As a web designer, you should also devote yourself to managing the accounting affairs of your business. You may feel that you’re in a strange territory.
You may or may not be a “numbers personâ€. But, there are various tasks that you need to do. For example, submitting quotations and invoices. You might also have to provide information on discounts, and even track the time spent on various tasks. This seems far from what you do best – design.
Time tracking and invoicing go hand in hand; and having a good method for tracking your time, will save you time. By investing in a high-quality, easy to work with time tracking app, you find you have more time to do what you do best. You will also have more leisure time as well.
There’s plenty of time tracking, invoicing, and other project and business management software products on the market. Here are 10 of the best; guaranteed to give your productivity a definite boost.
FreshBooks
FreshBooks is a cloud-based, intuitive invoicing app designed for use by small business owners. It is an effective tool for freelancers as well. FreshBooks does more than collect the details you need to include in your invoices. You can add your brand’s color scheme and logo; thereby giving each invoice a unique, professional look. When you submit an invoice (via email), this app informs you whether your client has seen it; obviating the need for a follow-up query.
FreshBooks even goes a few steps further. In fact, it has numerous features that will help you streamline the business side of your work. You can set it up to receive online payments, you can check the dashboard for an overview on how your business is doing, and late payment notifications can be automatically sent out. You can even use the FreshBooks mobile app to take pictures of receipts on your phone to better keep track of your expenses.
One more thing; FreshBooks also manages your invoice time tracking needs.
Memory by Timely
It’s human nature to forget when you did some of your past activities. This is especially bothersome when trying to track time. In such cases, no wonder why Timely has become one of the best-loved time tracking apps on the market. Its new feature, Memory, automatically tracks every file you work on, the start and end times of your tasks, the websites you visit or apps you use. All this information is organized and presented in an intelligent timeline.
Memory by Timely can tell you what you work on and for exactly how long. It also captures all you do in Trello, Gmail, Office365/Outlook Calendar, Github, etc. Best of all, no one, including your boss, a colleague, or anyone else but you can see your timeline. Read the rest of this entry »
Your website’s performance depends largely on the hosting service you’ve selected. If the service turns out to be inadequate, you may have to put up with slow page loading or capacity issues. Even downtime more than what you’re able to tolerate.
More and more business owners are becoming aware about the need of creating quality content.
Few of these owners understand the impact a hosting service can have on their website’s performance and uptime.
It’s natural to take pricing into account when selecting a hosting service. Still, pricing should always take a back seat to performance. It should never be the primary driver behind making a selection.
There are plenty of options hosting companies that would like to offer their services to you. This week, we’re going to take a close look and 5 of the very best.
SiteGround
SiteGround has grown from a 3-person startup in 2004 to a hosting company that currently employs over 400 people in five data centers located on three continents. They are pioneers in the art of developing own advanced web hosting security solutions. The result is extreme data and website protection that guarantees 99.99% uptime. SiteGround have also developed their own backup system that creates backups with minimal resource usage which allows rapid restore in times of need.
Their always run the latest software on their servers (Apache, PHP, MySQL etc.) and provide the latest speed and performance technology: SSD drives, NGINX, hhtp2, PHP7. On top of their in-house WordPress caching solution – the SuperCacher manages to improve a website’s performance. Their platform is built on top of the cutting edge LXC (Linux containers) technology. The overall effect from a customer’s standpoint is exceptional performance and stability.
SiteGround’s customer support team is available 24/7 with literally no hold times, and it helps resolve questions that go beyond web hosting. There is no coincidence that their overall service is officially recommended by WordPress.org. Read the rest of this entry »
Freelancing is not always a bed of roses. Freelancers enjoy more freedom in terms of their work habits, but that freedom can come with a price. They often face challenges that office-bound workers tend to avoid. More specifically, distractions and occasion lapses in discipline and self-control.
If these challenges are not faced head-on, a lessening in productivity can result. And this can lead to extended work hours, reduced income, or both.
Today, we are offering tips designed to help a web design freelancer meet and overcome these challenges, while enjoyiing a boost in productivity.
Tip #1) Get your projects off to a quick start with the latest Be Theme pre-built websites.
Don’t start from scratch like these guys who invented a new way of designing websites.
Be Themes’s pre-built websites make it possible for you to turn out work of the highest quality, and save a ton of time in the process. You can, for example, skip wireframing, prototyping, and best of all – coding.
Pre-built websites are quick and super easy to install, as you can see by watching this cool 40-second video.
One more advantage: you won’t end up looking like these guys!
15 new pre-built websites for small businesses
 Be Craftbeer
This Craftbeer pre-built website features large, attractive images on every page. A parallax effect ensures that the emphasis is always on the product. The Muffin Group team knows how to attract customers. It shows!
