If there’s one thing that this economy has taught us, it’s that only true substance survives. To offer value as an independent designer, it seems that you have to have more than a keen aesthetic and lust for typography. You have to acquire skills that go beyond what one might learn in a design class. Experience becomes a key asset as you gain a wealth of subtle extra-credit vernacular. Of course there’s no substitute for specialized skills, so recognize where your limits are and be honest with yourself and your clients. However, it’s possible that you possess a high-level understanding of peripheral concepts that can help you AND your customers produce better creative to get through these tough times.

So here are 10 basic ways you can add value as a designer and ultimately make more money.

  1. Project Management
    The number one reason companies hire freelancers is because their perception is that agencies charge extra for “overhead”. To some extent, they’re right. Clients are on the lookout for “smoke and mirrors” techniques like brainstorming sessions, formal presentations, and “process”. Is this unnecessary? NO. But clients have to worry about the bottom line. So anything they perceive as fluff reflects poorly on agencies. As a freelancer, you’re responsible for the creative process. So it’s up to you to determine how much buildup a project requires.

    Get in the habit of creating a detailed statement of work that accounts for all your anticipated hours and costs. Once agreed upon, this document can save you time later when the inevitable scope-creep occurs. It’s also your responsibility to manage the client’s expectations and hold them to their responsibilities so be sure to end each conversation with a “next steps” discussion. Make sure the client understands what’s supposed to happen next and what’s expected of them. Then, not only do you maintain your professional credibility, but you’re in charge of the project timeline.

    Another client perception is that agencies also have an inherent bureaucracy designed to protect the “fragile” talent. Account executives often have to run interference for designers and developers, creating lots of perceived hoopla around seemingly simple tasks. Your willingness to address things quickly and without ego or fanfare can go a long way toward establishing a solid relationship. However, don’t be afraid to tell them what your schedule is really like. Although the client should feel that they are a top priority, it’s ok to let them know that they’re not your only priority. This establishes boundaries in a respectful way.

  2. Copy Writing
    So many small projects have no budget for copy-writing. And while you may not add a line-item in your proposal for it, you know damn well that there will be a moment when you have a small bit of Greek copy occupying space on the page. Why not take a stab at filling that in? I can’t tell you how many times my copy ended up making the final cut. Sometimes I’ll even put sarcastic copy in as a joke to call attention to the fact that they need to address it. Clients don’t often realize what a value that is, but in many cases it can keep a project on schedule.

    Another fine point is that you NEED take responsibility for navigation and calls to action. No page should ever have a “submit” button. Put yourself in the place of your users and understand what their mental process is. Then let that dictate what a button should say. By giving the user more specific language, you will entice them more and set up a proper expectation for the next step. This establishes trust between you and the user. But it also can increase the conversion of the site. Which leads me to…

