Powerful And Free Newsletter Manager: phplist

Sending newsletters to 1000’s of users, tracking clicks, unsubscribe links, risk of sending e-mails twice? Yes, these are some concerns of newsletter management.

phplist, an open source PHP - MySQL based newsletter management application makes sending newsletters easy, professional and managable.

Some powerful features of phplist:

• No duplicate messages. No ‘forgotten’ messages.
• View and click tracking
• Templating and multiple subscribe pages
• Dynamic subscriber columns
• User specific content like "name, e-mail"
• Lists
• RSS subscription
• Scheduling
• CVS import and export
• Bounce detection and cleaning
• Auto PDF messages
• Attachments
• Throttling to prevent server overload

This open source newsletter manager can also be integrated with the current subscriber base with the built-in import feature or some coding for syncronazing databases.

Pro And Free E-mail Marketing Tool: OpenEMM

E-mail marketing, when done professionally, has a serious return rate and measurable.

OpenEMM is a beautiful e-mail marketing (or newsletter management) application with business level capabilities. And best of all, it is open source.

Using this e-mail marketing tool, event and time triggered e-mails can be sent which is a great feature for smarter mailing lists.

Some other features of OpenEMM are:

• Set of pre-configured action forms and template
• Import and export workflows simplified by wizards
• Configuration of different users with different rights/roles
• Create mailing lists for groups of recipients
• Subscription to your mailing lists via confirmed opt-in, double opt-in or via e-mail
• Unsubscription with one click, optional with confirmation query and unsubscribe confirmation by e-mail
• Import and export wizards
• Separation of layout and content (like a content management system)
• Templates
• Detailed real-time statistics with graphical output
• Analysis of opening rate, click rate, unsubscriptions, bounces
• Comparison of multiple mailings based on key data

OpenEMM is mainly written in Java and Python and uses MySQL for storing data.

Manage Your Mailing Lists With poMMo

poMMo is an open source maillist manager application for adding a mailing list to your website or to organize stand alone mailings.

poMMo requires PHP & MySQL, offers a very simple web-based setup and it can be ready to use within minutes.

With an Ajaxed interface, you can create custom subscription forms & subscriber groups. After that, it provides you the necessary embed code (or HTML output) for inserting the form.

poMMo is also a smart application as it gets the list of sent-unsent-failed e-mails during the delivery and has an automated "list cleaning" feature by checking the bounced e-mails.

Other nice features of this maillist manager:

• Easy creation of subscriber groups
• Quickly import and export your subscriber base
• WYSIWYG HTML mailing creation
• Flexible collection of subscriber data through user defined "fields"
• Drag and drop field ordering
• Themeable, brandable, multilanguage
• Limit the sending of mails - throttle by hour, bytes, and domain limits
• Revolutionary AJAX based subscriber Management
• Personalize Mailings — e.g. Say "Dear Susan" vs. "Dear Subscriber"
• View and Reload sent mailings from the Mailing History page
• Mailings can be paused, resumed, and canceled "live"
• Mailings take place in the background — you can turn your computer OFF during a sending
• Subscribers can unsubscribe themselves or update their own information (including email address)

This mailing list manager application uses very low disk I/O and can be used for big mailing list groups.

P.S. Admin interface has a small compatibility problem in Firefox.

Sanity check: 10 dirty little secrets you should know about working in IT

Author: Jason Hiner

If you are preparing for a career in IT or are new to IT, many of the “dirty little secrets” listed below may surprise you because we don’t usually talk about them out loud. If you are an IT veteran, you’ve probably encountered most of these issues and have a few of your own to add — and please, by all means, take a moment to add them to the discussion. Most of these secrets are aimed at network administrators, IT managers, and desktop support professionals. This list is not aimed at developers and programmers — they have their own set of additional dirty little secrets — but some of these will apply to them as well.

10.) The pay in IT is good compared to many other professions, but since they pay you well, they often think they own you

Although the pay for IT professionals is not as great as it was before the dot-com flameout and the IT backlash in 2001-2002, IT workers still make very good money compared to many other professions (at least the ones that require only an associate’s or bachelor’s degree). And there is every reason to believe that IT pros will continue to be in demand in the coming decades, as technology continues to play a growing role in business and society. However, because IT professionals can be so expensive, some companies treat IT pros like they own them. If you have to answer a tech call at 9:00 PM because someone is working late, you hear, “That’s just part of the job.” If you need to work six hours on a Saturday to deploy a software update to avoid downtime during business hours, you get, “There’s no comp time for that since you’re on salary. That’s why we pay you the big bucks!”

9.) It will be your fault when users make silly errors

Some users will angrily snap at you when they are frustrated. They will yell, “What’s wrong with this thing?” or “This computer is NOT working!” or (my personal favorite), “What did you do to the computers?” In fact, the problem is that they accidentally deleted the Internet Explorer icon from the desktop, or unplugged the mouse from the back of the computer with their foot, or spilled their coffee on the keyboard.

8.) You will go from goat to hero and back again multiple times within any given day

When you miraculously fix something that had been keeping multiple employees from being able to work for the past 10 minutes — and they don’t realize how simple the fix really was — you will become the hero of the moment and everyone’s favorite employee. But they will conveniently forget about your hero anointment a few hours later when they have trouble printing because of a network slowdown — you will be enemy No. 1 at that moment. But if you show users a handy little Microsoft Outlook trick before the end of the day, you’ll soon return to hero status.

7.) Certifications won’t always help you become a better technologist, but they can help you land a better job or a pay raise

Headhunters and human resources departments love IT certifications. They make it easy to match up job candidates with job openings. They also make it easy for HR to screen candidates. You’ll hear a lot of veteran IT pros whine about techies who were hired based on certifications but who don’t have the experience to effectively do the job. They are often right. That has happened in plenty of places. But the fact is that certifications open up your career options. They show that you are organized and ambitious and have a desire to educate yourself and expand your skills. If you are an experienced IT pro and have certifications to match your experience, you will find yourself to be extremely marketable. Tech certifications are simply a way to prove your baseline knowledge and to market yourself as a professional. However, most of them are not a good indicator of how good you will be at the job.

