I could really do with some help!

I host with Vidahost. Never had any issues and their customer service is top notch. If you do decide you want to get some of your own hosting and things through them, drop me a PM and I can sort you out with an affiliate link, which will get you the hosting even cheaper :)

Also, if you need a hand getting your chosen platform up and running (like I say, I'm familiar with Wordpress), don't hesitate to give me a shout and I'll help guide you through it if you need it, no problems :)
 
Less muddled site - but think why people should use you over anybody else. What is your USP? How can you help them? Give them some reasons to be calling you up.

I also wouldn't put prices on the site. Do those prices include the design? Probably not. If folks are looking for cheap prices they won't go searching for a designer! You have to make people want to buy from you. It may be that you can get them cheap print prices, or it might be that you are a great illustrator or designer.

Getting in front of people does work. I have just been out delivering a job and dropped in to an old client (who was closed) but next door was a fishing shop - so I left a card and leaflet with them. He took one look and asked me to give him some prices for leaflets, banners and other stuff. My husband (we work together) had walked out of the shop without mentioning what we do!!! Face to face very few people will tell you to p*ss off and even if they chuck your card away it will have passed before their eyes!
 
Awww Tony you are a total star! All this is somewhat of a mystery to me as you are probably aware! I know all this looks a bit crap at the moment, but I'm really starting from scratch as I said when I was made redundant and couldn't find a job down south so ended up in a totally different job, I would never ever do this again! The work I have got so far has all come from people I know. And ultra modern styling is just not want they want as they're business profile isn't modern. Most businesses in the area are the same as they were 60-100 years ago and modern design style would go down like a lead balloon especially from a 'posh (accent) , rich (not) stuck up (not) Londoner'. Lucky for me I guess as I am stuck in the bloody past anyway! But I am researching to death and collecting books. I love this and I kick myself everyday for not keeping at it years ago. I moved on got a different life, had a family etc

Now I'm able to do it again and I have the guts to try freelance whereas I never did when I was younger, I'd baulk at it! If you could send me that link I will get onto it! I so appreciate this I won't forget it!

You've made my day Tone, and it was going very badly!
 
Thanks Kate, erm....those prices are including design, yeah I know I'm laying on my back but I really am that desperate and as you all point out hydiously out of practice! Plus people up here WILL NOT pay for anything! You have more luck getting bodily fluid from a stone! The way I'm looking at it, the old man is paying post of the bills, I pay for food (out of tax credits) but we have nothing left, so we need cash to be able to buy extras clothes and that kind of thing. I was hoping to entice the locals into being inexpensive and entice them over to me! But some have even said that's expensive! REALLY!

Ooh I can see some of you shaking your heads! I KNOW!
 
Have you tried offering a freelance service to any of the designers in Whitby (pick the non one-man bands)? I get a bit of work from a couple of designers/printers when their staff are on holiday. Or offer your illustration service to them... and also printers locally. The more you get your name out there the more chance you have of work coming in.

At the moment no-one wants to pay for anything - I bet even London is tough! You have to work out what you can offer that's different! Keep going it will happen!
 
Okay here goes. A lot of people seem to be steering you away from behance prosite. I used to have it, (left because I thought it was overpriced) but one of the main reasons people pay for it is to get a custom domain. So if your sticking with behance, then go and buy a custom domain as people have advised. But you don't need hosting, just point the domain at behance (check the support). The other thing about behance, is it's all custom templates with sliders to customise it. Easy. Look at this: Behance Network :: ProSite then look back at your own site. When I look at the examples, the buzzwords are clean, simple, professional; the work takes centre stage. And sorry if it's something personal/meaningful to you, but drop weirdwilf as a name, it's...weird! thisismyname.co.uk works fine for most one man/woman bands.

Okay so if the website is on its way, now to address the work. You've been talking about Whitby being old fashioned. But as Tony says, the point of a website is that it has the capacity to reach anyone in the world. If there's no work, then spend some time producing 'self-initiated work': proposed rebrands, Identity design, or just visually interesting projects about topics that are relevant to you. As it stands, Your work seems to be devoid of even a nod to any current design trends. You're on behance, so must constantly see what hotshot designers are producing. Another poster commented that you have come from an illustration background and that it shows. I would have to agree; a lot of your work is let down by poor type or layout choices, bread and butter graphic design. The cheapest remedy is again to see what other people are doing online.

Pulling in work I'm less qualified to talk about as a student, but I think Paul gave you some cracking advice about generating 'passive' income. Etsy is a great platform to sell prints - I sell zines on there and it's great. But honestly, address the work and the website, then selling yourself will become a lot easier.

As others have said sorry if this feels 'attacky', but better the honesty...
 
I honestly think it might be time to take a step back and think about how you're going to approach this whole enterprise from scratch: The ground you've covered thus far has moved things forward but there still seem to be a number of oddities and contradictions in the basic plan (example: your stated aim to work in a small, conservative area of the country while trading under a wacky name and where experience tells you that people won't even pay for the kind of services you offer - you can't blame the community for being no use to you as a designer).

Give some consideration to talking to a business adviser (I assume you can still do this for free via BusinessLink - they won't have all of the answers and they're no magic bullet but they will help you formulate and analyse the viability of your offer and you do need a viable plan if you're going to get things off the ground). Focus less on your website - it's a diversion. It's important to have a place where people can look at your work but you're not selling web design so it can be a simple, neutral affair which needn't take up too much of your time - time that would be better spent engaging with people in three dimensions. Also - and I think I've advocated this in the past - ditch the 'weirdwilf' thing for something more neutral and accessible: unless you're targetting a niche that you can be certain will be grabbed by it, you're alienating people (I'd extend this advice to include elements of your pen portrait: there are things in there that I'm sure are important to you but personal information/lifestyle details/etc. will only make a useful impression on a limited number of people and may put others right off).

Stick with it but seek and take advice where it makes sense: you can pull this off if you put it together right.
 
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