So here’s the story of what we did and how it worked and hopefully if your site has been affected by Panda you can use this as a template to bring it back up. Even if Panda did not have significant impact on your site, using these lessons will take your site to the next level.

The most significant lesson from the Panda – Is your site of use to the visitor?

It’s a simple but profound question. We usually get so caught up in our own development ideas, design tweaks and all the bells & whistles that we lose sight of the very reason we have created this site – to be of use to the visitor so that he/she can give us business. All our study on the Panda update brought us over and over to the same conclusion – make the site more useful.

Tackling Content Discovery – In how many ways does a visitor find information on your site?

We started with modeling the content discovery system of the website i.e. in how many ways can a visitor find the information he/she is looking for? We shortlisted and fixed on 3 methods of content discovery:

1. Site Search on top
2. Categorized Content in a left menu
3. ‘Also read’ articles and recommended search ‘tags’ along with each article. 

 We worked hard to make sure all three avenues were uptodate and easy to use.  This took a lot of effort as we had to break 8 categories into 26 as well as use a logical script to provide intelligent ‘Also read’ options to the visitors.

Revising Content – Beefing up existing content, removing duplicates, filling in the gaps.

After content discovery we tackled the actual content itself. The first major job was a cleanup operation – removing duplicates, redundant information and of course broken links. In terms of size the site is moderate i.e. about 600 pages. But due to the technical nature of the information it took quite a bit of doing.

So we got our content writer to review each page with the following mandate

• Write a fresh intro for each page of the site
• Write intelligent tags for each page of the site (not the normal SEO kind of tags but more indepth.)
• Check and remove duplicate and redundant content.

It was a slow and cumbersome task for the copywriter but the end result was a great set of meta-data for each page of the site. More importantly this was of a higher quality than that of normal SEO use.

I want to strongly point out here that this was not undertaken as a normal SEO rewriting exercise which many times barely scrapes the surface of the content. This was in-depth research and writing.

A new paint job with some web 2.0 finished the job in style.

Along with the above content work we redesigned the site to web 2.0 specifications. This helped by making the site faster to load, accessible on mobile devices and also gave a fresh breath of air in terms of colours and fonts. In the new design we went for simplicity over jazz. Although it was counter intuitive we played down the design aspect and played up the content discovery of the site.

 The results speak for themselves – a jump to and above pre-panda levels.

Not only did we reach the pre-panda levels but we also exceeded them by a good 30-40%. The rise was so astonishing that our client could hardly believe it himself (although he was quite happy!). Thanks to his support and patience we managed to pull of a really meaningful change to the site. We gratefully acknowledge and appreciate Dr.Malpani for this.

 In conclusion I would like to say that in order to beat the Panda you have to get to basics, forget the tech, forget the design, just focus on one thing only – make it a fruitful experience for the visitor.

Cheers,
Ron

I finally managed to get a copy and was not disappointed. Simon’s lucid and clear style of writing and explaining of intellectual concepts was engrossing.

Why should you buy this book?

If at some point you have hit a ceiling or are frustrated with the progress of your career, business, marriage or any other activity into which you have put your time then this book is for you. It helps you get back to your roots – the all important WHY. Reading the book and answering this question can give you a lot of clarity about where you are and where you were originally planning to go. Reading this book will help you make course corrections and get back to basics.

On the flip side Simon seems to be a die hard Apple fan (which can be irritating at times) and the book is replete with examples from Apple. But it does serve to illustrate the points he is trying to make.

One thing that study and reflection has taught me is that for some reason we usually get a lot of things backwards i.e. put the cart before the donkey so to speak e.g.  money before satisfaction etc. This book will help you sort out your priorities and get you straight forward.

Highly recommended for all those who have travelled a fair distance in their lives and need to recalibrate themselves.

Cheers,
Ron

What is the value add here? That should be the question every dotcom entrepreneur should be asking oneself? Its a fundamental question every business needs to answer. If you don’t give value – you die. Simple as that.

Dotcom entrepreneurs are not magicians no matter how many ideas they conjure out of thin air.

Some of the ideas I am seeing are so flimsy that they do not deserve to survive. Instead of simplifying lives with a great value add they increase the complexity for users. Some of the ideas are so hair-brained I think they might have occurred to the owner in the shower (probably true).

We tend to celebrate entrepreneurs who come up with innovative ideas, rewarding, awarding and giving them platforms. Most times they are just bad business persons who clutter the market and people’s mindspace with products/services that have no business being there.

