To find success in the web design industry, you need a few key ingredients. First and foremost, a talent for design and/or code. Then there’s a willingness to learn the tools and techniques of the trade. However, those pieces will only get you part of the way there.
The other part of the equation comes down to marketing yourself. Whether you want to work as a solo freelancer or land a gig at an agency, it’s important to show the world who you are. The goal is to help potential clients or employers learn about your personality, talents and experience.
Standing out in a crowded marketplace requires effort that goes beyond just design and development. As disheartening as it sounds, doing great work is not always enough. You also have to present yourself as an expert in your field – someone who has a true understanding of your niche.
What does it take to get there? Here are some strategies you can use position yourself as a designer who knows what you’re talking about.
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Build a Body of Written Work
The best way to let others know about your expertise is to publish your thoughts. Of course, being online makes the process of getting started quite easy.
Having a blogging presence is important. It provides a forum for sharing what you know and will continually grow over time.
For some, the idea of publishing (even on a small scale) can be intimidating. However, it doesn’t have to be a major source of stress. Just keep the following in mind:
Stick with What You Know
One of the biggest misconceptions about blogging is that you need to have an impeccable understanding of your subject. That’s really not the case. Therefore, don’t let it stop you from writing.
Instead, focus on the things that you know well. Think back to the different experiences you’ve had, including the mistakes and the triumphs. Sharing this type of wisdom can help you build a bond with your audience and demonstrate your abilities.
Focus on Quality
If you have a busy schedule, writing may seem like just another impossible thing on your to-do list. However, taking the right approach here could lessen your worries.
Keep in mind that building your reputation is a marathon, not a sprint. So, it isn’t necessary to be a prolific content creator. You’ll have better results by taking your time and working to ensure that whatever you create reflects your best effort.
And even then, the length of your writing doesn’t have to be a primary concern. There’s no sense in trying to hit a specific word count just for SEO purposes. Rather, the key is providing readers with something useful – regardless of how long it is.
Get Involved
Another effective means of getting your name out there is through a hands-on approach. This involves having a direct interaction with individuals or groups. This will establish you as more than just an individual designer. Rather, you’ll be seen as a valued member of a community.
Participation can come in a number of different forms, including:
Local Meetups and Associations
Look around online and you’re likely to find some potentially useful groups in your area. It could be something very niche, like a WordPress meetup. Or, it could be more general like a local chamber of commerce. Either way, it’s a good opportunity to get to know others and exchange knowledge on a regular basis.
If you dig a little deeper, you might also find some conferences that are of interest. Just attending one can help you learn valuable information that you can both use and pass on to others.
Online Communities and Support Sites
While in-person gatherings are great, online communities are often a better fit for a busy designer. Just like their real-world counterparts, a variety of topics and niches are covered. You could volunteer to write content or even answer technical support questions.
If you’re an especially talented designer, getting your work on sites such as Behance and Dribbble can also positively impact your street cred.
Again, the idea is to not only learn something, but also to show yourself as a knowledgeable person who is willing to participate. Do well here and you’ll become a respected member who others can rely upon.
Social Media
No, you don’t have to become the next Twitter superstar. But you can use social media to promote yourself and connect with other professionals.
Whatever you add here doesn’t have to be profound. Still, if enough people find your content useful, you can gain a solid following. It’s a simple way to continue to build up that reputation.
Above All, Be Genuine
Perhaps the most important part of positioning yourself as an expert is being open and honest. Otherwise, you run the risk of trying to be something you’re not. That can be both off-putting to your audience and damaging to your personal brand.
Therefore, the best thing you can be is yourself! It’s okay to admit to the things you don’t know (and even your mistakes). That doesn’t make you a poor “expert”, it just makes you human. And that, in turn, leads others to see you as relatable.
Clients, employers or others in the industry aren’t looking for a superhero. What they really need is someone who knows their stuff. Work hard, take the right approach and that person just might be you.
It’s easy to become bored with the ordinary – longing for something original and one-of-a-kind. That’s why common hero areas are bursting with eccentric ideas. They are aimed to not just impress, but also satisfy a user’s craving for creativity and originality.
However, animations and grandiose solutions are not the only things that can do the trick. Going off the beaten path with even the most trivial things can achieve the same effect. And vertical lettering is vivid proof of that. Becoming quite popular these days, it has grown into a tiny trend with some aces in the hole.
We do not see much use of vertical orientation in web design. Traditionally, it is a place where horizontal rhythm rules the roost, though this doesn’t mean that everything should revolve around it. As a rule, developers stick to the traditional models. However, diversity and deviation in habitual reading flow can be beneficial. What’s more, you do not need to take extreme measures. Small doses of vertical orientation are more than enough to produce a proper impact.
