In this article we will look at 9 different things that freelancers often do that is disrespectful to their own time. If you find that your own time management skills are sometimes lacking, evaluate yourself in these areas to see if you have some room for improvement. Respecting your own time will lead to more profitable and efficient work, and more time away from work with your family or friends.

This post is supported by Ronin, the online invoicing and time tracking app designed for freelance designers. Ronin offers unique features like invoice customization with HTML/CSS and is perfect for designers. Visit them at www.roninapp.com or friend them on Facebook.

1. Under Charging

Pricing design services is a challenge for most of us. Because there are all kinds of variables (skill level, experience, specific type of work, location, etc.) there is no set price that you should be charging, but it should be similar to what others at your level and in your area are charging. It’s not uncommon for freelancers to under price their services because it is what they feel is necessary in order to compete. Doing so can actually be a disservice to yourself as it will require you to work more hours in order to earn a living.

One problem with under pricing your services is that not only can it be disrespectful to your own time, but it can also lead clients to do the same. When clients are paying a higher rate for a service they will be more careful about the work that they ask you to do when it is affecting how much they will be charged. Additionally, there is a perception issue that goes along with pricing. If a client sees a very low price for services they may assume that the price is low because the quality is also low, so be sure that your rates are reflective of your work and vice versa.

Another issue to consider is that lower rates will often lead you to rush through jobs because you’ll need to move on to the next one in order to keep money coming in. This will typically result in a quality of work that is less than your best.

Freelance Switch has a helpful hourly rate calculator. It will ask you a number of questions about your expenses and the hours that you can work, and it will assist you by showing an ideal hourly rate as well as a break even hourly rate.

2. Not Charging for Excessive Revisions

Most design contracts will address the issue of revisions or changes that are requested by the client. Very rarely will clients not want anything to be changed, but sometimes you may come across clients that are requesting excessive changes, or maybe they keep changing their mind about what they want. The price that you agreed to with the client for the service should not require that you make any and every change that is being requested without being compensated additionally for your time.

In situations where clients are requesting more than the agreed upon changes or revisions, it’s a good practice to tell them that you can make the changes but you will need to charge an addition fee. This will help you to get compensated for your time and it will force clients to respect your time as well.

3. Lack of Contracts or Policies

If you’ve been freelancing for a while I am sure you have realized the importance of getting signed contracts and having established policies for payment. Unfortunately, it’s almost certain that at some point you will have a project that doesn’t go according to plan or a client that doesn’t want to pay on time. With a contract you have a legal agreement and some protection.

Establishing some basic policies for how you operate is also important. An example would be to charge clients 50% (or some other set amount) up front before you begin working on the project. You may also have a policy of requiring the final payment before delivering the files to the client or uploading the site to their server. Policies are important because they establish your way of doing business, and it can save you time and headaches down the road as you won’t have to make all of these decisions on a case-by-case basis.

4. Poor Client Intake Process

Each client is different and they will all have specific needs for their own projects. Getting to know and understand your client is critical to the success of the project. Many designers want to jump in to the design process without dedicating enough time to get familiar with the client. While this may seem like it would save time, it will actually usually wind up costing more time because more changes and revisions will be required down the road.

By investing time up front to get to know to the client, their business, as well as their customers and website visitors, you will be more prepared to create an effective site for them, and you’ll have a better idea of what they are looking for. An efficient client intake process can lead to a higher quality of work, better results for your clients, and less wasted time.

5. Poor Organization

Organization is a big part of being able to work efficiently. Without proper organization you could be wasting a lot of time that you are not being compensated for. Organization is important in a number of different areas, including management of your clients and contacts, management of your finances, and project management. If you find yourself wasting time searching for emails from clients or trying to find out what invoices have not been paid, you could probably be working less hours if you’re able to improve your organization.

For more on organization see Critical Resources to Help Designers Get Organized.

6. Accepting Any Project That Comes Your Way

One common mistake that many freelancers make is that they accept just about any client who wants to use their services. Regardless of who you are and what skills you have, you’re bound to come across some projects that would be a better fit than others. By taking any project that comes your way you could be missing out on better opportunities that are right around the corner, and you could be working on projects that you don’t really enjoy anyway.

Being selective about the projects that you accept will generally be a better use of your time as you’ll be able to avoid those projects that require more time than they are worth. Rather than simply feeling like you have to convince the potential client to hire you, look at it as a situation where both of you need to feel that there is a good fit in order to work together.