6.) Your nontechnical co-workers will use you as personal tech support for their home PCs

Your co-workers (in addition to your friends, family, and neighbors) will view you as their personal tech support department for their home PCs and home networks. They will e-mail you, call you, and/or stop by your office to talk about how to deal with the virus that took over their home PC or the wireless router that stopped working after the last power outage and to ask you how to put their photos and videos on the Web so their grandparents in Iowa can view them. Some of them might even ask you if they can bring their home PC to the office for you to fix it. The polite ones will offer to pay you, but some of them will just hope or expect you can help them for free. Helping these folks can be very rewarding, but you have to be careful about where to draw the line and know when to decline. For help, take a look at TechRepublic’s free download “Ten ways to decline a request for free tech support.”

5.) Vendors and consultants will take all the credit when things work well and will blame you when things go wrong

Working with IT consultants is an important part of the job and can be one of the more challenging things to manage. Consultants bring niche expertise to help you deploy specialized systems, and when everything works right, it’s a great partnership. But you have to be careful. When things go wrong, some consultants will try to push the blame off on you by arguing that their solution works great everywhere else so it must be a problem with the local IT infrastructure. Conversely, when a project is wildly successful, there are consultants who will try to take all of the credit and ignore the substantial work you did to customize and implement the solution for your company.

4.) You’ll spend far more time babysitting old technologies than implementing new ones

One of the most attractive things about working in IT is the idea that we’ll get to play with the latest cutting edge technologies. However, that’s not usually the case in most IT jobs. The truth is that IT professionals typically spend far more time maintaining, babysitting, and nursing established technologies than implementing new ones. Even IT consultants, who work with more of the latest and greatest technologies, still tend to work primarily with established, proven solutions rather than the real cutting edge stuff.

3.) Veteran IT professionals are often the biggest roadblock to implementing new technologies

A lot of companies could implement more cutting edge stuff than they do. There are plenty of times when upgrading or replacing software or infrastructure can potentially save money and/or increase productivity and profitability. However, it’s often the case that one of the largest roadblocks to migrating to new technologies is not budget constraints or management objections; it’s the veteran techies in the IT department. Once they have something up and running, they are reluctant to change it. This can be a good thing because their jobs depend on keeping the infrastructure stable, but they also use that as an excuse to not spend the time to learn new things or stretch themselves in new directions. They get lazy, complacent, and self-satisfied.

2.) Some IT professionals deploy technologies that do more to consolidate their own power than to help the business

Another subtle but blameworthy thing that some IT professionals do is select and implement technologies based on how well those technologies make the business dependent on the IT pros to run them, rather than which ones are truly best for the business itself. For example, IT pros might select a solution that requires specialized skills to maintain instead of a more turnkey solution. Or an IT manager might have more of a Linux/UNIX background and so chooses a Linux-based solution over a Windows solution, even though the Windows solution is a better business decision (or, vice versa, a Windows admin might bypass a Linux-based appliance, for example). There are often excuses and justifications given for this type of behavior, but most of them are disingenuous.

1.) IT pros frequently use jargon to confuse nontechnical business managers and hide the fact that they screwed up

All IT pros — even the very best — screw things up once in a while. This is a profession where a lot is at stake and the systems that are being managed are complex and often difficult to integrate. However, not all IT pros are good at admitting when they make a mistake. Many of them take advantage of the fact that business managers (and even some high-level technical managers) don’t have a good understanding of technology, and so the techies will use jargon to confuse them (and cover up the truth) when explaining why a problem or an outage occurred. For example, to tell a business manager why a financial application went down for three hours, the techie might say, “We had a blue screen of death on the SQL Server that runs that app. Damn Microsoft!” What the techie would fail to mention was that the BSOD was caused by a driver update he applied to the server without first testing it on a staging machine.

Top 5 Biggest Freelancing Mistakes

It is often said we learn more from mistakes than successes. Sometimes it is nice to learn from another persons goofs rather than your own!

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.

1. Under-pricing

Most of us will have done this at some point, many of us still do. Money is a difficult subject for a lot of people. While I am better at talking about money now than I was, I still find it an uncomfortable topic. Problem is, while you might not find it easy it is absolutely critical.

You have a right to earn a fair price for your work, and doubly so when you are good at your job and have excellent experience. How do you know if you are underpricing? If you do good work but you never lose a bid then your prices are too low.

Also be careful about charging by the hour when you don’t have to. When you charge by the hour you are actually penalizing yourself for getting faster at your work! Also some jobs require considerable experience and expertise while taking little time to execute. As the old carpenter said when his customer complained at the price for fixing a creaky floor board, “That’s $1 for the nail, $999 for knowing where to put it”.

2. Over-committing

No one client has the right to monopolize your time, even if they do think they are paying well. When one client takes all your time that is a boss and you have a job, not a client and freelancer relationship. Remember as well as the job at hand you need time to market and network to bring in future work. Allowing one customer to dictate my hours was the worst mistake I ever made as when that contract was over I had nothing to fall back on. You ideally want to have four or five overlapping contracts plus some breathing room so the loss of one doesn’t set you back too far.

3. Failing to sell

After money I am guessing the next worst part of freelancing for most people is the thought of selling yourself and your services. Fact is though many times a client will know they want your help but will not know exactly what they want. Selling need not be about snake oil and ripping people off. If you can truly help someone out then offer your services in a way they will respond to. Make it all about them, their needs, what they will get out of it. Most importantly, listen more than you talk.

4. Always saying ‘yes’

Fear can cause us to do many stupid things. It took a lot before I started turning down requests. Some were easier than others. Requests to work for free still come but I am better at saying no now, turning work down is still tough but I can do it. You have to remember that a bad deal or bad client can damage you far more than the loss of the work. Be prepared to not agree to everything that comes your way and know that you can be nice and friendly without agreeing all the time!

5. Not following up

Past, happy clients can be your biggest source of new work, both with repeat business and referrals. Always get at least a testimonial when they say how happy they are. Even better if you can get them to recommend you. It doesn’t hurt to ask! Also it can be nice to send birthday cards, etc. You never know.

Like the rest of us, I am still learning about this freelancing lark, but having a great deal of fun doing it, mistakes and all. What lessons have you learned the hard way? Please do share in the comments.

20 Must-Read Blogs For Freelance Writers

Posted by Abhijeet Mukherjee

The idea of this post comes from Steven’s recent post on freelance blogging. Freelance writing certainly has many advantages and can be rewarding too.

