Reap the full benefits of enhanced code quality, better testing practices, and early error detection with proper implementation of continuous integration processes. This Refcard explains detailed patterns and anti-patterns for core areas of CI, including version control, the build stage, pipeline monitoring, documentation, as well as communication and collaboration across teams and within the organization.
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Christmas is just around the corner, and these free Xmas patterns are a great way to get into the Christmas spirit!
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We’re living in a world where video content is everywhere. So if you’re not creating videos, you’re probably consuming them. It’s a massive part of our online lives.
Video is also more popular than ever before. According to statistics, 78% of people watch online video content weekly, while about 55% of internet users view videos daily. And that number is only increasing as time goes on.
That means that if you want to be successful, it’s essential that you learn how to use video editing software and create compelling visual content for your business or personal brand.
When you’re ready to start editing your videos, you’ll want to consider a platform that’s easy to use, has plenty of features, and makes it easy to share and collaborate with others.
There are many video editing programs, each with its strengths and weaknesses. Some are free, and others cost money, but they all have something to offer.
Here are some of the best video editing tools on the market today:
1. Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe Premiere Pro is one of the most popular video editing software packages, and for a good reason. It’s an excellent tool for both beginners and professionals alike.
With Adobe Premiere Pro, you can create professional-quality videos, add motion graphics and effects, create titles, and much more. The software is easy to use, but there is a steep learning curve. If you’ve used Adobe Creative Cloud applications before, Premiere Pro will seem more familiar. That said, Creative Cloud Learning Center offers many materials for users at every level.
To start, open a project and import your video and audio files using the media browser. You can also use dynamic linking to bring in Illustrator, Photoshop, and After Effects files. Then create or edit the sequence, add titles to your video, and add transitions and effects. You can edit colors, mix audio, change speed, and export your video file.
The user interface isn’t too complex, considering it’s a video editing platform with many editing options. The UI consists of panels, a workspace, and a blue highlight. After using Photoshop and Illustrator for so long, the panels were easy to understand.
The best part? Premiere Pro’s customizable workspace!
You can arrange the panels however you want and save different setups for different projects or tasks. For example, you could have one workspace with your video and audio files open and another workspace with only your timeline open.
As you resize one panel, the other gets resized to adjust automatically—this makes it a cinch to move around the interface to find what you’re looking for.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the workspace:
- On top, you will see a menu including assembly, editing, color, effects, audio, graphics, and library.
- Assembly is where you import your files. You cannot simply drag & drop your files here.
- Editing is where you can mix your audio and video and drag & drop them into your timeline.
- The color area will give you outstanding control over your video colors.
- On the right side, you will see color balance details; on the left, you will see the Lumetri Scopes of your video clip.
Key Features:
- You can import single or multiple images from other Adobe applications such as Illustrator and Photoshop.
- You can add animated graphics and edit them.
- With Fram.io, you can get time-stamped feedback from the reviewers.
- It offers stunning video and audio transition effects and lighting effects.
- Version 23.0 offers the best titling toolsets, with the ability to bulk-edit your clip titles in the timeline and flexible alignment controls.
Pros:
- It offers a 7-day trial period, where you can try out all of its features to see if it is the right fit for your business.
- It has a flexible and customizable workspace.
- The site’s learning center is packed with valuable resources.
Cons:
- It takes some time to get used to it.
- It doesn’t offer a freemium version.
- The program has a lot of effects you may never use.
Pricing:
It starts at $20.99 for 100 GB of cloud storage.
2. Pinnacle Studio 26 Ultimate
Pinnacle Studio 26 Ultimate is one of Pinnacle’s more powerful video editing software. It lets you create stunning videos with accurate keyframing, high-level performance, and professional-level editing.
Pinnacle Studio’s interface looks like a mini version of Adobe Premiere Pro, but some crucial differences exist. For example, Pinnacle Studio doesn’t have as many effects or color correction tools as Premiere Pro.
The first thing I noticed when I started using the editor was its color grading controls. The toolkit lets you adjust your clip’s tone, brightness, hue, and other color levels.
You can also create animated video overlays to direct viewers’ attention to a specific part of the screen. These overlays can contain any image, logo, graphic, or text with a transition.
In addition to these features, you can also create video masks and edit YouTube videos, drone videos, 360 videos, and other types of videos.
Key Features:
- It lets you make targeted edits with motion tracking.
- You can create two types of video masks: shape masks & panel masks. You can use them to add creative effects to your video, censor a part of the video, overlay some elements of the video, and even use it to hide objects.
- Smart object tracking lets you create shape-aware masks in the video, and smart technology means you don’t have to recreate masks for each frame.
- Have you seen those popular gaming videos on YouTube? You can make them with MultiCam Capture 2.0 Lite, which allows you to record your screen and add audio overlays. This product is also suitable for making tutorial videos.
Pros:
- It offers MultiCam editing.
- Its UI is clean and easy to navigate.
- In addition, they have plenty of helpful information and learning material on their website.
Cons:
- It’s costly.
- With so many effects and detailed masking features, it can confuse some users.
Pricing:
It starts at $129.99 for the complete version.
3. Apple Final Cut Pro
Apple Final Cut Pro is a powerful video editing tool for Mac users. It’s been around for years, but it’s still one of the most popular options for video editing. The software has many features, from basic video editing to advanced compositing.
From editing, mixing, audio, motion graphics, object tracking, and color grading to plugins, cinematic mode, and effects, it offers everything a professional video editor would want.
There are many built-in effects and transitions which you can use to enhance your videos. For example, you can add titles and text to your footage by dragging the product onto your footage or clicking on it directly from the library window. This is much faster than using hundreds of effects individually, which takes much more time than this method!
In addition, the newest version of the Final Cut Pro 10.6.2 makes it easier to track down duplicate clips in the timeline and timeline index, as they’ll be highlighted automatically. It also improves speech clarity by using machine learning to minimize or adjust background noise levels. And it’s easier to move, rotate, and resize clips.
Final Cut Pro is also optimized for Apple Silicon, Mac Studio, and Macbook Pro, which means you can work with high frame rates with high performance. Let’s take a look at some of its key features.
Key Features:
- Apple Final Cut Pro lets you move and trim your clips seamlessly. It also enables you to pack multiple video and audio clips into one bundle with its compound clips feature.
- You can add metadata tags to your clips, which will help you find them quickly. You can create custom column views and sort your clips by proxy or media types.
- The Duplicate Detection feature highlights duplicate clips in the timeline.
- With its Multicam editing feature, you can automatically sync up to 64 angles of videos with different frame sizes, frame rates, and formats.
Pros:
- UI is easy to understand and navigate.
- It offers magnetic timelines.
- It provides a free trial.
Cons:
- Available for Mac OS systems only.
- Very expensive. If you need it for a shorter period, you cannot get a monthly or yearly subscription.
Pricing:
It costs $299.99 for a one-time purchase.
4. CyberLink PowerDirector
CyberLink PowerDirector 365 is a powerful video editing program that is especially easy for beginners.
What’s appealing about it is that you don’t need to have any experience working with editing software—PowerDirector provides amazing customizable templates. The templates save plenty of time, as they are organized into proper categories such as Beauty, Business, Design, Education, and more.
Focused on making video editing easier for people without technical know-how, PowerDirector offers essential editing tools with advanced features – such as Mask Designer for creating images, text, and custom masks.
It also has a Title Designer that lets you add animated stickers, shapes, and call-outs to your video. Choose from a drag-and-drop menu for motion graphics, sound effects, and special effects. You can also add animated stickers, shapes, and call-outs to your video using its PIP Designer.
Key Features:
- It offers AI Motion Tracking, which means you can add text and graphics that will directly follow the object’s motion in your video.
- It offers automatic AI Object Detection.
- You can use its Chroma Key feature to use the green screen effect.
- It lets you correct the colors in your video in one click.
- You can also use its preset lens correction feature to remove distortion in your video and change video speed.
Pros:
- You can add multiple trackers and apply different effects to each for motion trackers.
- A free trial is available.
Cons:
- If you apply reverse, it gets applied to the entire video.
- Expensive monthly subscription.
Pricing:
It starts at $99.99.
5. Apple iMovie
Apple iMovie is the best free video editing app that comes with all Macs and iOS devices. It’s also an excellent choice for beginners.
You can use iMovie to edit videos, add music and effects, and create slideshows. It’s also great if you need to make simple edits, such as trimming clips or adding transitions.
It allows you to create/edit your videos in 4 simple steps:
To start a trailer using iMovie, first select a theme from Apple’s pre-designed themes. Then add visual effects to your video. Next, add the music of your choice, choose one of Apple’s pre-designed templates, and your video is ready to export.
To make a movie, select a project and photos and videos to add from the library. You can record directly in iMovie before editing. Like other phone apps, you can add text, effects, and music to your video.
Next, trim and arrange your clips and images in the timeline. When you’re done with that, click the Add Media button to add a soundtrack to your project. Your track will be automatically placed in the beginning and will fit your clip length. You can also add sound effects by browsing and selecting from their built-in sound effects.
Next, add your titles and text. You can make title screens, end credits, or other text elements with this feature. In your timeline, click the clip and then click Titles in the toolbar and choose from the title styles to add your titles.
You can now add filters to your videos to give them a complete makeover. Click the Filter button and choose from the built-in filters, and then preview your video as you choose the effect.
Now, you’re ready to export your video file. To do so, click on the Share button in the project browser and then choose Email or Text Message.
Yes—it’s that simple. So simple that even a complete newbie can get started right away.
However, note that iMovie is suitable only if you want to create basic videos, such as slideshows, short clips, and home movies. If you’re looking for more advanced features like motion graphics or adding filters to your videos, then Adobe Premiere Pro or Apple Final Cut Pro might be better suited for you.
Key Features:
- The Magic Movie feature allows you to create videos with pre-styled templates and added titles, music, and transitions.
- Storyboards: You can select from 20 storyboards with different genres, such as cooking or science experiment, and more.
- Cinematic Mode: You can edit clips shooted in Cinematic Mode on iPhone 13.
- Extra Special Effects: Add special effects such as slow-motion, speed it up, and use picture-in-picture and split-screen effects.
- High-Fidelity Filters: It comes with 13 video filters to help you add a professional and cinematic look to your video.
Pros:
- It’s free! If you have an iPad, Macbook, (or iPhone), then you already have access to iMovie.
- The app lets you crop, trim, and adjust the brightness of your footage before you start editing it, making it easier to start creating a movie right away.
- Lots of different templates are available for creating different types of videos (like slideshows with music)
Cons:
- Not available for Android, Windows, or Linux systems.
- It’s a basic video editing software – with limited editing options for professional video editors.
Pricing:
It’s free for all users.
6. Adobe Premiere Elements
Adobe Premiere Elements is a video editing program that offers the best of both worlds: it’s simple enough for beginners to use yet has enough advanced video editing features for professional editors to create stunning content.
The software also uses artificial intelligence to help you add cinematic effects to your movies.
Starting with the specifications, Premiere Elements offers a range of tools to help you resize and trim clips, add effects or overlays, and much more. In addition, its 2023 version comes with Adobe Sensei, which means you can add effects to your videos with one click. You can also use its newly-added audio tracks and slideshow templates to change the look and feel of your entire video.
You can also arrange your photos and videos in any way you want in the element organizer. It brings together all the photos from different locations on your computer and saves them there, so you don’t have to find them separately in different folders.
You can also import files from your camera or card reader by selecting the import option ‘From Camera or Card Reader.’
Adobe Premiere Elements offers a user-friendly workspace that groups its features into Quick, Guided, and Exper views. You can choose any of these depending on your level of expertise.
If you choose Quick, you can trim video clips, create a movie by putting photos and videos together, and also choose never to see this option again.
In Guided view, you can get a step-by-step guide throughout the creation.
Expert view offers more advanced tools and features – for example, an audio mixer or time-stretches abilities.
In addition, video tools let you mark and extract favorite moments, freeze a frame as an image, track moving objects, and smart-trim low-quality parts of the clip. You can adjust the audio balance with the audio mixer and narrate clips.
However, most of its features are designed for beginners rather than for professional videographers.
Key Features:
- AI & Automation: Premiere Elements uses Adobe Sensei AI technology to automate common video editing tasks. You can add effects used in some popular artworks, and the program will automatically adjust them to match the aspect ratio you choose.
- Guided Edits: It offers 26 different guided edits that you can customize to suit your needs.
- Templates: It offers plenty of slideshow templates, backgrounds, and patterns.
- Organization: It automatically organizes your files according to date, subject, people, and places.
Pros:
- It offers three views based on complexity.
- It provides in-depth guides for users.
- Guided edits are available.
- It offers a free trial.
Cons:
- It has limited features for professional filmmakers.
Pricing:
7. Clipchamp
Clipchamp is another easy-to-use video software for beginners on this list – and it’s ideal for small businesses looking to create videos for marketing purposes. It’s a template-based video editing program, so each stage of the process is faster.
The app comes with pre-shot videos that you can use in your projects. These videos are in a 16:9 aspect ratio, and they are royalty-free. Click on the stock video tab to add these videos to your project.
There will be multiple categories to choose from, and once you find your video, drag it and drop it into the timeline. Now you can start editing them!
You can also use its beginner-friendly video templates from the video editor homepage. Once you add a video to your timeline, it will automatically fit into the aspect ratio. But if you want to edit the video size, just click on the aspect ratio on the right side and choose from the options.
Now, you can make changes to the text and title. On the right side of your screen, click the text box and edit the text in the window that opens. You can also change other aspects of your project this way, such as the font, alignment, color, or transparency.
With its branding features, you can add logos or brand colors to your videos, which you can use in all of your videos.
Now, you can either use templates audio or add your own. If you want to upload your audio, upload it to the editor and drag and drop it into the timeline.
After that, you’re all set to export your video. Again, you can choose from three video resolutions: 480p, 720p, or 1080p.
Key Features:
- Video Editor: It comes with customizable templates, which you can trim, cut, rotate, crop, and add images and audio to. You can also balance color and do much more.
- Stock Library: Its stock library has free stock videos and audio tracks – you just have to add your own titles and other minor changes. It also comes with a free camera recorder which lets you add filters, balance colors, and adjust contrast in your footage.
- Text-to-speech: With its AI voice generator, you can choose from 170 voices to add a voiceover to your video.
- Green Screen: Remove unwanted elements while shooting using the green screen, then remove them while editing with the background removal feature.
- Video Overlay: You can spice up your videos with animated graphics, stock videos, transitions, and more using its built-in styles.
Pros:
- There Are so many templates to choose from.
- It’s very affordable and also offers a free version.
Cons:
- It offers limited options for professional filmmakers.
- Rendering takes more time than it should.
Pricing:
It starts at $11.99 per month or $119.99/per year (if you pay yearly).
8. Coral VideoStudio Ultimate
Coral VideoStudio Ultimate is one of the powerful video editors that starts you with basics and takes you through very advanced editing features.
To get started, you have to import your media into the library folders. Then, you can simply drag and drop your files or click on the import button and choose your file from the media browser.
