84 Business & Freelancing tips, tutorials, techniques & resources
Design Mock-ups Dont Work?
"In the early stages of a web design project most designers I know offer 3 different designs for the client to pick from, the client picks which is their favorite of the three mock ups and this design is used for the project. I think this design process is unproductive for the project, and worse it wastes time."
The Cure for Content-Delay Syndrome
"In the vast majority of website projects that I have managed during my ten years in the industry, content is often the last thing to be considered (and almost always the last thing to be delivered). We’ll spend hours, weeks, even months, doing user scenarios, site maps, wireframes, designs, schemas, and specifications—but content?"
Free Credit Card Icons For Online-Shops
"Credit card icons are an essential part of every online-shop. They are often used to indicate available payment conditions and purchasing options. The clearer they are presented in the online-shop, the easier it is for potential customers to figure out if they actually can pay online in this shop."
Why Did You Hire Me?
"Remembering why you were hired—and identifying whether or not you belong—is just as important as getting the gig. To sustain career and mental health, you must work within your means and know how to navigate ambiguous workplace situations. Using client and project management techniques is one part of the solution. Using your talent is the other."
Tips for Attracting Local Clients
"Most web designers work with clients from all over the country or even all around the world. While it certainly allows the designer to expand his or her marketplace, there are sometimes competitive advantages that exist when targeting work from local clients. Because local marketing is sometimes overlooked, I wanted to put together this list of suggestions for doing more work in your own backyard."
The Subtle Effects of Pricing on the Mentality of Clients
"Pricing obviously has a huge impact on how much money we make, but what about its affect on potential clients?"
The Principles of Project Management
"In this chapter, which is taken from SitePoint's new title, The Principles of Project Management, we'll talk about the work that comes before the project life cycle -- finding possible projects, working out which projects are worth pursuing, and getting to know the different groups of people who will be involved in any project. Finally, we'll discuss the process of actually initiating a project."
3 Steps To Creating A Freelancing Brand That Sells
"If you’re not wrapping your personal brand around everything you present to the world online, you’re going to lose customers to those who are. Here are three simple steps that can help you strengthen your brand in the next seven days."
The Freelancer’s Guide to Increasing Referral Business
"Increasing the amount of referral business you receive can be one of the most effective ways to reduce the amount of time that is spent on no-income producing activities."
Pricing: The 5 Major Factors for Designers
"How is it that we determine the variables of worth and value? This is a question that faces basically every human being living. Of course, it can extend to social areas of life, but we’re thinking specifically on the issue of pricing as a designer."
Trading the Hourly Rate for Task-based Pay: Should You Do It?
"One of the smartest business decisions I’ve made as a freelancer is to stop charging by the hour. Throughout the course of the article I’ll outline the six strengths of per-task pay, then respond to a few of the questions and criticisms you might have."
28+ Freelance Job Sites
The Wave Model, An Analysis of Scope Creep
"Think about this for a second. Think back to the last time that you had a project in which the client pushed scope. How many times has it happened that they only pushed the scope once? Chances are the problem came to be in the form of what I am now referring to as the Wave Model."
Do You Need A Contract For Freelance Work?
"Conventional business wisdom suggests that no business arrangement should be entered into unless a signed contract is in place. You wouldn’t sell your car or hire someone to remodel your house without a contract in place, would you? At least that’s how conventional reasoning goes."
The Lone Web Designer: Strategies for Competing Against the Big Agency
"We've all been beaten out of a project by a big ad agency at some point. It's a frustrating and demoralizing; especially when you know you could do a better job. As an independent web designer, I've battled this issue for quite a few years now, and I've decided it's time to publish a list of core strategies based on my experience."
Designers and Communication Skills: Why and How to Improve
"Communication skills can make or break any design project that you’re working on, so I thought I would cover the topic in more detail."
Copyright Explained: I May Copy It, Right?
"That’s time to put facts straight. In this post we’ve collected the most important facts, articles and resources related to copyright issues, law and blogging. We’ve also put together most useful tools and references you can use dealing with plagiarism."
5 Reasons You Didn’t Get That Freelance Graphic Design Job
"There are many reasons why we don’t get the projects, most of them are obvious: our portfolio isn’t aligned with the client’s tastes, or we slacked off in responding to their inquiries, or they simply just don’t like our personality (ouch). But this article’s about the times when we thought the project was in the bag."
