local area hand out business cards, make sure everyone you know know what you do and hopefully you'll be a great designer.

Other links you may find intresting/helpful

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/
http://abduzeedo.com/
http://www.webdesignerwall.com/
http://www.youthedesigner.com/
http://justcreativedesign.com/
http://izzataziz.com/
http://www.studio7designs.com/blog/

http://www.gracesmith.co.uk/

^ someone i regularly help through Twitter, grace is just starting out but always has great ideas for content and little social projects.

{These are both daily pages starting with day 1 i think theres a few 100 now so put a few days aside!lol!}

http://abduzeedo.com/daily-inspiration-1

^-cant find a index page so just change the number

http://www.andysowards.com/blog/category/nerdy-daily-web-developmen...

^- incredibly addictive!

If you need any more help you can email me - B.Madden [@] illDesigned.com
Or join me on twitter - @BarryMadden