7. Not Setting Work/Life Boundaries

Respecting your own time is not just an issue that affects your work, it also has an impact on your personal life and your time away from work. Everyone needs to get adequate time away from work, and poor time management with your work can easily carry over to your personal life. If an employer required employees to work long hours with evenings and weekends at the office, we would say that the employer does not respect the personal life of the employees. The same thing applies to those of us who are self employed. Working excessive hours shows a lack of respect for our time away from work.

Part of the allure to freelancing for many people is the potential to have a flexible schedule and to avoid working 9 to 5. While you don’t need to have rigid hours that cannot be flexible, it is important to have a clear distinction of what time is designated for work and what time is personal. Each person handles it differently. You may want to set a schedule that you’ll work each day or each week, or you may want to set hours that will be different each week according to your schedule. Whatever the case may be, for most of us it’s necessary to set hours ahead of time, otherwise the tendency is to work too much.

8. Spec Work

Spec work is very common, especially among younger or inexperienced designers, and it’s a very heated topic within the industry. Personally, I don’t dedicate any time to design contests or spec work because I have no interest in spending time on projects with a very low likelihood of being compensated. I, and many other designers, feel that doing spec work is disrespectful to your own time because you are working simply with the hope of being paid. The vast majority of participants will not receive any compensation for their time.

If you’re trying to get started as a freelancer and you’re not able to find other work aside from spec work, I would suggest contacting your friends and family. See if any of them have a need for your services or if they know of anyone who is in need of work. You can also reach out to non-profit organizations and offer a discounted service to them. Another option is to work on your own projects, which can be a great experience because it can be anything you want it to be. All of these options will allow you to gain experience and make some money without the need to do spec work.

For more on spec work, see Spec Work Can Damage Your Business.

9. Not Investing in the Essentials for Running Your Business

Running a profitable business obviously requires you to bring in more revenue than you spend on expenses. However, this does not mean that you shouldn’t spend anything on your business. There are plenty of legitimate expenses that are necessary for running a business or that will allow you to do your job more effectively or efficiently. For example, if you’re spending a significant amount of time on finances and tracking which invoices have been paid, you would be well served to invest in financial software or an online invoicing app. This would be a relatively small expense, but it will help you to make better use of your time.

Always looking for freebies is a habit that many freelancers have, and in some cases it can do more harm than good. Getting something of quality for free is always good, but there will be times when paying for a better option will actually help you to be more profitable in the end.

What’s Your Advice?

What have you learned in your work about respecting your own time that you would like to share with readers?

This post is supported by Ronin:

Ronin is a leading online invoicing and time tracking app designed for freelance designers. Their application works well for both solo designers as well as teams. If you want to impress your clients with gorgeous invoices and client-facing logins with account history, give them a try. Visit them at www.roninapp.com or friend them on Facebook.

For related content please see:

• 13 Principles of Effective Time Management
• How to Determine if You Should Accept a Freelance Project
• 10 Tips to Help Freelancers Prioritize Tasks
• 27 Places to Find Web Design Jobs

In this post we’ll look at some things that you can do to make your home office more comfortable and more enjoyable to spend those working hours. Obviously, some home offices come with certain limitations (such as the area of the house or the size of the space), but every situation could be improved in some way by the things in this list.

1. Get a Comfortable Desk Chair

Having a comfortable desk chair really is a necessity since you will be spending so much time in it. If you have an uncomfortable chair, you’re probably not enjoying your work as much as you could be. A good chair can cost a lot more than a cheap chair, but your health and comfort are worth the expense. For some tips, see How to Buy an Ergonomic Desk Chair.

Photo credit: Cameron

2. Have a Separate Sitting Area

If the size of your home office allows for it, set up another area where you can sit comfortable away from the desk, such as a small sofa or some other type of comfortable chair. For times when you are not working on the computer this will give you a break from the desk and the small change in environment may help with creativity. I did this a while ago in my home office and I’ve found that for times when I am brainstorming or working away from the computer it is a nice change of pace.

Photo credit: TranceMist

3. Get Plenty of Light

An office needs to be well lit, and preferably with plenty of natural lighting. Many home offices are in basements or tucked away in corners where there is not much natural lighting, but if possible try to maximize it. It can also help to have multiple options for lighting, like a desk lamp, aside from just overhead lighting. Depending on the time of day and how much natural light is coming in, it may be more comfortable with various types of lighting.