It goes without saying that in order to become a freelance writer, you gotta love writing. But you should also consistently work on sharpening your skills. And how do you do that? Reading well-written articles and blogs is a very good start! This can help you write innovative and appealing content.

Reading blogs with good writing is a must if you want to improve your skills as a writer/blogger. Keeping this in mind, I decided to list 20 blogs which should be on every freelance blogger’s RSS feed reading list. This is not a definitive list as there are many more good blogs and I can’t possibly name all of them. But still it’s a useful list which I hope you will enjoy.

Note: these blogs are not all about freelance writing or writing for the web. What they have in common is they’re all really well-written.

Here’s the list in no specific order (It’s not a top 20 list!)

• 1. Zen Habits & Write To Done Zen Habits and Write To Done are written by Leo Babauta, an experienced writer and a prolific blogger. Not only does he write great content he has an amazing writing style which is simple yet captivating.
• 2. Problogger I’d be very surprised if you haven’t heard of this blog. Problogger is written by Darren Rowse and teaches the art of blogging and making money through it. In spite of being one of the most famous blogs on the planet, Darren still maintains the same old way of writing articles which are useful, impressive and easily understandable.
• 3. Dumb Little Man One of the best productivity blogs around, Dumb Little Man is edited by Jay White and written by an impressive group of writers who produce useful articles on how to increase your everyday productivity and manage time in a better manner.
• 4. Copyblogger Brian Clark is an authority when it comes to blog writing and you cannot afford to miss any of his articles if you want to become a good writer. Seriously.
• 5. Freelance Switch Written by the best freelance writers and edited by Skellie, this blog presents insightful articles which include tips and tricks for freelancers and web workers. Thanks to it’s great content, the blog has achieved huge growth in the past one year and should be on your reading list too.
• 6. Dosh Dosh Maki’s writing style and his in-depth analysis of topics has gained him admiration and respect in the blogosphere, not to mention a huge reader base. One of the most well-written blogs around and certainly a writer’s paradise.
• 7. Seth Godin Seth’s unique and candid style of writing makes his blog a must read for all writers and bloggers.
• 8. 43 Folders Although Merlin doesn’t write much these days, his blog still remains one of the most useful productivity blogs with some very nicely written articles.
• 9. Skelliewag Skellie’s proficiency as a writer and blogger is well known and she has been producing great web content for years. Skelliewag is her flagship blog which boasts of some brilliant articles which are quite useful for bloggers.
• 10. Men With Pens This blog is written by James and Harry, both of them being professional and without a doubt, amazing writers. A must read blog if you aim to improve your writing skills and write impressive content.
• 11. Chris Pearson For those who don’t know, Chris is probably the best and the most sought after freelance WordPress designer (am not sure if he is doing freelance work any more). He doesn’t write much but when he does, the articles are too good to miss. He also created an immensely popular WordPress called Cutline.
• 12. Daily Blog Tips One of the top blogs in the blogging niche, Daily Blog Tips is written by Daniel and has some great advice for bloggers and writers who aim to make it big in the blogosphere.
• 13. Life Hacker Unmissable and a must-read everyday, no matter who you are and what you do.
• 14. Entrepreneurs Journey Yaro Starak aims to help bloggers and online entrepreneurs through his candid and thought provoking articles, which make his blog one of the most important in it’s niche.
• 15. Chris Garrett Chris is an internet marketing consultant and an experienced writer. He has also co-authored the Problogger book with Darren. Hence, it goes without saying that his blog is an important one, especially from a writer or freelance blogger’s perspective.
• 16. The Simple Dollar One of the best finance blogs around, Trent writes top quality articles which have made his site a huge success.
• 17. Steve Pavlina Steve’s 4000 word essays are quite well known and apart from including impressive content, they also feature an impeccable writing style.
• 18. Life Hack Like Dumb Little Man, this blog focuses on personal development and productivity and employs guest writers who consistently produce excellent content.
• 19. Chris Brogan Chris is a social media marketing consultant who writes some direct-from-heart articles on his blog which are nicely written and well presented.
• 20. Freelance Folder It’s not that I am biased towards this blog because I write for it but I believe it’s certainly a must-read blog for all the freelance bloggers out there and I have been enjoying the well written articles on this blog by influential writers, long before I started writing for it. :)

Some other blogs which feature impressive writing are A List Apart, The Writers Manifesto and Success Soul.

Which blogs do you read to improve your skills as a writer / blogger? I’d love to know your resources.

21 Factors that Influence the First Impression of Your Website’s Visitors

When a new visitor comes to your website for the first time an initial impression will be formed pretty quickly. A good first impression will drastically increase the chances of that visitor returning again, and a bad first impression will be difficult to overcome.

This list looks at 21 factors that will influence your visitor’s impression within moments of arriving at your site. These are just some of the factors, not a comprehensive list. Feel free to list some others in the comments that you think should be included. Here they are, in no particular order.

1. Load Time – Most of us are very impatient and slow loading pages will not make us want to return. On the other hand, pages that load quickly will encourage visitors to navigate through your site knowing that they won’t have to wait very long for each page to load.

2. Error Messages – If new visitors to your site are getting error messages and are unable to access your site, they’re not going to be impressed and they won’t be back. There are a number of different errors that can occur. BlogStorm recently published an article Why Businesses Need a Website that Works, which takes a look at one unsuccessful website with an obvious problem.

3. Colors – The look of your site will obviously be a factor in your visitors’ first impressions. The colors of your website can have a huge impact on the overall attractiveness of the site. Choosing the right color combinations can be difficult, but fortunately there are a number of online tools that can help. For a list of resources and links to some articles on the psychology of colors, see Find the Perfect Colors for Your Website.

4. Logo/Branding – Another factor in the overall look of your website is the logo and branding. Most importantly, the logo should help to brand your business in the way that you want visitors and customers to think of you. For more information, see What Makes a Great Logo? from David Airey.

5. Header Images – Dominant header images are often used and they can have a strong effect on first impressions. Personally, I’m not a big fan of large header images for blogs, but some blog designers use them with great success. I like to see the content start higher on the page, but many visitors don’t share my opinion (I’d be interested to hear your thoughts in the comments below). Nate Whitehill uses a very attractive header image on his blog to make it stand out.