There has to be a significant jump in value add for the dotcom to survive and prosper

That brings me to my main point. Is the doctom brigade correctly calculating the value add provided by the service they want to launch.

Value add should be in 3 tangible parameters

1. Value-add in terms of time saved.
2. Value-add in terms of money saved/earned.
3. Value-add in terms of clearly superior product/service.

In the entrepreneur’s mind all three value adds are clear but it rarely works out in reality. Most dotcom entrepreneurs underestimate the value-add or are completely deluded about it.

No significant value-add means customers won’t care, so no sales and no profits

Every start-up presentation I have been to, I have seen the owners talk about service / product features, how it will make people’s lives better or how it will be better than the competitors products. I have rarely seen a presentation where they clearly demonstrate the value add. The problem is value-add is a tricky thing, its subjective as well as quantitative but based on assumptions and predictions.

When I shifted from the local cablewala to Tata Sky there was a clear value add

The local cablewala was unreliable, quality of reception was atrocious and we felt overcharged and cheated. DTH gave us a clear value add in terms of quality, time saved (no disruptions in service) and crystal clear picture. They gave me a value add bonus on each of the 3 parameters, time, money and quality. Although this is not a dotcom example, it clearly demonstrates value add.

Why I love Librarywala.com is there clear value add that saves me a ton of time and money.

The dilemma for me was how to read the books I wanted to read without spending a fortune and also spending time loitering bookstores for good book deals. They solved my problem with a clear value add. A ridiculously low yearly fee (equivalent to buying just one or two books) and doorstep delivery. They have clearly solved the first two parameters for me – time and money. They still are getting there with the third parameters (availability of books and gaps in the collection) but 2 out of 3 is always a winner. I just hope they are making money.

Answering the value add question will ensure you are in the right business and will remain in business.

Some questions wannabe dotcomers must answer:

- Is the service/ product I am introducing going to give significant value add in terms of either money, time or quality?

- Is the value add clear and defined and not some fuzzy concept of savings or novelty?

- Is the value add something people will pay for i.e. will time saved or money saved or quality improvement = revenue from customers.

The last few months have seen some ridiculous concepts and ideas hit the dotcom stage. Some might survive and thrive but without a clear value add advantage they are simply trying thier luck instead of going deliberately to plan.

Cheers,
Ron

Challenges faced by our team and complexities of the project

• The United Way Mumbai website caters to 4 major constituencies for the Mumbai Marathon – NGOs, Corporates, Dream Team and Donors. Each of these constituents had to have their systems setup in a particular way and had to interact with each other in preset formats. E.g. Corporates, Dream Team & Donors supported the NGOs but the NGOs have thier own supporters as well. Seperate donation tracks need to be kept for each constituent.
• The size of the database and the amount of data that needed to be collated was enormous. Each of the above constituent has his own donation page and payment flow. We have 219 NGOs, 152 Corporate Teams, 134 Dream Team members and 550 individual donors through whose pages thousands of donations are being made.
• The value of donations is also enormous and needless to say not a penny should go here or there.  Each and every donation needs to be processed, accounted for and tax exemption slips generated. Crores of rupees of donations have been passed through this site so far. Each day brings more donations and the system must work flawlessly.
• A high traffic site such as this needs to be optimized properly. As the marathon approaches the daily traffic to the site is increasing steadily and so is the pressure on the website resources. The site has performed flawlessly thanks to the efforts of our team.

 A great job by a great team and a happy client.

For us client satisfaction is everything and we really felt great when we received this testimonial:

“Choosing Miracleworx to redesign our website has been a brilliant choice for United Way of Mumbai. Miracleworx transformed our online presence and enabled the intensive functionalities required that go beyond our organization and extend to over 200 charities, 152 corporate houses and hundreds of individuals. The Miracleworx team delivered beyond their brief and more importantly continues to extend every help, support and assistance daily and proactively.

Ron was instrumental in providing us the calm assurance that we were in capable hands, Sonali with her wonderful aesthetic sense was brilliant in the design of the website and Leena and her team has been exceptional in anticipating and accommodating our every requirement cheerfully and efficiently. I have no hesitation in recommending Miracleworx for any online project and our website which notched 1.6 million hits in 5 months stands testimony to the caliber of this great talented team.”

- George J Aikara
Assistant Executive Director
United Way of Mumbai

I would like to acknowledge, as George has above, all the members of the team for their excellent efforts – Sonali, Leena, Nirmala & Sayali. Good job guys.