Be eLearning
eLearning has become super popular the last few years. If you have a business in this rapidly growing niche, depending on a so-so website would be a shame. This pre-built website design is fresh looking and easy to navigate.
Be Tiles
This pre-built website looks as if its designer had a degree in architecture. The product is front and center, and the unique value proposition stands out clearly against the semi-dark background. Read the rest of this entry »
Today I would like to introduce Codester. Codester is an online platform for buying and selling web development assets like scripts, app templates, themes, plugins and graphics. These assets make any developer or designers life a lot easier as they can help to reduce development time a lot.
Codester is not the first platform that offers ready to use web development assets and is also not the biggest, but they have a great unique selection of items that are not available anywhere else. They have by far the best payout rate for sellers, which results in a lot of professional developers who normally ignore marketplace platforms  to turn to Codester to sell their work. Codester is gaining a lot of traction and is growing quickly.
Scripts & Code
Starting from the scripts and codes that are available on the website for the most programming languages such as PHP, JavaScript, CSS, Python, Java, Ruby, C and C++, C# and VB.NET. Each of these languages has subcategories and include scripts that can be used to add valuable features to any website. Each of which adds a value to your website. Read the rest of this entry »
Multipurpose WordPress themes are typically quite versatile and flexible. Using them you can create any type of website, ranging from corporate and e-commerce sites to blogs and agency portfolios. Specialty themes also have their place. Sometimes they are a better choice for creating a specific website type or filling a specific need. You’ll find excellent examples of both types here.
Be Theme
Be Theme, the biggest WordPress theme ever, is packed with too many powerful and useful features to mention here. The short list includes a superb collection of 250+ stunning, customizable pre-built websites to act as excellent starting points for your design projects. Pick one, install it with one click, and let Be’s Muffin Builder and Options panel take it from there.Â
Did you know it’s possible to build a ready-to-go website in 4 minutes! Click here to find out how working with Be Theme can make that happen.Â
If you want to start a page from scratch, the Layout Configurator will get you started. Be is not only big in terms of its 250+ pre-websites, and its core features (40), but also in terms of the virtually unlimited variety of design options it provides. This premium WordPress theme is easy to learn, and easy to use; but should you have a question, or need a little assistance, Be’s world-class support team is there to help.
Pro
Pro is the most advanced website creator for WordPress. If you’re a pro, Pro is for you. If you’re not a pro, but aspire to be one, Pro is also for you. Pro can be described as powerful, modular, scalable, fast, optimized, extensible; or all the above.
Features include a trio of powerful, interconnected builders (Header, Content, & Footer). You can build simple to exceedingly complex header styles with ease.
You can rely on Pro’s drag and drop interface, optimized workflow, and other powerful content-building features to help you realize your website layout potential. As far as the often- neglected footer is concerned, this amazing multipurpose theme makes it oh so easy to create a footer that is a thing of beauty.
Pro is easy to use, but fasten your seatbelt. It’s a game changer!
The Core
The Core is big. It’s 20+ themes in 1, and growing. This multipurpose WordPress theme is packed with cool features, including the Advanced Visual Builder, plenty of shortcodes, multiple slider, header, and footer options, and 700+ fonts. And, that’s just for starters.
Its 20+ hand-built website demos addressing a variety of business and industry niches. Demo content is easy to auto-install, and when you purchase The Core, new demos will be yours to use, as they appear.
The Core is responsive, retina ready, and WooCommerce ready as well. There are plenty of animations you can use to add zing to your sites; you’ll find many uses for the custom Google Maps feature; and, there’s even a module for saving your work in the event of a system crash.
The Core is well documented, and the support is superb. Take it for a free test drive in the Test Lab! Read the rest of this entry »
Searching for jobs is a process nobody enjoys. Aside from sifting through thousands of listings, job seekers also have to deal with pushy recruiters offering opportunities which aren’t relevant to their actual skills and expertise.
Even more frustrating is going through lengthy interview processes only to find out at the very end that the salary or company culture doesn’t match what you’re looking for.
Hired helps job seekers overcome these frustrations by working with over 6,000 innovative companies to connect users with opportunities in engineering, development, design, product management, and data science. Read the rest of this entry »
UI Design – UX Design: Tightly Coupled, But Not the Same
User interface (UI), and user experience (UX), are both critical elements in website design. The two terms are often confused, and are even used interchangeably by some; but they are not one and the same. Sure, it’s important to understand the differences between these two design elements when selecting tools to incorporate their features and attributes into your websites. Yet, many premium website and mobile application design tools take both into account.