6. Typography – A somewhat subtle influence is the typography and fonts. A change in the typography may not be a drastic change, but it can make all the difference. See Five Simple Steps to Better Typography by Mark Boulton for a more complete look at the subject.

7. Layout – One of the most important design elements is the layout. Whatever layout you use should draw the reader’s attention to those items that are most important. Layout can be used not only to create an attractive design, but also to make the site easy for visitors to use. While most websites use a fairly standard design, a good way to make your site stand out is to use a more creative layout. Of course, you’ll want to make sure that your creative layout adds to the effectiveness of the website rather than detracting from it.

8. Advertisements – One of the easiest ways to make a bad first impression is to have a website that is full of advertisements. Most of today’s internet users have come to expect advertisements to be present on most websites, but too many ads, the wrong type of ads, and poor ad placement can be a big turn off for visitors.

As a general rule you should avoid placing ads in places that will interfere with visitors being able to read your content, unless the goal of your site is to make money through ad clicks. Animated ads are also a touchy subject as they can also easily distract and annoy readers.

If you use advertisements that are relevant to visitors and are kept out of the flow of your content, visitors generally will not mind.

9. Your Reputation – Some of your first-time visitors will be familiar with you or your website before they even visit. In many cases they may have read about you on another website that links to you. This is especially common for bloggers. If that visitor has read a positive recommendation of you before visiting your site, you will have already developed a little bit of a reputation in the mind of that visitor that may affect the first impression. This can also work the opposite way if they have heard or read negative things before visiting.

10. Ease of Navigation – We’ve probably all been at websites that looked like they had great content that we wanted to read, but just couldn’t find what we wanted. I’m not sure if there is anything more frustrating on a website than poor navigation. On the other hand, well-constructed navigation can help visitors to have a very positive experience on the site.

11. Clarity of Purpose – New visitors should be able to very quickly determine the purpose of a website. Many sites effectively incorporate this into their branding by using a descriptive tag line that sums up the site’s purpose. About Us pages are also helpful for communicating purpose.

12. Unprofessional Items – Some items like low-quality animated GIFs and hit counters can give a negative first impression. Generally anything that makes your site look like it was designed 10 years ago should be avoided.

13. Quality of Images and Photos – It’s amazing how much impact a high-quality photo or graphic can have on a design. Fortunately, there are plenty of resources online for getting high-quality, low-cost photos, and some are even free. Searching for a good free picture may not be worth the time it takes when you can find one faster and pay $1 or $2. For a list of places to find photos online, see Stock Photography Resources.

14. Accessibility – Accessibility is a big buzzword in web design. The reality is that not all of your visitors will fall into the mould of the average visitor. Some will have handicaps, some will use older browsers, some will have slower connections, etc. If your website is not accessible to a visitor it’s almost guaranteed to create a bad impression.

15. Popups and Pop-unders – Most internet surfers now have some sort of popup blocker, but some websites are still using them. Most visitors don’t appreciate popups that aren’t blocked, and this can create a bad impression. Some sites, however, still use popups effectively, so it’s something that you will have to weigh the pros and cons.

16. Video and Audio – As more and more internet users have high speed connections, audio and video will continue to become more common. Some visitors appreciate these elements and it’s evident by the success of such sites as YouTube. A general rule with both audio and video is that it should not start automatically without the user choosing to have it start.

17. Associations – Visitors may be new to your website, but they may be impressed with associations to someone or something they know and respect. An example of this is web hosting provider Media Temple. Visitors to Media Temple’s website will see testimonials on the homepage from Nike, Sony, and Starbucks. If that visitor is wondering about the competence and capability of Media Temple, associations with these large, well-known companies will have a huge impact on the first impression. Another example is a website displaying a badge that shows membership in the Better Business Bureau.

18. Quality of Content – Of course quality content cannot be left off this list. While content may not have an instant impact like some of the factors that relate to the design of the site, it will have a significant impact on visitors that stick around for a minute or so. This is a big factor especially for blogs. A first-time visitor that finds really great content will remember their visit in a positive light.

19. Tone – In addition to the actual content, the tone of the content can also have an impact on first impressions. I’ve been on a few blogs that have strong content, but an unnecessarily negative tone by the blogger created a poor first impression.

20. Number of Comments and Trackbacks – New visitors to blogs will often notice the number of comments on posts. A lot of comments and trackbacks show that other readers are involved, and it indicates that this is likely a valuable resource. On the other hand, seeing no comments often causes the visitor to wonder how many other people are reading.

21. Flash Intros – Positive or negative, flash intros will impact the first impression of visitors. I’m not a fan of flash intros on most websites. I think they have their place on websites in certain industries, such as websites for movies or rock bands. Unless visitors will expect a website in your industry to have a flash intro, I would avoid it.

What would you like to add to the list?

77 Resources to Simplify Your Life as a Web Designer

Color Tools

Choosing the right color combination can be a difficult task. Try some of these tools to make it an easier decision.

• Color Schemer Gallery
• COLOURlovers
• Website Color Picker
• I Like Your Colors

For more color-related tools, see Find the Perfect Colors for Your Website.

Free CSS Navigation Menus

CSS-based navigation menus are used by most websites now, but they don’t need to be created from scratch. There are hundreds of menus already created and available for your use. You can use them as is, or customize them to meet your needs and match your website.

• Listamatic
• Exploding Boy
• Alvit.de
• Dynamic Drive
• Our own collection of CSS Menus
  

DHTML Navigation Menus

Xtreeme DHTML Menu Studio is a great tool for quickly creating dynamic navigation menus (cost: $49).

Photos for Your Website

Quality images greatly enhance the look and appearance of a website. You can find photos for free or buy higher quality photos for as little as $1.

• Stock.Xchng - free stock photos.
• Stock Expert - Low cost stock photography.
• iStockphoto - Low cost stock photography.
• Big Stock Photo - Low cost stock photography.

Icons

• IconFinder.net - Icon search engine
• 31 Sources of Quality, Free Icons

Blank WordPress Templates

If you design WordPress themes you can save yourself a lot of time by downloading these blank themes (from Tomorrow’s Laundry). The blank themes provide you with a very basic starting point to work from.

CSS-Based Design Templates

You may be able to save time by starting with a basic CSS-based template. Most websites are built off a one of several different layouts that can be started from a template.

