How to Make Money as a Web Designer

Mid-level web designers typically have between three and ten years of experience. Steven is an industry veteran with nearly two decades of web design experience. He was instrumental in the launch and growth of the Vandelay Design blog. Vandelay Design is one of the leading web design blogs and has reached more than 50 million visitors.

• Hybrid designer developer salaryHybrid designers and developers definitely do earn above average pay, but for double the amount of work, you aren’t getting double the salary.
• Freelancers and side hustlers can fill the gap by offering services that small businesses and non-profits can afford.
• If you have some experience designing your own websites, it’s possible to get started right away.
• Or you could use a membership WordPress plugin to set up the course area and protect content so only paying customers can access it.
• Whether you’re becoming a freelancer, taking on a full-time position, or working with WordPress, we’ve collected the salaries for web designers of all experience levels.

With additional skills, you can get started in a side hustle. Web Designers living in big cities are most likely to earn more because of the high cost of living compared to their counterparts in small towns. They have to look for clients to maintain a constant stream of income. These professionals must be proficient in design development, prototyping, competitor analysis, and researching user behavior.

Both are just as necessary to create a successful website, so why the discrepancy? Sadly, many creative jobs just don’t pay well and design work tends to be undervalued. To be fair, developers need to master multiple complicated programming languages and learn how to apply them. Many people will prefer to hire separate designers and developers anyway. And on larger projects, there’s no way you’ll be able to handle everything by yourself. Whether you’re becoming a freelancer, taking on a full-time position, or working with WordPress, we’ve collected the salaries for web designers of all experience levels.

But if they want to be able to easily add extra pages in the future, or want a blog, then I make sure that they have an appropriate theme customized for their needs. “When I left my job, the drop in income created a shortfall in our household budget of between $500 and $1,000 a month. My intention was to grow my blog income to cover this shortfall, and more – through affiliate sales, ad revenue and selling products of my own. At some point, I realized that in order to do this I needed much, much more traffic to my blog, and this wasn’t going to happen overnight! So I decided I needed a service-based side hustle to bring in some immediate income – firstly, to cover our budget shortfall, and secondly to fund my online business and blog. In many cases, a website designer works with other people to create a site.

Web designer salaries compared to other tech professions

On average, Web Designers are highly satisfied with their job. Use our tool to get a personalized report on your market worth. Your income potential may be limited if you do not have your own established audience.

It’s an exciting career, especially at this time of growth for the field of web design and development. The national average salary for a Web Designer is $60,171 per year in United States. Filter by location to see a Web Designer salaries in your area. Salaries estimates are based on 3451 salaries submitted anonymously to Glassdoor by a Web Designer employees. Marc has been self-employed in internet marketing since 2008.

Because it’s not just the country you live in that affects your earnings, but also the smaller localities in which you live. This one is a huge factor in terms of how much a website designer gets paid. Then again, these salaries might actually even themselves out when you look at this from the freelancer’s perspective.

Another option that allows you to work as an employee is to be an in-house designer. In this case, instead of working on projects for clients, you would be working on the website of your employer. For example, you could be an in-house designer for a financial company, and your job responsibilities would involve designing and maintaining the company website. At the entry-level, 1-4 years of experience in the industry, a Web Designer earns an average salary of $49,598. According to the platform, mid-level Designers earn an average salary of $64,897. Many of the skills required to be a designer or developer overlap, but much of what you do on a day-to-day basis is quite different.

Understand the total compensation opportunity for a Web Designer I, base salary plus other pay elements

The best way to make more money is to increase the amount that you make from each client . On-going services are great because if you have a few clients on contract, you won’t need to spend time looking for new clients and you’ll always have paying work. In addition to building your portfolio, your first few clients will help to give you some experience going through the process from start to finish. You’ll probably learn some things about the best ways to communicate with your clients and how to manage the projects. Earlier in the article, I mentioned that there are several services related to web design that you could offer.