Graphic Designer Contracts Agreements Forms & Web Designers Contracts
"There are plenty of blank contracts for designers out there. If nothing else, find one of those and fill them out. They usually take about 20 minutes to read over and add in your companies information."
Start Your Own Business
"I was asked to write a small article on making the leap to working for yourself (as it was still fresh in my mind). It’s by no means a definitive guide (for example, there is no mention of the legal aspects of setting up and running a company). It’s also aimed at a UK market, but a lot of this will work no-matter what country you’re in. Most of it is actually just common sense."
Tips for Part-Time Web Designers
"Freelance web design can be an ideal part-time business. Starting on a part-time basis allows you to gain valuable experience and ease your way into full-time status rather than taking the plunge and the risk that comes along with it."
Factors to Consider When Pricing Design Services
"When pricing your design services it can be difficult to determine what is an appropriate and fair price. Here are 12 factors that should influence how much you charge for your services."
36 Beautiful Resume Ideas That Work
"Make your resume stand out by using a beautiful design that most people have never seen before. Here are some terrific resume ideas to inspire you."
7 Reasons You Should Charge by the Hour
"Matthew Griffin has posted “7 Reasons You Shouldn’t Charge by the Hour.” Pelago’s experiences and struggles over the last eight years have taught us to avoid flat-rate billing like the plague. Here are 7 reasons why you should bill hourly."
Creating The Perfect Portfolio
"If you’re a designer looking for a job—whether of the freelance or permanent variety—then an online portfolio is pretty much mandatory. If your portfolio has to stand alone in a critical situation like hiring, it’s worth spending some time making sure it’s going to get the job done!"
Rethinking Application Design
"I’ve realized that the basic corporate design model for Web and application design is broken. This article will share some of the conclusions I’ve drawn and propose some better approaches for designing successful applications."
Losability vs. Usability
"The rules of Web design can be summed up in two words: Whatever works. In other words, if your Web design is based on a strong business strategy, it sets its own standards."
Finding The Sweet Spot
"The Web is slowly but surely growing up. For Web professionals it’s becoming more and more important to understand not only how various disciplines interact with and affect each other, but also the impact of business objectives on Web projects."
Brand Value and the User Experience
"Successful companies match business objectives with customer needs. They combine ongoing testing, feedback and improvement cycles into their daily practices and invest in listening, learning and modifying the user experience to create positive returns in revenue and loyalty."
Perfection Meets Reality
"We’re going to take a look at how the team behind NYTimes.com, a real team with real constraints, has learned to work together to create one of the best online news experiences in the world. While their situation isn’t perfect, it’s an impressive story of unity, balance, and communication that makes the few imperfections of the site that much more interesting."
Making Cents from Information Architecture
"When it comes to Web development, everybody has taken short cuts over the years. This holds especially true when working on low budget projects. One of the most costly short cuts is skipping the development of a sound and highly functional information architecture (IA)."
The Building Blocks Of A Successful Freelancing Career
"In this post I will share the 4 building blocks of a successful freelancing career which I think can keep your clients coming back. As simple as some may seem, we tend to ignore them and for one very simple reason – they seem so minor that we assume we are already doing them."
12 Incredibly Crafty Ways to Become a High-Profile Freelancer
"In this post, I’ll be providing 12 things you can do to add value to your freelancing business and build your profile as a freelancer."
About Going Solo
"I thought it might help if I pulled together the less glamorous aspects of “going solo” as I’ve come to call it to help others have realistic expectations. Hopefully being aware of these often overlooked matters, and some mistakes I made personally, can help you create a more successful plan before you take the plunge."
Top 10 Mistakes Made by New Freelancers
A Guide to Starting Your Business
"In an attempt to reduce the number of frustrating hours searching the web for what you need, we’ve written this article to help you with the small business paperwork, the basics of accounting, and an overview of some legal considerations."
How to Manage the Monster: Project management for the freelance designer
"Some clients can be micro-managers, asking you to change the design until it look's like a pile of horse puke, other clients can give you no direction at all yet hate everything you produce. The only constant factor in this equation is you."
Expert Advice On Picking The Right Projects
"How do you know which of your ideas you should pick and run with? I don’t have a definitive answer to that question so I brought in the experts and let them answer."