Just like any other video editing software, you can drag and drop your media files to your timeline to start editing them.
Choosing an instant project template will help you get the result quickly. Now you can trim your clips, adding transitions, effects, and more.
To add a title to the video, click the title button [T] and add text. In addition, you can add transitions between your clips by dragging the transition thumbnail to your timeline.
Once you have added your video, you can add filters, effects, and music. Just click the respective button and follow the instructions. Once everything is done, you can save it and share it on blogs or websites, email or social media channels, YouTube, and more.
Key Features:
- Drag and Drop: Drag and drop elements in your timelines, such as a text box, an effect, or a transition.
- Color Grading: Using color grading, you can enhance your video by boosting the colors and correcting their balance.
- Premium Effects: Use animated AR stickers, Face Effects, blend overlays, and more.
- Advanced Tools: Make your videos stand out with cinema-grade effects using masking, facial recognition technology, dynamic split screen templates, and more.
Pros:
- Online reviews hint at its fast rendering speed.
- Screen Recording is available.
- One-time fee structure.
Cons:
- There aren’t enough effects and transitions available.
Pricing:
It costs $99.99 / one-time payment.
9. Movavi Video Editor
If you’ve been in the industry for a considerable time, you must have heard of Movavi Video Editor.
It’s a powerful video editing software that allows you to edit videos, create slideshows and convert videos from one format to another. It is an award-winning video editor with readymade intros, keyframe animations, and many special effects.
Let’s see how to edit a 4K video in Movavi. As you see in the screenshot below, the user interface is spotless and straightforward. You just have to click on the “Add file” option to start importing your 4K video into the library and then add it to your timeline to begin editing it.
You’ll see icons for transitions, filters, and more on the left panel. From there, you can add different effects to your video. To cut your video into multiple parts, look above the timeline — you’ll see an icon for “Split Clip.” Select the clip and move the red marker to where you want to cut. Then click on the split icon.
You can also add titles to your video by clicking on the title tag in the left pan. Simply select the one that you want to use and drag it to the timeline. Now double-click on the title in the timeline and start editing the text.
After adding titles and special effects or transitions, save your file. Make sure you save in ultra-high definition.
Key Features:
- AI background removal: Change your video background without using a green screen – with the power of AI.
- AI noise removal: Its AI-based noise removal tool will help you remove car sounds, wind sounds, or other unwanted sounds.
- Special effects for Youtube: It offers five frames and an exclusive pack of effects for YouTube.
Pros:
- You can directly upload your finished video on TikTok.
- Clean user interface.
- Free version available.
- The video editing app has sound-accompanying transitions.
Cons:
- Slow rendering.
- It does not offer more advanced features for filmmakers.
Pricing:
It costs $74.95 for a one-time license.
10. DaVinci Resolve
DaVinci Resolve is an excellent video editing program – with a free version with many high-level features that you would expect from a much more expensive product. DaVinci Resolve also makes other products specifically for editors, including keyboards, color grading panels, and more.
In its latest release, they have included support for Blackmagic Cloud and Blackmagic Proxy Generator. You can host your media library on this cloud and share your work with other collaborators and editors.
To start editing in DaVinci Resolve, you must import your video by dragging and dropping your videos from the hard drive to the media pool on the top of the screen.
Many professional video and audio file formats are supported, including H.264, H.265, DNX, Blackmagic RAW, and more. You can mark the part of the clip that you want to use by specifying a start and endpoint for it.
Once you’re done adding clips to the timeline on the right side of the screen, you can edit them further using options from the editing overlay. This tool can replace, insert and overwrite clips in your movie project.
DaVinci Resolve has a library of 30 different transition effects, including wipes, dissolves, warps, flares, and more. All you have to do is select the effect you want and drag it into your timeline on top of a clip.
You can also add 2D and 3D titles to your project from the title library. Drag Fusion Titles from the library onto the timeline to add a title. You can then customize the text, font, color, etc.
You can do much more with videos, such as making animations, creating soundtracks, controlling the speed of your video, and adding picture-in-picture effects, dynamic zoom effects, and timeline curves.
Key Features:
- Multi-User Collaboration: It’s possible to work with editors, visual effects artists, colorists, and sound engineers who are also online at the same time.
- Fairlight: It features tools to produce audio. You can use up to 2K tracks at a time.
- Media and Delivery Page: It offers a fullscreen workspace to prepare clips, sync audio, and organize media files into bins.
- Resolve FX: You can add advanced effects such as blur, noise, light effects, beauty enhancement, image restoration, and more.
- Color Collector: DaVinci’s 32-bit image processing enhances your photos, making them look their best.
Pros:
- It offers a free version with various editing options.
- The paid version is also affordable, considering the features you get.
- Clean and easy-to-use UI.
Cons:
- Steep learning curve.
Pricing:
It costs $295 for features like stereoscopic tools, Resolve FX filters, more Fairlight FX audio plugins, and advanced HDR grading.
11. Wondershare Filmora
Wondershare Filmora is an easy and simple video editing software that frequently updates with new features and advancements.
Using the software is incredibly easy. You can create a new project for every video or start working on an existing project from the file menu.
Then you can import video, audio, or image by clicking on Import Media from the drop-down menu. You can either drag and drop your files in the library area, click on import media in the library, and select from the media browser.
Now add this video file from the library to your timeline to start editing.
This can be done in two ways: drag and drop it to the timeline or right-click on the clip and choose the action from the insert, add to a new track, overwrite and append options.
This UI is straightforward, you don’t have to go back and forth, and mostly all options are on a single page. You can start adding titles, effects, animations, etc., by dropping them in the timeline. Then, select the option from the top of the window.
That’s it. Your first video in Wondershare Filmora is ready to be saved and exported. Click on the Export link on the topmost menu, choose the location, enter the video name, choose format, and click the Export button.
Filmora has the edge over other video editors, such as Adobe Creative Cloud, in its price point. Its rendering speed and performance are comparable to those of Creative Cloud products, but it lacks more advanced features, such as motion tracking and speed remapping. If you don’t require those features at all, though, it’s a good choice.
Key Features:
- Split Screen: It offers a split-screen template where you can add multiple videos in one to make it more fun. It has more than 30 split-screen templates.
- Keyframing: Enlarge, narrow, or rotate your clips with its Keyframig feature and create many more visual animations.
- Motion tracking: It automatically tracks the object movement and lets you pin the graphic or other elements to move in the same motion.
- Screen Recorder: It allows you to record your screen with system and microphone audio.
- Video effects: It offers over 900 video effects, including titles, filters, transitions, motion, and more.
- Green Screen: You can change your video backgrounds or elements with the green screen.
Pros:
- Great selection of features
- Easy-to-use interface
- Fast rendering.
- A free version is available.
Cons:
- So many features might be overwhelming for new users.
- Users have reported that the software sometimes crashes.
Pricing:
It starts at $19.99 per month.
12. FlexClip
With FlexClip It’s very easily to create and edit videos for the brand, marketing, social media, family, and any other purpose.
You can make a Video in 3 Steps :
- Add videos or photos from computer or stock libraries,
- Add text, music, elements, and more to customize your video,
- Export your video, then share it via a link or post to social media platforms.
FlexClip is a simple yet powerful video maker and editor for everyone. It help users easily create compelling video content for personal or business purposes without any learning curve.
Key Features:
- AI auto subtitle generator, GIF maker, image background remover, screen recorder and video converter supported.
- Millions of Royalty-free Stock Media including photos, videos, and music.
- 4000+ exquisitely-designed templates in diverse categories.
- Cloud-stored function for trans-devices editing, anywhere and anytime.
- Storyboard and timeline mode for both beginners and professionals.
Pros:
-
Great selection of features
-
A free version is available.
Cons:
Pricing:
It starts with a free licence and go at $19.99 per month for the business licence.
Frequently Asked Questions about Video Editing Platforms
What is a video editing platform?
A video editing platform is a software platform that allows you to edit your videos, photos, and other media files.
How do I choose the right video editing platform?
The first thing you should do when choosing a video editing platform is to find out whether it supports the features you need for your project. Then check if it supports multiple file types and if it has tools for basic editing.
How much does a professional video editing platform cost?
You can find affordable professional-grade video editing software for less than $100 per year. The more advanced platforms with additional features cost more, but they also offer more capabilities than basic ones like iMovie or Windows Movie Maker that come free with your operating system.
How do I edit a video?
Editing a video can be done on any video editing platform. The process of editing varies from platform to platform, but the basic steps are the same:
- Import your media (photos and videos) into the program
- Arrange your media into a sequence for your video
- Add transitions between scenes or clips
- Add titles and other text elements to enhance visual storytelling
- Save the project file
What features do video editing platforms have?
Video editing platforms provide many features to help users create their own videos. Some of these features include:
- Video creation and editing tools
- Audio mixing capabilities
- The ability to add titles, images, and animations
Over to You!
The choice of a video editing platform can be one of the most important decisions you make when creating your video. First, you must choose a platform that will allow you to create high-quality videos suitable to your requirements. And if you’re looking for a basic and free video editor, there are options for that too.
If you’re a professional, use advanced video editing software tools like Adobe Premiere Pro, Pinnacle Studio 26 Ultimate, and Apple Final Cut Pro. They will take time to get used to, and you’d have to shell out a considerable budget, but it will be well worth it.
If you’re an amateur or a beginner, I recommend using Movavi Video Editor Wondershare Filmora or Clipchamp. They are easy to use and the best bang for the buck.
And if your purpose is just to create personal videos for your family and acquaintances on social media, then you can use a free video editing software like Apple iMovie.
The post 11 Best Video Editing Apps first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.
Designers have a wide range of lucrative career options.
This resource puts together some of the best small business ideas to help chart your career path.
It covers the market size, earning potential, estimated startup cost, the target audience, and the value they bring to the table. You’ll also learn how to launch the business, the required training and licenses, and a few companies already killing it in the space for your inspiration.
So, let’s begin.
Table of Contents
- Motion Design Courses
- Product Design Courses
- Graphic Design Courses
- User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) Design Courses
- Fashion Design Courses
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
- Children’s Coloring Books
- Adult Coloring Books
- Teenagers
- Teach People to Create and Sell Coloring Books
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Example of Businesses in this Space
How to Choose the Best Business Ideas as a Designer
1. Online Course for Designers and Animators
The demand for digital designers will grow by 23% until 2031—faster than America’s 5% average occupation growth rate. And the market for online courses will grow at the same speed to reach $198 billion in sales by 2030.
Also, 87% of managers said hiring more UX designers is their organization’s top priority.
- Earning potential: $19,500 to $135,000 annually (or $69,900 average).
- Top marketplaces: Udemy, Udacity, Skillshare, LinkedIn Learning, Thinkific, Alison, AppSumo, CyberU, PluralSight, and self-hosted options.
- Estimated start cost: $8,000 to $36,000.
Target Audience and Value
Create and sell online courses based on your transferable design skills. Let’s explore five options:
1. Motion Design Courses
Students pay about $85 to $600 for motion design courses.
And students can recuperate their investment quickly since motion designers earn between $58 to $300 per hour.
2. Product Design Courses
Jaguar C-X16 Design. Creative Commons.
Product design courses are between $85 to over $4,000.
Product designer roles pay about $115,000 annually. And finding employment is easy, as over 70% of hiring managers have increased their designer hires.
3. Graphic Design Courses
Art Director and Graphic Designer Peter Cocking, on utilizing white spaces. Creative Commons.
Top-earning graphics designers earn about $43 an hour or $90,000 a year. So, you can sell this online course for $85 to $15,000 per student.
4. User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) Design Courses
UI/UX online course creators usually take $85 to $2,500 per student. And students who become top earners take home up to $174,000 a year or $84 an hour.
5. Fashion Design Courses
Fashion designer courses cost $40 to $4,000.
However, top designers earn over $90,000 a year. So your students can get outsized value from their investment.
How to Launch
Launch your online design course in seven steps:
- Find a simple course idea
- Outline the course
- Create the first module
- Build your sales page and join marketplaces
- Create your thank you page
- Write your sales emails
- Launch your course
Most people get stuck in the ideas phase. Instead, find a simple course idea based on your skills and launch it.
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Course marketplaces have unique education requirements. So check the publisher requirements of the platform you want to launch the course.
However, most marketplaces do not require special certifications to launch a design course.
Example of Businesses in this Space
Adobe After Effects: Complete Course from Novice to Expert by Louay Zambarakji.
Courses from Motion Design School.
2. Graphics Design Business Serving Brick-and-Mortar Outlets
Graphic design for brick-and-mortar outlets can be a quick way to start your small business for designers. These businesses use graphic design services to create marketing collateral, like flyers, presentations, and brochures, to send brand messages to their audience.
The increasing demand for designers drives consistent global graphic design market growth, currently valued at around $43.4 billion.
- Earning potential: $35,000 to $66,000 per year (or $47,921 average)
- Top marketplaces: Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer.com, SolidGigs, and self-hosted options.
- Estimated start cost: $2,000 to $10,000.
Target Audience and Value
You can provide graphic design services to countless small businesses, and some of them include:
1. Ice cream shop
Image credit: Fiverr
You can create packaging designs and logos for those planning to own ice cream shops. The top Fiverr designers charge around $25 per project, while some value their services up to $260 per project.
2. Landscaping Business
Image credit: Fiverr
Most landscaping businesses need graphic designers to help with custom 3d Landscape concept design and illustrations for their client’s properties—some designers on Fiverr charge around $180 per project and up to $480 for premium service.
3. Catering Business
Image credit: Fiverr
Catering business logos on Fiverr costs $5 to $100 per project. However, some top designers charge up to $450 for premium services.
4. Food Truck Business
Image credit: Fiverr
Professional food truck and trailer wrap designers on Fiverr charge $25 to over $100 per project. You transform the designs into formats such as AI, JPG, and PDF to provide multiple use options for the business.
5. Pet Sitting
About 70% of U.S. households own a pet. That’s approximately 91 million households, nearly ten million more than the population of Germany, the EU’s largest population, making a pet business lucrative.
You can design logos and marketing materials for pet-sitting and dog-walking businesses. The standard rate on Fiverr is between $5 and $100.
How to Launch
Start your graphic design small business in six steps:
- Build your portfolio by offering free designs
- Name your graphic design business
- Build a basic website
- Create social media accounts
- Join top graphic design marketplaces
- Build your email lists and run ads
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Starting this new business doesn’t need special certifications and licenses. However, pursuing certifications like Adobe Certified Associate and other courses on Udemy and Coursera can advance your credibility.
Example of Businesses in this Space
Some of the small businesses making waves in this space are:
3. Graphics Design and Animation Coach
Graphic design and animation coaching is one of the best small business ideas to start as a designer. Consider this career path if you’re curious about designs and motion graphics and are passionate about teaching.
Employment for professionals in this field will grow by 5% from 2021 to 2031, as fast as the average for all occupations.
- Earning potential: $79,153 average compensation per year.
- Top marketplaces: Udemy, Coursera, Alison, Fiverr, and self-hosted options.
- Estimated start cost: $0 to $15,000, depending on whether you run the coaching business from home or the office.