The two can be summed up thusly:
The UI is a website’s presentation, and focuses on its look and feel. UI design is digital in nature, and may even involve coding in those cases where the boundary between design and development has become blurred.
The UX gives the website life, with a focus on usability and customer satisfaction. UX design is more closely related to market research. It does not involve digital techniques or coding.
InVision
More than a tool, InVision is a complete digital product design platform, with features and capabilities tailored to each stage of the design process. Brainstorm with Freehand, a limitless whiteboard for creative exploration. Test your UI with real users and get real-time, live feedback. Share your screens and prototypes with your entire team for centralized commentary, and integrate it all with your favorite tools to create a seamless, efficient workflow.
Clients, team members, and stakeholders can comment directly on your prototypes for clear and actionable feedback; then, any changes you make will automatically sync across everyone’s account, so you’ll never work on an old version ever again. Read the rest of this entry »
There are so many ways through which a business can start off their campaign in a newly designed competitive environment. As such, there is the need to bring in capable hands that can help facilitate better service delivery.
These services could be projected better by organizations that have studied the marketability trend which will promote profitability and employability of individuals in a socio-economic scene. In this regard, Wix.com has built its capacity to address key issues in the area of business advertisement and socio-economic relevance. So some of the directions adopted by this organization can be traceable to the opportunities Wix is offering in helping organizations fulfill their duties. Some of these benefits shall be discussed in further details.
Benefits of using Wix.com
Firstly, the experts or new users belonging to this arena will ensure that Wix makes use of aesthetics and advanced technology to help individuals build an irresistible web page. Most successful businesses are thriving on a unique knowledge that many Public Relations organizations help to generate for sustainability and relevance. Read the rest of this entry »
The New Be Pre-Built Installer
The old Be prebuilt-website installer got the job done, but it wasn’t entirely free of issues. Installing a website was easy, but the actions you had to take before doing the install were not all that user friendly. Quite simply, neither the UI nor the UX were the best.
The old Be pre-built website installer lacked some important features.
- Searching for a pre-built website was manual and cumbersome; and you had to move back and forth from the presentation page to the admin area to zero in on the website you wanted.
- The old website installer didn’t tell you ahead of time which plugins you might need for a given pre-built website; or which ones were already installed.
- Insofar as importing a pre-built website was concerned, it was an all-or-nothing affair.
Muffin Group fixed all of that before releasing their new pre-built website installer.
   Muffin Groups new Be pre-built website installer.
The new installer works like a charm.
Eversign is a cloud-based productivity tool that allows you securely sign, approve and deliver documents digitally. Ever sign works perfectly with other popular cloud-based applications like Evernote, Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box, connecting and interfacing seamlessly with them. The eSignature application comes with so many handy features like:
Compliance and Legal Validity: Eversign was designed, so all e-signature made from the application meet the strictest security and authentication requirements defined in the around the world, particularly in the United States and Europe making your documents legally binding.
Security and Document Management: The application allows you to safely save your documents after you complete them in your account, export them to a private location, completely remove them from the app or set them to auto-expire.
Document Editor: Eversign comes with an inbuilt document editor that allows you to prepare existing PDF documents you uploaded for signing.
In-Person Signing: The Eversign interface Permits employees, customers, contractors, or partners sign documented directly on your mobile device or your Pc. Perfect for Non-Disclosure Agreements or Waivers.
Audit Trail: Eversign also automatically helps you keep track of your entire present and past document saving a complete and detailed audit trail. The application creates the perfect audit trail for you containing names, emails and IP addresses and time stamps; A comprehensive and secure audit trail.
Integrations: the application allows you connect effortlessly with other cloud-based applications like Box, Evernote, Google Docs, Zoho and much more, so you can perform your daily activities with ease.
E-Signatures: Eversign’s beautiful interface presents you multiple options for signing a document whether you want to draw your signature, upload an existing one, have the system create a beautiful signature for you or you want to type it all to create the perfect experience.
Multiple Business: Eversign also equips you with an interface that allows you operate and manage multiple businesses, each with its documents, team members and contacts. This is great when you are executing multiple contracts on behalf of different businesses.
Templates: You can also create document templates for contracts or other forms you often use and pre-fill them with drop-down menus, checkboxes, routine texts, and a few other elements. An example of a document this feature is perfect for registration forms.
Team Management: the application allows you to add as many as 25 members of your team to any business set up under your Eversign account. However, these feature depends heavily on your subscription Level.
Contact Management: Eversign allows you save contact profiles for regular Signers, so adding them to a process becomes a matter of few click. This best serves contracts or approvals that require constant renewal.
Rest API: Eversign automatically interfaces with your applications handling e-Signatures using its JSON-based REST API.
Why don’t you give it a go and try it for Free now?