Rookie Mistakes: 15 Blunders New Freelancers Make and How to Avoid Them
"Here are a few of the most common, and sometimes most painful mistakes that freelancers make, and some tips on how you can try to avoid them, or just make them less harmful on your path to freelancing success."
Fire your Boss! The Successful Home Freelancer's Guide
"Making the decision to start your own freelance business or consultancy from home is not an easy one. There are numerous considerations that need to be taken into account. This article aims to consider the key issues, and provide varied expert opinions and advice on how to address them."
My Top 5 Biggest Freelancing Mistakes
"Every freelancer will have their own stories to tell, here are mine. I hope you find them useful and maybe you will share your own in the comments."
Pricing a Project
"Today we are going to break an unwritten rule for agencies, we are going to reveal an important page from our playbook on how we price a project."
Full-time freelancing: 10 things learned in 180 days
"Here are 10 things learned over the last 6 months. This topic has been exhausted elsewhere by many others, so I hope I’ve avoided duplicating what’s already been said."
7 Habits of a Highly Successful Freelance Web Designer
"I’ve had a few people contact me recently, asking how to make it as a freelance web designer. Rather than answer everybody individually, I thought I’d post my thoughts online. So in my best impression of a self help book, here are my 7 habits of a highly successful freelance web designer."
Steps to Becoming a Freelance Web Developer
"After the popularity of my previous going solo article, I thought I’d lay out some more specific ideas on how to become a freelance web developer. Naturally, these are focused on web development, but could just as easily be applied in whole or part to other industries."
Getting Real
"Discover the smaerter, faster, easier way to build a successful web-based application. A book by 37signals."
53 Steps to follow if you want to become Freelance Web Designer/Developer
"In recent months I have been setting myself up as a Freelance Web designer/Developer, if I told you it was a rocky road I wouldn’t be exaggerating . If I had followed the list I have written below it would have made my life so much easier and stress free."
The One Page Graphic Design Portfolio Guide
"I think this portfolio website format is great for several reasons and I will give you tips on how to create your own one page graphic design portfolio and how you can market it for free."
5 downsides of working at home
"Here’s a list of caveats that I’ve come to discover and that you should expect to encounter if you’ve chosen to lead the work-at-home life as well."
The Ideal Web Team
"Anyone can tell you that to create a good Web site you need a good Web team. Less people can tell you exactly how this team should go about creating the site."
11 Ways to Improve Landing Pages
"Attracting traffic is easy. The tricky part is converting it. And that’s the purpose of your landing page."
Client Centered Design
"Unfortunately there is no general rule for the task of keeping a client's expectations within reasonable limits. Some clients are easily convinced by someone who knows what he's talking about, while others will rigidly maintain their point of view, aided by their nephews who've gone through a Front Page book and therefore know everything there is to know about Web sites."
How to Choose an eCommerce Package
"Whether you’re a freelance designer looking for a solution for your latest client, or a new company preparing your first online store, choosing an eCommerce package can be a daunting decision."
To Dance the Dance of Freelance
"My best recommendation is to get involved in freelancing while you’ve still got the comfort of your full-time job."
Web Design Contracts: Why Bother
"Design work is often difficult to define in advance, and is inherently subjective. A contract helps to remove some of this ambiguity."
Building Your Own Start-up Technology Company
"For technology professionals, one of the results of the Web 2.0 explosion is a realization of the potential for ambitious, talented, and experienced people to start their own companies and create their own Web products without spending very much money."
10 Reasons Clients Don't Care About Accessibility
"Our clients simply don’t care about accessibility as much as we’d like them to, and there are several reasons for that."
What makes those damn clients so difficult?
"Most of those downright ugly client situations stem from a host of reasons other than the client themselves: lack of planning and communication, poor listening skills, over-promises and unmet expectations, over-confidence and lack of self-confidence, and lack of motivation--on either side."
A word on tire-kickers, charlatans and opportunists.
"There are several types of clients who will rob you of your time and energy and should be dealt with cautiously or weeded out altogether. They're an opportunity cost; your valuable time could better be spent elsewhere."
Contract Killers
"In this article I’m going to be discussing the tricky situation of quoting for web design and development projects, and the various types of contracts you can agree upon."
Educate Your Stakeholders!
"If you spend the time to educate your clients or managers at the beginning of the project, it will be repaid many times over by better decisions later on."
