Hi Guys,

 

I first joined this forum around Sep 2010 when i got my first job as a Web Designer/Developer. Over this period of time,I may not be an expert yet but I have learnt a lot. I finally had the chance to "test" what I learnt in college and have some practical knowledge of how things work. Also, I had a handful of clients to work with. I also managed to knock up a small portfolio for meself.

I am also familair with the workings of Wordpress, Joomla and Drupal.

 

Alright, my point is, apart from my work, I would really like to gain some more experience and get into freelancing, especially projects that involves PHP with a bit of HTML,CSS ( I am more of a developer than a designer, but i can design a decent page and work with a bit of PS here and there). Where do i start? I saw them freelancing sites where you register yourself and "bid"?! Really dont know what bid is all about. Is there anything else to start as a freelancer. I would like to start doing small PHP projects and then jump to big ones based on the experience I have gained.I do have a lot of PHP knowledge, but I really lack the understanding on how to work with a client, who needs something fast and abiding to his tantrums etc. as I am only used to doing PHP projects for my college submissions.

 

Sorry if i sound like a pussy cat in this post..lol.. but i really need some confidence to start my freelancing project and if anyone knows of any fairly small freelancing projects(money does not matter to me at this stage), it would be a great stepping stone for me.

 

Thanks all

Edited March 25, 201115 yr by Hittesh Ahuja

Hello Hitesh,

 

While there are many ways of beginning your freelancing career, using freelancing sites such as freelancer.com and others is the best means of receiving work from clients. But with ever growing competition and established providers with a lot of reviews for completed projects, it would be a daunting task for someone like you to face the competition and convince a customer. Let me also be candid in stating that you are 1 of the many thousands of aspiring freelancers that always look for work, but are short of opportunities. Here are some quick tips for you to get hands on work and build your freelancing career:

 

1 - Use Linkedin and other Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter to meet other web development professionals and make some good contacts.. Once they know enough about yourself and your portfolio, you may well get an opportunity or 2 from them to share their work...

 

2 - Watch out for jobs/projects section on web design/development forums like this one and try to pitch yourself and see how the responses are...

 

 

To sum up, life as a freelancer cannot be a walk in the garden and it requires a lot of your efforts, perseverance and time...

 

 

All the best

 

 

Evisions

Edited May 15, 201115 yr by evisions

Hello all

This is my first post so I hope I don't come across as a complete nugget! lol. I'm just starting out my self after making a few sites "unfinished" for friends. I'm still learning every day whilst setting up my own site to try and drum up business. I've got a rough idea of what I'll be charging but hears my question......

 

as I said I understand "kinda" the design and development side of things but what about actually putting the site on the net? I know how to do it but how do I charge for it? do I set up my own server? do I get a deal with a server company? do I charge the client for the monthly server costs? or am I barking up the wrong tree completely? A little help and advice would be very helpful

 

thanks guys

 

Mochawotnot

By server, and server companies I mean domains and hosting and stuff "still learning the lingo"

If your talking about actual web hosting, you could go to one of the countless hosting solutions out there, such as UKHost4U, 123-reg, fasthosts etc. I use UKHost4U for a few of my sites and dependent on your hosting needs it can cost between £20 a year or monthly payment of £5 for a better hosting package, and this comes with the domain registration as well, so you could get www.mochawotnot.com or whatever.

If your doing work for a client you could pay the money annually yourself and include it in your own fee, although i find it better to get the client to purchase the domain / hosting if you can as this means your not going back and forth asking for money every time your hosting invoice comes through. Alot of hosting solutions will let you set up the initial payment on your own card and then transfer the payment to another direct debit / account (i.e. the clients) so you can get the perfect hosting set up without disturbing the client and then not worry about payment, again including the initial hosting fee in your own fee.

Getting your site onto the space can be achieved through using FTP or possibly the hosting solutions own file management system. Alot of sites will have a control panel that you can use to transfer files over to the web space, however this can be slow and cumbersome and achieved alot quicker through using an FTP application, such as the free FileZilla. Once you set up the hosting / domain you normally recieve an email with your ftp / cPanel details in it and you can connect to the FTP using this information.

 

Does that make any sense?

thank you Steppio

that makes perfect sense thank you. I've used FileZilla before and put a site up but I had no idea you could sort hosting out so cheaply, and now I understand an affective way to charge the client. now I just need to become competent enough to actually get some business.

 

thanks again Steppio I was worried about asking such a simple question (thought people might make fun of the newb)

thank you Steppio

that makes perfect sense thank you. I've used FileZilla before and put a site up but I had no idea you could sort hosting out so cheaply, and now I understand an affective way to charge the client. now I just need to become competent enough to actually get some business.

 

thanks again Steppio I was worried about asking such a simple question (thought people might make fun of the newb)

 

No worries buddy, if you get stuck with any part of it PM me and i'll help as best I can. Good luck.