I read an article recently that helped me decide to do something I knew needed to be done. I’ve decided to change the focus of this blog. The former focus was “Free Web Design, Hosting, Browsing, Blogging, SEO, and Business Tips”. Now I’ve changed it to “Tips For Starting A Web Design Business”. I’m going to draw on my experience as a professional web designer to share information to help people wanting to set up a web design business for themselves. I want to show people who are getting started as web designers how they can organize their time and develop their talents to create a profitable business.

When I started my business a few years back, there wasn’t much information on the web focused on helping me get started. Though I knew enough about web design, I didn’t know much about starting a business, making contracts, copyright considerations, and lots of other things. I self-educated with time and experience, and got through it. Now I’ve closed the doors of that business and for the first time in eighteen years, am working outside my home for someone else. This site was converted from a web design business - to this blog.

Actually, I started blogging here in 2002, but have dropped most of the old content of that blog. It was originally started to keep track of my business development and when I moved the blog to the front page of the site, I decided the old content must go. I’m starting something new here now. I’ll be showing potential and beginning web design business owners how to get into business, find and enjoy working with clients, and prosper.

So that is my new focus, which will draw not only on my experience as a former web design business owner, but also on my skills as a paralegal and marketing analyst.

And by the way, that article that explained why I should narrow my focus is found here: Blogging in an Oversaturated Market is Usually a Poor Decision. Though there are scads of people sharing SEO and web marketing information on the web, there aren’t many web design business owners using their blogs to divulge the secrets of the trade to newcomers.

I’m officially closing my webdesign business on March 31, 2007 so I’m not renewing contracts or accepting new clients at this time. I will be keeping this site online to maintain this blog.

My blog was originally designed to chronicle my adventures in owning a webdesign business. The new focus will be on giving free webdesign and browsing tips and information to anyone who needs it. Most of the articles I’ll be posting in the beginning will be very basic, but as time goes on I’ll get more in depth in discussing the more complex elements of webdesign.

Now, as for why I’m closing the business aspect of this site - I am just plain tired of it. I’m burnt-out, and ready to do something new. Whatever I’ll be doing in the future will include webdesign, but I’m doing it for myself now, not for other people.

My newest projects are EFT Joy, a site about using the Emotional Freedom Techniques, a method of energy healing; and Journey! California, a California Travel site.

I’m also the proud owner of Bigfoot Sightings, where I chronicle my Bigfoot research activities, and LindaJoMartin.Com, my personal writing website.

If you’re interested in learning HTML or almost any other language that can be used online, a place to find top quality, free tutorials is W3 Schools. There you can find out how to do HTML, XHTML, CSS, and XML. There are also sections for browser scripting, server scripting, multimedia, and web building.

This is a comprehensive site offering numerous tutorials and reference guides. Professional designers often use the reference sections while they’re working. There are also thousands of ‘cut and paste’ examples to experiment with.

If you don’t know where to start, here’s a suggested beginner’s course of study, which includes a primer on the web, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, XML, Server Side Scripting, and Managing Web Data with SLQ.

Even though I’ve owned a webdesign business for several years now I’m planning to go back to W3 Schools for more information. There’s always something new for a webdesigner to learn.

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While you’re at W3 Schools, don’t miss out on your chance to download the internet!

Today I want to tell you something simple and basic. Every page of your site should look pretty much like the others, so design and use a template.

Have you ever been to a personal site where every page uses a different type of background?

Often new designers use different colors on each page, different fonts, and different page layouts. I did it myself when I first started designing sites over ten years ago.

This is not done by most professional designers because we know that when a visitor arrives at your site, they’re usually looking for information. They need to know where the information is.

Easy site navigation is essential. The links to all the other pages should be in the same location on every page to keep site visitors from guessing how to get around. And having all the pages look essentially the same is easy on the eyes and holds the pages together so the visitor will indeed know this is one site he’s browsing, not ten different ones. It is a matter of aesthetics and practical site navigation.

So when you’re ready to design your site, do the front page first. Work on that page until the template is perfect, then empty the text area and make as many copies of the empty page as you’ll need to build your site. Fill each page with the appropriate text and graphics, and you’ll have all the pages done quickly and easily.