OK maybe you can get started pretty well, but then you kind of fizz out on your design and can’t seem to do anything that looks good.

So what can you do? Rip off someone else? NO!!

But how about using designs that you can get the rights to and modifying them for your clients? It’s like legalized stealing …

I’m referring to theme clubs.

Theme clubs have been around for years and many of them are so-so in the quality of the output. So you really need to check around to find theme clubs that have themes that are of the quality you want to show off.

I don’t really recommend using a theme in it’s complete form directly as you get it. Make some changes to make it unique.

Your clients will appreciate it. IF they know it’s a club theme that is :)

My web design buddy and myself shopped around for years for good theme clubs, and paid for several. We never found a better one than this.

Click the link and then find the ‘demos’ link in the orange menu bar.

They are literally stunning.

See for yourself …

http://tw5.us/xu

1. Favicon Generator – some clients ask you to create a favicon, you know, that little icon that shows up in the address bar in the browser and in the bookmarks list.

What I do is first take a letter or two from their site title or logo, and put it into a .png file that is square. I use colors that match the site, and I try to be careful not to be tempted to use every last bit of space. I usually create a file about 100 x 100 pixels for easy working.

Then, all I do is go to the favicon generator that DynamicDrive.com has available and I generate a favicon from the .png file I created.

They also remind you of the code you need to include in the tag on the website.

Very handy, very simple, and I always use it.

Remember, the favicon might take a day to start showing up in the browser. Delete the browser cache to speed it up for yourself.

2. Forms WordPress plugin – Called Contact Form 7, this is the best way to generate contact forms, surveys, or whatever you can think of, to capture visitor information. I know, you can use a contact capture tool like iContact or Aweber. But if you don’t want to tell your client to spend money every month, Contact Form 7 is very robust and flexible.

First you download the plugin here, and install it on the website. Then, you use the link on the WordPress settings sidebar to create a form.

You use the same fields you created in the form to define the information you want to receive in the email, and every time someone fills out the form, an email is generated to the address you specify, so you can collect all the info.

Again, a simple solution, and once you get used to it, you use it a lot for your clients, and you love it.

In fact, you have a set of objectives with the website.

Maybe it has to make sales.

Maybe people have to feel comfortable on the website.

Maybe you want them to download something.

Whatever the goal, the idea is not to keep tweaking every little detail until it’s perfect. Hours … and Hours … and Hours … pass by.

And all you’ve got is a website that still does what you want, and it might look just a litle cooler.

Stop the tweaking and instead, focus on the objective.

Early on in my own design career I used to spend countless hours making little changes to the look of the websites I was working on. It would have been time much better spent on doing something else, more constructive.

Of course, if you are working for a client, and the client wants a change made to something, then that’s a change to make.

But there are much better things to do than do another take on that shadow in your banner.

What better things?

Marketing: increasing traffic to your website, and finding people interested in your services and engaging them

Getting some R&R: refresh your creativity by stepping away and spend an hour or two exercising or walking

Browsing other designers’ work: Get a fresh perspective, bask in the colors they choose and see if anything hits you.