You’ve probably been in business long enough to realize that services promising a huge swarm of traffic to your web site are usually a scam. After all, “targeted traffic” (people who want your product, service, or information) is the only thing that really counts. Ten qualified potential buyers are worth more than 1000 visitors who have no interest in your business.

That part is obvious. So you write these off, file them under “Dirtbags” in the cabinets of your mind and go about your business, right? Not so fast, because there are further implications you may not have considered.

Recently, a small business forum I participate in as an administrator received an interesting new member. This person came in like a boisterous, drunk party guest trying to pass himself off as a highly successful search engine expert. One of the methods he advocated was using traffic generating services to boost search engine ranking.

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Recently i had to create a “Table of Contents” Aka “Contents” Generator for Brugbart. I was inspired by several other websites who provides similar functionality through JavaScript, i just don’t like JavaScript, mainly because i find it difficult to get it to work equally cross-browser, without having to first check if the browser supports the functions.

Anyway i decided that it was about time, that i included a Contents Generator, to make it easier for users to navigate in our Articles, Tutorials and References. I first tried to use php DOM, but i had two problems, i had no idea about how to work with the DOM, later i found the second problem, my host apparently didn’t support the DOM functions.

That was where i decided to return to the familiar territory of regular expressions.
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There are thousands of webhosting companies offering a myriad of options. It can be extremely difficult for your web design clients to indentify which offer truly does offer good value for money and the features that they require. As a web designer you are probably going to be one of your clients first ports of call in regards to advice about choosing a webhosting company.

Customers like things kept simple and if they have one port of call for all their requirements, they will thank you for it. As a webdesigner there can be many benefits to hosting your clients site. So why not consider offering free hosting to your clients as part of your webdesign package. This adds value to your service, they may consider it $200 or more in savings. This makes your webdesign proposal far more attractive.

You can also consider charging for web hosting and including some basic updates in a quarterly price. This helps create a dialogue and an opportunity to get first-look at any new web design work that your client may have. I am not suggesting that you go out and setup a dedicated server. Even if you know enough to setup one dedicated server that is not enough to run a reliable webhosting operation. You need plenty of time and resources to do it properly.
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When designing websites that are to be used as an online catalog of products their are some special considerations for you to take into account to help ensure your clients success. Go the extra mile and offer well thought advice and your customers will appreciate it.

In most instances your clients will come to you and have already made a decision as to what they want to use as their chosen ecommerce solution. It could be a php application like osCommerce or a hosted service like Yahoo, Amazon or eBay stores. Depending on your clients requirements and your own personal experience you may recommend another solution.

Sometimes clients will come to you for advice on what solution to use. Be sure to read my previous article on choosing an ecommerce solution that fits your clients needs.
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If you want your clients to be happy, recommend you to others and come back to you for updates, future projects and repeat business then you will need to keep them happy. One way to do this is to be pro-active and suggest solutions that will work to their benefit. Generating traffic is one way, and its important, however as a web designer that will not fall within your primary skill-set.

There is something however that you can offer in relation to traffic as a web designer, that adds value for your client, and generates additional work for you in most cases, a win/win situation.

Explain to your clients that most successful websites depend on returning visitors, that these returning visitors account for a major percentage of their traffic. In fact most customers rarely buy on a first visit, I would say less than 1% of 1%, but that is a guesstimate and the figure is probably far far lower. The thing with returning visitors is, they are easier to convert into paying customers. One of the factors that you need to overcome on the internet is trust, when a site repeatedly comes back to your site it engenders trust, and this is good for business.
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“An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it.”
- Bill Bernbach (American advertising executive, 1911-1982)

As a web designer you are primarily a creative person however there is always room for more creativity, anyone who has ever experienced web designers block will know that this is true.

So if you accept that you are indeed a creative person, then you should appreciate like any skill, attribute or trait you can nurture and enhance this facet. In this way it is possible for you to become more creative than you have ever imagined possible. The key to doing this is to put your creative talent to work and practice, practice, practice.

How do you practice being creative? Well the first thing you need is a place in which to be creative – a space of your own. If possible, it should be a space that’s comfortable and conducive to creative thinking – a place free of distraction and noise.
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This is by no means an exhaustive list of questions to ask your clients but it is certainly a good start. I know many web designers do not really spend too much time thinking about the online payments side of things and will often just recommend Paypal for its ease of use if nothing else.

However one size most certainly does not fit all in these situations and I would strongly recommend you go the extra mile for your clients when it comes to one of the fundamentally most important decisions they can make when entering the world of ecommerce.

To help set you on the right track I have come up with ten questions to ask and also some of the reasons why they are important. In addition I will point you in the direction of the most reliable online payment providers, in my opinion. This is based purely on personal experience and not some metric test. I have personally worked with all of the providers I will provide links to in this article.
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So your starting out as a web designer, you have probably done a short course in HTML and Web Standards, maybe your proficient at Adobe Photoshop. More than likely you have done a few websites for friends at no charge and now your wanting to start your career as a professional freelance web designer.

Maybe your a seasoned pro, but still having difficulty pricing projects. If that’s the case hopefully my article will set you on the right path for sensible and fair pricing that works for you ad your clients.

One of the first things you will need to think about is “What to charge” and “How to charge”. So before you go any further decide if you want to charge a ‘Project Rate’ or a ‘per hour rate’. Most people will expect to be charged on a project basis, especially if your new to the game and have a limited portfolio of sites. So what do you need to take into consideration when charging on a per project basis?
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Content Comes First: While it is obviously important for you to create a design that is aesthetically pleasing, it is important to remember that people are visiting a website for a specific reason, and that reason is the content that the website has to offer.  Although many people naturally think of articles or blog posts when they hear the term content, this term can refer to anything from photographs to product listings to videos.

Regardless of what kind of content is being exhibited on a website, the main thing that you need to keep in mind is that your website design should enhance the content that is being displayed.

Don’t Forget the Users: If you are designing your own website, keep in mind that you are not creating the website for just yourself.  Likewise, if you are designing a website for a client, you have to continue to remind yourself that the website is not only being created for that one client.

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