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Here, the creative team has twisted the basic navigation by rotating it 90 degrees and reflecting it horizontally. You should read it from bottom to top – that is quite unusual, but intriguing. As a result, the welcome screen has got a zest without all of those overwhelming centerpieces. Also, note the top header: it feels incredibly spacious, and the logotype gets the overall attention by looking prominent without much effort. That is a smart approach.
There are some other exceptional examples where vertical lettering is like icing on the cake. Consider Lydia Amaruch and her online portfolio.
Much like in the case of Archi Graphi, here the usage of vertical rhythm is episodic but well-thought-out. There is a traditional streamlined horizontal navigation, but it includes just the essentials. All the rest has been pulled to sides – literally. They echo with vertical stripes on the back, creating a harmonious aesthetic.
Yo:Ha adopts the same approach. Whereas the main navigation is hidden behind the hamburger button, links to the homepage and social media stay on the surface. Again, notice the overall theme. Here, vertical rhythm can be seen in various details, such as the slider that is broken into three semi-transparent panels and elongated symbols. Consistency marks the design of this website.
Ivan Ibanez and the team behind Gothamsiti show us how to apply vertical orientation to the entire navigation. As it turns out, it is handy to use – to say nothing about its attention-grabbing look. Note, these two examples have different themes, moods, and atmospheres. But, vertical navigation fits like a glove in both cases.
The personal portfolio of Ivan Ibanez has a boxy vibe. There are hollow blocks, split layout, ultra-thin lines and lots of white space. The vertical navigation beautifully finishes off the design.
The creatives behind Gothamsiti’s design have positioned links around the perimeter of the hero area – placing each one in a corner. In this way, nothing distracts the attention from the mysterious and creepy welcome screen. At the same time, all the gateways are exposed, making users feel comfortable.
Let’s step away from navigation and explore examples of vertical lettering that is a part of the content.
Since vertical orientation looks a bit strange to the majority of us, it can be used to put an extra emphasis on the crucial things like, for example, a tagline. The idea can be seen in Prime Park Sessions. Here the nameplate of the agency is directed leftwards, just where we usually start to read. It also mirrors the vertical navigation on the right. As a result, the design feels complete and visually-interesting.
The team behind the design of Luxury Villas uses a vertical orientation for displaying the tagline. The latter is also provided with a relatively wide background so that it looks like a sidebar. Though it is not just an ordinary sidebar, it is a sidebar with zest. That is clever.
Another way of benefiting from the trend is to use it for headings. Consider Kitamura Makura and Canatal.
When it comes to telling a story, both teams prefer to focus the users’ attention on the vital things, such as content, rather than captions. Therefore, the headlines were moved to the right and rotated in 90 degrees, thereby naturally giving way to the text.
In the case of Kitamura Makura the caption has been pushed to the right edge, making it feel like a part of navigation. With Canatal, however, the caption is still a part of the block and overall design.
Protec and Building the Future have made things a bit more interesting by making vertical text a part of the entourage.
Protec features huge captions that stretch from top to bottom. They are carefully set aside and shown on the left side, giving the content top priority.
In the case of Building the Future, the vertical lettering is even bigger. However, here it plays merely a decorative role, strengthening the traditional caption featured at the top of the text block.
Regarding SEO, it is not a good practice since headlines should be a part of document hierarchy and enclosed in corresponding tags. However, sometimes you can go off the beaten path and win over customers with design rather than search ranking.
While for the western world, vertical rhythm feels like something extraordinary and a viable trick to add zest to conventional designs, for our friends in the east it is the most natural thing. Let’s take a look at Kwok Yin Mak.
The design looks refreshing. The traditional black and white color scheme, lots of white space, logographs and of course vertical orientation make this interface look so special. The trend feels at home. However, even though we expect it to be here, the team behind the website has managed to save it from looking trivial.
A Pleasant Surprise
Vertical lettering is a rare guest, yet a welcome one. It is safe to say, that in the universe of everything horizontal, it is a little light that makes us smile. It pleases the eye with an unexpected twist in reading flow and effortlessly brings the essential things into focus.
It is a simple way to make things interesting without reinventing the wheel and going the extra mile.
Although web design services are always in-demand nowadays, growing a web development business isn’t always easy. Sure, there are now a plethora of tools you can use to make certain web development tasks less stressful – from content management systems to landing page builders. But as these platforms get more and more accessible, the competition continues to get tougher and tougher.
At this point, consistently producing quality work is no longer enough to get ahead. What you really need is to acquire the absolute best software and strategies that will enable you to deliver the maximum value that your customers deserve.
And that, my friend, is why we’re here.
In this post, we’ll talk about the strategies and technologies that will make your web design business stand out from the rest of the pack. That way, you can scale it and take your business to greater heights.
Let’s get started.