Photo credit: mkosut

4. Keep it Clean

Avoid having a desk that is full of crumbs from your lunch or other things that keep it messy. Maintaining a clean office doesn’t require much more than just straightening up at the end of each day.

Photo credit: carlos seo

5. Get (and stay) Organized

In addition to just keeping it clean, it’s equally important to have an organized office. If your surroundings are unorganized it is likely that you’ll feel like your thoughts are unorganized and more stress can come as a result. Take the time to get organized, and make an effort to keep it that way.

Photo credit: Aktiv Phil

6. Get Rid of Excess

Once you have organized the office you should be able to identify some things that you really don’t need. Get rid of all of this excess stuff that is cluttering up the office, and give yourself a more peaceful working environment with fewer distractions.

Photo credit: r0sss

7. Keep it Single-Purpose

With a home office it can be very tempting to make it a home office/storage space or to use it for some other purpose. If you’re spending a considerable amount of time in the office it is best to use that space only for work. Having a clear separation of work and personal space is helpful for a healthy work-life balance, plus having a dedicated office will allow you to set it up in a way that makes it most comfortable for your working hours.

Photo credit: Josh Bancroft

8. Keep Wires Under Control

Chances are you have a lot of items and gadgets in the office with wires. Try to keep wires together and hidden, as this can help with creating a more peaceful working space. In some cases you may be able to get wireless devices, and in other cases you’ll just have to as hidden and unexposed as possible.

Photo credit: rintakumpu

9. Decorate the Walls

Part of making a home office comfortable involves decorating it in a way that inspires you and encourages creativity. Wall art and decorations are a great way to improve a home office.

Photo credit: Fernanda Mancini

10. Add Some Plants

Having a plant in the office can help to make it feel more natural and inviting. Plants can be bought inexpensively and there are all kinds of plants available for various amounts of natural light.

Photo credit: TylerIngram

11. Keep a Comfortable Temperature

Trying to work in an environment that is too hot or too cold is not a good idea. Being comfortable with the temperature will help you to be able to stay productive for longer periods of time, and it can even help with creativity.

Photo credit: tomas carrillo

What is Your Advice?

How do you make your home office comfortable?

1. Have Emergency Savings

If you haven’t started full-time freelancing yet, the best thing you can do for yourself financially is to build up an emergency fund that will allow you to pay all of your bills for at least a few months. Hopefully you won’t need this money, but if things don’t go as expected at least it will be there for you and you won’t have to go scrambling back to a job as soon as things slow down.

If you are already freelancing full-time with no emergency savings, it’s not too late to address the issue. This money will help to reduce the stress that you may be feeling to earn enough each month.

2. Set a Budget and Cut Out Extras

One of the difficulties of freelancing is knowing how to live on an income that changes frequently. In this situation it’s critical that you have an idea of where your money is going (this includes personal expenses as well as business expenses) so that you can cut out things that may be unnecessary. If you’re just getting started as a freelancer it’s a good idea to minimize your expenses wherever possible until you’re comfortable with how much money you will be making and the type of lifestyle that you’ll be able to support.

Budgeting is a key element in any type of financial management. Cutting out extra expenses doesn’t mean that you’ll have to do so forever, but focus on lowering your expenses so that you can concentrate on building your business without the stress of needing a large income.

3. Set Up Separate Bank Accounts

Another common struggle for freelancers is keeping personal and business money separate. My solution to this is to have separate accounts for business income and expenses, as well as an account specifically for money that will be used to pay taxes. As I have money come in I put it in the business account minus a set amount that I put in the tax account. I overestimate the taxes a little bit so I don’t wind up owing anything unexpectedly.

If you’re keeping all of your money in one account, do yourself a favor and set your business money aside. This will help to prevent unpleasant surprises from taxes and business expenses, because the money will already be set aside. Additionally, if you pay yourself from your business account (which I’ll get to in a minute) it can help you to live as if you have a steady, consistent income.

4. Hire an Accountant

Most freelancers aren’t experts at taxes, so it’s usually a good investment to hire an accountant. There are a lot of programs that will help you to do your own taxes, but dealing with business income and expenses can be more complicated than filing taxes as an employee. You’ll definitely save yourself a lot of time by hiring an accountant, and you’ll probably owe less money if you have an accountant that is experienced at working with clients who are self employed, plus you’ll have some help should you get audited.