• Layout-O-Matic - A tool that lets you create your own CSS-based template.
• CSS Creator - CSS layout generator.
• Layout Gala - Collection of templates.
• Open Designs - Open source templates.
• Open Source Templates - More open source templates.

Eric Meyer’s CSS Sculptor

One of the leading CSS designers has created CSS Sculptor to speed up the creation of CSS-based layouts. If you design a lot of websites this $149 software may be very helpful.

Dead Links Checker

Dead links are extremely frustrating to visitors, but checking them manually is not realistic. These tools will do it for you.

• DeadLinks.com
• Online Link Validation Tool

Testing in Multiple Browsers

Adequate testing is a part of the design process, and unfortunately that means testing in a variety of browsers.

• Browser Shots
• Browsercam
• NetMechanic

For more information on this subject see Effectively Testing Your Website in Multiple Browsers.

Validators

Valid code is generally more accessible and it should be one of the first things you test when you encounter a problem.

• HTML
• CSS
• RSS and Atom
• RSS, Atom, and KML

Scripts

There’s no need to re-invent the wheel. Save yourself some time by using free scripts that others have created.

• JavaFile
• PHP Freaks
• DynamicDrive
• The JavaScript Source
• PowerfulScripts
• DHTMLGoodies.com
• PHP Open Source Scripts

Favicon Generator

Favicons are very popular right now, and they don’t have to be difficult to create. Try these free tools to create your own and help brand your website.

• Dynamic Drive
• Favicon from Pictures
• FaviconGenerator.com
• Favicons with text instead of images
• Graphics Guru

Fonts

Typography and fonts can make or break a design, but it can be time consuming to try a number of different options. Try some of these resources.

• 80 Beautiful Typefaces for Professional Design (Smashing Magazine)
• dafont.com
• Urban Fonts
• 1001 Free Fonts

Web 2.0 Tools

Most of the modern web 2.0 and social media sites have several design features in common. Help to make your designs look more modern by incorporating some of these design tools.

• Stripe Generator
• Web 2.0 Badges
• More Web 2.0 Badges
• Web 2.0 Icons
• Web 2.0 Logo Creator
  

Button Makers

Buttons are everywhere. Easily and quickly create your own buttons with these tools.

• Dynamic Drive
• Kalsey.com
• Lucazappa.com
• Blog Flux
• Yugatech.com
• MyCoolButton
• Buttonator
  

Gradient Image Tools

Gradient images are another staple of web 2.0. If you don’t have Photoshop there are some other ways to create gradients.

• Dynamic Drive
• 4u2ges.com

Rounded Corner Boxes

Creating boxes with rounded corners is easy when you have the right tools.

• CSS Rounded Box Generator
• Spiffy Corners

CSS Speech Bubbles

Speech bubbles will give comments and quotes some variety and add to your design.

• WillMayo.com
• CSS Play

CSS Tools

If you’re looking to clean, optimize and compress your CSS code, here are some choices.

• CSS Tidy - a CSS parser and optimizer.
• Clean CSS - a CSS optimizer and formatter.
• CSS Optimizer
• CSS Analyzer - a validator plus.
• CSS Mate - online CSS editor.
• CSS Compressor

Miscellaneous

• Web Host Uploader - A simple FTP tool that eliminates the need to manually upload changes with an FTP client. This tool uploads changes with a single click.
• Web Standards Checklist from Max Design.
• Firebug Add-On for Firefox - Edit, debug and monitor your CSS, HTML and JavaScript in any live web page.
• Web Developer Firefox Add-On - Adds a toolbar with a number of features and web developer tools.

20 Invoicing Tools for Web Designers

Every web designer has a need to create invoices and track payments that have been received or have not yet been paid. Fortunately, there are a number of tools that can streamline this process, and we’ll look at 20 options here. There is a good deal of variety in terms of features and pricing. Some are better suited for organizations that have several employees, while others may be a good fit for a freelancer. Some of these tools will simply help you to create attractive invoices and other will extend further into the area of accounting software.

PayPal

PayPal provides a simple invoicing system that will email your invoices to your clients. This system is fairly popular with freelancers because there are no monthly fees, just a small amount taken out of the money that you receive. The PayPal account is then linked to your checking account and you can easily transfer the balance from PayPal to your bank. Personally, I use PayPal for my freelance blogging and I’m very happy with the service.

FreshBooks

FreshBooks offers more functionality than many of the other choices. It will create and manage invoices, track your time and expenses, and create reports. You can get started with FreshBooks using a free (and very limited) account, or you can choose from a number of different options to meet your needs. The pricing is pretty reasonable. You can manage up to 25 active clients for $14 per month.

Billing Manager

The makers of QuickBooks, Quicken and TurboTax also offer a free invoicing system called Billing Manager, which will help you to create and manage your invoices online. Billing Manager keeps your invoices in different folders to keep track of what has been paid and what has not, including tracking what is overdue. On their website they address the question many potential users have – why is it free? They explain that once you are using the service you’ll have the option to accept credit card payments through QuickBooks Merchant Service, and there is a fee for this. Personally, I appreciate the fact that they answered this question upfront, because I was looking for the catch. However, I don’t think this is much of a “catch.” You can still use the service for free, and if you choose to accept credit cards you’ll have a fee for any option that you select.

Blinksale

With Blinksale you can manage unlimited clients, but you are limited in the number of invoices you can send. You can send up to 3 invoices per month for free, or you can upgrade to 50 invoices for $12 per month. The biggest package allows for 1500 invoices for $49 per month.

LessAccounting

Less Accounting has taken the approach of targeting small business owners by providing a simple software that will provide the essentials for small businesses without the extras that more complicated systems include. LessAccounting is a simple accounting solution that also allows to create and manage invoices. The cost for LessAccounting is $19.95 per month, and the first 30 days are free.

PaySimple

PaySimple will help you to create and manage invoices by allowing ACH payments, recurring billing, online payments and credit card processing. Prices start at $19.95 per month with a $199.95 set up fee and small fees per transaction. Their site does offer a demo and they provide a 30 day money-back guarantee.

Invoice Place

Invoice Place offers a free basic service, with monthly subscription options for upgrading. You can create and manage your invoices online for up to 3 clients for free (unlimited invoices are offered on every plan). Prices start at $12 per month for managing 20 clients and go up to $32 per month for managing up to 500 clients. With Invoice Place you also have the option to export to PDF, Excel, or Word.