Target Audience and Value
Let’s explore some of the coaching services you can provide:
1. Personal Training and Coaching
Image credit: Iveta Karpathyova Studio
One-on-one graphics and animation coaching via Zoom is in high demand. You can sell your training and coaching service on your website or online marketplaces. Some personal trainers charge about $650 for a three-month-long session.
Most non-marketplace users often charge more. For instance, Iveta Karpathyova, a graphic design personal trainer, takes about $2,000 for eight hours of private one-on-one instruction.
2. Graphic and Animation Coaching for Design Teams
You can use RFPs to find companies who want to train their in-house design teams in 2D or 3D animations. Also, you can target companies that use graphics to boost user engagement, like UX professionals.
Austin Saylor is an example in this space. He earns up to $10,000 from his training program for graphic design teams.
3. Online Courses
Image credit: Udemy
You can create online courses and sell them on marketplaces like Udemy, Coursera, and Alison if you don’t have the resources for one-on-one coaching. For instance, some animation courses on Udemy cost between $20 to $139 for old students or between $14 and $24.99 for new users.
How to Launch
Start your graphic design and animation coaching small business idea in seven steps:
- Get professional training
- Develop your business plan
- Design your coaching courses and certificate of completion
- Set your coaching fees
- Set up your payment methods and plan your business finances
- Choose a coaching business name
- Create a logo and your brand identity
- Set up your coaching website and social media presence
- Design your marketing plan
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Once you possess transferable design and animation skills, you don’t need special training, certification, or licenses to operate a graphic coaching business. However, getting certification training will advance your qualification and give you the confidence to train people.
Some options include:
- Parsons Motion Design and Animation Certificate
- Montgomery College Digital Animation Certificate
- The University of Tokyo Interactive Computer Graphics
Example of Businesses in this Space
Some businesses offering graphic design and animation coaching services are:
4. WordPress Themes and Website Templates
A WordPress theme and website template development business is one of the most lucrative small business ideas for designers.
The WordPress platform controls nearly 65% of the CMS market share and powers 43% of all websites. That’s a staggering 82 million, meaning there are about three times more WordPress websites than the number of web developers worldwide.
Shopify comes a distant second, powering only 3.5% of all websites. However, WordPress has over 11,000 themes. As a theme developer, you can tap into this lucrative market.
- Earning potential: $12 t0 $12,000 per theme or template
- Top marketplaces: Envato, Creative Market, and Codecanyon.
- Estimated start cost: Premium WordPress theme builders costs between $99 to $200
Target Audience and Value
Some of the most successful business ideas or markets to explore in this field are:
1. WordPress Themes Development
Image Credit: Themeforest
Bestselling themes on Themeforest cost $39 to $69, while the most expensive options go for $6,000 to $12,000. Also, Fiverr developers charge up to $1,000 for custom WordPress theme development.
2. Site Templates Development
Best-selling site templates on Themeforest cost between $12 to $49. The high-priced ones go from $200 to $1,000. The price range for popular themes on Creative Market is the same as on Themeforest. However, the most expensive options range from $520 to $5,000.
3. Landing Page Templates Development
Landing page creation is a lucrative business because of its high demand for lead generation. The best-selling landing page templates on Themeforest cost $12 to $39, while the expensive ones go for $59 to $118, making them affordable.
How to Launch
Launch this new business idea with these simple steps:
- Pick a niche
- Develop your business plan
- Set your pricing
- Plan your business finances to understand the overhead costs involved
- Design your themes and site templates on your computer
- Develop the theme with premium theme builders like TemplateToaster or outsource to freelance theme developers.
- Create a free version of the theme
- Test your theme or site templates
- Join a marketplace and sell your theme
- Promote your business with paid ads
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
You don’t need special training, certification, or licenses to build a successful career as a theme developer. In addition, some theme builders don’t require coding knowledge.
Example of Businesses in this Space
Some theme developers on Fiverr and Themeforest are:
5. Email and Newsletter Templates Creator
Email template development is another good business idea to explore.
There are over four billion daily email users, sending and receiving more than 306 billion emails daily, making it an effective channel to reach and engage customers. Also, data shows that 37% of brands are increasing their email budget.
As an email and newsletter templates creator, you can design beautiful templates for small and medium-sized businesses that can’t afford an in-house design team, digital marketing services, and marketplaces.
- Earning potential: $10 to $150 per project
- Top marketplaces: Themeforest, Fiverr, Creative Market, and self-hosted options.
- Estimated start cost: $0 to $200
Target Audience and Value
You can offer your service on several marketplaces and your website. However, these options provide the most straightforward way to make it big in this field.
1. Themeforest Email Templates
Themeforest’s top-rated email templates cost about $8 to $116. Most of these templates have between 100 and 1,500 sales, indicating high demand for Themeforest email templates. The most expensive option currently costs $117 for the regular license and has sold over 100 copies.
2. Fiverr Email Templates
Demand for Fiverr email template creators is also pretty high. The best-selling professionals take between $10 to $25 per project. However, hand-coded responsive HTML options go as high as $80.
3. Creative Market Email Templates
Creative Market has over 1,500 email templates. The popular designs go for $10 to $39, while the most expensive templates cost between $50 and $150. Most designs are for MailChimp, Campaign Monitor, and Constant Contact platforms.
How to Launch
Launch your email and newsletter design business in these few steps:
- Pick a niche and develop your business plan
- Set your pricing
- Design your email and newsletter templates
- Test on different devices such as desktop computers, mobile, and iPad
- Join marketplaces and sell your templates
- Create a logo and business website
- Join popular social media and build your online presence
- Market your business
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
You don’t need special training or licenses to create email and newsletter templates. Instead, strong customer relationships and positive reviews are what you need to thrive in this field.
Example of Businesses in this Space
You can build a profitable business in this field. Let’s see a few of the successful ones for your inspiration.
6. Fonts
Typography is one of the financially rewarding home business ideas for designers.
Custom fonts allow businesses to create unique brand identities to stand out from the crowd. As a result, this space holds limitless opportunities for typographers.
For instance, IBM paid over $1 million annually to use Monotype’s warhorse font Helvetica before developing its IBM Plex typeface.
Other companies like Netflix, Airbnb, and SAP also invested in custom fonts and typefaces to reinforce brand messages and save on licensing fees. So you might want to explore this small business idea. You can also structure it as a consulting business.
- Earning potential: $30 to $300,000 for bespoke font
- Top marketplaces: Envato, Creative market, Fiverr, and self-hosted options
- Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200
Target Audience and Value
The best target audience for this small business idea is brands that want to create a unique identity to differentiate from the competition. Some of the places to sell your service are:
1. Envato
Envato has an extensive library of over 30,000 stunning fonts and types.
Many small business owners and online businesses use the marketplace to find unique fonts. Envato users with an active subscription can download the fonts for any project and marketing campaign.
The individual plan costs $16.5 monthly, while the team plan is available at $10.75 per member. The enterprise plan requires a custom quote.
2. Fiverr
Fiverr is a great place to start a typography business as a beginner. Small business owners and online businesses use it to hire affordable typographers. The platform currently hosts over 2,000 custom font services.
Typographers on the platform charge between $10 to $30 for custom fonts. The top earners take home over $60 for premium services.
3. Corporate Clients
Experienced typographers can explore this option.
Creating bespoke typefaces for corporate clients may cost up to $300,000. First, however, you’ll need to demonstrate your value by building a strong portfolio and understanding how to craft a pitch, an offer, and a closing.
How to Launch
Typographers are in high demand. Start your typography business in five types:
- Design your fonts
- Build your website and plan your marketing
- Join marketplaces and sell your fonts
- Build your prospects list
- Send custom font design proposals to prospects
- Market your business with paid ads and on social media
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Typography is one of the most lucrative home business ideas for designers today. You can start this small business without special certifications and licenses.
However, taking typography courses on Udemy and other learning platforms can help you master your art and design better fonts.
Example of Businesses in this Space
Some of the businesses in this field are:
7. Graphics Templates and Marketing Collateral
Marketing collateral is media and graphics materials organizations use to support their sales efforts and advance their brand messages.
It includes anything from brochures, business cards, and posters. These materials give prospects the information they need to make informed purchasing decisions.
Creating them as graphic templates lets people customize and use them as they wish, enabling a much larger potential audience size. For example, as a marketing collateral designer, you could also run a consulting business as part of your larger offering.
- Earning potential: $10 to $1,300 per project.
- Top marketplaces: Envato, Creative Market, Fiverr, and self-hosted options.
- Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200 to get a good computer.
Target Audience and Value
The target audiences for this small business idea are social media managers, cleaning services, brick-and-mortar stores, and dog-walking businesses.
Also, targeting profitable niches like small business owners, personal training businesses, and property managers can lower your customer acquisition and overhead costs.
Let’s examine some graphic templates and marketing collateral you can design for clients.
1. Brochures
Image credit: Envato Elements
Brochures are some of the most widely used marketing collateral.
Creating them as customizable graphic templates and selling them on marketplaces like Envato and Creative Market allows you to attract many users.
You can also offer custom brochure design services on Fiverr. Designers on the platform take between $10 t0 $150 per project.
2. Business cards
Image credit: Envato Elements
Custom business card designers on Fiverr charge between $10 to $640 per project. Some premium services go for as high as $1,300. You can also sell on Envato to earn money from users’ subscription fees.
3. Flyers
Image credit: Fiverr
Flyers are another in-demand marketing collateral. Nearly 50% of surveyed companies said that door drop campaigns are essential to their marketing strategy.
Offering custom flyer design services to these businesses can help you make it big as a designer. Pro-verified designers on Fiverr make between $100 to $495 per project.
Their premium packages cost as much as $1,295.
How to Launch
Launch this small business idea with these six steps:
- Get a nice laptop and internet connection
- Create an actionable business plan
- Define your target market and ideal customers
- Build your portfolios
- Join marketplace
- Create a sales page to attract non-marketplace users
- Join social media platforms
- Promote your business through paid and organic marketing channels
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
You need special training or a license to start this business at home. However, an impressive portfolio will help you land high-paying clients more quickly.
Example of Businesses in this Space
Some of the businesses in this field are:
8. Presentation Template Designer
Creating an entire presentation deck from scratch can be challenging for non-designers.
As a result, 79% of presenters use pre-built templates to find inspiration, streamline their workflow and create stunning presentations in a few minutes. So this is an excellent business idea for designers.
You can explore opportunities in this field to shore up your income and build a flourishing career.
- Earning potential: $90 to $6,000
- Top marketplaces: Envato, Creative Market, Fiverr, etc.
- Estimated start cost: You can start the business with just a computer. It costs between $200 to $1,200 to get a good one.
Target Audience and Value
Businesses in high demand for presentations, like landscaping businesses, property managers, startups, and consultancy businesses, are your targets. Also, executives and busy business people need you too.
Others include personal trainers, social media managers, and cleaning businesses.
Let’s explore some templates you can start with and what each brings to the table.
1. Marketing
Image credit: Envato Elements
Marketing presentation templates do the heavy lifting for salespersons, enabling them to create their presentations and slides quickly. Your presentation design agency can charge between $90 to $6,000 per ten slides.
However, selling on marketplaces enables you to access a ready market with minimal marketing efforts.
2. Pitches
Image credit: Fiverr
A beautifully designed pitch deck helps startup entrepreneurs to make a lasting impression on potential investors. So they often prefer to use templates to create theirs or outsource the project to professionals like you.
You can join marketplaces to reach potential clients more quickly, and there is a lot of money to make from those platforms. For example, pro-verified sellers on Fiverr earn between $100 and $1,500, while premium packages can go for as much as $3,000.
3. Key Notes
Professional keynote presentations from pro-verified designers on Fiverr are between $360 and $650 for the basic package. Non-pro-verified professionals on the platform price their service between $10 to $200.
Presentation design services hourly rate on Upwork ranges from $20 to $95. Some charge as high as $130 per hour.
How to Launch
A presentation template design business is a great business idea to pursue as a designer. You can launch yours with these six steps:
- Buy a good computer with enough graphics card
- Create a business plan
- Define your market and ideal prospects
- Build your portfolios
- Create your website and join marketplaces
- Plan your marketing strategies
- Launch your templates
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
You don’t need any special training, certifications, or licenses for this small business idea. However, an impressive portfolio and many positive customer reviews will do.
Example of Businesses in this Space
Let’s examine some professionals in this space.
9. Custom T-Shirts and Screen Prints
The high demand for customized wear makes custom T-shirt design a thriving enterprise. Future Market Insights estimated that the market size of global custom T-shirt printing would exceed $3.5 billion in 2022.
Furthermore, they believe it will grow by 9.7% CAGR over the next ten years to reach over $9 billion.
- Earning potential: $5 to $1,200 per project and up to $1 million a year.
- Top marketplaces: Teespring, Zazzle, CafePress, Redbubble, and self-hosted options
- Estimated start cost: You can start a custom T-shirt design business with $0 from home if you already own a computer and internet connection.
Target Audience and Value
Build your business for these audiences:
1. Custom T-Shirt Design Marketplaces
Image credit: Teespring
Joining and selling your designs on custom t-shirt marketplaces like Teespring (now, Spring), CafePress and Zazzle is your best bet to hit the ground running immediately. T-shirt designs on Teespring can cost as much as $49.99.
2. Fiverr
Pro-verified custom t-shirt designers on Fiverr take home between $125 and $450 per design. Premium packages can go for as high as $1,200—other gigs in the category cost between $5 and $30.
3. eCommerce Store
An eCommerce store for your custom designs lets you control your marketing and the ideal audience you want as customers.
You can also connect the online store to print-on-demand platforms like Printful to run a full-fledged online t-shirt business. There is no limit to how much you can make from this business. Some sellers earn up to $10,000 monthly.
How to Launch
Follow these six steps to launch this business idea:
- Find a t-shirt niche
- Create your t-shirt design
- Join marketplaces to sell your designs
- Create an eCommerce to promote your business
- Connect your store to print-on-demand software to drop-ship your custom-printed wear
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
You don’t need any special training to thrive in this space. Getting many positive customer reviews and referrals can help advance your business.
Example of Businesses in this Space
Many designers are in this space, offering custom T-shirt design services to individuals, groups, and local businesses. Some of our top picks for your inspiration are:
10. Comics
Comics are graphic novels. It’s popular among kids and teens. Fortunate Business Insights estimated that the comics market size will reach $12.81 billion in 2028, up from $9.21 billion in 2021. It grew by a staggering 12% in 2020.
Analysts believe it’ll grow at a CAGR of 4.8% from 2021 to 2028.
- Earning potential: $63,167 per year for comic artists and about $210 per project for comic artists and color stylists.
- Top marketplaces: ComicConnect, Subzero Comics, and LiveAbout
- Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200 to get a good computer
Target Audience and Value
Comics are lucrative when you build the business around these audiences:
1. Comic Artist
Image credit: Cbr.com
You can try your hands here if you can create attractive graphics and illustrations for comic books. Professionals in this field typically earn over $63,000 a year. But they vary from city to city. For instance, San Francisco, California comic artists take home over $95,000.
