 We're going over seven web design certifications that you can use to increase your hourly rate here on the journey All right now We're going for a ways to increase your hourly rate as a web designer as we know super important We've got to get paid right yeah exactly and most of these certifications They do require at least a little bit of experience or studying But most of them can be completed online and they are relatively affordable and most are even free and to help you out We've compiled this list of seven web design certifications to keep your freelance business competitive now These certifications are not just going to cover web design. They're going to diversify your skill set to really set you apart Yeah, that way you can become a one-stop shop for your clients So rather than just developing their website you can actually offer all of these other you know skills as well Now starting off with our list is Google Analytics IQ IQ this certification is absolutely free and I know what you're thinking Google Analytics That's not really web design or social media But it's definitely a skill that's in high demand and when it comes to analytics Google Analytics is the heavy weight Yeah, basing your web design decisions on data rather than just assumptions is actually going to lead to a lot more results For your clients, right? So you'll be able to tell them. Here's what's working with your site Here's what's not working and maybe even save them money down the road, right? It's definitely a skill set that's going to set you apart from others because yes Many people can throw together a website and make it look pretty But you'll actually be able to use data to drive results for their business The certification is valid for 18 months But you do have to retake it to make sure that you're keeping up with that Yeah What's cool about Google Analytics is they give you a couple of beginner and advanced courses Just brush up on different concepts and make sure that you can ace that exam and most importantly deliver results to your clients Yeah, and then the exam will take about 90 minutes Now next up on our list is Adobe certified expert or ace for short The cost for this is a hundred eighty dollars per product You essentially get certified by the products themselves. Luckily Adobe does offer specials sometimes like buy one get one That's cool. And being that Adobe has just a large suite of products You can get certified with things that can really complement your business like Adobe has a ton of products, right? Adobe for your pro photoshop illustrator all these things So you really pick the ones that make sense for you and your business So Adobe keeps really close control of their testing process and their certification curriculum So this is a really rare certification that can help you actually stand out as an expert for these products And the good news with these certifications is that they don't expire So you get certified once and you're good for life now That doesn't mean that you might want to retake it periodically because as we know Adobe makes tons of updates to their products So check in on every now and then retake that test just to make sure you're up to date Number three is general assembly bootcamp courses. So these typically range anywhere from being free to $4,000. These are the most extensive and really in-depth courses and certifications that you can get it Yeah, what's cool about this they offer in-person sessions or online just depending on whatever is best for you And these courses are taught by industry experts So it's not just someone reigning that picked up the curriculum they're teaching it These are people that are actually walking in the walk not just talking to talk and they do hands-on courses, right? So they're showing you really how to apply these skills into real-life situations topics can range from front-end web design to JavaScript frameworks to mobile app development and even digital marketing and general assembly does offer some free Introductory courses to give you a little taste of the full experience Number four on our list is free code camp and as you can guess the cost is free Free code camp offers web design and development skills for free and their library cannot be beat There's articles video lessons and workshops on all these different things What's even better about it is they offer different study groups in your areas You can get with people there just like you and learn these tactics to and a unique thing that free code camp does is they let you get That hands-on experience if you're just starting out by contributing to these open source software projects for nonprofits Yeah, that's so cool And what's even better about is you can use those projects and put it on your resume and your portfolio as things You've contributed to the fifth certification is Google mobile web specialist So this one costs $99, but that does include a study guide as well as three exam attempts in case You know third dead in such arm. Yeah kiss you fail the first couple But what's cool about is it helps you set you apart from other web developers and show off your skills on mobile We all know mobile is important. It's over half of all internet searches You want to make sure that all sides look great on mobile It's really what your clients are worried about at the end of the day Now this certification will help you test that and really give you hands-on experience with real-world tasks that you may have to face in the future Yeah, it includes topics like progressive web application or performance optimization Yeah, even accessibility or mobile web forms Completing this certification also gives you that really nice digital badge that you can display on your website or your different social media platforms And what's even cooler is Google actually adds you to a directory of all the developers that have passed the exam Which is just another way to really show off your skills and potentially get more leads number six is HubSpot Academy Certification and each course is available for free So what's important is that your clients want a online presence that not only you know looks good But actually sells their products or their services and that's where digital marketing comes in yeah Think about it if you can not only combine your web design skills now with your digital marketing skills You're gonna help your client increase their leads and conversion Not only that you get a charge more for it too because you're adding more value than just a website provides But web designers will most likely find the most value in their inbound certification course Yeah, this course will really take you through understanding inbound marketing and the buyer's journey and more and most these courses only take About two to four hours to complete So it's something that you can spend a weekend on and up your game last but definitely not least is the Facebook blue print certification So each one costs $150, but the certification requires two exams. So that means $300 But this one can really set you apart because Facebook is one of the most powerful Advertising platforms available right now becoming Facebook blueprint certified through that certification process does make you highly valuable to Your clients and businesses alike because it shows that your experience with the platform and you can help them with their marketing goals Exactly a lot of the clients that I work with you know They've tried Facebook boosting in the past and they didn't quite see any results But it's because they didn't quite know how to utilize these tools So if you're the expert then you can show them how to really take better advantage of the money that they're spending and get the Best you know return on investment the certification is administered and proctored by Facebook to Basically test how you do creating ad campaigns measuring results and troubleshooting any issues that do arise and each exam must be retaken once a year to maintain that certification now all this is great and all but landing those great web design clients is Going to require more than being certified with Facebook blueprint or having a HubSpot badge on your website Yeah, ultimately clients care about how you're actually going to help their business grow And they don't want to spend all this time talking to a million different people So if you offer all of these services, you know for them so that it's just one place They have to go one person they have to talk to then think about all the money You could be making from that client exactly or if they just comes to you because you build websites And then you can really show off that hey cool I on not only build websites, but I could also help you convert more leads I can do X Y and Z with all these cool certifications that I have really bringing those big bucks So there are the seven web design certifications you can use to help boost your hourly rate Be sure to like this video and comment down below Hey subscribe to our channel and ring that bell so you get these episodes first. This is the journey. We'll see you next time