The most effective debt collecting email I ever wrote | For A Beautiful Web
http://forabeautifulweb.com/blog/about/the_most_effective_debt_collecting_email_i_ever_wrote/

This exercise taught me that even the trickiest situations can be handled better and resolved faster by plain, honest speaking.

Geinig artikel over hoe je designers moet behandelen.

Things a 'good web designer' would never tell you about choosing the perfect design.

wever it is no use if

Twitter Clients

estudar...

Twitter Clients, Feb 16, 2009 Shows Twitter client usage for all accounts tracked by @twitstat.

Six Valuable Things Web Design Clients Won’t Tell You

http://24ways.org/2008/charm-clients-win-pitches 24ways.org 24ways.org24ways.org

Over the years I have picked up a number of sales techniques that have lead to us doing pretty well in the pitches we go for. Of course, up until now, these top secret practices have remained firmly locked in the company vault but now I am going to share them with you. They are cunningly hidden within the following paragraphs so I’m afraid you’re going to have to read the whole thing. Ok, so where to start? I guess a good place would be getting invited to pitch for work in the first place.

Today i wanted to share with you 10 AJAX-based & PHP webmail client that delivers the look and feel, usability and performance of a desktop application. Some of the webmail clients listed below are open source code that can be easily modified to better suit user's needs, while others are not.

Employees need to access their email from wherever they happen to be – on the road, at customer sites, remote offices, and at home. WebMail clients allows receiving and sending email messages using POP3 and SMTP protocols through both local and remote mail servers. Providing secure filtering of unsafe content while viewing HTML-formatted email messages. WebMail clients can operate under different popular web platforms (PHP, ASP.NET, ruby on rails, java). Today i wanted to share with you 10 AJAX-based & PHP webmail client that delivers the look and feel, usability and performance of a desktop application. Some of the webmail clients listed below are open source code that can be easily modified to better suit user’s needs, while others are not. So You must check their license to know the rules.

10 AJAX-based & PHP WebMail Clients For a Great User Experience

Collaborating with clients you never meet face-to-face has become normal for most web workers. Ours is an industry where working remotely poses very few real

10 Tips for Working With Clients Remotely: Part 1

Excellent info about freelance contracts

Briechenstein's Popular Bookmark 12 Points to Include in my Design Contract-FreelanceSwitch-The Freelance Blogs

Questions to stablish some work references for projects.

Must read: RT @boagworld: the Web Designer Depot has released my article '5 Things Your Clients Should Know' (http://tinyurl.com/clyusu) [from http://twitter.com/everything_web/statuses/1407774725]

This is not a criticism of clients, however. There is so little information that clearly defines their role. Sure, there is no shortage of material on usability, accessibility, online marketing and copywriting, but who has the time to read all of it? The problem is that the client does need to have a very broad understanding (certainly more than can be communicated in a single article), however I have found that understanding certain key issues can make an enormous difference to the efficiency of a client. What follows is a list of the 5 things that I believe will have the biggest impact on a client’s site. At least they should, if the client understands them and chooses to implement them.

Fragen des Webdesigners an den Kunden

How to Extract the Facts with a Web Design Client Questionnaire It might not be possible to have a meaningful relationship with price shoppers, but it’s worth taking the time to learn what your potential clients want in a website. This article will help you create a prospect qualification questionnaire that can be used via telephone or Internet or in face-to-face meetings.

"After all, if you can’t prove your skills on your own website then how can you expect someone to hire you?"

great manifesto for selling development projects and building an IT shop

Win without pitching

Getting Design Approval:

A logo questionare for clients.

-same as in PR

Establishing the look and feel of a site can be a point of contention. Web designers often become frustrated because they feel there’s a lack of respect for their expertise. Meanwhile, clients grow annoyed when their designer seemingly fails to listen to them.

# ays the best equipped to identify examples of good design—they tend to select sites based on their content rather than aesthetics. # Second, the qu

Establishing the look and feel of a site can be a point of contention. Web designers often become frustrated because they feel there’s a lack of respect for their expertise. Meanwhile, clients grow annoyed when their designer seemingly fails to listen to them. This confrontation inevitably leads to a loggerhead. On one hand we have a designer with years of design knowledge and experience; on the other, a client who knows his audience and business objectives. In this stare-off, sooner or later, somebody has to blink. Either the client will end up with a design that he is unhappy with that fails to meet his objectives, or the web designer will give in and produce a design that she believes to be less than optimal.