2. Comic Book Letterer
Advanced skills in color flattering can also help you get something tangible out of this space. Some professionals in this field earn between $5 to $25 on Fiverr. The verified professionals take between $100 to $210 per project.
3. Color Flatter
Color-flattering services on Fiverr are in high demand. Most color stylists on the marketplace charge between $5 and $40. As a verified professional, you may earn up to $100.
How to Launch
Comics are another successful business idea you can consider as a designer. It’s not expensive to launch, and you can run it 100% from home.
Start your own business in these few simple steps.
- Pick a niche and define your market
- Develop your business and marketing plan
- Set your price
- Join marketplaces to sell your service
- Create a website to target off-marketplace audiences
- Promote your business
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
You don’t need special certification or licenses as a comic artist. However, professional courses on Udemy and other learning platforms can advance your skills.
Example of Businesses in this Space
Some professionals in this field are:
Image credit: Cbr.com
11. Sewing Patterns and Fashion Designs
The U.S. 2022 fashion design market size stands at $2.9 billion. Data shows that the market size declined by 1% between 2017 and 2022. However, analysts believe the value will grow at 0.9% in 2022.
- Earning potential: Earn up to $130,000 annually.
- Top marketplaces: Fiverr, DressX, Replicant, Dribble, and self-hosted options
- Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200 to get a good computer
Target Audience and Value
Set your sights on these markets to make it big in this field.
1. Fashion Designers
Creating and selling your designs to top-rated designers is one of your best bets to earn big from this small business idea. Most bespoke wears cost several thousand dollars, and many designers won’t mind paying hundreds and thousands of dollars for your designs.
2. Online Marketplaces
Image credit: Fiverr
Joining marketplaces will save you a lot of marketing costs, and there is also money to make from the platforms—top professional stylists on Fiverr earn $100 to $300. You can also sell your designs on Dribble.
3. NFT Fashion Marketplace
Image credit: Replicant
NFT digital fashion marketplaces like Replicant are reimagining fashion designing businesses, allowing anyone to try on a digital garment.
They are a new and growing trend. Jumping in right away lets you secure a space before it gets saturated. And the digital fashion business is financially rewarding.
For instance, the best-selling digital garments on Replicant cost around $35, while the most expensive digital fashion wearables sell for as high as $68.
How to Launch
You can launch this business idea in these steps:
- Pick a niche and define your fashion style
- Develop your business and marketing plan
- Create a physical version of your NFT
- Choose and blockchain for your NFT and set up your digital wallet
- Select an NFT marketplace
- Create a business website to promote your digital fashions
- Join social media to improve your online presence
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
The fashion design business doesn’t require any special training, certification, or licenses.
Example of Businesses in this Space
Some of the businesses in this space are:
12. Wrap Designer
The wrap design business is one of the most profitable business ideas to start as a designer.
Several organizations and individuals wrap their vehicles for branding and aesthetic purposes.
In addition, a vehicle wrap is cheaper than a painting, driving its demand in the U.S. The global automotive car wrap film market was $4.9 billion in 2021.
Analysts estimated it will grow at a CAGR of 22.2% from 2022 to 2030.
- Earning potential: $21 per hour
- Top marketplaces: Wrap Stock, Fiverr, Design Hill, Upwork, and self-hosted options
- Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200
Target Audience and Value
Wrap design small businesses can target:
1. Auto Shops
Many auto repair shops in the U.S. offer car wrap services. You can create and sell your designs to them. They charge clients between $2,500 and $5,000 to wrap their vehicles, so it’s fair to expect some money from them for your design.
2. Car Owners
Top-rated custom wrap designers on Upwork charge between $30 and $50 hourly rates. Several have earned $10,000 to $60,000 creating and selling bespoke wrap designs on the platform.
3. Marketplaces
Image credit: Wrap Stock
You can upload and sell your designs on marketplaces like Wrap Stock.
Here, you don’t have to worry about marketing or running ads. Instead, the platform handles every aspect of the process, enabling you to focus on creating stunning designs.
How to Launch
Launch this wrap design small business idea in these steps:
- Pick a niche
- Develop your business plan and sales processes
- Create your designs
- Turn your designs into templates downloadable in different formats
- Join marketplaces to sell your design templates
- Create a website to promote your business
- Offer custom design services
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
This small business idea doesn’t require special training, licenses, or certification. However, building your portfolio and generating positive reviews can advance your credibility.
Example of Businesses in this Space
Some of the professionals in this space are:
13. Videographer and Video Editor
About 87% of businesses use video as a marketing tool.
YouTube, the world’s largest online video-sharing platform, has over 122 million daily users. They watch over one billion hours of content each day. Every minute, creators upload more than 500 hours of videos. These make video editing a lucrative business.
- Earning potential: $49,496 average base salary per year
- Top marketplaces: Upwork, Fiverr, and self-hosted options
- Estimated start cost: $250 to $1,020 for professional video editing software yearly subscription
Target Audience and Value
Let’s explore some ways you can earn money with your skills:
1. Marketplace
Image credit: Fiverr
Most video editors sell their services on Fiverr, Upwork, and other talent marketplaces. They charge between $10 to $40 per gig on Fiverr and an hourly rate of $10 to $25 on Upwork. You can join both marketplaces to maximize your options and reach a wider audience.
2. Portfolio Website
Create a portfolio website to target non-marketplace audiences and sell your service. It lets you take charge of your marketing, build your customer list and manage your customer relationships 100%. The median hourly rate of video editors is $20.
How to Launch
Videography and video editing are profitable business ideas. Launch yours in these simple steps:
- Pick a niche and your target audience
- Write a business and marketing plan
- Buy video editing software
- Join marketplaces
- Create a website to promote your business
- Run ads and market your service
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
This small business idea doesn’t require special training and licenses, especially if you want to run it from home. However, getting professional video editing training and certification can help you become a better video editor.
Example of Businesses in this Space
Some businesses in this field are:
14. Online Freelance Designer
The freelance industry currently contributes about $1.4 trillion to the U.S. economy. With over 58 million people offering freelancing services in the country, analysts believe it will grow to become the U.S. majority workforce.
A career path as an online freelance designer lets you have a slice of the pie.
- Earning potential: $25 to $150 per hour
- Top marketplaces: Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer.com, and self-hosted options
- Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200
Target Audience and Value
An online freelance design offers limitless opportunities to designers. The small business idea will stay true to its potential when you build it around these target markets:
1. Marketplaces
Joining a marketplace gives you instant access to ready-to-buy customers—beginners in this space charge between $10 and $80 on Fiverr. Pro-verified experts earn up to $800. Upwork graphic designers take $14 to $95 per hour.
2. Freelance Website
A website lets you create a unique brand identity for your graphic design business.
It also allows you to approach your prospects directly, control your pricing and scale your business over time. The $20 to $150 average industry hourly rate is encouraging, and you can charge more as your business advances.
How to Launch
Action the steps below to launch this small business idea.
- Pick a niche and define your ideal clients
- Create a marketing and business plan
- Build your portfolio
- Set your price
- Join marketplaces
- Create a small business website
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
A freelance graphic designer doesn’t need any special license or training. However, acquiring advanced design and marketing skills improve their odds of having a successful career.
Example of Businesses in this Space
Some of the top professionals in this field are:
15. NFT Artist
NFT lets owners prove authorship and authenticity, future-proofing digital assets. It’s one of the latest in-thing today and a trend that is not dying off soon.
The value of the global non-fungible token market was $4.6 billion in 2021. Analysts estimated that the market size will grow at a staggering CAGR of 23.9% between 2022 and 2028 to reach nearly $20 billion at the end of the forecasted period.
- Earning potential: $96,643 average annual salary (the top 10% earn about $360,000 yearly)
- Top marketplaces: Fiverr, Upwork, OpenSea, SuperRare
- Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200 for a computer with a sound graphics card
Target Audience and Value
Let’s examine some target audiences for your NFT art business.
1. NFT Creators
Create unique NFT art collections and sell them to NFT creators with the metadata. You can sell the service on Fiverr and Upwork. NFT artists on Fiverr charge between $40 and $150 for basic packages, while those on Upwork collect up to $5,000.
2. NFT Marketplaces
Image credit: OpenSea
You can mint your art on NFT marketplaces like OpenSea, SuperRare, and others if you’re uncomfortable selling them to third-party NFT creators. The opportunities in this space are limitless. For example, some NFTs on OpenSea sell for as high as 19 ETH floor price.
How to Launch
Launch this NFT art small business idea in these few simple steps:
- Define why you’re going into the business
- Pick a niche
- Join marketplaces to sell your art
- Set up an Ethereum wallet If you wish to mint your arts
- Find a minting platform that meets your needs
- Mint and sell your NFT arts
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
You don’t need any special training or license. However, you can take online NFT minting courses on Udemy, Coursera, and other learning platforms to master the art.
Also, the business doesn’t have special license requirements.
Example of Businesses in this Space
Some of the professionals in this field are:
16. Event Designers
Event designers work with planners to help them put details into their decorations. However, unlike planners focusing on event logistics and ensuring everything is on schedule and running smoothly, event designers transform the space and bring clients’ visions to life.
- Earning potential: $43,977 median annual salary (the top 25% earns up to $50,000 annually0
- Top marketplaces: Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer.com, and self-hosted options
- Estimated start cost: $300 to $3,000 to start the business from home. It’ll require a laptop, project management platforms (for example, ClickUp), and virtual event design software (3D Event Designer).
Target Audience and Value
Segment your audience, targeting these markets:
1. Corporate Organizations
Most organizations and companies hold at least one corporate event, such as annual general meetings, award ceremonies, and product launches. You can work with them to plan out the design and decoration. Payment is usually per project, and it’s encouraging.
2. Event planners
Image credit: Harpers Bazaar
Partnering with event planners is your odds-on-favorite to ensure a steady supply of gigs. So, you don’t need a big marketing budget. Most event planners are already entrenched in the system and can quickly put something on your plate.
3. Catering Services
Catering services are another solid option to explore. Most caterers want to know how to set up their buffet and other items to ensure a seamless workflow. You can create multiple floor layouts of the event space to show them ways to arrange their stuff.
How to Launch
Launch a successful event design small business idea in these six steps:
- Define your target audience
- Buy project management and virtual event design software
- Create virtual event designs to show off your skills
- Join marketplaces
- Build your websites and create social media accounts
- Collaborate with event planners
- Market your business to build your clientele
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
This small business idea doesn’t require any special training, certification, or license.
However, professional certification and training in project management can make you a better event designer. Also, you’ll need a strong customer relationship, positive reviews, and a referral network to thrive in this space.
You might not need special licenses to run the business from home.
Example of Businesses in this Space
Some of the businesses in this field are:
17. Extended Reality Designer
Extended Reality (XR) is the catch-all term for all immersive technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR).
Mordor Intelligence predicts the XR market valued at $26.05 billion in 2020, will grow at a staggering CAGR of 62.7% between 2021 and 2026 to reach $463.7 billion. A career as an XR designer can bring a lot to the table.
- Earning potential: $106,097 average salary per year.
- Top marketplaces: Unity Asset Store, Unreal Engine, Oculus Rift Store.
- Estimated start cost: $62 to $23,200.
Target Audience and Value
Who is your target audience in this space? First, let’s examine the top two and what you can gain from them.
1. XR Developers
Image credit: The Academy of International Extended Reality
You can have a lucrative career as an XR designer, working with extended reality developers to create cutting-edge XR applications for forward-thinking businesses.
While designers focus on figuring out the “whys” and ‘what’s” of the projects, developers’ interests rely on transforming them into a reality.
Typical XR designers earn around $106,000 annually. The more experienced hands go home with over $215,000 each year. So you’re getting in early on an industry poised for rapid growth.
2. Marketplace
Selling your XR assets on specialized marketplaces like Unity Asset Store, Unreal Engine, and Oculus Rift store lets you access a ready market, minimizing the efforts you need to put in to build your clientele.
You can also list on Upwork to diversify your income. For example, XR designers on the marketplace earn $20 to $85 per hour. Some designers have earned over $500,000 selling their skills on the platform.
How to Launch
These steps can help you launch this XR design small business idea:
- Pick a niche
- Write a business plan detailing the market opportunities you wish to exploit
- Register your business if you’re renting an office space
- Acquire XR hardware and software
- Create your marketing plan and launch your website
- Join marketplaces to sell your service
- Hire and train your staff, including a social media manager and digital marketing professional
- Collaborate with XR developers
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
This Extended Reality design small business idea doesn’t require any special licenses.
However, you’ll need specialized training and certifications to advance your credibility and credentials. Some of the top-rated in the industry are
- Unity Certified User Program
- Professional Certificate in AR/VR and 3D Graphics
- Professional Certificate In Unreal Engine Foundations
Example of Businesses in this Space
Some of the professionals in this space are:
18. Photographer and Photo Editor
The photography business is competitive, and you can build a sustainable career, even while working from home, with the right skills.
The future outlook for the industry looks promising.
Analysts expect the global market size to reach $44.07 billion in 2025 from $32.92 billion in 2020, meaning, in three years, the global photography business value will be more than half the Serbian GDP, a country of over seven million people.
- Earning potential: $29,230 to $109,760 per year (the average base annual salary is $60,298)
- Top marketplaces: Fiverr, Upwork, Pixabay, Shutterstock, Getty Image, and self-hosted options
- Estimated start cost: $10,000 to $15,000.
Target Audience and Value
You can work with these people as a photographer and photo editor:
1. Event Planners
Image credit: Expert Photography
Event planners can guarantee you steady gigs. Working with them means you don’t have to worry about prospecting, writing proposals, and closing clients.
Some professional photographers charge between $75 and $300 per image, while experienced ones may earn up to $1,000.
2. Marketplace
Marketplaces like Fiverr and Upwork are other excellent options for beginners. For example, photo editors on Upwork take home about $20 to $100 per hour; some have earned over $250,000 since joining the platform.
3. Commercial Photography
Image credit: Expert Photography
Commercial photography is one of the most lucrative options in this field. The professionals here earn between $800 to $5,000 per day. The licensing fees often start from $250 and may get as high as $10,000.
4. Stock Photography
You can start a stock photography website or join already established stock photo websites like Shutterstock to sell your photos. Monthly subscriptions on Shutterstock cost between $49 to $479. The platform has paid over $1 billion to contributors in the last 15 years.
How to Launch
Launch your photography and photo editing business in these steps:
- Find your niche and target market
- Pick a nice location if you wish to run a brick-and-mortar business
- Register your business to legalize it
- Open a business bank account and set up accounting for the business
- Check with local authorities for the necessary permit
- Get photo editing business insurance
- Purchase photography equipment, gear, and photo editing software
- Create a unique brand identity for the business
- Develop your business website and add your business to social media
- Build your portfolio
- Join marketplaces
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
This business model doesn’t require special training, licenses, or certifications.
However, investing in professional courses can help you become better at what you do. Online courses are a great place to start. For example, you can check Udemy and Coursera for top-rated photography courses.
