As mentioned above, one of the many duties and responsibilities of a web development professional involves managing the website content, which means that you will need to become familiar with the concept of SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. Simply put, SEO stands for a set of practices, techniques and methods that are widely used to make a website's content more Google-friendly and more beneficial for the readers. Ideally, good content should be keyword-rich, 100% original, well-written and filled with useful information. SEO services often go hand in hand with web development and web design, and a true professional usually offers a wide array of web-related services. Many regard web development as a multidisciplinary field – and for a good reason, given the fact that it does not cover only one area of expertise. 

Every good web development professional should possess a set of skills and qualities, and being highly attentive to detail or having an eye for aesthetics is only two of them. While it is true that most of the skills are acquired, some of them are innate – fortunately, there is software available for almost everything these days. 

Emphasize On Practice Rather Than On Theory

One of the most common mistakes web development professionals tend to make these days is that they focus too much on theory, forgetting that ultimately their practical skills will set them apart from the crowd. That being said, a very important part of pursuing your career as a web developer involves creating dynamic websites that do not require individual HTML pages, but multiple pages using the same design – in this case, you will need to resort to MySQL and PHP. 

After having created the dynamic website, you should make the best of it and use it for improving the UX – come up with a brand new website that uses AJAX and that allows you to experiment with a plethora of flash and interactive online applications that will add to the aesthetics, value, function and rating to the website. Lastly, you must exercise your coding skills with the help of various programs and systems, such as Joomla or Drupal.

Take Your Software Skills to the Next Level by Enrolling In A High-Quality, Professional Web Development Program

The final step you need to take in order to become a professional web developer is to enroll in one of the many high-end web development programs that will help you take your software skills a mile further. These programs often include both technical and non-technical coverage, along with the most popular programming languages, the latest features and functions that are used in web development at the moment, in-depth training in jQuery, HTML5, CSS3, XHTML and other programming languages, and such. 

Moreover, these courses also include a final project where you need to build a functional Login system, to built a basic static website or a test site with MySQL, and at the end of the training program you will be awarded a certificate that will undoubtedly add to your professional portfolio and increase your chances of getting a stable and well-paid job. 

The Bottom Line

To sum it all up, becoming a web development professional can be a daunting and time-consuming task, but you can easily pursue a great career in the IT industry, on a budget. There are plenty of forums, websites as well as free PDFs and eBooks that offer you thorough information, tips, hints and advice. Nonetheless, one of the most important aspects that set average, mediocre web developers from the true web development professionals is being up to date with the current trends and design styles in the development industry.