They say that the web design industry is a knowledge based business and I could not say it enough times to my team. Quite obviously a business which is knowledge based depends heavily, if not entirely on…yes, what you know. Today, more than ever, knowledge is power and this is particularly true of the web design industry. So what kind of training is required for a sound web design business company?

Start with the beginning. If you’ve decided to offer a comprehensive range of web design services you need web developers and web designers. Web developers are the guys who do the coding…the hard and tedious stuff, if you don’t like this sort of thing. Many web developers have attended web development training courses while many others have taught themselves web design and coding. Personally, I find the self taught web developers more creative and competent. Let’s say that the motivation is there to start with. So, to establish your web design business, you need a few good coders, whether they do php, asp or other web based programming language.

You also need some good web designers. First impressions count and sell products. No matter how good and smart your code, you need a good web design, the right look and feel to attract your customers and get the sales. True, some web designers are more gifted and talented than others. But do take time to review and share good web designs with your team. What better way to improve your in house web design skills than to go over some well designed web sites and learn by observing. Study each line, each shape and colour of the web design. Web design is about details. Train your guys to look for details in a web design. The thickness of a border, the right icons in the right place can make all the difference.

Quality training is another vital element of the training programme. Train your web designers to understand your web design customers expectations. Develop an eye for details. Customers get very nervous when their web site is going live. They believe that the minute the web design is published online the whole world is scrutinising it. So web design customers are very intolerant to quality flaws in a web design. Training is vital. Have a quality checklist and train your web designer to spot the obvious mistakes like broken links, misspelling, misalignment in the web design. Once a web design is complete, the web designer must go over the web site with the checklist and tick each item on the web site. While this sounds obvious and simple, you cannot underestimate training.

All this training takes time and if your web design production is busy and deadlines are tight, it will not get done. Yet, training is vital to your web design business. I recommend setting a date each month when training is done. You know which date it is each month so you can plan your production accordingly. Make time for your web designers to get together once a month and share their web design knowledge and tips to the team. Web design techniques are progressing constantly and web designers can find whole online libraries full of the latest resources. Encourage your web design team to go online, learn the latest web design trends and provide a set up with a date, time and place for a regular training to take place.

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By: Ralph Ramah