WORKetc

WORKetc offers a wide range of functions, including contact management, calendars, email marketing, project management, and of course invoice management. The monthly subscription fee is $44.95, which includes access for 2 employees, with additional employees costing $10 per month. There is a 14 day guarantee.

Billing Orchard

Billing Orchard maintains hourly time billing, along with flat fee and recurring billing. It claims to be the ideal solution for web developers, web hosts, and hosting resellers. The price for the basic system with automated invoicing is $14.95 per month. From there prices go up to $69.95 and there is an option to pay $10 per month for a support ticket system.

Bill My Clients

Bill My Clients offers different options and solutions for businesses of different sizes. For freelancers, they offer and invoicing and time tracking service for $11.99 per month. For small businesses, the service includes A/R management, also for $11.99 per month.

Invoices Made Easy

Invoices Made Easy is one of the lower-priced options at $5 per month ($15 per quarter). With Invoices Made Easy you can create and email invoices, track payments, accept online payments, and they will also print and mail paper invoices for you if you wish. The cost for having them mail your invoice ranges from $1 - $1.50 per invoice.

Invotrak

Invotrak is a free option for creating and tracking invoices. You can enter clients and manage invoices accordingly, but there are no advanced options such as receiving online payments, and there are no upgrades to a paid service available.

Simply Invoices

Simply Invoices will allow you to create invoices for time that you have tracked in More Honey. There is a free option that allows you to 5 different invoice templates with no custom logo, and apparently the invoices will also include their own links. For $9 per month you can get 10 invoice templates with custom logos and no links. Prices go up to $25 per month for infinite templates.

SimplyBill

SimplyBill provides a number of options, including creating, emailing, and printing invoices. You can also save invoices as PDF’s, creates quotes that can be converted to invoices later, and track payments and time. There are 3 different pricing plans, ranging from $5 per month to $25 per month. For $5 per month you can create up to 25 invoices for up to 10 clients. For $25 per month these numbers are unlimited. Each plan comes with a trial period.

Time59

Time59 is designed for independent professionals and freelancers. It can handle time and expense tracking as well as invoicing and payments. The price is only $49.95 per year and there is a risk-free 30 day trial (no credit card info is required for the trial).

Invoice2Go

Invoice2Go provides over 300 professional invoice templates to choose from. You can also send the invoices and track payments, and there is a free 30 day trial. The basic product costs $129 per year, and the advanced option sells for $249 per year.

Cashboard

Cashboard is estimate, invoicing, and time tracking software. With cashboard you can send fully branded and customized PDF invoices and estimates. Like many of the others listed here, Cashboard has both free and paid options. The free account will allow you to manage 2 active projects with unlimited clients and invoices. Prices for upgrades range from $12 per month to $140 per month.

Bill4Time

Bill4Time is a time tracking and billing system for freelancers and small to medium-sized businesses and it includes reporting capabilities. The first 30 days are free for all plans. Pricing is calculated according to the number of users. For 1 - 10 users the price is $35.95 per user. For larger organizations (100+ users) the price is $14.95 per user.

Free Invoice Templates for Excel

If you’re looking for a different option, you can download free invoice templates for Excel and create and manage your own invoices.

Invoice Creator for Excel

The Invoice Creator for Excel will help you to create your own professional invoices with Excel and there is only a one-time fee of $29.95.

How to Create an Effective Web Design Questionnaire

The internet has given the web professional a plethora of venues for seeking project-based work. With lots of places offering freelance gigs such as allfreelance.com, classified listing sites such as craigslist , and job boards on popular weblogs such as FreelanceSwitch and Smashing Magazine, the resourceful web builder can scout and find jobs that extends their geographical boundaries.

An effective creative questionnaire allows you to gain relevant, focused, and helpful design information without taking up a lot of the client’s time. I use the term “questionnaire” because it’s a familiar term, but as you’ll see, some examples aren’t questions.

This article is primarily about developing a one-way questionnaire where you aren’t there to explain or expound on the questions you’ve asked the respondent, though the same concepts apply whether you’re communicating via email or during a face-to-face meet.

Keep it as short as possible

Long questionnaire forms, in my experience, tend to result in rushed responses. Keep questions and the survey as short, concise, and clear as possible. We have to respect the client’s time. Typically, a demand for a website arises when a business is just starting out or when current solutions can’t meet increasing demands; either way, they’ve got a lot on their plate already.

Instead of:

“Think for a moment about your company’s mission statement – How does that traverse into the online world and how will a website achieve your mission statement?”

simply say:

“In your mind, what’s the business value of having a website?”

The latter example is terse and unambiguous. Let them do the writing, keeping yours to a minimum.

Include creative questions, preferably in the beginning

A creative question, in this context, refers to unconventional questions that have two goals:

1. to extract information indirectly - “If your website was a car, what car would it be?”
2. to get the respondent in a mood where they’re comfortable to say anything without restraint.

An effective questionnaire gets the client’s uninhabited, raw thoughts and emotions. Including them at the start can set this tone early on in the process.

Examples of creative questions

• Imagine a typical user browsing your website, what would they be thinking right now?
• Use one word to describe your website.
• What features of your website would your competitors be most envious of?
• If your website disappeared for a week, what would your users miss the most?

Provide example responses to focus and clarify your meaning

Your questions may seem crystal clear to you, but to the client, it may mean another thing. Provide sample responses to direct your client’s answers.

Some examples:

• List down key words that you associate with your company. Without prompts, you can get very colorful responses like “awesome”, “da bomb”, “where I get money for my gambling debts”. Adding “For example, a Spanish restaurant may use ‘paella’, ‘international’, ‘culture’” would make your question less vague.
• What types of designs do you like? You can indicate your expected answer by saying instead, “Please view these websites [then, list down some website addresses]. What do you like about them? What do you hate about them?”

Avoid unfocused open-ended questions

An open-ended question is one that allows the respondent to answer in a less-structured fashion. For example, an open-ended question would be, “what do you think about web 2.0?”. In contrast, a closed-ended question would be, “What’s one thing you like about web 2.0?”

Open-ended questions are a necessity in design questionnaires, but avoid ones that are vague and overly generalized.