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1. Start by Defining Your Niche
If you’ve been in business for a while, you should be able to detect a trend when it comes to the types of projects you excel in.
Are you more comfortable when working with WordPress? How about e-commerce stores?
Keep in mind that, while there’s a benefit to being flexible, embracing a specific niche and establishing it as your specialty will make you more desirable to higher-paying clients.
Why? Because they are not just paying for the grunt work involved. They’re also paying for the expertise that a particular agency can offer, which takes time, effort, and persistence to build.
Picture an e-commerce client who’s trying to pick between two different agencies. The first agency has an impressive portfolio that includes an assortment of projects, such as travel blogs, law firm websites, and a couple of online stores. The second agency, on the other hand, has a portfolio that consists mostly of e-commerce websites – some of which also mention the accolades that the particular brand has achieved.
If you’re the client, you’d also go with the second agency, even if you’ll end up paying more.
Before you finalize your decision, consider doing a quick keyword research. This will help you gain a deeper understanding of the existing demand and competitiveness of your chosen niche.
Ubersuggest, for example, can show you the average monthly searches, CPC, and competitiveness level of any keyword. All you have to do is enter a “seed keyword” and let the tool do the rest of the work.
The best part is that Ubersuggest will also provide you with long-tail keyword suggestions, which are extremely helpful in developing content for your website.
2. Streamline Your Web Development Process
Now that you have decided upon a niche, it should be easier to develop a streamlined web development workflow that you can use for multiple projects. Remember, efficiency is the key if you want cost-effective scaling strategies for any company. And for web design agencies, a platform like Duda will definitely come in handy.
Put simply, Duda is an all-in-one platform that has a solution for every choke point in a web development workflow. The asset collection process, for example, can be sped up with the help of a ready-to-use content collection form, which makes it convenient for clients to submit their content as well as pertinent business information:
You can also use Duda to manage reusable “sections” that can easily be cloned and applied to different website projects. For example, if you specialize in creating professional portfolios, you can prepare a lineup of templates for a “Testimonials” and “Contact” sections:
All in all, Duda is packed with features that can help you significantly cut your build times without compromising quality. It can also be used to easily incorporate branding elements in the back end, which leads us to the next strategy for scaling a web development agency.
3. Customize the Back End
As a web development agency, it’s in your best interest to keep your brand in the minds of your clients at all times.
You can do this by providing them with a custom, white label platform that instills your brand into crucial interaction points, from the admin login screen to the main dashboard.
Doing so helps maintain brand awareness and foster brand loyalty in your clients – assuming you are able to provide them with an experience that’s memorable and beyond satisfactory.
The good news is, modern content management systems like WordPress support plugins that make back-end customizations a breeze.
Now that your web development process and platforms are optimized, it’s time to focus on the lifeblood of a web design agency: the team.
Despite the abundance of online cloud-based collaboration tools, a lot of web design agencies still stick to emails as the primary means of communication.
While this shouldn’t be an issue for agencies with an in-house team, it’s definitely a problem if you outsource members from distant locations.
Let’s face it, an email inbox isn’t the most organized place in the world.
On top of conversations with clients and remote team members, you also have to deal with social media notifications, auto-generated reports from services you use, and newsletters you don’t even remember subscribing to.
That’s why, regardless if you hire in-house or outsource, you should make room for task management and collaboration tools in your web design workflow.
Trello, for example, is a simple yet powerful tool that lets you organize tasks into cards, manage them using lists, and consolidate them into project boards.
You can also use Trello to assign cards to team members, set deadlines, share files, and communicate within the platform. Thanks to the fluid and intuitive interface, the learning curve is basically non-existent.
Aside from Trello, here are additional collaboration and communication tools you ought to try for your web design agency:
Slack – A communication tool that allows you to organize topics into channels, share files, and use integrations with third-party platforms.
Basecamp – If you want something more powerful than Trello, then you should check out Basecamp’s comprehensive project management features.
Google Drive – In terms of file sharing, nothing beats a cloud storage service like Google Drive.
5. Invest in Marketing
Finally, a web design agency won’t grow through referrals alone. You need a marketing campaign that actively brings in new leads and establishes your authority.
Unfortunately, there’s no specific marketing recipe that works for everyone. Only you can piece together the strategies that align with your brand’s objectives.
To get the ball rolling, below are some of the best marketing strategies you should know about:
Build a web design blog to prove your expertise to your prospects.
Submit guest posts in popular blogs and publications.
Launch a web design newsletter to nurture existing leads.
Build a social media presence.
If you have the budget, invest in a PPC campaign.
Conclusion
There you have it – how to scale a web design and development agency in an ever-toughening competition.
Your success probably won’t happen overnight, nor will it come easy. But with the strategies above, your growth is guaranteed. You just need to focus on one step at a time and be patient.
