Software trends are currently heading towards costly online subscriptions. This trend could spell disaster for a web designer who is looking to completely websites, without passing the cost along to clients. Fortunately, free tools are still available. In fact, as members of the Denver web design community, we have learned a thing or two about the most helpful tools of the trade.
4 Free Online Tools For Web Designers
If you are in the market for a few helpful web designing tools, then look no further than the following four tools. These tools have been tremendously helpful to our Denver web design team, and we’re sure that they can help you too.
- Conduct a website speed test with gtmetrix.com. — Testing the speed of a website is essential if you want the website to receive high search engine rankings. A speedy website is also imperative to creating user satisfaction. We like to use this tool when a client already has a website. GTmetrix gives us a speed baseline, which we can then use to compare against the new website speed; our goal is to always improve the website’s speed. Our clients appreciate these concrete measurements, and we enjoy creating an enhanced website that the end users will enjoy.
- Analyze website reports with woorank.com. — Woorank provides free website reports for a month. The tool helps us to analyze websites that we are going to redesign, so that we can better determine what areas need significant vs. marginal improvements. We also use Woorank after we have completed the website to ensure that the new site passes the stringent review.
- Leverage easy designs with canva.com. — Like many professional web designers, our designs are often laboriously created from scratch using Photoshop. However, in a bind, Canva is a great resource that can save us time on sizing social media posts. Canva gives you access to pre-built designs, or you can use their intuitive platform to create your own. The designs are meant for use on various social media pages. As a side note, some of the higher quality designs cost $1.
- Rely on Google Analytics. — Before you roll your eyes and say “yah, yah, I know about Google Analytics,” ask yourself this: how often do you actually use Google Analytics? Google Analytics is a free reporting tool that quite literally tracks everything on your website. In fact, it can be used to track all the people that visit your site by location, device, browser, language, and much more. At Tag Team Design we make sure that every website we design is integrated with Google Analytics.
Well there you have it, four free-of-charge online tools to help web designers complete their sites. Are you looking for additional web design advice or interested in creating a new site? If so, we invite you to read more on our insightful blog or contact a member of our Denver web design team.