Stand and Deliver
"The good news is that designers already have what it takes to deliver gracefully under fire. It’s baked right into the job."
How to Plan Manpower on a Web Team
"The reason website scale is so useful is that it provides a practical means for estimating the number of people needed to carry out the activities of site maintenance."
Never Get Involved in a Land War in Asia (or Build a Website for No Reason)
"Throughout all these projects, one thing has remained a constant: those with clear, well-written, strategies ran smoother than those without—and ended up pleasing everyone, including the client."
Taming Scope
"The use-case model can be a powerful tool for controlling scope throughout a project’s life cycle. Because a simplified use-case model can be understood by all project participants, it can also serve as a framework for ongoing collaboration and a visual map of all agreed-upon functionality. Use it to plan, to negotiate, and to prevent scope creep."
Better Invoices for Better Business
"Invoices that obfuscate information, incorrectly state terms or arrive incomplete can be a massive headache for all parties. Strategic timing and attractive presentation are also important, as they can help “soften the blow” by making your invoice seem less like a stale demand for money and more like a friendly letter."
Getting Paid
"As businesses struggle to stay in business, many are short–changing vendors or woefully delaying payment. Zeldman laments the difficulties of getting paid."
Nipping Client Silliness in the Bud
"Slashdot’s Robin (Roblimo) Miller could write a book about web clients’ mistakes. In fact, he’s writing it now – but he needs your help."
The Client Did It: A WWW Whodunit
"Shepherd on the fine art of telling bad clients to buzz off."
Cheaper Over Better: Why Web Clients Settle for Less
"Adam Schumacher investigates why clients hire bad web designers—and what good web designers can do about it."
Breaking out of the Cubicle: How a Small, Swiss Company Got its Groove On
"In the mid-1990s, Makiko Itoh and her partner left New York’s cubicle land for a web shop of their own in the suburbs of Zurich. Learn from her tips on running your own web agency."
Get Out from Behind the Curtain
"When used at critical points in the design process, these sessions build strong, respectful relationships. Since clients directly experience the design work, you don’t need to sell clients on an idea—they were with you the whole time."
Bridging the Gap
"How can we work together if we don’t understand each other? Systems administrator Robert Miller describes the view from his side of the cubicle, and attempts to break down the barriers between “creative” and systems professionals."
Design by Metaphor
"If a client says he wants his new auction site to be “like eBay,” what does that mean? An artist hears “It has a tacky color scheme.” A developer hears “It’s scalable to 20 million users.” A user hears “It has feedback ratings on all sellers.”"
When You Are Your Own Client, Who Are You Going To Make Fun Of At The Bar?
"Should your blog have a business? Jim Coudal shares insights into the adventure of transitioning from client services to product creation."
Evolving Client Content
"Content management systems are only as good as the content they manage. Garrity explores the care and feeding of low-budget clients who need high-quality content."
CSS Talking Points: Selling Clients on Web Standards
"Selling your clients on standards-compliant design doesn’t have to hurt. Kise’s four-point CSS Selling Plan helps the medicine go down."
On Creativity
"As designers, we’re wrongly perceived as custodians and exponents of creativity. This matters because business currently overvalues creativity. To avoid the inevitable backlash, we must lead our clients’ perceptions."
50 Ways to Become a Better Designer
"Being a successful creative has a lot to do with the way you work. Sure, you can't teach good design, but it never hurts to learn a few new tricks, or simply make the most of your talents."
7 Ways to Get Involved in the Design Community
"There are countless resources online for designers, and the community around these sites is very strong. If you are a designer you should be actively involved in one way or another."
Freelancers: Manage your projects
"Today we take a look at software and web apps to help you manage your freelance projects. An essential tool for any freelancer who wants to stay organised, keep the client up to date and keep records of milestones, deadlines and project files..."
10 Absolute "Nos!" for Freelancers
"My world (AND financial success) now requires ample use of the answer "No." And here are ten questions I nearly always answer "No" to."
101 Ideas to Get More Freelance Work and Generate New Client Leads
"We have put together an enormous list of ideas, ranging from ones that take 10 seconds to 10 days. There's something for everyone to try and I guarantee there will be plenty of things you never thought of."
10 Ways To Get Design Approval
"Paul Boag shares his tips for smoothing the path between design brief and sign-off."