Examples

• Describe the design you want. You can focus the respondent’s answers by saying instead, “Write specific design features that you’d like to see in the design mock-up”.
• Describe the nature of your business. This can be revised to: “Describe a typical day in your place of work”.

Evolve (tailor) your questions

Web development projects typically take week to a month’s worth of work. This means that you can—and should—take the time to customize your questionnaires for each of your clients. If you use a web-based form, this can be a bit more tedious, but it can be done by sending more questions in an email. Not only will this allow you to gain information unique to the client’s industry, it also shows that you’re giving personal attention to their needs.

Typically, I prefer to have only ten questions per questionnaire, seven of which are my standard questions and three are tailored towards the client’s particular organization.

What to do after you receive a response

Internalize it. What I do after getting a questionnaire back is I read it thoroughly, once or twice. I digest the information I’m given by rewriting and rephrasing the responses on a text file that I keep open as I design the mock-up. Embrace the subtleties of your client’s responses, take notice of grammar or spelling mistakes, all of this can be significant in helping you learn about the people you’re working with.

Example:

Website name: My AWESOME Company
Tagline: This is so awesome that I capitalized "Awesome"
Preferred colors: none specified, but described as  “high-impact”
Look and feel: Web 2.0, gradients, large text
Key words (design theme): fun, young, colorful

Ask for clarification if needed. Don’t be timid in following-up on answers that seem unclear to you. Ask as soon as you can so that your client still remembers the questionnaire-answering session.

Use it to strengthen your mock-up presentation. Use the responses while presenting your initial design mock-up to explain the design direction you took. Quote responses verbatim, if appropriate. For example, if you chose a sans-serif font face, you can say “In your response, you indicated that you wanted a clean, modern, professional design, which is showcased in the mock-up by the dark-gray, Arial font…” If you chose green hues, you can say “You mentioned that you needed a website that ‘evokes a feeling of cleanliness and ‘eco-friendliness”, so I decided to use green hues to…”

Use their responses to explain why you decided to use certain colors, a certain layout, why you avoided particular elements, etc.

Some other tips I’ve found helpful

Outline the purpose and relevant information in an introductory paragraph. Describe the purpose of your questionnaire. Assert what you expect to get as a response. Indicate the importance of the questionnaire. Typically, I’ll say something along the lines of “You are a very important part of the design process so your responses here will prove to be a valuable asset throughout the project”.

Let the client know how much time to take. Most of the time, this avoids rushed responses. I ask each respondent to take between 30 minutes to 1 hour so that they may properly answer the questionnaire.

Leave out the tech jargon. It doesn’t impress anyone, and it will only annoy them if they don’t know what you’re talking about. Use terms that are common knowledge.

Fix flawed questions. Every few projects (usually I do it every three projects or so), I take my most current questionnaires and I evaluate each question for its usefulness and clarity.

Fill out your own questionnaire. I’ve found it very enlightening to fill out my own questionnaire form. When you write the questions yourself, you don’t really think too much about the effort and the process of responding to them. I’ve found questions where I thought, “Man, I don’t want to answer this, it’s too damn long and I’ve got so much stuff going on”. Try it, at the very least, it’s a fun activity.

A Simple Guide on How to Effectively Talk to Clients

Everyone needs a website made, but not everyone can talk “tech” like we can. From the farm owner in Indiana to the brain surgeon in Malaysia, we quickly see that employers can come from all walks of life. Learning how to carry on a compelling conversation about web development is a paramount skill that all web developers should possess if you want to keep the checks coming in. Maintaining your audience’s interest and gaining an accurate picture of what they truly need to get done can prove to be a challenging part of any web development project, but here’s a few tips that might help a bit.

Get an estimate of their computing/technological expertise.

So that you know how in-depth you have to explain certain concepts or ideas, you should first try to determine the individual’s computing/technology knowledge. This can be accomplished indirectly with, what I’d like to call, fishing questionsfishing for compliments“). (similar to “

For example, you can ask in passing, “Hey, what operating system do you have on your home computer?” or “What’s your preferred web browser?”. What you’re really trying to learn is: (1) if they know the basic terminologies like operating systems and web browsers, (2) if they have any experience with computers and the internet, (3) their tech savvy-ness, (4) how and why they use IT. A person using Linux probably knows a thing or two about computers and Mac’s are generally appealing to artists, designers, and musicians.

Other fishing questions are:

• What do you already know about search engine optimization?
• Do you use Adobe Photoshop (or a similar digital-image editing software)?
• What are some websites you frequent on your spare time?
• Do you subscribe to any RSS feeds?

Don’t underestimate a person’s knowledge.

You know that colleague who insists on explaining to you the difference between HTML and (X)HTML when you’ve just finished a strict-doctype XHTML website? Don’t be that guy. People don’t like to be treated like they’re stupid, and not being able to understand a person’s knowledge is a sure-fire way of landing yourself on his or her bad side. If you’re unsure of their grasp on a particular subject, don’t assume they don’t know anything, ask fishing questions and judge by their reactions whether or not you’ve explained enough.

Use actual examples.

When talking about a web project, it helps to have a computer with an internet connection nearby so that you can both communicate look at stuff that’s on the internet. For instance, if you’re trying to determine what look-and-feel a client wants for their website (i.e. “web 2.0″, dark, clean, etc.) you’d get a more precise answer if you were to show examples of websites that may have a similar theme that they described.

Keep an emphasis on the bottom-line.

People may not understand what SEO is, or how it’s accomplished, or why valid mark-up matters when trying to achieve a search engine optimized site, but if you talk in terms of results, they’ll be inclined to keep listening. For example, trying to describe the importance of standards-compliant XHTML, you can say: “standards-compliant XHTML ensures that the website’s mark-up is valid and supported by most modern web browsers which in the end means less maintenance and fewer customer support due to browser-rendering issues“.

Keep it simple.

Sometimes we have a tendency to overwhelm employers with technical jargon and over-explanation because we want to show them our knowledge and expertise. There’s no need to explain how you’re going to mock-up the web design in Photoshop (layer by layer, in excruciating detail). Most probably, they don’t care and you’ll only risk complicating things and adding to the client’s anxieties about a topic they’re not well-versed in.

Encourage questions.

