This document outlines the typical learning process for web designers, from initial unconscious incompetence to eventual unconscious competence as a pro. It discusses the "Bermuda Triangle of Web Designer's Hell" where projects spiral out of control due to a lack of systematic processes and skills. The speaker then outlines seven core competency areas that web designers must develop competency in, including client management, user experience, design skills, WordPress skills, and technical skills. Examples are provided for client pricing strategies, messaging and content approaches, and developing WordPress skills. Attendees are encouraged to study each competency area and get feedback from mentors to progress along the learning curve.

1. +
@JudiKnight
How to Sail Through the
Bermuda Triangle of
Web Designer Hell to get
to WordPress Pro

2. +
About Us
@judiknight
michael earley
work: founder, strategy & designer at new tricks
web design
who: wife, mom & dog lover
known as: truth teller, psychologist
website: judi@newtricks.com
work: creative director at new tricks
who: WordPress designer, basketball enthusiast,
dog lover
email: michael@newtricks.com

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About the day
9:00 - Introductions and schedule
9:15 - Bermuda Triangle of Web Designer’s Hell
10:15 - Break
10:30 - You need a great website.
12:00 - Lunch
1:00 - Designing a website
2:15 - Break
2:30 - Designing a website

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The Bermuda Triangle of Web Designer’s Hell
Are you a current or aspiring WordPress web designer or
developer?

5. +
The Bermuda Triangle of Web Designer’s Hell
Is your goal to price, close, build and deliver effective websites
for satisfied clients and have a successful career you love?

6. +
TELL ME
DOES THIS
SOUND LIKE
YOU?

7. +
The Bermuda Triangle of Web Designer’s Hell
Your website projects end up spiraling out of
control, costing you time and money. But you
don’t know how to stop it from happening again.

8. +
TELL ME
HOW ABOUT
THIS ONE?

9. +
The Bermuda Triangle of Web Designer’s Hell
You want to confidently build client websites
without spinning your wheels and doubting
your abilities.

10. +
TELL ME
WHAT ABOUT
THIS ONE?

11. +
The Bermuda Triangle of Web Designer’s Hell
You’ve been going to WP Meetups and attending
WordCamps or maybe even studied web design or
development, but you’re not making progress like you
thought you would.

12. +
Hmm. . .
What’s Going
On?

13. +
Web Design Learning Process
Conscious Competence Model

14. +
My First Client Website
I thought it was so good
that I wanted to submit it
to the WordPress
Showcase.
Then, someone told me
what kind of sites were
accepted into the
showcase…

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Web Designers’ Learning Curve
Unconscious Incompetence
You Don't Know What You Don't Know
You like web design and think this would be a great
way to make a living working for yourself.
You’ve made a website or two and are proud and
excited about what you’ve accomplished.
But, you have no way to accurately judge the
quality and don’t know how far you are from doing
good work.

16. +
Web Design Learning Process
Conscious Competence Model

17. +
Web Designers’ Learning Curve
Conscious Incompetence
You Know How Much You Don't Know
You have been building websites and are starting
to realize it is not as easy as you thought it would
be.
You start to get discouraged because it is hard to
deal with the anxiety when you are confronted by
yet another thing you don't know.
You wish you had a systematic process for learning
and a way to feedback from experts when you
need it.

18. +
Web Design Learning Process
Conscious Competence Model

19. +
Web Designers’ Learning Curve
Unconscious Competence
You Just Know
Creating effective websites has become second
nature.
You are an expert in your field and sought after
confident for the quality of your work.
You are able to push the envelope of design and
development
You are a teacher and role model.
+
Web Designers’ Learning Curve
Unconscious Competence
You Just Know
Creating effective websites has become
second nature.
You are an expert in your field and sought
after confident for the quality of your
work.
You are able to push the envelope of
design and development
You are a teacher and role model.

20. +
Hmm. . .
BUT HOW DO I
GET THERE?

21. +
Web Designers’ Learning Curve
Pro Competence
You Know What You Know
You know what you are doing, but it takes a lot of
effort as you continue to learn.
When you complete a project you are confident in
the quality of your work.
You are charging a decent rate.
Your clients are happy with the results you achieve
and they refer to you.
PRO
Stage 2.5

22. +
Web Design Learning Process
Conscious Competence Model
Bermuda Triangle of
Web Designer’s Hell
Pro

23. +
PATH TO BECOMING A PRO

24. +
7 Core Competency Areas
of a Pro Web Designer
Develop a Strong Foundation and Get the Results You Want

25. CORE COMPETENCY
1. CLIENT/BUSINESS
MANAGEMENT
-Marketing
-Discovery
-Pricing Websites
-Proposal Development
-Contracts
-Project Management Skills
-Management of Client Expectations

26. CORE COMPETENCY
2. USER EXPERIENCE
& USABILITY
-Study and keep up with the latest
research on how people use websites,
what they like and don’t like and what
works for certain goals and what
doesn’t.
-Be armed with data about best
practices on readability, navigation,
scrolling, parallax, moving parts and
pieces, stock images, sidebars, footers,
opt-ins, contact pages. About pages etc.