They have once gain proven, no matter the complexity, no matter the effort – MiracleworX delivers.

Cheers,
Ron

I am not one of those people who can spontaneously make excel sheets that can give a marking to every factor and then come up with a complexity score. I am more partly a right brain-left brain combo type, i.e. I use part intuition and part facts to make evaluations.

But it did get me thinking about evaluating complexity and the various factors that affect a complex website. It also goes hand in hand with costing and budgeting of the website.

Complexity can be measured quantitatively in terms of the project size.

The size of the website can definitely impact the complexity of the website although the internal workings might be simple.

Size can be dictated by factors such as

• Number of database tables required
• Amount of data that is stored or would be stored in the database
• Number of distinct modules that need to be developed to complete the whole system
• Number of forms feeding into the database through the site

As you can see its more left brained number crunching but sometimes even size is not a good indicator.

Complexity in terms of the developer’s prior experience or lack thereof.

As I have mentioned above, complexity can be subjective. What might be very complex and daunting for a junior team might be much simpler and less complex for an experienced senior team. We usually combine juniors with seniors on projects (a kind of jedi apprentiship) to balance things out a bit. My above mentioned evaluation might be due to my vast experience in programming sites and could easily be a 8-9 for a less experienced programmer.

Complexity in terms of  the nature of the algorithms and exceptions used in the website.

An algorithm is a series of programming instructions to process some input or display some output from the website. My team once worked on a project that was very simple concept but the complexity was skewed by the points structure (rewards for shopping) envisioned by the client. The convoluted logic resulted in convoluted algorithms which had tons of exceptions (a type of choice which changes the flow of the program).
Anyone who has been explained the reward structure of an MLM will immediately grasp this kind of complexity. I always advise my clients to keep it simple for this very reason.

 Complexity in terms of multiple inputs and reporting of collated data from different sources.

Sometimes a web design project can simply become complex by the number of sources from which data has to be collated or streamed. Websites   with data pouring from hundreds of forms is an example. An ERP system would be a good example of this type of complexity. Different consoles in different functions of the business need to piped to the correct database, processed and then piped back out as MIS (Management Information Systems). This also ties with the first point about the database size.

Complexity due to lack of documentation or planning

Like ‘the blind leading the blind’, a web development team with no idea about specific deliverables or with poor documentation can go around in circles. For the team members without clear deliverables and a road  map the project is complex because of the unknown. Decisions have to be made (and are many times avoided) at every turn. Some decisions lead to ridiculous complexities in the structure of the website which creates a negative spiral that demoralizes the team. Simply put, a poorly planned project is by default a complex project.

 My own evaluation of some common types of web projects and thier complexity levels

• ERP System – Extremely complex on all factors (9-10/10)
• CRM system – Moderately complex mainly due to the mulitple input and reporting factors.
• E-commerce website / Shopping site – Moderately complex in all factors i.e. database, algorithm and reporting. (6/10)
• Auction Sites – Very Complex expecially in the algorithm factor. (6-7/10)
• Job Sites/ Property Portals – Highly complex due to the database size and complexity. (8/10)
• Online publication/ Blog/ News sites – Moderately complex in terms of size of the site. (510)
• Social Media Sites – Highly complex due to all factors. (8/10)

In conclusion it can be a variety of factors that dictate the complexity of the web development project, mixed with the experience of the team, it can dictate the success or failure of your project.

Cheers,
Ron

We can handle any type of complex project. Do visit us at http://www.miracleworx.com

Although there are a lot of new young entrepreneurs joining business these days most businesses are still run by 1st or 2nd generation older business persons. Although they have a wealth of experience and savvy they hesitate or are unsure about using the online medium. On inspection a lot of thier fears are justified but can be tackled.

Below are some concerns I have come across when older business persons are reluctant to take thier businesses online.

Concern: We have been successfully running our business for so many years, why try the web now?

Sooner or later all businesses big or small will have to have a part of their transactions online. It could happen in 5  or 15 years but it will happen. Those who don’t will find a significant part of thier business taken up by web savvy competitors.  A good web developer must sit down with the client and explain in clear terms the benefits the business owner will get over the long term / short term from going online.

Benefits can be explained in terms of

• Demographic reach
• Untapped markets (like youth).
• Business process efficiencies (The cloud)
• Improved speed of doing business (ERP / CRM)
• Niche targeting and more…

Concern: I am afriad of hacking, stealing of Intellectual Property, unauthorized copying etc.