  3. Sales
    You’re not a sales guy. You probably don’t do business on the golf course or expense fancy dinners. But you CAN make your design more-sales oriented. Don’t kid yourself. The moment you became a commercial designer is the moment you became a marketer —gulp— a sales guy. If your love of design doesn’t translate to conversion you’re in the wrong business. You can make a huge impact with your design. It seems like a lot more articles are popping up lately about designing for conversion. And they’re right. By developing your visual acuity, you already know how to lead someone’s eye. Now take that skill and apply it to one specific point on every page. Figure out what the client’s key selling point is and drive all support content to promoting that one goal.
  4. Photography
    You’re a designer, which means you probably took some photography courses in school. You’re working on a great design but you don’t want the site to be full of bland stock photography. Yet the client can’t afford pricey photo shoots with “real” photographers. Here’s an opportunity to be resourceful and profitable by offering to take photos yourself! Again, be honest about your limits but be confident that you can do a good job. I mean, they can always replace your images in “phase II” right? Identify the client’s photography needs before beginning work and offer to add that service as a line item. Or if the need isn’t realized until later in the project, the client may be frustrated by the prospect of paying too much. You have a golden opportunity to add recognizable value. Not only are you offering to take take pictures, but you’re able to create the exact aesthetic your vision calls for. Plus you’re offering to do all photo editing AND giving them exclusive rights to all high-resolution originals. That’s huge!
  5. Site Architecture
    Clients often have no idea how large their site is. A typical scenario includes clients guestimating that their site is “only 6 pages” when in fact it’s 6 major sections with sub-nav and multiple utility pages. Learn to recognize the overall scope of a project early and be willing to spend a little bit of time outlining the site map as part of the bidding process. This will help you assess the size of the project, but it will also help the client visualize the amount of effort you’ll be undergoing. This small step can act as a springboard for a discussion on functionality and a quantitative device for additional usability or navigational concerns.
  6. Usability
    As an interactive designer, you’re automatically a usability expert, right? Well no, it’s not that simple. But it’s the assumption of the client. So make sure you spend a lot of time observing trends and usability enhancements you can make on your designs. This is the primary difference between a print designer (for example) and a web designer. It’s not enough to make something look nice. Study the nuances of well-designed interfaces. Are your buttons’ hit states big enough? Is the next step obvious and are they in the right place? Are the links named appropriately? Can you add title tags to act as tool tips? Usability and accessibility are words that are thrown around a lot but they can’t be stressed enough.
  7. Development
    Dammit Jim, I’m a designer not a programmer! But does that mean you can’t learn new tricks? In my opinion, designers shouldn’t design web sites if they don’t at least have a basic HTML background to understand the implications of their decisions. But if you have that basic understanding, why not improve on it? I prefer to work with developers whenever possible to handle all the heavy-lifting on the back end. But I often find them to be very grateful when I hand off detailed HTML templates and well-constructed CSS frameworks. The designer in me wants to maintain the aesthetic control over the design as deeply into the process as possible. But the Developer in me wants to make sure that things are built just so, with proper semantic markup and clean CSS, minimizing div/span usage and acheiving a nice balance between progressive enhancement and graceful degredation. What’s more is that the marketer in me wants to be sure that the precedent is set that alt tags and title tags are used appropriately, and that the copy supports the client’s SEO goals.
  8. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
    SEO is a science and an art. There’s a fickle relationship between content and search engines because search engines use complicated algorithms that are always evolving. But the one constant is that if you write clean code with lots of useful copy, and update frequently, search engines will respect you. Aside from the traditional meta content (which is still important even if it’s not the first thing search engines look at), you have a responsibility to your client to understand how your code and design will affect their visibility on the web. So consider the little things. Before handing off a coded template, make sure all your images have alt tags. and make sure all your links have title tags that reinforce key words while supporting the expectation set by the link display text. And of course make sure you’re using divs instead of tables wherever possible. I was a relatively late adaptor to the anti-table movement, but it has made my work more effective and ultimately more marketable. And while you should again, be honest about your expertise (or lack thereof) in regards to SEO, you should be familiar with the basics. If you’re just learning the basics and are handing off .PSD’s to a developer, follow up with them by styudying how they built out your design.
  9. SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
    One good way to extend your relationship with a client is to offer to research ways to get them more business. Emphasize that the site itself can only guarantee a small percentage of conversion among unique visitors. But those numbers will increase as the site gains visibility. So although a well-built site may gain organic search traffic, a well marketed site can increase the site’s overall efficacy. You may want to research places within your clients’ industry where banner ads (which of course you’d design) are appropriate. Or you could define keywords on which to base a cost-per-click campaign. Maybe Facebook is a good medium for micro-targeted ads supporting your new site. Or perhaps your client needs a shove towards Twitter or suggest they submit the new site to industry blogs or awards sites for extra traffic. You can also become an ambassador for your clients. It seems obvious, but by promoting your work, you’re also promoting your client. So become an official PR spokesperson and refer people you know to them. You may also want to suggest email marketing. This is a huge can of worms but even a small site can have a basic HTML template (which of course you’d design) to promote the site to a list of core users identified by the client or perhaps accumulated through the site. All of these ideas can help your client gain market share while creating potential for extra work for you after the site has launched.
  10. Maintenance
    One of the first questions I ask when starting a project is “what happens after launch?” I can’t build a CMS, but I have friends who can and if I’m gonna need their help, I want to know. I need to know who will be making edits, how often they’re making edits and how they plan on making edits. If i can team up with a developer who offers a CMS, that’s great. But every project is different. I like to empower the client to do their own edits if possible. If I build a Flash site, I like to hand over text or XML files allowing the client to edit certain content objects. But be sure to set the proper expectation about maintenance before beginning work. Your client may not plan on updating until the next redesign. Or they may want to edit anything, any time. Maybe you’d like to sign on to do all the maintenance? If so, it’s important to establish how much maintenance there will be per month and how much that will cost. Maybe you can get a monthly retainer or work for a reduced hourly rate? Maybe it’s not worth your time at all, and you’d rather hand them the keys by training the client on the system you’ve built. Or perhaps you’d rather hand off the minor edits to a junior designer who needs the work. Just be sure to establish all that up front.