It’s always good to figure out any questions or needs for clarification as early as you can to avoid dissatisfaction at the end. Give off the attitude that you’re always willing to answer questions and that no question is too simple or silly. If you have the luxury to meet with a client in person, you can do this by judging their facial reactions to the things you say. If they seem confused, ask: “should I explain further?”. If you’re meeting remotely (emails or phone calls), regularly say things like: “I’d be more than happy to answer any questions you may have”.

Talk using familiar analogies.

A great way to relate information to employers is by using scenarios and situations that are pertinent with their background. Be creative, make analogies funny, and most of all, use it to relay complex concepts. To illustrate with a satirical example: if you were talking to a basketball fan, you could say “using tables instead of div’s for page layout is as bad of a decision as picking Michael Olowokandi over Michael Jordan on your fantasy basketball roster because…“.

Be yourself.

Don’t pretend like you’ve worked on hundreds of websites and that you’ve been doing this for 15+ years… if you really haven’t. If you look uncomfortable or unsure of yourself, it gives off the impression that your trying too hard to impress or appear knowledgeable in the subject. A lot of web designers and developers nowadays don’t hide the fact that they are small, young, and playful. When working in an industry that’s complex and intimidating to outsiders, it’s a welcoming relief to find people that are normal. It can prove to be a plus when you don’t obfuscate the fact that you’re just starting out in the business. It’s easier to talk to a person who’s honest, sincere, and up-front then someone who appears to be B.S.’ing you all the time.

Do you have your own tips on how to effectively communicate with your clients? Share them by leaving a comment!

10 Absolute "Nos!" for Freelancers

Submitted by Ivan

1) Can you show me a mock-up to help us choose a designer/developer? No.

I fell for this once when I was young and naive. I made no money and wasted lots of time. Don't do unpaid work for the chance to be paid -- this wouldn't fly in any other industry, so why web design? The best case scenario (though rare) is that you get a job with a client who knows that you'll work for free when necessary. The worst case scenario is that they don't pay you, and still use your stuff, knowing you don't have the legal resources to do anything about it. Most likely though, you’ll just waste time.

2) Can you give us a discount rate? No.

There are A LOT of companies out there that do not see web design as a service worth more than $20 an hour. These should never be your clients. In my early post-college years, I used to value "getting the job" so highly, I would take on an inordinate amount of work for the pay. Let me tell you that it's not worth it. Ever. Remember, you may be doing this company a favor, but on the flip side, you're hurting your own future, and your family's. Nowadays, I give my hourly rate immediately, and it weeds out many potential clients. It's simple math really -- if doubling your rate loses half your client work, then you're still making as much in half the time. If you do excellent work, get paid for it – there will always be comparable "firms" charging double what you are.

3) Will you register and host my site? No.

Sure it seems like a good idea -- free recurring revenue right? Well, maybe... if you can first get them to pay, and then if you can justify making $10 a month for the endless phone support you'll have to give at all hours of the night. You see, once the client thinks that you are responsible for their email and website functionality, you WILL get called all the time when their email shows the slightest wavering or their website 404s for any reason on their home computer. Believe it or not, I've even known someone who had a client call about his cell phone functionality just because my friend hosted his site. Don't do it...it's not worth it. Give them a registrar and hosting company and let them sign up themselves.

4) Can you copy this site? No.

Now you may think that I answer "No" strictly from a moral standpoint, and although that is true, there are other equally important reasons. First, if they're copying a site, they have shady ethics themselves and the chances of you getting paid on time and in the full amount are unlikely. Second, doing this type of work reduces you to a monkey, and although some of your work may be like this to pay the bills, why purposely pursue it? Third, if it's a true copy, the only benefit you may receive is payment - you really won't get to use it for a portfolio or example work, and furthermore, this type of client is one you do not want work from in the future.

5) Can I pay for my e-commerce site from my website sales? No.

I hate to be the pessimist, but when I am asked this, I want to tell them that they most likely won't make any money so they might as well ask me to do it for free. Yes, I know there are exceptions, so sometimes I will ask them about their business, marketing, and revenue plans, which 99% of them don't have. They just thought that selling t-shirts would a novel idea for the internet. I usually go into a spiel about having to support me and my family, and I can't do it with speculative work -- I then recommend Yahoo! Shopping or CafePress, and 9 times out of 10, they never get their site up anyways.

6) I have a great idea. Do you want to...? No.

Not much different from #5, but could be a much larger time waster if you buy in. Again, not trying to be a jerk, but if the person adds little to the potential business outside of speaking an idea, then any work you proceed to do is mere charity (which you may be okay with). But to be honest, I'd rather be charitable with my family and friends and make them partners for free versus a stranger. Trust me, if some really has a great idea, they'll make you partners AND pay you as well.

7) Do you have an IM account? No.

I might give it out if it's to a person I can trust during an intensive project, but as a general policy, I tell clients that it's my general policy not to. The reason here is obvious -- you have a life and other clients beyond them. Many clients see you as an on-call employee, and this is bad. This is why you quit your day job...

8) Can I just pay the whole amount when it's done? No.

I require 50% up front (unless it's a huge job -- then maybe 33%). I need that assurance that they have "bought in" on this project, and that I can plan on the income, pay bills, and eat. People who want to pay at the end are much more likely to back out after you've done tons of work.

9) Is there any way you could get this done tonight or this weekend? No.

Once they know that you helped them out one time, they will expect it in the future. Now you might choose to get extra done at night (I do all the time), but don't start making promises about getting things done at night or on the weekends/vacation. I know a lot of freelancers that charge night/weekend hours as well, so that might be a possible route to take as well. Because the reason you freelance is for the freedom, right? Right?

10) Can I be sure you won't use this work in anything else? No.

This is a very sensitive subject because most clients misunderstand it (intellectual property is a tricky subject anyways). In my Terms and Conditions that I require all new clients to sign, I make sure they know that (1) their code has utilized code from other projects which I haven't charged them for (2) I will probably use code from their project on other projects (3) the own the code and implementation of the project (finished website), but not the actual code pieces (login system, image uploader, etc.). I pride myself in productivity and speed, and I need to use other code all the time to accomplish this. Not to mention that I sell stock Flash which I may need old code to help build. They're not paying you to create code that they in turn will sell, so make sure they know that it's the implementation and not the coding that's theirs.