People will often say it a domain very saturated ( it is ) and you will never succeed in this business. I advice people that there is one more place always. How do you start ? * First of all you need a web presence so you think on a strong name for your business and a domain name. I advice you present as an individual because when dealing with a company it is obvious the price will go higher. Also find some cheap hosting package for your domain. * Second you need skills my friend, and experience. Join web design communities and forums and see what’s trendy learn some tips and tricks. Join torrent websites like thepiratebay or mininova and search for webdesign tutorials. My biggest disadvantage – I don’t know too much xhtml/css coding so I’m unable to export my designs so I must hire a coder. * Make strong connections – join the communities over the internet and start making some friends ( php , mysql, flash etc ). Maybe someone will ask for a complete website and you could need their help. Allways the complete websites will be paied more. How much could you earn from a page designed ? * Learn how to deal with your clients. Speak fluent English as much as you can, be polite always and don’t ask money in advance. Try using escrow service instead. I will tell you more in future posts. Read the entire post in my blog.
How important is it to have a portfolio? Do I need to create a few sample websites to show off when I start?
It is absolutely essential that you have a portfolio, otherwise nobody will pay you to design a website. I don't entirely agree that you shouldn't ask for money up front - you can easily get ripped off by clients who either don't pay or are slow paying. If you are not hosting the website, I would always ask for a percentage up front. However, if you are hosting the website then you are in a much safer position - if they don't pay, you can take their website offline. I would also say this comment is not entirely true: "I advice you present as an individual because when dealing with a company it is obvious the price will go higher." It depends what kind of clients you are aiming for - if you aim for big companies, and therefore big money, you are better off being a company yourself as they will trust you more. Companies are more likely to stick around, whereas an individual could jump on a plane or take a full-time job at any time and therefore be unavailable when they are needed. Also, if your prices are too low, companies might not take you seriously.
This is relative too. I have been paid for a lot of site without having a portfolio to show to them. But any site is needed for sure.
One of the things I've noticed on DP is that people will shy away from hiring designers who 'teen talk'. Writing "we can make that 4 u pm me plz thx" is probably not going to get you many clients. Take the time to write appropriately, else make the client feel like he's not worth the extra 5 seconds it would take to write a complete, comprehensible sentence.