11 Mistakes All Freelance Web Designers Make (Do you?)
I learned these lessons the hard way so you don’t have to
It is a great time to be a freelance web designer. Web design is a booming field, with more businesses getting online or revamping their web presence every day. The demand is high for web designers, and that means it is a better time than ever to be your own boss and get into the freelance game.
But for all its benefits, freelance web design can quickly become a real nightmare if you make certain mistakes.
I do not think that I have met a single freelance web designer who has not made most or all of these mistakes. The good news is that it is definitely possible to recover from all of them. But if you can avoid these mistakes entirely, even better right?
So in this post we’ll be outlining exactly how you can avoid these common pitfalls in freelance web design and have a more enjoyable freelancing experience.
1. Not managing your time efficiently
One of the most attractive parts of becoming a freelancer is having more time on your hands and being able to use your time however you want.
This makes it very easy to get overly lax about time management. As fun as it is too sleep until noon (I still do it fairly regularly), it is highly beneficial to hold yourself to some kind of a schedule. This doesn’t mean you need to be up at the crack of dawn, but you should have some kind of structure to guide your daily tasks and ensure everything gets knocked off of your to-do list in a timely manner.
2. Forming a ‘comfort bubble’
This is particularly a problem for more introverted freelancers such as myself.
When you no longer have to be around a boss or a bunch of overly-chatty coworkers, it is extremely easy to just sit at home, work when needed and never push the limits of your comfort zone. Once you are in this bubble, it becomes very difficult to convince yourself to get out there and network, make cold calls, or otherwise do tasks that you aren’t super comfortable with.
Allowing yourself to reside in this little safety zone can be fun, but it almost guarantees that your business will stagnate and that your customer base will dry up.
3. Talking yourself down
One of the sort-of-downsides to being a freelancer is that, unlike in a web design firm, you do not have a team of marketing people to bring in new clients or grow your network.
As a freelance web designer, all of the depends on you, and you have to possess the confidence to talk yourself up when speaking with new connections or potential clients.
Now, I am not encouraging you to lie — however it is very common for freelancers to minimize their skills or the value of the services they provide. You need to have a reasonable view of yourself, your skills and your services. By creating a website for a client, you are enabling them to grow their business and achieve their own goals. That has value, and you need to act like it in order to be paid fairly and treated professionally.
If you do not carry yourself as a professional who offers value to your clients, no one else will either.
4. Following up too quickly
If you sent your invoice/email/proposal/whatever less than 72 hours ago, you should not follow up.
Your clients are just as busy as you are, and they will not appreciate being bugged about something they probably have not even had the time to read or think about yet. Additionally, following up too often or aggressively can tend to make you seem less professional, almost desperate. Not a great position to be in.
Obviously if you have bills due, or a client has a history of not paying then it is perfectly fine to follow up rapidly. Just don’t overdo it for every client.
5. Not following up at all
Although you definitely do not want to overdo it when following up on emails or invoices, you also do want to ensure you get paid and/or get the information you need from your clients.
Freelance web designers rely pretty heavily on repeat customers and client referrals, so following up on communications is important. They may just have forgotten and may appreciate the reminder.
6. Only following up when the client owes you money
Show some personal interest in your clients and their business, it will go a long way.
If your clients only ever get emails or calls from you when they have an invoice due, your web design clients will quickly figure out that you only want their money. That is a major turn-off when it comes to repeat work and referrals.
Instead, try following up on your clients a couple weeks after the completion of the project to ask if they have any questions or issues, if they have any thoughts on how the site might be improved to better serve them. Ask them how business is going, how that vacation went, how the family is doing. Don’t get creepy, but be friendly and try to build up a friendly relationship.
Personality and friendliness are the top deciding factors in whether or not a client will come back to you again or refer their friends to you. Besides that, it just makes work more enjoyable and fulfilling when you are on good terms with your clients.
7. Letting your clients run the project
At some point you will find a control-freak client or a client who has loads of their own ideas to add.
Do not let them take over the project.
Most of these clients are well-intentioned, albeit misguided. The situation becomes rather uncomfortable when a client tries to add terrible ideas to the project and does not seem terribly keen on listening to your professional opinion.
When this happens, keep in mind that the client hired you to design and build their website and create a web presence that promotes their brand. Always be willing to consider changes or feature ideas (after all, they might have good ideas), but if you can clearly see that a design idea will have bad results, do not just keep quiet to make your client happy.
If your client won’t stop pushing terrible ideas, be open and honest and explain why those ideas will not work well. If they keep pushing it, consider firing the client.
8. Pricing your services low to get clients
It’s tempting to slash your prices just to get more clients, but it is not sustainable.
If you slash your prices by 20%, there will always be another designer willing to slash their prices by 30%. It is a vicious cycle, it devalues your work, and it will stress you out in the end because the time and energy required for a project does not rise and fall with your prices. You can quickly overload yourself.
Determine a reasonable price for your services that shows confidence in your skills, and stick to it.
Cutting your prices will attract bad clients — clients who are just looking to get something for nothing. These clients will not respect your time, your abilities or your work.
9. Overloading clients with technical details
Most clients will not really care how your build your websites. Their primary concern is whether or not you can create a website that will meet their needs and help them grow their business.
When you go to get your car tuned up, the mechanic does not explain to you how the machines and tools he uses works or who manufactures them — he just gets it done.
Similarly, your client does not need an hour long lecture about how you make websites or the tools you use — they just want you to get it done.
Obviously if a client does express interest here, it’s fine to explain it to them. Just don’t assume they want an hour-long lecture about the virtues of responsive design on your first meeting. Getting too technical will only confuse and frustrate them.
10. Not using a contract
Contracts are essential for freelance web designers. Being a freelance web designer will expose you to a lot of various people, not all of them with the best intentions. Sometimes problems will arise, and you will need a way to handle legal issues if and when they come up.
If you do not have a contract with your clients, you will have no way of ensuring you get paid or protecting your own interests if something goes wrong on the project.
Do yourself a favor and get some kind of signed agreement in place for every project. Even if it is not perfect, a basic contract is better than no contract at all.
11. Not asking enough questions at the beginning
Misunderstandings can cause huge issues in a web design project if they are not taken care of early on. When you are first interacting with a client, always ask plenty of questions. Ask as many questions as you can think of.
Whenever possible, as for the client’s reasoning on a topic, what the top reasons are for that decision. Ask them very specific questions about their goals, the content and the features on the website, anything you can think of. In order to accurately provide a quote for their website and to ensure that the project goes smoothly, you need to know everything you can about their wants and needs.
Simply asking plenty of questions at the outset of a project will help you avoid numerous problems later on in your relationship with your client.
As much as we want to avoid these mistakes, every freelance web designer will make them at some point.
Use the information in this article to help you avoid the most common mistakes for freelance website designers and build your business better.
If you want to learn more about how you can build a better freelance web design business, check out my flagship course: Starting a Profitable Web Design Business in 1 Month.