5. Find a Good System for Time Tracking and Invoicing

Keeping track of time and invoices is not a strength of most freelancers, so it’s especially necessary to have a good system in place. There are a number of web apps and software options for this purpose, and most are reasonably priced. I have been using Fanurio and it helps me to know how much time I’ve spent on clients, how much I’m owed, what is overdue, etc. Other good options that I have personally used include FreshBooks and Time59.

Having an effective system will help you to minimize the amount of time that you spend on these activities and to easily identify situations where you are owed money. You’ll be able to easily and quickly see your financial situation at any given point in time, which will not be as easy if you are managing invoices manually.

6. Seek Guidance from a Financial Advisor About Retirement Savings

One of the major benefits of working as an employee is that you would most likely have access to a 401(k) or some other type of retirement account. Saving for retirement is easier when it’s something that you don’t have to think about, and when there are tax benefits. Many freelancers don’t save anything for retirement because it’s not as convenient as it would be for an employee. Although you won’t have a company 401(k) as a freelancer, there are options, including a SEP IRA. You’re options will vary depending on your situation and what country you live in, but a financial advisor should be able to help you find the right choice for you.

7. Pay Yourself a Set Amount

Living with a variable income can be a challenge for most people because you don’t know exactly how much money will be available to you at any point in time. Each person will have their own preferences here, but the most significant way I have found to face this challenge is to pay myself as if I were an employee. I pay myself (a transfer from the business account to the personal account) a set amount every two weeks. This helps me to have an income that is more like a set salary that I can use to develop a budget for my personal expenses. Of course, the key is to pay yourself less than you are actually making through your work so that the business account never gets completely depleted and so you’re able to continue to pay yourself. I’ve found that this helps me to make sure that I have enough in my personal account to pay bills, but it also challenges me to reduce unnecessary expenses so I can keep my “salary” down and have more money in the business account.

8. Set Income Goals for Each Month

Most freelancers are at least somewhat goal oriented. Designers are used to working constantly with deadlines and meeting goals on client projects. I’ve found that I get a little bit of extra motivation when I have a monthly income goal that I am reaching for. The goals don’t need to be monthly, they could be quarterly or yearly if that works better for you. However, I think you’ll find your income increase a little bit if you set an aggressive but reasonable goal.

9. Plan Your Budget Based on a Conservative Income

Because your income is likely to fluctuate, it’s best to plan your budget based on the lower end of what you are likely to make. If you budget this way and your income is higher than expected, you’ll just have extra money. However, if you plan your budget based on what you’d like to make rather than a more conservative amount, you may find that you have trouble paying bills during slower times of business.

10. Get Signed Contracts

Signing contracts with your clients is a good idea for several reasons, and it also impacts your financial management. Having a signed contract doesn’t guarantee that you will get paid on time, or at all, but it does give you some recourse and it causes most clients to be more concerned with paying you on time. It can lead to less time wasted chasing down money that you are owed, less lost income due to clients not paying, and more time to spend on income-generating services.

11. Organize Your Time/Schedule

The most valuable asset to a freelancer is time. If you are wasting time because of a lack of organization you are essentially wasting money. Getting organized will help you to have more time to do work for clients, which will increase your income or possibly reduce the number of hours that you work. Respecting your time is a great start to managing your business and your money more effectively.

12. Buy Health Insurance

Like retirement savings, health insurance is another benefit to being an employee. Many self-employed people go without health insurance, but that leads to risks that may not be worth it. The ideal situation is to have a spouse who works as an employee so that you can be on their insurance plan, but that is not possible in all situations. There are insurance plans available that may not give you the best coverage in terms of co-pays, deductibles, etc., but they can at least protect you in case of an emergency that could be very expensive without insurance.

13. Live a Healthy Lifestyle

While we’re on the topic of health, staying healthy also plays a role in your income because there are no paid sick days as a freelancer. When you are not able to work you are not getting paid. Taking care of yourself will lead to less missed time for sickness, and time to produce income throughout the year. Eating right and exercising are struggles for most of us that work from home, but they should be a priority if your income is tied to your ability to stay healthy.

14. Have Savings Goals

Because of the challenges involved with earning a living as a freelancer and being able to live with an inconsistent income, it’s easy to get caught up in being able to pay the bills and forget about the need to save. When you’re developing your budget be sure to plan to save at least a little bit each month. Saving is a habit that needs to be developed even when it is with small amounts. One option is to use automatic withdrawals to take money from a checking account and put it in a savings account.