In this area the older business person’s concerns are very justified. The web is notorious for such activities. But this does not need to become a reason for not going online. Preventive measures and security protocols can be implemented to mitigate the risk from such threats.

Steps a business owner / web developer can take include:

• Purchasing hosting space from companies with good defensive protocols such as firewalls and antivirus softwares.
• Creating password protected areas on thier sites not available to general public.
• Using encryption technology such as Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
• Hiring security firms to do security audits to find out vulnerabilities in the website.
• Backing up data regularly
• Only maintaing essential data on the server and backing up / deleting all non-essential data.

As with our health – ‘Prevention is better than cure’.

Concern: The costs of adding an online function will add significantly to my yearly budget.

Going online usually has a balancing effect on business i.e. where costs are increased due to going online there are also returns due to improved sales or increased efficiences. So the idea is to implement your online initiative in such a way as to offset any increase in costs with increase in profits/savings. Do read this line again as its very important and if you do this then the web initiative will pay for itself.

Examples of where the balancing effect of online initiatives occours:

• Costs of implementing a corporate website are offset by the need to print/reprint expensive brochures.
• Costs of implementing online newsletter is offset by savings in printing physical newspapers and postage/courier costs.
• Costs of Email/ CRM support teams are offset by reduction of phone based support saving your team’s time as well as better efficiences in problem solving.
• Costs of an ERP sytem are offset by improved gains in productivity and efficiency (if implemented correctly)
• Costs of implementing search engine optimization/ social media are offset by costs of hiring and maintaining large sales teams.

Adding online systems to your business need not be a one way street but can provide significant improvements in the bottom line as well.

Concern: I will have to rely on external web developers for my online initiatives instead of my core team.

Website design and development is best outsourced due to its cross functional nature i.e. it needs people of different skill sets to successfully create and run a site. But in a ‘Flat’ world of globalization outsourcing is an essential tool in any businesses arsenal and a fact that has to be managed. Of course care has to be taken during vendor selection to ensure you get the right partner firm. Sometimes you might have to go through multiple vendors to get that one vendor who fits into your business culture. I have some clients that we have been with for over 7-8 years (a long time in a web design company’s life).

In conclusion, the trick is to combine the older business persons experience, savvy and resources with a web developers knowledge and technology to create a team which takes the business to the next level. Initially web developers should be willing to teach and hand hold the business owners but in time there is a lot these business owners can also teach us young web designers.

Cheers,
Ron

Do visit us at http://www.miracleworx.com

The morning began with a opening remarks from Mr.Sujit Patil, PR Head, Tata Chemicals  and Mr.Sudhakar, HR Head,  Tata Chemicals. Among his remarks, Mr.Sudhakar mentioned,  the need to connect PR with leadership and vice versa. According to him PR executives have as good a chance of becoming CEOs as executives from other functions like operations or finance. He also mentioned that since the average age of CEOs is coming down and so is the average tenure, it has become important that ‘Leaders become good communicators and communicators become good leaders’.  His message was well received by everyone attending.

The  talks began with Mr.Chintamani Rao who spoke on ‘Corporate Communication in the Age of Uncertainty’.

And this seemed to be the theme of the day – uncertainty, crisis and change. That also made the topics discussed very relevant and interesting. Mr.Rao gave many examples of poor PR responses to crisis such as P&G Pampers Dry Max, the BP Mexico gulf oil spill and the  RIM Blackberry email outage. He also highlighted good responses such as Toyotas Car recall and J&J Tylenol episode. Although the J&J Tylenol story is well documented and taught in business schools, Mr.Rao raised many interesting points and ideas from these examples. I did not know that the US govt. had objected to J&J pulling tylenol from the shelves, I guess the US government has’nt changed much from those days.

Mr.Rao also demontrated the interplay of communication messages between the various constituencies that PR proffessionals target and the deep linkages between them through some diagrams and charts. The ultimate goal being to improve the ‘market value’ of a brand.

An interesting and interactive session by Mark Hannant on ‘Communicating Change’.

Mark led a very interesting and interactive discussion on the nature of change and how PR can respond to change. Mark began by demonstrating through audience participation that change is constant in everyone lives and now more than ever. An interesting point he brought up was about ‘Planned change v/s Defensive change’. He gave the example of Shell v/s BP, citing that Shell has a better people oriented change model where they do a lot of scenario planning.

Mark posed ‘Apple’ as a great example of an organization that manages change through high engagement levels of people. Although he did point out that Apple would have to prove itself in ‘defensive change’ due to Steve Jobs death. He cited Steve Jobs as a person who planned well, even for death.