When creating a website for your business, consider taking marketing and customer relationship courses to improve your client acquisition skills.
Example of Businesses in this Space
Some of the businesses for your inspiration are:
19. Sell Coloring Books
A coloring book is one containing line art for coloring with the crayon. It’s a healthy way to relieve stress, calm the brain and help the body relax.
The adult coloring books market peaked between 2014 and 2017. It sold over 12 million books in 2015, up from one million copies the previous year.
Although on a decline today, exploring options in this field can be lucrative.
- Earning potential: $10,000 to $40,000 monthly
- Top marketplaces: Amazon, Lulu, Etsy, and self-hosted options.
- Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200 for a good computer
Target Audience and Value
Create and sell coloring books online. You can begin with some of these marketplaces:
1. Children’s Coloring Books
Children’s coloring books are popular on Amazon. A quick search shows over 80,000 results—the top-rated books on the marketplace cost between $5.99 and $12.
2. Adult Coloring Books
Lulu is an online self-publishing book company. Creating and selling coloring books on the platform lets you reach over one million monthly visitors. They also handle inventory and fulfillment. A paperback coloring book on Lulu sells for up to $16.
3. Teenagers
Teenagers use coloring books, and you can target teen themes that attract that audience. These books typically cost $8 to $38. You can even publish digital versions of these coloring books.
4. Teach People to Create and Sell Coloring Books
If you’ve found success creating and selling coloring books, you can teach others how to do it. Typically, these courses cost $14 and $50 and can attract over 5,000 students.
How to Launch
Follow these steps to start selling coloring books:
- Pick a niche
- Write and design your book
- Decide on whether to self-publish or use publishing companies
- Format and edit your book
- Design the cover art or outsource to freelancers
- Sort the copyright and ISBN
- Set the pricing
- Upload and sell your book
- Promote your coloring books on social media
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Selling coloring books doesn’t require any special training or certification. You don’t also need special licenses to run this business.
Example of Businesses in this Space
Some of the professionals in this field are:
20. Products and eCommerce Packaging Designer
Product packaging designers develop eye-catching labels and product packages that meet safety and packaging regulations. In addition, they often work closely with the marketing team to create designs that reinforce the brand’s messaging.
Analysts expect the market size of packaging design services to reach nearly $32 billion in 2030, up from $21.9 billion.
- Earning potential: $37,000 to $80,000 annual base salary (the average salary for packaging designers in the U.S. is $51,000 yearly)
- Top marketplaces: Fiverr, Upwork, 99Designs, and self-hosted options.
- Estimated start cost: $62 to $23,259.
Target Audience and Value
Getting gigs is the most challenging aspect of this business. Some sources you might want to explore are:
1. Brick-and-Mortar Retail outlets
Image credit: Johns Byrne
Approach and pitch your packaging designs to nearby brick-and-mortar stores. Also, run paid adverts to reach more businesses and direct them to your website to schedule a discovery call—a typical packing designer charges between $80 to $100 per hour.
2. eCommerce Stores
Image credit: PakFactory Blog
Many eCommerce stores fulfill their orders. Work with them to design custom packaging to ship their orders. You can reach them online via paid and organic promotions.
The $80 to $100 hourly rate is the competitive fee for designers in this niche.
3. Marketplaces
Product packaging designers on Upwork take between $20 to $100 per hour. Also, pro-verified designers on Fiverr earn $500 to $1,000 per project. So, there is so much money to make from this channel.
How to Launch
Start your product packaging design business in these simple steps:
- Study the different product packaging needs to understand your audience’s needs.
- Select a niche for your business.
- Build your portfolio.
- Set your price.
- Determine your positioning for differentiation.
- Establish your brand identity.
- Join marketplaces.
- Create a website and join social media platform.
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
This business idea doesn’t require any special certification and training to start. However, obtaining packing training, licenses, and certificates can set you apart from competitors.
So consider these options:
- Certified Packaging Professional (CPP)
- Certificate of Packaging Science (CPS)
- Certificate of Mastery in Packaging Management (CMPM)
Also, check with local authorities for necessary licenses.
Example of Businesses in this Space
Some businesses and professionals in this space are:
21. Publish Books and eBooks
Publishing books and eBooks is an excellent way to monetize your design skills.
A career as an author is financially rewarding, and the future also looks promising. A report by Technavio shows that the electronic books market will grow by $6.93 billion between 2020 and 2030.
Also, published books don’t have recurrent expenditures. So you have nothing to lose exploring your options in this field as a designer.
- Earning potential: 70% on every book sold on Amazon Kindle
- Top marketplaces: Amazon, Lulu, Apple Books, Kobo, and self-hosted options
- Estimated start cost: $0 to $4,000.
Target Audience and Value
You can write books based on your transferable skills, case studies, or the latest trends. Some of the platforms to self-publish your work are:
1. Amazon
Amazon receives over two billion monthly visits, making it the biggest platform to self-publish books and eBooks. Most books on the marketplace are available at $2 to $30. So, some authors earn between $5,000 and $8,000 each month.
2. Apple Books
Self-publishing on Apple Books lets you target a wide range of Apple device users, including CarPlay and Apple Watch. Apple has sold over two billion iOS devices, and over 100 million people use Macs worldwide. So the Apple Book brings so much to the table.
3. Online bookstore
You can sell through your website if you drive enough traffic to the online store and fulfill your orders. Your online store allows you to set your price, control your messaging, target your ideal audience and manage your customer list.
How to Launch
Follow these steps to turn this small business idea into a reality:
- Pick a niche
- Choose a topic and write your book or eBook
- Edit your book or hire a professional editor
- Design your book cover or outsource
- Format the book or hire a freelancer
- Choose a self-publishing platform and upload your book
- Create an online community for your books business
- Hire a social media manager and digital marketing services to promote your books
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
You don’t need special training or certifications to start a book or eBook publishing business. However, getting and flaunting them can boost your credibility and show off your expertise. Also, advanced book publishing and formatting courses can help you create better-looking and attractive books.
You can find and take these courses on Udemy, Coursera, and Alison.
Example of Businesses in this Space
Some designers in this space are:
22. Printing Press
The printing business is financially rewarding. About 25,000 U.S. companies are into commercial printing. They generate nearly $900 billion in revenue annually, more than the Saudi Arabian GDP and almost half that of Italy—the EU’s third-largest economy.
- Earning potential: $65,000 for operators to $100,000 a year.
- Top marketplaces: Yelp, Craigslist, Nextdoor, and Yellow Pages.
- Estimated start cost: Industry leaders reported spending $146,000 to $400,000.
Target Audience and Value
Set up your printing press to target these audiences:
1. Businesses
The global commercial printing market is lucrative and has impressive long-term growth potential. You can have a slice of the pie by providing printing services to businesses like marketing collateral, catalogs, magazines, product labels, and packaging.
The U.S. has over 10 million companies, so you always have options.
2. Political and Social Campaigns
Image credit: ABC News
Thousands of political and social campaigns happen in the U.S. yearly, making campaign posters and signage printing a thriving business.
The 2022 market size for printed signage alone is $33.9 billion, and analysts expect the number to grow at a CAGR of 2.8% to reach $40.08 billion in 2028.
3. Authors
The number of books published yearly in the U.S ranges from 500,000 to one million, excluding self-published authors. In 2021, the country sold over 826 million physical books, that’s nearly three books per citizen on average. So you can earn big printing books.
How to Launch
Launch your printing shop in ten steps:
- Define your target market and develop your business model
- Rent office space in a nice location
- Register your business to make a legal entity
- Open a business bank account and set up accounting for the business
- Check with local authorities for the necessary permits and licenses
- Secure a business insurance
- Purchase and set up the equipment you need for the print shop
- Create a logo for a unique brand identity
- Develop your business website and join social media platforms
- Develop your marketing plan and run promotions
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
A printing press doesn’t require any special training and certification to start.
However, you should comply with OSHA requirements and regulations. Also, check with the local authorities to learn other necessary environmental, health, and safety requirements.
Example of Businesses in this Space
Some of the businesses in this space are:
23. Website Design Services
The 2022 total number of web developer and digital interface designer jobs in the U.S. is around 200,000.
However, Statista believes the number will reach 229,000 in 2032, while the total number of web developers and designers will grow to 205,000, so there’ll be enough jobs to go around.
- Earning potential: $3,000 to over $75,000 per project.
- Top marketplaces: Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer.com, and self-hosted options
- Estimated start cost: $62 to $36,061.
Target Audience and Value
Model your small business web development idea around these markets to have a home run.
1. Local Businesses
Image credit: Unsplash
Small businesses and eCommerce stores drive the growing demand for business websites. A web development agency’s custom services cost between $15,000 and $30,000. But more complex site design projects can go as high as $75,000.
2. Charities
Image credit: Unsplash
Charities are another excellent option for web designers. Most of them need simple websites. So you’ll be looking at making $2,000 to $5,000 per project as a freelancer. And you can command up to $30,000 if you’re an agency.
3. Marketplaces
Verified professional web designers on Fiverr walk away with $100 to $5,000 after each project. They priced some of their premium packages up to $12,000.
Web designers on Upwork charge between $25 and $150 per hour for their services.
How to Launch
Follow these steps to start a web design agency:
- Define your target market
- Rent an office space if you wish to run an out-home agency
- Register your business to make it a legal entity
- Secure a business insurance
- Choose a business name and create a unique logo
- Develop your business website and set up social media accounts
- Build your portfolios
- Create a marketing plan and run promotions
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
Once you have the requisite skills, you don’t need special training or certification to launch a web design service. However, enrolling in project management certification courses can help you seamlessly manage your workflow and customer expectations.
Other necessary certifications are:
- User experience and usability courses to build sites with frictionless navigation
- Search Engine Optimization certifications for search-friendly designs
- Conversion rate optimization courses to create high-converting websites
- Graphic and 3D animations to create stunning graphics
Example of Businesses in this Space
Check out these businesses to see what other people are doing in this space:
24. Graphic Design Academy
A graphic design academy might cost you an arm and a leg, but it’s lucrative, as most soft skill training centers.
Data shows that the global soft skill training market reached over $24 billion in 2020, and market analysts believe the number will grow by a CAGR of 12.3% between 2022 and 2027 to reach $47.2 billion in 2027.
Besides the financial rewards, a career as an instructor can be fulfilling. You should consider this career path if you have a passion for teaching or other transferable skills to share with others.
- Earning potential: $39,000 to $93,000 yearly total pay (average salary is $56,438 per year)
- Top marketplaces: Yelp
- Estimated start cost: $14,491 average startup cost for skills training center
Target Audience and Value
Some of the target audiences for this business idea are:
1. Design Teams
Image Credit: Medium
Approach nearby businesses and show them how your training program can help advance the skills of their design team and save the company money. Then, negotiate your pay based on the value you are bringing to the table and what you think the business can afford.
2. College Students
Image Credit: Ms. Magazine
College students are excellent targets for graphic design training skills. Reach those that are interested in acquiring graphic design skills with paid ads.
You can run foundational, undergraduate, and postgraduate programs to cater to all categories of students. For example, some training schools charge up to $40,000 for postgraduate graphic design degree programs.
3. Graphic Designers
Professional graphic designers are always looking for ways to advance their design skills. You can target this segment with professional certification programs or bootcamps. You might also partner with reputable certifying bodies like Adobe to offer their certification programs.
How to Launch
Follow these steps to launch your academy:
- Develop your training programs and modules
- Set your training fees and payment plans
- Rent a training center in a good location
- Register your academy
- Secure the appropriate licenses and insurance policy
- Design your training center to set the right ambiance
- Create a logo for the business
- Design a website with online learning features to cater to out-of-location students
- Set up your social media presence
- Develop your marketing plan
- Hire and train your staff
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
You’ll need a license to run a degree-awarding training center.
Also, it would help if you had more than transferable graphic design skills as an instructor. Your students expect you to have professional certifications and specialized training from recognized bodies.
Some top options are:
- Adobe Certified Associate
- Graphic and Digital Design Certificate (Parsons School of Design)
- Udemy or Coursera professional graphic design and animation courses
- Master’s degree in graphic design
Example of Businesses in this Space
Some graphic design training centers are:
25. YouTuber
YouTube is not just a video-sharing platform. It’s also the second-largest search engine after Google. Over 2.6 billion people use the platform once a month. They spend about one billion hours daily watching five billion videos.
A career as a YouTuber is financially rewarding but never a walk in the park.
Identifying your target audience and creating content that addresses their pain point is the most straightforward to succeed in this space.
- Earning potential: $80 to over $55,000 monthly.
- Top marketplaces: YouTube.
- Estimated start cost: $150 to $1,100.
Target Audience and Value
You can target prospective graphic designers or designers with your video. Some ways you can monetize your YouTube content are:
1. YouTube Ads
Joining the YouTube partner program is the most popular option for monetizing YouTube videos through YouTube ads.
However, to qualify, you’ll need to rake in at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 video watch hours in the past year. Then, you can earn between $2 to $12 per 1,000 views.
2. Sell Merchandise or Courses
Another way to monetize YouTube videos is by selling merchandise. If you don’t have any physical product, you can promote your design courses before or after your YouTube videos and drop the purchase link in the video description.
3. Sponsored Videos
Image credit: Fran Patrillo.
Influencer marketing is reimagining how brands connect with their customers. YouTube is the second most popular platform for influencer marketing. Join the train if you have a large and engaged following.
Several brands can pay you $500 to $10,000 to recommend their products. Some may even pay up to six figures for a YouTube campaign if they are sure of the results.
How to Launch
Follow these steps to launch a career as a YouTuber:
- Understand your audience and find your niche
- Create a YouTube channel and brand yourself
- Decide on the monetization strategy
- Invest in good camera and gear
- Acquire video editing skills and video editing software if you don’t want to outsource
- Develop your content calendar
- Create your first video and upload
- Optimize your video for search engines
- Run YouTube to promote your videos
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
You don’t need special training, certification, or licenses to become a YouTuber.
However, taking video editing courses can save you a lot of money. Also, if your business model centers on teaching your audience design skills, you should acquire professional certifications in the field to advance your credibility.
Example of Businesses in this Space
Some of the designs YouTubers making a wave in the industry are:
26. Newspaper, Magazine, and Catalog Design Agency
The global digital newspaper and magazine market, valued at $34.2 billion in 2021, will grow at a CAGR of 4.2% between 2022 and 2028 to reach $45.6 billion. The industry looks promising. You can register your agency and run it from the comfort of your home.
- Earning potential: $35,000 to $67,000 base salary per year (the average is 48,289 yearly)
- Top marketplaces: Fiverr, Upwork, Legit, and self-hosted options
- Estimated start cost: $2,300 to $5,200
Target Audience and Value
Some of the target audiences for this business are:
1. Newspaper and Magazine Companies
Image credit: Envato
Partner with newspaper and magazine companies. Offer to handle their designs to save them the cost of maintaining a full-time in-house team. Working with them can guarantee you a steady supply of jobs. Negotiate your pay per page or project.
Some magazine designers charge $50 to $90 per page.