This article will cover the basics of why you might want to work as a web designer and the steps that you can take if you want to get started making money as a web designer. You’ll also read an interview with Peti Morgan, a real-world example of someone who is making money with a web design side hustle. Peti is a perfect example of what is possible with a service-related side hustle, and how it can impact your individual or family finances. Many website designers have a bachelor’s degree in website design or a related field, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Website developer vs. website designer

As a freelancer, you can charge a fair rate and still come in well below the price of just about any agency. Don’t be put off by the statement above that freelancers can offer “affordable” services to small businesses. I’m not suggesting that you work for extremely low wages, and you shouldn’t need to do that. To put it into perspective, many agencies have a starting rate of somewhere around $25,000. That means they won’t work on any web design product that has a budget below $25,000.

On the flip side, Payscale.com estimates an annual income of $76,205. Senior Web Designers, experienced Developers with years’ experience, earn $61,453. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the national average for Web Developers, including Web Designers, is $77,200. And so, if you, like many others, want to become a Web Designer, it’s totally understandable.

To get started, I suggest deciding on and defining the services that you plan to offer. Of course, you can always adapt and change later, but as you talk to potential clients it’s a good idea to know exactly what you can offer them. “Initially, I offered Virtual Assistant services to small business owners I knew. With web design, you’ll be making a nice amount of money from each client, so you won’t need too many clients in order to make a nice income from it.

Search Web Designer Job Openings

While web designers work at the big picture, selecting colors or general layout of elements, UI designers handle the smallest details. Frameworks and libraries like Bootstrap are worth looking at too. In addition, you may optionally choose to learn one of the best programming languages to learn like PHP, Python, or Ruby. With or without a degree, you will need experience, and you should create a portfolio to show off your previous work. Any web designer will tell you that the job has its ups and downs.

First things first — you have to make enough money to cover your expenses. So before you start worrying about your earning potential, make sure you’re calculating your expenses accordingly. Web designers are an essential part of a businesses’ success, as 94% of first impressions are all design https://globalcloudteam.com/ related and the website’s credibility is 75% aesthetics-related. The last option we’ll look at is to create your own online course about some aspect of design or development. You could create a course on web design, logo design, WordPress development, Photoshop, Illustrator, or other topics.

According to Payscale.com, Web Designers earn an average pay of $52,513 per year. As a junior, you’ll possess less than three years of experience. You should know generally how web design works, and maybe have a project or two under your belt, but allowances will be made to help you adjust to the company. Experience level is another factor that will have a big impact on how much you make as a web designer.

Job Description for Web Designer I

The administrators and authors of Vital Dollar are not financial professionals, and views expressed on the site are strictly personal opinions. “Currently, I spend between 0 and 15 hours a week on this side hustle. I batch schedule the work, usually in the mornings when my daughter is at kindergarten.

Web Designer Salaries: In-Depth Breakdown

These two jobs have a lot of overlap, so many designers choose to specialize in both. Putting all this data together, the average yearly salary of a web designer would be about $57k. As a web designer, your tasks will vary depending on how far you are into a project. You might spend an entire workday refining sketches and wireframes for a client, or others coding entire mockups in HTML. Last, to become a web designer, you’ll need a wide range of skills, some technical and some creative.

What Is the Average Web Developer Salary? Here’s What Data Says for 2022

Real-world experience and a proven track record will be worth more to most employers. You don’t need a lot of work samples before you can create a portfolio website. Even having just two samples can be enough to show potential clients what you can do. A lot of people are looking how much does a web design cost for ways to make money with a blog, but most people ignore the possibility of monetizing a blog with a service. If you’re a blogger, think about the types of services that you could offer to your readers. The possibilities will vary depending on the niche of your blog.

A responsive designer keeps a company informed, explains issues as they arise, and discusses deadlines. Websitesetup.org is a free resource site for helping people to create, customize and improve their websites. Your creative ideas may be rejected due to the brand guidelines or a stakeholders’ personal opinion on the “right” design. Strong communication skills and mental resilience are required. Lastly, you have the option to join a product company and work on the same project day in, day out.