He concluded by encouraging organizations to better prepare for change through scenario planning and higher level of engagement with thier people.

Benefiting from Dr.Rajeev Kumar’s vast experience in ‘Engaging the media’.

Dr.Kumar who is the Head, Media Relations, for the Tata Group and is also one of the select PR persons to successful get IABC accredition which allows him to put the letters ABC (Accredited Business Communicator) along with his name. Dr.Kumar took us through a vast array of slides on media relations. It was almost like a mini-course in handling the media. Although some of it was basic information there were a lot of areas where Dr.Rao’s personal insights made it an interesting lecture. It was especially interesting to learn about his PR stint in the army.

 This was followed by lunch, good food followed with some really good ice cream. I was wondering if I could stay awake for the remaining talks after such a nice meal.

Kartik Sridhar on the ‘Role of Insights in Public Relations’

 Mr.Sridhar has a very articulate and direct way on talking as he took us through a whirlwind of slides depicting how he and his firm went about designing and then measuring insights for companies. His main point was ‘Its not about counting how many people you reach but about reaching the people who count’. Mr. Sridhar further elaborated on how research and insight can affect the planning and eventual outcome of a PR campaign. He explained how insights help in the planning process and also can be used to measure the effectivness after the campaign is done.

An interesting aside was during the Q&A sessions when a student grilled Mr.Sridhar about ITC and ethics. It has to be said that he handled it quite well inspite of the inquisitorial nature of the complaint. Its always fun when the audience grills the speaker a bit.

Shael Sharma on ‘Sheperding Client & Brand Reputations – Crisi Management Employing Social Media’

 Shael. who is also on the IABC organizing team,  took us through a series of questions regarding the companies preparedness to handle online change especially from social media platforms. He categorized PR teams into three categories – Boy Scouts – Prepared with a plan in place, Tightrope Walkers – Not completely prepared but capable of handling crisis somewhat, and the Ostrichs – who don’t have a clue, have’nt planned and don’t intend to due to thier own reasons. He also showed us a few examples on Youtube of CEOs responding fast and immediately to crisis in a responsible and caring manner. He also showed an example where the companies own PR release can be used against it eg. BP.

Overall a thought provoking session with more questions than answers but interesting nevertheless.

Smooth talking Rajiv Dingra on ‘Optimizing Social Media’.

Rajiv, who is very well known in the social media industry, with a string of top clients and a wealth of information, took us through the fundamentals of Socila Media strategy. Looking at him I realized that the new marketing mediums are truly the domain of the young and older professionals have a lot of catching up to do. The talk was interactive with Rajiv explaing the four C’s of Social media – Connect, Converse, Collaborate and Cocreate. He also took us through the 16 fundamental dos and don’ts of social media interspered with examples from his own experience. It was an interesting talk and as a reader of Watblog myself it was nice to meet him too. Judging from the reactions, the PR students enjoyed his talk as well.

 Overall I have to thank the IABC Western Chapter team for inviting me and for putting on such a good event. I look forward to many more.

IABC is now actively looking to enroll new members so do visit thier site at http://iabcindia.com/

Cheers,
Ron

I am simply blown away by the professionalism of the popular food show Masterchef Australia

I am not particularly a foody but presentation and setup of the show really caught my attention and kept it there for an entire season. It speaks volumes about the show that a non-cooking IT techie like me was engrossed in it.

Thinking about it I began to question what makes the show so cool? The answer, in a word, Professionalism.

 Naturally I wanted to draw parallels to my own industry and the learnings we can get from the show. It can apply to any industry but I am more web design specific.

 Appearance matters, impeccably dressed, clean kitchens, color coded uniforms – professional attire

This is one area I personally struggle with and my wife tears her hair out on. But watching the show, one of the things that struck me was the grooming and dressing of both the judges and the contestants. A lot of trouble was probably taken to ensure both looked their best. The overall kitchen premises were spotless and surroundings well maintained.  The Japanese associate cleanliness and orderliness with efficiency and performance and this show epitomizes it.

Learning for web designers - Show up for client meetings well groomed, keep office premises impeccable and try and cultivate the same in your work as well i.e. clean clutter free designs, neat and presentable communications such as emails, bills, proposals etc.

 Direct communication, clear, honest and to the point – no room for misunderstandings or confusion

 A common complaint with most reality shows is that they are too full of bullshit. Sometimes everything other than the topic at hand is discussed. This is seen with the other Masterchef competitions across the globe. The judges in Masterchef Australia speak clearly, directly, with no room for misunderstanding. Instructions, guidance and even criticism is given with razor sharp focus and clarity.