2. Marketplaces
Join marketplaces like Fiverr and Upwork to build your client base and portfolio incrementally. You can earn between $10 to $55 by selling your service on Fiverr. Some designers on Upwork charge about $30 and up to $750 per project.
Catalog designers on the platform earn between $20 and $100 per hour.
3. eCommerce and Retail Businesses
eCommerce brands and retail businesses are your largest audience. Most of them use product catalogs and magazines to spread their marketing messages.
You can approach them for custom designs or target them with customizable templates on your websites or third-party template marketplaces like Envato or Creative Market.
How to Launch
Follow these steps to launch this business at home:
- Identify your target market
- Choose a name and register the business
- Get business insurance
- Buy design software
- Create a website and set up social media accounts
- Hire and build your remote team
- Design newspaper, catalog, and magazine templates to build your portfolio
- Join marketplaces
- Promote your business
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
You don’t need special training, certification, or licenses to run this business model. However, you can find relevant professional courses to advance your skills.
Example of Businesses in this Space
Some of the professionals in this field are:
27. Online Drawings and Handcrafts Sales
You can build a sustainable career selling custom drawings and handcrafts art collectors. Statista projected that the global arts and crafts market will grow from $35 billion in 2017 to $50.9 billion in 2024.
Besides the tempting financial rewards, the business lets you express yourself and bring your imagination to life.
- Earning potential: $12.5 to $49.84 per hour (the average hourly rate is $20.97)
- Top marketplaces: Etsy, Shopify, Fiverr, and self-hosted options
- Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200 for a personal computer and software.
Target Audience and Value
Build your business around art lovers. It helps you lower acquisition costs and maintains a high conversion rate. Some small business ideas in this field are:
1. Offer Custom Art
Image credit: Yasmeen A
You can make a lot of money creating custom art for clients. Since they’re tailor-made and provide personal significance and uniqueness, most collectors will be okay with paying more to have them on their walls.
Commissioned paintings from experienced artists cost $100 to $10,000.
2. Start Online Craft Store
Image credit: The Indian Express
An online store for your craft business lets you transform your passion and creativity into a business. Moreover, it’s lucrative so that you can earn a good living.
Candle making, jewelry, and headbands are some craft business ideas for your inspiration. Others include embroidery, home decor, sculpture, and decorative pillows.
Also, sell your crafts on Amazon, Etsy, and other marketplaces to reach more people.
3. Sell Your Drawing Online
Image credit: Artmajeur
Create stunning hand-drawn images and sell them on art marketplaces like Shutterstock and iStock. Also, sell on your website to cater to non-marketplace users.
Additionally, license your art to businesses for commercial use. It’s where the money is. You can make between $100 and $10,000 from licensing fees.
How to Launch
Follow these simple steps to launch your online drawing and handcrafting small business ideas:
- Identify the gap in the market—decide what you’re going to sell
- Define your target audience and pick a niche
- Name and register your business
- Create a logo and brand your business
- Design your website and set up your social media
- Create sales pages and join marketplaces
- Plan your supply chain and order fulfillment
- Make your crafts or sample drawings
- Promote your business
Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?
This business model doesn’t require special training, certification, or licenses. However, check with local authorities to learn what applies in your area.
Example of Businesses in this Space
Some of the design businesses making it big in this space are:
How to Choose the Best Business Ideas as a Designer
We have explored some of the best small business ideas for designers. When you start your journey, choose options that match your passion and career objectives.
And remember to use this resource to start on the right footing.
Featured image via Unsplash.
The post 27 Best Small Business Ideas for Designers first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.
Need help with your NoSQL migration? Look no further than our « NoSQL Migration Essentials » Refcard. We walk through the primary steps for moving out of a relational database, plus important design principles to understand and consider in your migration process.
Readers will review key concepts that range from denormalizing and modeling data to defining access patterns, designing primary keys and indexes, and creating an entity relationship diagram — all demonstrated with a simple site application example. As a bonus, readers can use the included JSON structure at the end to interact with a NoSQL playground.
Source de l’article sur DZONE
Artificial intelligence is the latest buzzword in the tech world. It’s everywhere and has been for a while, but AI-powered writing software is a relatively new concept.
AI Writing Software uses artificial intelligence to write articles, blog posts, and other content in your voice. The goal is to provide a tool that will save you time and energy so you can focus on different aspects of your business or life.
To help you get started, we’ve compiled a list of 20 AI writing software you can use to create content for your website, blog, or social media accounts.
1. Copy.ai
Copy.ai uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to produce high-quality content for your business, ebooks, blog posts, articles, product descriptions, social media content, and more. It can also be used to rewrite existing content so that you can use it on your website, blog, or social media pages.
Since it uses artificial intelligence to mimic human writing patterns and styles, the copy will be more natural and easier to read than the typical machine-generated text we’re used to seeing.
Copy.ai differs from traditional content creation tools because it doesn’t just offer suggestions on improving your current content; it generates new text based on what it thinks would be most relevant for the topic or audience.
Key Features:
- Pre-built Templates – Copy.ai has a ton of pre-built templates for different kinds of content. For example, you can see below that it has options for blogs, social media content, video, case studies, and more:
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Different tones and variations – Get access to tones like friendly, persuasive, professional, luxury, witty, bold, and more to align the content with your writing style. It also creates multiple variations based on your input – you can pick the one you like or make more.
To illustrate this, here’s a screenshot of the results we got while trying to write the introduction for this article using Copy AI.
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Writing and Brainstorming tools – You also get tons of writing tools, brainstorming tools, and personal tools. Writing tools include essay intro, cliffhanger generator, adjective accelerator, passive to active voice, verb booster, and the like. Brainstorming tools have a name generator, startup ideas, viral ideas, and more – while Personal tools include birthday cards, clubhouse bios, cover letters, love letters, and shower thoughts.
You can save your content and then return to it later if you wish. Plus, the software’s user interface is easy to navigate, and the program is simple.
Luciano Viterale, Co-founder of Ticker Nerd, also shares his experience with Copy.ai,
“I’ve been experimenting with AI copywriting tools since GPT-3 was released. I have explored many of the popular tools. However, my favorite tool by far is Copy AI. They have an outstanding blogging outline feature; the UX is clean and easy to navigate, and the pricing is reasonable.
Copy AI also generated the name of my startup, “Ticker Nerd,” which is an investing newsletter that was recently acquired.”
That said, Viterale suggests that the blog outlines can be repetitive. He says, “one thing I don’t particularly like is that blog outlines include the same point repeatedly but articulated slightly differently, essentially adding no value.”
Pros:
- Copy.ai produces content at least 80% as good as a human writer (and often better). The system continually learns, which means the more you use it, the better it gets.
- It has an extensive library of templates available for different requirements.
- It supports over 25 languages, including English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, Dutch, Russian, and more.
Cons:
- Not suitable for long-form content.
- The content can get a bit repetitive after a while.
- The free plan lets you create only 2000 words per month.
Pricing:
It starts from $39 per month (if you pay yearly) for up to 40k words per month, unlimited copywriting tools, priority email support, Blog Wizard tool, support for 25+ languages, and five user seats.
2. Jasper
Jasper.ai is an AI copywriting tool that uses a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) to create content based on user input.
It helps you generate original content for your blogs, social media, websites, and more. Jasper also knows 10% of what’s on the internet and continues to learn more daily.
Just like Copy.ai, Jasper’s user interface is easy to use and navigate around. With its specific template for blog posts, articles, ebooks, and more, it’s also one of the few AI writing software suitable for long-form content.
All you have to do is enter the title, your intended audience, tone of voice, and language options, along with the main point of your copy, and voila – Jasper can churn out a high-quality piece of content for you within seconds.
Key Features:
- 50+ AI templates – Jasper.ai offers a variety of AI templates, including Blog Posts, Summary, Conclusion, Q&A, Ads, Videos, Social Media, Rewriter, Marketing Frameworks, Articles, and more. Each template has several use cases – for example, a blog has Blog Titles, Content Briefs, and Outlines.
- Boss Mode lets you write long-form content such as blog posts, stories, and books. It also allows you to organize your content into projects and find help with priority chat support, Grammarly integration, and plagiarism checks. You can also choose from 25 languages, including English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, and more.
- SurferSEO Integration – If you have a Boss Mode plan, you can add SurferSEO to your Jasper account. This integration will enable you to find the best keywords, build a content strategy, create blog outlines, and more.
Content production using Surfer SEO Integration
Pros:
- No technical assistance is required.
- Simple, easy-to-use interface.
- Provides plagiarism-free content every time.
- It helps you build a content strategy based on high-ranking topics and keywords.
- Ready-to-use templates cover most of the use cases that a writer or marketer will need.
- Excellent customer support is provided through live training sessions, live Q&A sessions, blogs, Facebook community, help docs, and emails.
Cons:
- Plagiarism-free content doesn’t always mean unique content.
- Customer support options via chat or email are limited.
Pricing:
It starts with $40/mo for 35K words, 50+ AI templates, 20+ languages, up to 5 seats, and chat support.
3. Rytr
Rytr is a content generation tool that uses AI to generate high-quality, human-sounding content for emails, blogs, YouTube videos, and landing pages.
It also supports multiple languages and tones and uses copywriting frameworks, including AIDA & PAS. And to ensure that your content is free of plagiarism, it comes with a built-in plagiarism checker.
Like Copy.ai. Rytr is also more suitable for short-form content and copywriting than long-form content.
Key Features:
- 30+ languages – Rytr supports many languages, including English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean and Polish. It also uses a proprietary approach to support languages that are not supported by the limitations of GPT3.
- Use Cases: Rytr offers 40+ use cases, including Blog Section Writing, Blog Ideas & Outline, Brand Name, Business Idea Pitches, Call-to-action, Cover letters, Emails, and more. Each use case has a short description of what it’s about below it. Select the use case to write about, give a little context about what you want to write, and then select how many variants you want the AI to write for you (max is 3).
You can also choose a creativity level by selecting one of 6 options, including Default, Non, Low, Medium, High, or Max.
Generating Blog Ideas & Outlines
- Tone – You can add a personal touch to your content by choosing from over 18 tones, including Formal, Convincing, Inspirational, and more.
Pros:
- Simple user interface.
- Fast live chat support.
- Using the magic command, you can produce content for poems, letters, and more.
- Comes with an in-built tool for plagiarism checks.
- Provides multiple resources for guidance.
Cons:
- Tone options are limited.
- You will receive a small number of credits per month.
Pricing:
It starts at $9/month for 100K characters per month. There is also a free plan with a 10K characters limit.
4. Writesonic
Writesonic is a content-creation platform that uses generative artificial intelligence models to write SEO-optimized long-form blogs and articles.
It has 65+ use cases or templates, including Article Writer 3.0, Landing Pages, Tweets, Quora Answers, Facebook Ads, and more.
You can easily create desired content by picking a suitable use case, typing a topic, and adding a paragraph of your own words. You can also set the language and quality level before generating it.
Key Features:
- 24 Languages: You can produce content in 24 languages, including English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Russian, Czech, Danish, Greek, Hungarian, and more. They’re also continually adding more language options.
- Unconventional Use Cases: It’s got a more comprehensive range of templates, including Sentence Expander, Text Summary, Conclusion Writer, YouTube Outlines, LinkedIn Ad Descriptions, Analogy Maker, Question Generator, Song Lyrics, Definition, and more.
- SEMrush and WordPress Integrations: Writesonic integrates with SEMrush, Zapier, and WordPress.org. SEMrush helps you optimize your content for search engines, and WordPress.org lets you publish your blog directly from Writesonic. Zapier integration enables you to automate your content from Writesonic.
Pros:
- Easy to use.
- The User Interface gives you step-by-step instructions and tips for how to use the tool more efficiently.
- There are many unique use cases, including a hook generator, pros and cons generator, and landing page creator.
- Free trial available.
Cons:
- Like other tools on this list, the copy may not always be accurate.
Pricing:
It starts at $10/month for 12K words, 70+ AI templates, a Landing page generator, a browser extension, Zapier integration, and more.
5. Grammarly Business
Like most other tools on this list, Grammarly Business isn’t an AI-based content writer per se—it’s more like an AI-based writing assistant. Specifically, it checks your documents for grammar, spelling, plagiarism, and style mistakes.
Grammarly Business also provides feedback on your writing style so that you can improve as a writer over time.
You can use Grammarly Business to:
- Get suggestions to improve your writing style, including word choice and sentence structure.
- Identify common grammatical mistakes and fix them in one click.
- Improve your email response time by checking emails before they’re sent out.
It’s also ideal for larger teams of writers who need to access the same Grammarly accounts, enabling multiple users to edit documents simultaneously.
One of the best parts about this tool is that it integrates with every online writing space, including Google Docs. This allows you to write and edit simultaneously without waiting for one draft to be finished before making changes to the next.
Key Features:
- Custom Brand Tone: You can create multiple tone profiles to suit your needs and assign them to different Teams. You’ll also get real-time feedback on your tone and can adjust it while writing. Your tone can be anything from Joyful, Excited, Loving, and Surprised to Curious, Formal, and Cautionary.
- Grammar Checker: Grammarly gives you feedback on everything that can be improved in your writing – from typos to sentence structure. It also checks for grammar mistakes, spelling errors, and incorrect punctuation.
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Style Guide: Grammarly Style Guide enables you to establish a uniform tone and style across all your teams. You can set a library of words, terms, and phrases that your teams should adhere to.
You can also prevent them from using complex acronyms or jargon. Lastly, you can get feedback on how the performance has increased with the Style Guide.
Pros:
- Real-time feedback on errors and tone usage.
- Grammarly gives instant, easy-to-understand feedback and lets you fix mistakes with just one click.
- You can always add new words to the dictionary.
Cons:
- It flags passive voice as an error.
- Grammarly is good at catching mistakes, but sometimes it corrects things unnecessarily.
Pricing:
It starts at $15/month for one member, real-time feedback, style guide, snippets, brand tones, admin controls, and more.
6. Peppertype.ai
Peppertype.ai is another AI-based content generation tool that claims to create content ten times faster, boost Google ranking, and optimize conversions.
It’s a simple but valuable tool for writers who need help getting started on their next article, email, or blog post.
Some of its use cases include a product review generator, Amazon product descriptions, personal bio, email subject lines, cold emails, paragraph writing, Google Ad copy, Meta descriptions, blog outlines, blog conclusion, and more.
Key Features:
- Projects: You can organize your content under Projects, which will group similar types of content so that you have an easier time finding and repurposing the content.
- Output personalization: You can like or dislike the output so that the AI behind it can learn your preferences and improve its performance.
Pros:
- If you invite your friends to use Peppertype.ai, join our community, write them a review, and schedule a training call, they’ll reward you with more word credits.
- You can create teams, projects, and workspaces.
- You can filter out unwanted results with annotations.
Cons:
- One seat is expensive, and the price increases with each added seat.
Pricing:
It starts at $35/month for one user, 50K words, 40+ use cases, unlimited projects, customer support, and more.
7. Anyword
Anyword is a copywriting AI that creates content tailored for your customers and target audiences.