Prissättning

When you’re working with clients remotely it can sometimes be difficult to keep everyone happy and your project on track. Without the benefit of face-to-face meetings, it’s easy for a client to feel neglected or out of the loop. The key to successful remote work relationships is frequent and honest communication and trust between both parties. The tips below will help improve your everyday interactions with clients, no matter how far away they may be.

Unresolvable

Read: 10 Reasons to Politely Decline a Web Design Gig http://tr.im/t7e7 [from http://twitter.com/peterto/statuses/2734607167]

examples and rationnale of bad design ex: white font, black background; too large logo; bag photograph; flash intro; too much info on website

Using white text on a black background (for the web) is one of 5 most allday design mistakes all clients seems to want to have

8 Brilliant Freelance Job Boards to Help You Get More Clients | Freelance Apple - http://www.freelanceapple.com/8-brilliant-freelance-job-boards-to-help-you-get-more-clients/

8 Brilliant Freelance Job Boards to Help You Get More Clients

Five Best Twitter Clients

If you use Wordpress as a CMS for your clients’ websites, you’ve probably faced that issue: regular people find Wordpress hard to use. Yes, it is quite user-friendly, but apparently not enough for people who double-click on links when browsing or worst, enter their website’s url in Google to get there. To make it easier for these people to maintain their own website, I would suggest the following tips.

Great for client develpoment

Tipos de Clientes

In this article, we'll discuss seven things that often make the job of web designers difficult when dealing with unreasonable demands from clients.

Grey Hoy of Happy Cog describes some common pifalls in the early stages of a new contract and offers some top tips. I like the questionairre suggestion. There is also some good discussion in the forum.

Determining which prospects you want to work with is often considered a luxury. Dont think of it that way. Even if the economy is in the tank and you absolutely need the gig, you should be very critical of the prospects youre considering working with. These are the people who will become part of your immediate and potentially long-term future, and you want to make sure you dont spend that time drinking schnapps to get through the day or grinding your teeth at night.

good web design keeps users

Qu'est-ce qui fait principalement fuir les visiteurs d'un site web en 2009 ? Pour 51% c'est le temps de chargement, pour 25% c'est un contenu de mauvaise qualité, et pour 24% c'est la mocheté du site. Concernant le design, c'était moins de 7% des personnes interrogées en 2007 qui fuyaient pour cause d'interface ratée.

The demand for good web design is increasing, revealed a recent Webcopyplus online poll. Almost 25% of web users indicated "poor visual presentation" as the number one element that drives them away from websites. Only 6.6% of web users who participated in a similar 2007 online poll indicated "poor visual presentation" as the main reason to abandon a website. That equates to a 267% increase during the two-year period.

web design

A defining factor in any freelancer or agency’s success in gaining new business is their ability to market their skills effectively. In this three-part series, we will explore ways in which designers can strategically promote themselves to get new clients. Securing new business by approaching companies can be a very challenging process, full of pitfalls. Here, we will look at 10 steps to impressing potential clients and avoiding the most common mistakes.

Most established organizations put a vision statement on their website. This will give you key insight into a company’s values, history, growth and future direction. This information is invaluable because it will help you better understand how the business operates and, thus, how you can tailor your approach to it. For example, if the company has a progressive stance on sustainability and the environment, you could approach them with ideas for paperless advertising and communication.

As with any project you start, gathering essential information upfront is not only beneficial to a successful deliverable but will also save you and your client plenty of headaches throughout the process and pave the way to a lasting and trusting relationship.

As with any project you start, gathering essential information upfront is not only beneficial to a successful deliverable

http://webitect.net/xmlrpc.php

by

Great pricing method to be used on my future clients

freelance rates

freelance tips

Contractual Terms For Your Contract

Tips for clauses in the contract to make getting paid easier

Article by Chris Gatewood - Richmond Attorney

In the 3 years Ive been in business Ive seen many different job requests come in. However, of all my job requests, only about 10% actually ever go through. There are all sorts of reasons, but many times its due to some common issues. This leads me to believe that many people out there dont know the preferred practices when it comes to working with, and hiring designers.

A good list of do's and don'ts that all potential clients should read (hah!)

By Thursday Bram There's no formula for a perfect portfolio. There's no format that's guaranteed to land you clients, as long as you follow it. However, there are...