Learning for web designers – Our industry is notorious for bullshit. Web designers, especially in India, tend to overpormise and under deliver. Most don’t inform clients clearly about problems and issues. Sometimes weeks go before clients hear from the designers. This has to change. At every stage, crisp & clear communication has to go to the clients. Problems should be discussed and transparency is paramount.

 Brutally honest and fair – a deal is a deal with no wiggle room.

 You have got love the Australian sense of fairplay and sporting spirit.  The entire competition was followed to the letter as per guidelines decided. No judge or competitor was given an exception. Both has to make some really tough choices and nobody let them off the hook. No wiggle room. As an example one of the competitors caught using a cellphone was immediately chucked out of the competition, no warnings or wrist slaps.

Learning for web designers – Honesty and integrity in all our dealings from pricing to delivery is the need of the day. During a project communication between team members, clients and others should be clear and direct. Agreements made at the start of the project should be honoured by both the designers and the clients, no exceptions.

 Professionals know their subject inside out and upside down.

 What made the show such a great success was the professionalism of the judges. There was no doubt that they are masters in their field and experience and knowledge shone through. Even the participants started to get more knowledgble as the show progressed. The challenges were created to showcase the different aspects of the subject i.e. the culinary art. For a non-cook it was facinating, I never imagined the depth present in the subject of cooking.

Learning for web designers - Be the master of your respective speciality. Know it inside out. The client should not only buy your services but your knowledge and experience as well. Keep on exploring, keep on learning. When you speak, it should be clear that you know the subject inside out and upside down.

 A sense of humour and good sporting spirit are invaluable.

Taken to its very core the show is quite brutal in terms of the challenges and the eliminations happening every week. But thanks to the judge’s and participant’s  sense of humour, good spirit and comraderie, what could have been a tedious exhausting process becomes fun and interesting. The rewards were interesting and worth fighting for. The judges commentary was interesting, fun, but also to the point. The entire show was conducted in an atmosphere of good grace and sporting spirit.

Learning for web designers - Projects need not be tedious. Interactions with client can be fun. If you make an effort to ensure a positive environment it will lift the work and people up as well. No matter the pressure or the situation, maintain a sense of humour. Do not work with people who insist on bringing you down or are overly critical. Good spirit counts.

Overall I would really like to compliment the creators of Masterchef Australia on an engrossing and entertaining show. We enjoyed watching it and learned a lot from it. Thank you guys.

Cheers,
Ron

I started off in my career as a visualiser. In our college (Sir. J. J. institute of Applied Art), we knew what a visualiser meant. A person who becomes aware (of things or events) through the senses is a visualiser. Once you know what to put on paper what you see/feel in your senses, you have mastered the art of expression through external tools.

And what makes one a good designer?

To create or execute in an artistic or highly skilled manner, which has both appeal and function to ones eye and brain describes a perfect graphic designer. Now, this sentence here is very important, because this very sentence holds the key to understanding what’s expected of you when you apply for a post of a “Designer” in any stream.

I have always believed, artists cannot be created. They have that seventh sense that differentiates them from others. These artists breathe design every day. Their whole life revolves around seeing beautiful things. Good designers have an acute sense of colors, balance, shape, size and most important of all, medium. Designers see the world from a very different perspective. If you ever say, “that’s a bad design”, it just means elements in that particular canvas are just not in sync with each other.

What is expected of a “Web Designer”?

A Web designer is someone who designs Web pages. A Web designer is more focused on the look and feel of a website than how it works. This explains the visual part of the job description.

Web designers have the following skills:

• Design / Visualization
• Understanding of the medium (Web)
• Some HTML
• CSS
• Project management

Companies looking for Web designers are looking for people with a good aesthetic sense that can build and maintain websites that look good, which is a first point of impression for that particular brand online. Web designers won’t be asked to build Web programs or applications or maintain databases for data driven websites.

These days “Web Designer” is used as a Catchall. Some people use the term Web Designer to refer to anyone who does anything on a website. Most freelancers refer to themselves as Web designers. This fine line needs to be drawn to differentiate between regular layout makers and high-end professional designers. It is indeed a tough job these days when this particular line is blurry.

So be sure to read the job description carefully for any job you are applying for to make sure you meet the requirements, especially when it says “Web Designer”.

- Sonali Salvi