27. CORE COMPETENCY
3. DESIGN SKILLS
-Web Specific Design
-Branding
-Creation of Logos and Graphics
-Color sense
-Use of typography
-Use of white space
-Web elements buttons and opt-ins for
conversion
-Long form sales pages
-Website image selection

28. CORE COMPETENCY
4. ONLINE MARKETING
1. Knowledge of online sales methods
2. Content Marketing (Blogging, Newsletters
3. Creation of lead-gen opt-ins)
4. Planning and testing sales funnel
5. Ecommerce best practices
6. Understanding how site speed or free
shipping affects results of online marketing
7. Search engine optimization

29. CORE COMPETENCY
6. WORDPRESS SKILLS
WP Technician - Uses a theme adds content and
images. Not much design or dev experience to start with,
can add on either over time.
Web Designer - Understands site layout, fonts, colors,
images, and overall branding needed to create a website
with a theme. If interested and able, can add on dev skills
with more experience.
Web Developer - Expert in creating sites using code such
as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, Perl, and Ruby. They
take design mockups and make them work for the web.
Experts in web standards creating specific functionality. If
interested and able can create their own designs.

30. CORE COMPETENCY
7. TECHNICAL SKILLS
-Installing and Configuring WordPress
-Working with Domains and Hosts
-Importance of One URL, Redirect other versions.
-How to Migrate a WP Site
-Backing Up WP Files and Databases
-Updating Plugins and WP versions
-Troubleshooting Techniques
-Use of 301 Redirects to the Keep SEO of Old Site
-Know Your Way Around WP Files with FTP
-How to Use a Text Editor to Make Changes to CSS
-How to Optimize Images
-How to Improve Speed and Performance

31. Three Examples From Three Core Competency Areas

32. AN EXAMPLE FROM THE
CLIENT AND BUSINESS
MANAGEMENT
COMPETENCY

33. Pricing a website is a subjective process and there are many ways to go about
it. The strategy you end up choosing will often be based on the clients you
have, the projects you’re working on, and the career stage you find yourself in.
Since websites aren’t a fixed, tangible product, correctly pricing a website
project can be a tricky task for many web designers and developers, particularly
freelancers and newcomers working with smaller businesses.

34. Tricky Business
Overpricing will alienate potential clients.
Underpricing leads to undercutting
yourself and losing money on the job.
Not accurately assessing the scope of a
site costs you time and money.
It’s no wonder so many web designers
and developers go into panic mode!

35. Relax
I’ve created an easy, five-step process you can use with your prospective
website clients to:
1. Short Free Phone Call - Qualify and set-up
a paid appt.
2. Paid Consultation. Gain the trust and
confidence of your prospective clients
3. Determine an accurate and fair price for a
client website with the client who agrees to
a price before they leave
4. Nothing left but to write up the proposal.

36. Preparation
If You Can Sell in Person, You can Sell Online
Do Your Homework
• Know who your clients are
• What you can do for them
• Range of services
• Why you are The Expert they can trust
You need a great website yourself that
shows all of the above.

37. Your Success Lies in Establishing a Trusting Relationship.
• Ask questions about their business
• Make it personal
• Listen to them talk about their business
• Make recommendations (show your
expertise)
• Talk about your process
• Connect!

38. Secret Weapon:
The Website Cost Estimator ™
PDF VERSION Automated Gravity Forms Version

39. AN EXAMPLE FROM THE
MESSAGING & CONTENT
COMPETENCY

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Story Before Design

41. +
EXAMPLE OF A WEBSITE BRAND STORY
http://thevirtualdivorce.com

42. + Brand Story
Trust Builder
Empathy and Authority Statement
Empathy Message
Primary Call to Action
Hero image with the message
targeted to the ideal client using their
words.
Please no sliders!

43. + Brand Story
Call to Action in
the upper right of
the Website

44. + Brand Story
Primary Call to Action
Demonstrates Authority
Benefits of a Virtual Divorce

45. + Brand Story
Provides the client with an Easy 3
Step Plan
Includes Calls to Action

46. + Brand Story
Secondary Calls to Action
Footer with helpful
information
Empathy

47. AN EXAMPLE FROM THE
WORDPRESS SKILL DEVELOPMENT
COMPETENCY

48. +
Biggest Mistake of Broke Web Designers
Spending hours and hours
obsessing over choosing the
perfect theme for each new
project.

49. +
Choose a Premium Theme Framework
• Stay away from free themes.
• Don’t use non-GPL compliant themes.
WordPress uses a GPL (General Public License) (GNU GPL or GPL), which guarantees end users the
freedom to run, study, share and modify the software as long as what their modifications are also GPL
compliant.

50. +
Choosing a Theme
Instead. . . Choose a light weight theme
and use it with a Page Builder plugin.
• Beaver Builder theme with
the Beaver Builder page
builder plugin.
• Astra theme with the
Elementor page builder
plugin.

51. +
Choosing a Theme
Make a choice. Stick with it.
Become proficient with that
theme and page builder.
Use it for all of the websites
you build.

52. +
7 Core Competency Areas
of a Pro Web Designer
Develop a Strong Foundation and Get the Results You Want

53. +
7 Core Competency Areas
Recommendations
 Study Each of These Competency Areas
 Get Involved and Help to Run a Meetup or Volunteer at WordCamp - Curate Topics You want to
Know.
 Join my Newsletter list for Tips in Each Area
 Work with a Mentor
 Get Feedback from People in the Field You Trust
 Sign-Up for a Course or Get Mentoring
- WP Web Designers Mastery Course

54. +
Sign up for my Weekly Tips and Get the
Pricing Websites Like a Pro.
Text the number 66866
Put in the code: WCATL
Then put in your email address.
Follow Me on Twitter and Instagram @judiknight