14 Questions To Ask Your Clients Before and After a Project | Design Reviver - http://designreviver.com/tips/14-questions-to-ask-your-clients-before-and-after-a-project/

client questionnaire

How many times have you hung up the phone after a chat with a new prospective client and then immediately slapped your forehead and said “I can’t believe I forgot to ask ______!”. Yes, fill in the blank. You have done this, right? If not, you will shortly. Well, I jotted down my own personal list of forgetful-questions, and did a quick survey of the top 20 results for “questions to ask new web clients” and related searches. Aside from semantic fluctuations, there was zero overlap: we all ask the same stuff. So I present below the best 72 questions to ask prospective web design clients, along with a PDF chart.

How many times have you hung up the phone after a chat with a new prospective client and then immediately slapped your forehead and said “I can’t believe I forgot to ask ______!”. Yes, fill in the blank. You have done this, right? If not, you will shortly. Well, I jotted down my own personal list of forgetful-questions, and did a quick survey of the top 20 results for “questions to ask new web clients” and related searches. Aside from semantic fluctuations, there was zero overlap: we all ask the same stuff. So I present below the best 72 questions to ask prospective web design clients, along with a PDF chart. Get your graphic design brain moving When I brainstormed the list, it was initially very group-oriented and linear, as the brainstorm process naturally is. However, I chose to mix the list results up deliberately for several reasons: * When a list is in random order, you actually have to read it * Random lists will stimulate the brainstorming process in you * Ordered

“Yeah, how about if you change that color to green and make the logo bigger, oh and I don’t like the photo of the girl nor the background could you use something else? And could you have it ready by tomorrow?”

By http://bit.ly/Tweets2Delicious

Press Theme * 11/24/2008  —  32 Comments *

10 ways to Battle Site Bureaucracy : Boagworld web design podcast

<this site is reallly pleasing to the eyes, especially the font somehow does not kill my eyes / bug me like normal> I always look to work with others rather than against them.

Running a large institutional website is frustrating. Your site is often held back by internal politics and bureaucracy. Let me show you 10 ways to cut through the crap and get results.

Some good tips on battling beueaucracy when designing. The biggest being to turn back on the feedback and ask how they think users will react, and to avoid confrontation by accepting that the request can be done, explaining the consequences, and offering an alternative that achieves the same goal.

Running a large institutional website is frustrating and often held back by internal politics and bureaucracy. Here are management tips on working around the problem, from stakeholder interviews to ensuring you get specific feedback - and avoid committees.

As a designer, you will eventually have to face a couple of unfortunate truths in your career. Number one: just because you wear a bathrobe for most of your “business” hours does not actually make it business attire. Number two: at some point in your freelance career, you will encounter a client who does not respect the work you do. The most unfortunate part of this unfortunate truth is that it will all too often present itself in the form of a client who refuses to pay for your services once all of the work has been completed.

I would like to point out that in future I will be using this article as reference for my freelance work. Thanks for posting it :) Reply * 13 DIGITAL7 Media April 9th, 2010 7:27 am

e most unfortunate part of this unfortunate truth is that it will all too often present itself in the form of a client who refuses to pay for your services on

The penny-pinching, wheel-and-dealing, bargain-hunting prospect. As a freelancer, dealing with this type of person is part of the territory.

RT @ddudgeon & @andreaexpat #Freelancers The scariest pricing idea ever. Would u do it? http://bit.ly/bIAsKL RT @nona_jordan @freelancery

It goes like this. Instead of quoting a fee or negotiating a price in advance, you tell the client: “Here’s what I suggest. Let me jump in and do the work as we discussed. I’ll hit this as hard as I know how, and make it as good as can be done.” “When we’re finished, just pay whatever you feel the work was worth, based on what it contributed to your overall project.” “I’ll accept whatever you decide, no questions asked. Provided it is more than a buck sixty-five.” Scary? Absolutely. Risky? Maybe a little. Foolhardy and stupid? Not at all.

Getting clients to "fill-in-the-blank" on the invoice.

Very interesting: The scariest pricing idea ever. That works - http://bit.ly/9MXGsl - Will you try it? #smpricing – Smashing Magazine (smashingmag) http://twitter.com/smashingmag/statuses/12762457741

10 Types of Bad Clients and How To Avoid Them

Choosing a designer can seem like a daunting task. You need to know if you can trust this person with the reputation of your company, because what they produce will, in many cases, give a potential customer their first impression of your business.

excellent

The question arose on a blog about how to screen a client. Perhaps talking about it in terms of how to spot a sketchy client would be a bit much, but like any freelancer, I need to dump my anxieties on those who sign my paychecks. From corporate clients to the single-owner businesses, clients are our lifeblood… and they can be a cruel, cruel mistress. No wonder we drink.

Questions to ask a prospective client for web application projects