It has a unique feature – the predictive performance score to predict how well your copy will perform and engage with your audience. This helps you write optimized texts that boost your conversions.
It has 11 major use cases, including a social post generator, Instagram caption generator, sentence rewriter, AI writer tool, meta description generator, Ad copy, landing page, blog, and more.
Although it can create blog post titles and outlines, it’s better suited for writing short-form content like ad copy, product descriptions, and headlines. When writing a blog post, it can generate the title, outline, and introduction before creating body paragraphs.
Key Features:
- Predictive Performance Score: This score is given to your copy based on its potential to perform well with your target audience. This can help you immediately improve your copy.
- Website Triggered Messages: This feature helps you create and deploy multiple copy variations on your website and apply the best one automatically.
Pros:
- It offers a predictive performance score to optimize your copy beforehand.
- It also offers a free social post generator. No sign-up is required.
- It automatically creates and runs multiple copy variations to determine the best one.
- A Freemium plan is available.
Cons:
- Limited use cases.
- A bit expensive for the credits and the number of use cases it offers.
Pricing:
It costs $24/month for 20K words and one seat.
8. Scalenut
Scalenut uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to produce content that ranks higher on search results. It also gives insights into statistics such as word count, grade level, H tags, readability, and the number of images you should use in your content piece.
Aside from that, it offers a variety of use cases, including SEO Hub, AI Copywriter, Talent Network, Chrome Extension, Cruise Mode, and more. With these features, you can create content for blog ideas, product descriptions, website copies, blog intros, and more.
Key Features:
- Integrations: You can integrate Scalenut with SEMrush for keyword research, cluster boost, and Copyscape to check plagiarism.
- Cruise Mode: Cruise Mode helps you create blog content in 5 minutes. You just need to provide your blog post’s title, outline, and main points to get your intended content. You’ll also get a real-time quality score that helps you improve your search ranking.
Pros:
- It offers a quality score.
- Affordable plans with a 7-day free trial.
- 24*7 chat & email support.
Cons:
- Limited use cases and features.
- Content quality is not consistent for all businesses.
Pricing:
It starts at $12/month for 100K AI words, 5 SEO reports, 24*7 chat and email support, and more.
9. Frase.io
Frase.io is an all-in-one AI writing tool that helps you, research competitors, develop content briefs, and produce and optimize content.
First, you’ll analyze your search competitors using Frase so you can see what your competition is writing about. Next, you can focus on Then, your overall outline or dig deeper by focusing on individual headlines, external links, statistics, etc.
Next, use Frase’s AI writer to finish your draft. You can choose from dozens of use cases to generate content, including product descriptions, blog introductions, and more. You can even automatically expand on what you’re currently writing or rewrite what you’ve already written.
Finally, you can optimize your draft using recommended keywords and readability scores. Again, Frase provides real-time feedback as you fill in the gaps.
Key Features:
- AI Writing Tools: They include an AI content generator, introduction generator, outline generator, paraphrasing tool, paragraph rewriter, blog title generator, meta description generator, product description generator, slogan generator, summary generator, sentence rewriter, and more.
- Content Analytics: It fetches data from Google Search Console to provide insights into organic growth, content decay, and keyword opportunities.
- Integrations: It integrates with Google Docs, Google Search Console, and WordPress. It also offers a Chrome extension.
Pros:
- You can add multiple pages in a single doc.
- It offers content analytics, allowing you to see which articles are getting the most traction and which ones are not.
- It enables you to do competitors’ research.
Cons:
- Limited word credits in each plan.
- Max 3 seats available.
Pricing:
It starts at $14.99/month for one user, 20K AI characters, and four articles (write/optimize) per month. There’s also a 5-day free trial for $1.
10. Surfer SEO
Surfer SEO is an SEO tool and AI writing assistance that uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) to help you manage and improve your content strategy.
Rather than creating the body of your copy, it helps you create outlines and optimize the content you write based on that outline.
It helps you to evaluate your content and find places to improve it using its content score metric, competitor research, SERP analyzer, and keyword recommendations. It also offers a content planner that you can share with your team.
Key Features:
- Outline Builder for Content Editor: The tool generates headlines and paragraphs based on your competitors’ postings. You can use that content as is or edit it by copy-pasting it into the editor. Content paragraphs are available in English, German, French, Polish, Swedish, and Dutch.
Outline Builder Content Builder
- SEO Audit Tool: This tool performs step-by-step optimization on your website to improve your Google search results. When you pick an URL to audit, it provides suggestions such as missing backlinks, internal links, word count, and important keywords to use.
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Content Planner: You can start with your content planner by keyword or domain. Based on your keywords, it comes up with clusters that you can use to create your content topics.
However, there is a learning curve involved. You will need to understand topic clusters, search intent, and keyword difficulty, among other metrics.
Pros:
- Easy to use interface.
- They offer a 7-day money-back guarantee – if you don’t find it helpful, you get your money back.
- It identifies keyword stuffing and prevents you from doing so.
Cons:
- Each plan offers a limited number of pages that you can audit.
Pricing:
It starts at $49/month for one website tracking and ten articles/month.
11. Copysmith
Copysmith markets itself as an AI content creation solution for teams.
This AI writer is best suited for bulk and short-form content copy like product descriptions, blog templates, social media content, advertising content, and more.
Key Features:
- Use cases: It includes product descriptions, content enhancement, ads & social media, blog templates, and brainstorming. With Product descriptions, you can generate descriptions for eCommerce Products, Instagram, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and Flipkart. Blog templates include blog titles, blog ideas, outlines, intro, Kickstarter, and more.
- Campaign Builder: It includes several AI templates to help you generate SEO-optimized product descriptions, Facebook posts, and Google ads in just a few seconds.
- Integrations: Copysmith integrates with Frase to use SEO data, Google Ads to publish campaigns, Microsoft Word to produce content, and WooCommerce for products.
Pros:
- It’s easy to use and generates SEO-optimized content.
- It comes with an in-built plagiarism checker.
- Provides good training material for new users.
Cons:
- Not suitable for long-form content.
Pricing:
It starts at $19/month for 75 credits, up to 40K words, and up to 20 plagiarism checks.
12. ClosersCopy
ClosersCopy is an AI writing robot that provides various templates for producing marketing materials, including website content, sales copy, email marketing campaigns, and social media posts. This tool doesn’t require any special skills or training to create engaging text.
Key Features:
- Use cases: It includes Facebook & Google Ads, email subject lines, landing pages, sales copies, social media content, and more.
- LongForm editor: You can create blog posts, articles, sales copies, and email marketing copies.
- Drag-and-drop builders: The drag-and-drop content builder makes your tasks more manageable by allowing you to drag and drop elements on your copy. The only thing you need to do is provide some context at the time of configuring this builder.
Pros:
- Its user interface is easy to use and navigate.
- You can easily create content with their drag-and-drop builder.
- The video tutorials provide in-depth, step-by-step instructions for each process.
- Tone analysis helps you understand the emotions in your writing.
Cons:
- No free plan or trial period is available.
- More expensive than most other AI tools.
Pricing:
It starts at $49.99/month for two seats, 300 AI runs, 50 SEO Audits, an SEO planner, Email support, and more.
13. LongShot AI
LongShot AI is another writing tool that can help you write SEO-friendly content. It comes with over 30 use cases and a plagiarism checker to ensure your content is original.
While most of its use cases are for short-form content, you can use templates like the content expander, write more, or bullets to text generator to assist you with your long-form piece.
Key Features:
- Use Cases: It includes content rephrasing, FAQ generator, headline generator, blog ideas generator, meta description generator, text extender, blog insights creator, headline intro generator, product description generator, FAB copywriting framework generator, content readability improver, sales email generator, video description generator, and more.
- Integrations: It integrates with WordPress to enable you to export AI-generated copies directly to WordPress. Its integration with SEMrush will help you write SEO-friendly content. Apart from these, LongShot AI will also provide integration with Hubspot and Grammarly soon.
- LongShot AI Community: The LongShot AI Community is a group of researchers and developers working on open artificial intelligence problems. Anyone can join and contribute to the research.
Pros:
- The free forever plan offers ten credits daily.
- Community is a big help for new users.
- It gives you multiple ways to know more about the product, including blog posts, help videos, customer support, and announcements.
Cons:
- Aside from the free plan, it’s costly, especially considering the limited number of use cases and credits.
- Doesn’t have use cases for social media content.
- Supports only eight languages.
Pricing:
It starts at $49/month for 1000 monthly credits, one user, basic integrations, and more.
14. INK Editor
Inky is a suite of content marketing tools that include AI-powered tools: AI Writer, SEO Optimizer, Copy Assistant, and Content Planner. These features can be used individually or collectively, and the price will be adjusted accordingly.
The AI Writer offers unlimited credits and helps you write long-form and short-form content. In addition, you can re-edit the generated copy with a single click as often as you want. The tool also offers WordPress plugin integration and open-source export API.
In addition, you get access to use cases like product descriptions, social media copies, sales copies, blogs, essays, emails, microcopies, product ideas, and more.
Key Features:
- SEO Optimizer: INK’s SEO Optimizer is a natural language optimization tool that can improve your SEO score and increase engagement by providing recommendations on keywords, titles, alt text, and the like. Enter a keyword or phrase, and the INK SEO Optimizer will do the rest.
- Content Planner: The INK Content Planner helps you group keywords and analyze search intent. You can also import your keywords and download your clusters for further analysis.
- Copy Assistant: A built-in grammar checker automatically checks your grammar and spelling. It also checks words, tone, and sentence fragments.
Pros:
- Easy to use.
- You can use it as an all-in-one content marketing tool.
- Offers unlimited AI text writing even on a free plan.
- Offers keyword clusters to optimize your SEO strategy.
Cons:
- The paid plan is relatively costly for one seat.
Pricing:
It starts at $50/month for one seat, INK Copy Assistant PRO, INK AI Writer PRO, INK SEO Optimizer PRO, and INK Content Planner PRO with 1,000 Keywords.
15. Articoolo
Articoolo is an AI content generator developed by a group of mathematicians, computer scientists, content writers, and marketing specialists. Thanks to NLP and AI technology, the tool drafts articles in a way that mimics the human brain.
Key Features:
- Use Cases: It includes Text Writer, Article Rewriter, Article Summarizer, and Image Scraper. Based on your keyword, Articoolo will also fetch images from royalty-free websites.
- WordPress Plugin: This will help you export your copies directly to WordPress so you can post faster.
- Plagiarism Checker: All you have to do is enter your text into the program, and it will scan for instances of plagiarism.
Pros:
- It has pay-per-use plans.
Cons:
- There’s no official website.
- Customer support is missing the mark.
- Not much information about the tool online.
Pricing:
It starts at $19/month for a ten-article fixed package.
16. NeuralText
NeuralText is a writing tool that offers users keyword reports and cluster credits. It also has an API for developers looking to integrate its services into other programs.
Some of its most prominent use cases include a paragraph generator, content outline, and product description – making it a short-form content-centric tool.
The best part is that it not only creates content but also creates content briefs and optimizes the content based on keywords and SERP analysis.
Key Features:
- AI Writing Assistant: This tool will help you produce text in any format. It also provides text recommendations while you write.
- Content Optimization: NeuralText can help make your content more search engine-friendly and improve its score in Google’s search results. It analyzes your word choice and sentence structure to ensure your content is easy to scan and relevant to your topic.
- Content research analysis: It makes content research and studies more accessible, allowing you to see real-time data across SERPs. It also has a Google Docs-style editor, making managing your data points and keeping track of your research effortless.
Pros:
- Free plan available.
- Offers keyword clusters.
- You can group content into different projects.
Cons:
- The community is not active.
- A bit on the expensive side.
Pricing:
It starts at $49/month for one user, unlimited AI text generation, 50 content analyses, and 50 keyword reports.
17. AI Writer
AI Writer helps you create unique, SEO-friendly content that you can publish directly to WordPress. In addition, it offers features like research & write, text rewording, verifiable citations, and source summarizer.
Key Features:
- AI-Writer Content Kit: AI Writer uses artificial intelligence to analyze keyword difficulty and ranking opportunities based on the field you enter. It chooses up to 250 keywords and generates one article per keyword, which can be directly published to WordPress.
- (Sub)Topic Discoverer: It checks to see what other writers have written about and then uses that information to create new topics for you.
- Verifiable Citations: When it produces content for you, it also provides a list of citations so that you can check the accuracy of the information.
Pros:
- It offers a free trial for seven days.
- One of the few AI writing tools to offer verifiable citations so you can confirm the accuracy of the content.
Cons:
- Not enough resources in the knowledge base for new users.
- Fewer use cases.
- Does not offer a free version.
Pricing:
It starts at $29/month for one user and up to 40 articles.
18. Wordtune
Wordtune makes your previously written content clearer, more compelling, and more authentic by bringing out the best.
Although this tool doesn’t write content from scratch, it makes your content look more professional. It also integrates with Microsoft Word, so you can edit your work while you write your content.
It provides tools to:
- Rewrite your content
- Make your content casual
- Make your content formal
- Shorten your sentences to make them crisp
- Expand your sentences to give more detail
Key Features:
- Paragraph Rewriter: Wordtune can rewrite your paragraphs entirely at once, one sentence at a time, and one word at a time. See below for an example.
- Tone: You can alter how your content appears by making it more informal or formal. Here’s an example:
Pros:
- You can make the text longer or shorter.
- It offers a casual and formal tone.
- Simple and easy-to-use interface.
Cons:
- It doesn’t offer any other benefits besides rewriting.
Pricing:
It starts at $9.99/month for unlimited rewrites.
19. ProWritingAid
Rather than a full-fledged artificial intelligence writer, ProWritingAid is a grammar checker and style editor that’s available online. It helps prevent spelling errors, suggests impactful words, and corrects grammar and punctuation.
It supports general English, British English, US English, Australian English, and Canadian English.
Key Features:
- Document type: You can choose from 35+ document types for your content. They include general academic abstract, academic essays, admission letters, book reviews, business books, and more.
- Reports: ProWritingAid provides three types of reports: real-time reports, summary reports, and style reports. Real-time reports show errors and corrections as you write. Summary reports provide an overview of all reports. It contains a spelling score, grammar score, and style score. On the other hand, Style reports identify problems in writing style and readability.
Pros:
- It offers 20+ reports to track your progress as you improve your writing.
- There are no limits on the number of words you can use with premium plans.
- Notifies of style changes and suggests corrections if needed.
Cons:
- Only available through the web browser.
Pricing:
It starts at $20 per month or $120 per year (if you pay yearly).
20. Article Forge
Once you provide ArticleForge.com with a keyword, article length, and other custom information, the program creates a 1500+ word article in seconds.
Your content will be checked for plagiarism and uniqueness before being delivered.
Key Features:
- Media-rich content: It can automatically find and insert relevant images, videos, titles, and links in your articles. To make it more relevant, ArticleForge also uses LSI keywords.
- SEO Automation: It integrates with WordPress to automate your scheduling and posting of articles.
- Interlinking: It can automatically turn URLs into links within your article. You can choose how often to do this for every keyword or just the first occurrence.
- Languages: It can generate content in English, French, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian.
Pros:
- Produces SEO-optimized content.
- Can schedule posts on WordPress automatically.
- Plagiarism-free content.
- Automatic keyword linking.
Cons:
- The content can be repetitive.
- You need to check the accuracy of the content before publishing.
Pricing:
It starts at $13/month for 25K words and the rest of the features.
Frequently asked questions about AI writing software.
1. What is AI Writing Software?
AI writing software is an artificial intelligence program used to write text. It can generate content for websites, blogs, and other fields. The content created by AI writers is often indistinguishable from human-created content. Still, sometimes it has a slightly robotic feel or may include words or phrases that seem out of place in the context of the writing.
2. How does AI Writing Software work?
The software uses an algorithm to mimic the creative process of human writers. It first creates a base text that modifies by adding words and phrases specific to your content. This ensures that you get high-quality original content every time you use it.
3. Who can use AI Writing Software?
Anyone who needs to create texts for their business or website can benefit from using this software. It’s also an excellent option for freelance writers and content marketers facing writer’s block. As it’s easy and fast, even beginners can start using it immediately and see great results within minutes!
4. Can I use AI writers for everything I write?
No — AI writers are best suited for shorter pieces like headlines or product descriptions because they don’t have much time to learn about your company’s brand voice or personality.
While there are tools to churn out long-form content, you still need the human touch for longer and more research-intensive pieces like blog posts or sales copy. AI algorithms still can’t pick up on nuances like a human can.
5. What are some of the benefits of using AI Writing Software?
There are many benefits to using AI writing software. The most obvious benefit is that you no longer need to spend time creating content yourself. The software will do it for you!
Another benefit is that AI writing software allows you to create content in any niche or topic you desire. You can even target multiple niches at once! This makes it possible to scale your business quickly and easily by leveraging the power of automation while still keeping your hands on the work itself.
6. How much does it cost?
The pricing depends on the type of service you want to use. Some companies offer free trials or even freemium versions with limited credits so that you can test their services before making a purchase decision. Some companies offer lifetime discounts for repeat customers, so keep an eye out for those offers when making your choice!
7. What’s the difference between AI-powered and human-written content?
While humans are still required for high-quality content creation, AI makes scaling up your content marketing efforts easier. By automating much of the writing process – from keyword research to formatting – AI can help you create more content at a lower cost per article. In addition, this frees your team members to focus on other tasks that require their expertise (like outreach) or simply spend more time enjoying their lives!
8. What is the best AI Writer?
The best AI writer depends on what you want it to do and how much you want to spend. If you’re going to write books or articles, many different programs can help you with this task. Our top pick for long-form would be Jasper.
On the other hand, if you only need help with short-form content such as blog posts or press releases, there may not be any need for an AI writer because these documents don’t require as much work or effort from the user. In that case, you might want to use tools like Copy.ai, Rytr, and more.
9. Can I use AI Writing Software to replace my human writers?
No, AI writing software isn’t meant to replace human writers. It’s designed to work alongside them, helping them create more engaging and relevant content for their audiences. You’ll still need human writers who can add style and personality to your content.
Over to You!
Do you find writing to be an exhausting activity? If yes, you would want to try one of the AI Writing Software tools we suggested above. These are some of the best AI writing tools specially developed to boost creativity, motivation, and productivity.
There’s room for experimentation with AI-generated content as long as you can recognize where specific tools are lacking and how to incorporate that into your work. Ultimately, the future of AI writing assistant software will mean ever-more versatile tools for writers, so don’t be shy about testing the waters.
Featured image by pch.vector on Freepik.
The post 20 Best AI Writing Apps first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.
Knowing anti-patterns and pitfalls is often more useful than knowing patterns when designing a system, so I decided to write this blog post about factors that I think will lead to producing unreliable systems from my experiences in designing (mostly) distributed enterprise applications.
I’ll be pleased to know your related experiences and comments on the matter.
What Is Modeling?
The human brain is a pattern-seeking device. However, it’s a costly process, and the main goal of thinking is to terminate/resolve what caused this process to start in the first place; so it has developed several mechanisms to prevent it from happening too often; the one related to our discussion here is the mental model. Reality is complex, chaotic, and too messy for our limited brain capabilities and resources to comprehend as it is (if that’s even possible); so our minds will try to create an alternative reality which is very simple and (most of the time) easily understandable, and that’s what modeling is all about! from how we think about how nature works, in science for example, to proper social behavior, to what to be afraid of or seek for, all are the results of our mental model. It is noteworthy that models are neither objective reality nor meant to be so!
Jakob Nielsen’s How Users Read on the Web is 25 years old this week, and one glance at an eye-tracking study will tell you its key observations are still relevant today.
Simply put, users don’t read a web page; they scan it for individual words and sentences.
A typical pattern shown in eye-tracking reports is that users will rapidly scan a page, scrolling down to do so. Then either hit the back button and pump your bounce rate, or scroll to the top and re-engage with the content.
Even when content, volume, and quality tick all the user’s boxes, and they choose to stay on your site, they still don’t read; they scan; a slightly deeper scan, but still a scan.
As a result, it’s vital to design websites to be easily scannable, both in a split-second scan to decide if your page is worth the reader’s time and on a second or third pass.
Clarify the Page’s Purpose Immediately
Every page should have a primary goal. The majority of the time, that goal is embodied in a CTA (Call to Action).
The good news is, if your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) has gone to plan, your goal (i.e., to sell something) and your user’s goal (i.e., to buy something) will align. By clarifying the page’s purpose, you can show the user that your goals align.
You can be experimental if you’re an established company and the user knows what to expect. But if you’re new to the market or have a lower profile, you need to conform to established design patterns. This means that a SaaS should look like a SaaS, a store should look like a store, and a blog should look like a blog.
Including your CTA above the fold — which in the context of the web, means the user doesn’t have to interact to see it. Doing so makes it easier for the user to progress and clearly tells the user what you are offering.
The landing page for next month’s Webflow Conf 2022 clarifies the page’s content, with a clear CTA above the fold.
Employ a Visual Hierarchy
The Von Restorff effect states that the more something stands out, the more likely we are to notice and remember it.
Visual hierarchies are excellent for guiding a user through content. HTML has the h1–h7 heading levels — although, in reality, only h1–h4 are much use — which gives you several levels of heading that can be scanned by different readers scanning at different rates.
For example, we know that subheadings have little impact if a user diligently reads the page from top to bottom, but they are excellent for catching the eye of skim readers.
Amnesty uses very a very simple hierarchy, the only change for its subheading being increased weight. But it is enough to catch the user’s eye.
You can also create visual hierarchies with other forms of contrast; weight and color are often employed in addition to size. For accessibility and inclusive design, it’s wise to combine visual indicators when creating a hierarchy; for example, headings are usually larger, bolder, and colored.
Use Negative Space
Imagine a person standing in a crowd. Let’s say they’re wearing a red and white striped jumper and a red and white bobble hat — pretty distinctive. But if there are hundreds of other characters around them, they might be hard to spot.
Now imagine the same person dressed the same, standing on their own. How long will it take you to spot them? Even without the stripy outfit, it’s not much of a challenge.
Elements in isolation are not only easier to spot, but they pull the eye because the negative space (sometimes referred to as white space) around them creates contrast.
When using negative space, the key is to give elements enough room to breathe and attract the eye without giving them so much room that they are disassociated from the rest of your content.
Across its site, Moheim uses negative space to highlight UI elements while grouping associated content.
Use F Patterns
Users scan a page using either an F-pattern or a Z-pattern.
Because users scan your page in predictable ways, we can employ layouts that cater to this tendency.
Designers have been aware of F and Z patterns for some time, and because they’ve been used for so long, they may be self-fulfilling, with users being trained to scan a page in this fashion. However, both patterns are similar to how eyes travel from line to line in horizontal writing systems.
Whatever the cause, by placing key content along these paths, you increase the chance of capturing a user’s attention.
Kamil Barczentewicz uses a beautiful, natural layout that also conforms to a classic F pattern.
Include Images with Faces
Images are a great way of conveying brand values and making a site engaging. But when it comes to catching the eye of a user scanning your design, the best images include faces.
For example, a testimonial with an image of the customer will catch the eye more than a text-only testimonial.
The Awwwards Conference uses an animated computer with a face to capture attention. And large images of speakers making eye contact.
This is almost certainly due to social conditioning; we see a face, and we engage with it to see if it is a threat or not. Most of us naturally look to expressions of emotion to understand situations, and the distinction between a real-life person and an image hasn’t made its way into our mental programming yet.
You don’t need to use photos. Illustrations are fine. The key is to ensure there is a face in the image. That’s why illustrations of characters perform so well.
Copy Print Design
Print design is centuries older than the web, and many print applications, from newspapers to advertising, developed design elements to catch the eye of readers scanning the design.
Subheadings, lists, blockquotes, and pull quotes all catch the eye. Introductory paragraphs in a larger size or even italics draw users into the text. Shorter paragraphs encourage users to keep reading.
Horizontal rules used to delineate sections of text act as a break on eyes traveling over content with momentum. They are a good way of catching a scan-reader who is losing interest.
You can use a horizontal rule or break up your layout with bands of color that divide content sections.
Omono uses horizontal bands to highlight different sections of content.
Mass, Not Weight
We often discuss design elements as having weight; font-weight is the thickness of strokes.
But it is more helpful to think of design elements as having mass; mass creates gravity, pulling a user’s eye towards them.
The trick is to design elements with enough mass to attract the user‘s eye when scanning at speed without forcing the user to change how they engage with your content.
Featured image via Pexels.
The post How To Make Your Designs Scannable (And Why You Should) first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.
This is an article from DZone’s 2022 Database Systems Trend Report.
For more:
One of the key components of microservices is how to manage and access data. The means to do that are different compared to traditional monolithic or three-tier applications. Some patterns are quite common, but others are specific and need to be evaluated before being incorporated into a solution. We will briefly go over some of these common database patterns for microservices before exploring CQRS (including how it differs from CRUD) and, finally, look at how it can be combined with event sourcing.
The purpose of a website is to reach new customers and keep current ones engaged. Therefore, customer-first should be at the top of your list for design features. After all, without your clients, your business won’t grow or succeed.
Customer-first has been a buzzword for a few years now. In a nutshell, it’s easy to imagine what customer-first design means. The needs of consumers come before anything else. However, the concept isn’t quite as simple in practice. A lot of nuances enter the equation.
Just what does it mean to have a customer-first web design? What are the must-haves to reach users on their level and keep their attention for the long haul?
Embracing quality customer experiences has driven loyalty for as long as anyone can remember. However, we now live in a time of uncertainty, and when people leave companies on a dime if they’re dissatisfied with any aspect. So you must hit the high notes on every song – your website is your purest online persona and must engage users and keep them entertained.
Whether you embrace causes that matter to your customers and share information on them or tweak your design to meet accessibility guidelines, many factors come into play with a customer-centric design.
In a recent report, researchers found that about 88% of company leaders feel customer engagement impacts revenue. You can’t control every variable, but you can ensure your website hits all the strong points for a customer-first web design that grabs them and keeps them on your page.
Here are our favorite tips to create a customer-first approach. You may already be doing some of these things. Pick and choose what makes the most sense for your business model. Even small changes can have a big impact.
1. Know Your Customers
Before creating a website centered around your customers’ needs, you must know who they are. What are the demographics of your typical clients? Survey them and find out what their needs and expectations are. How can you best help them?
You may also want to survey them about your website. What’s missing that might help them? Is there anything they love? What do they hate? The more you know, the better your design can match their expectations. Create buyer personas based on their preferences.
At the same time, buyers will sometimes say one thing but actually feel another way. No one is quite sure why people do this when being surveyed. One way around that issue is to do some A/B testing to see how they actually feel about various changes. Do they respond the way you thought? What other adjustments need to be made?
2. Find the Right Color Palette
Different industries trend toward various hues. For example, businesses in the banking industry trend toward blues and occasionally reds. Blue elicits trust from users and has a calming effect. On the other hand, the fashion industry might tap into brighter shades, such as lime green. Think about what colors people expect in your industry, and then find your color palette.
Each hue has its emotional impact. For example, red is a color of power and can elicit excitement in the viewer. Choose your shades accordingly to get the most emotional punch possible.
3. Accept Feedback
One of the best ways to improve your site over time to match the needs and preferences of your audience is by allowing feedback. Add reviews, place a feedback form in your footer, and even send out requests for feedback to your mailing list.
It’s also a good idea to find a mentor who has been successful at running a business. Ask them to look at your site and give you advice. You might also enlist the help of a marketing professional.
4. Stick With the Familiar
Have you heard of Jakob’s Law? The rule of thumb states that people prefer common design patterns they’re most familiar with. So when they see a pattern they know, such as a navigation bar layout, it boosts their mood and improves their memory of the site.
When making edits, don’t make significant changes. Instead, implement minor adjustments over time to give your followers a chance to acclimate to the shift.
5. Cut the Clutter
If you want users to feel wowed by your page and engage, you have to limit their choices. Add in too many options, and they may not know where to go first.
Start by choosing an objective for the page. Cut anything that doesn’t point the user toward the goal. Ideally, you’d have a little info, an image, and a call to action (CTA) button. However, this may vary, depending on where your buyer is in the sales funnel and how much information they need to decide to go from browser to customer.
6. Choose Mobile Friendliness
Recent reports indicate about 90% of people use mobile devices to go online at times. With phones gaining greater capabilities and 5G bringing faster speeds to communities, expect people to use their mobile devices even more frequently for internet browsing.
Making sure your site translates well on smaller screens makes sense for your company and for your customers. Be sure to test everything. Click through all links. Fill in forms. Ensure images and text auto-adjust to the correct size, so people don’t have to scroll endlessly.
7. Make Multiple Landing Pages
Like most businesses, you probably have several buyer personas as you segment your audience. Don’t just create a single home page and expect it to fulfill the purpose of every reader. Instead, create unique pages for each persona to best meet their needs.
Make sure each landing page speaks in the natural language patterns of your specific audience. Think about the unique needs of each group. How do their pain points differ? How can you best meet their needs?
8. Keep Important Info Above the Fold
People are busy. They work, have families, and might visit your site on the 15-minute break they get in the afternoon. Most consumers want the information they need to decide and don’t want to dilly-dally around with other things.
Place the essential headlines and info they need above the fold, so they see it first. Make it as readable as possible by using headings and subheadings. Add in a few bullet points. People also absorb information easier in video format, so add a video highlighting your product’s or service’s main benefits.
You should also place a CTA button above the fold if it makes sense for your overall design. Keep in mind people may have visited and already read some of the information. Some users return just to sign up and want to find the CTA quickly.
Step Into Your Customers’ Shoes
Look at your site through the eyes of your audience. What works well? What needs to be adjusted? Over time, you’ll develop a customer-first web design that speaks to those most likely to buy from you. Then, keep making changes and tweaking your site until it hits the perfect balance for your customers.
Featured image via Freepik.
The post What Customer-First Web Design Looks Like first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.