15. Evaluate Your Rates

One other factor, which we have not covered, that plays in to your financial situation is your rates. Knowing what to charge can be a major challenge for designers and it’s a big topic that I’m not going to cover in detail here, but you should make it a priority to evaluate your rates from time-to-time. If you haven’t increased your rates in a while you may find that you could stay just as busy and make more money by doing so.

If you have existing clients that are used to paying a certain rate for your services, the best thing to do is to test out your increases on new potential clients. That way you can get a better idea of the impact it will have, and you’ll know if it’s a rate that some clients are willing to pay. Then once you are confident that the new rates are fair and reasonable you can notify your existing clients of an upcoming increase. This will help to avoid situations where you’re rates aren’t realistic and you lose clients.

What Advice Do You Have?

As I said at the beginning of this article, these tips are based on my own personal experience. I’m interested in getting feedback from others with some tips of their own, so please leave a comment if you have something to share.

For more business and freelance-related content please see:

• 13 Principles of Effective Time Management for Freelancers
• 15 Tips for Breaking in as a Part-Time Freelancer
• 17 Tips for Designers on Starting a Freelance Business
• Foundations of Customer Service for Freelance Designers

In this article we’ll take a look at a number of things that designers can focus on with the intent of giving their clients a more valuable service. If you want to have more projects and clients coming your way or increase your income, these are some areas that you can address.

1. Focus on Results

In order to make your services more valuable to your clients, the best thing to do is focus on getting results for them. Clients will be happy to pay for services that help to make their business more profitable. Results are ultimately more important to a client project than the aesthetics. Take the time to get you know your clients and their customers, and focus on creating a website that will work for them and meet their needs.

2. Dedicate More Time at the Front End of Projects

If you’re looking to improve the results of your work, one necessary step is to do an effective job at the start of the project. This includes dedicating time to the client intake process, as well as to things like wireframes, mood boards, and generally getting a better feel for the specific needs of the client and the project.

A project that is planned more effectively from the start will have a much better chance of getting the needed results, and it will probably not require any more time because it will reduce the amount of revisions and potential communication issues later in the project.

3. Gain Valuable Experience

The experience that you gain today will help to make you a better designer or developer in the future, which will increase the value of your services to your clients. The type of experience that you should pursue will of course depend on the services that you offer and the types of things that you would like to bring to the table with your future clients. Maybe you would like to work with a client in a particular industry, design a specific type of website, work with a certain CMS, or manage various phases of a large project. Whatever the case may be, you can be looking for new opportunities to get this valuable experience.

Rather than waiting for the ideal situations to come to you, make an effort to seek out the experience that you want to get. It may mean working for less money than usual, or even free, but it could help to improve the value of your services in the future. If you’re not able to find any client projects to gain the experience that you want, you could start a personal project that will help you to get this experience, work with other designers/developers on some sort of group project, or keep your eyes open at web design job boards for potential opportunities.

4. Improve Your Ability

One of the more obvious ways to make yourself more valuable to clients is to simply improve your abilities and be able to offer a higher quality of work, or additional types of services. Improving your ability is very much within your own control, but it will take time and a commitment to working on the areas that you want to improve. Fortunately, there are a lot of resources and opportunities here, you’ll just need to decide what works best for you. You could take a more formal route and take classes or attend seminars/conferences, or you could work on your own to learn through books and online tutorials. Another way to improve your ability goes back to the previous point of gaining experience. You could take projects specifically for the purpose of learning something new or stretching your skills.

5. Understand SEO

SEO can sometimes be a bit of a touchy situation for web designers. Some clients who don’t have much experience with SEO want a designer to build a site that will get great search engine rankings, but there is so much else involved, such as inbound links and content, that a designer/developer cannot simply build a site that magically gets high rankings. In my opinion and from my experience, the designer/developer should understand the basics of building a search-friendly website that will have a chance to rank well. The structure of the site (page titles, heading tags, clean code, location of primary content in the code, etc.) should be the focus, in terms of SEO, when designing and developing the website. Some designers may choose to offer additional services like content creation and link building that will improve the SEO of the site, but that is really a separate issue. To increase the value of your services as a designer, focus on creating a search-friendly site that will give your clients the foundation that is needed for a site that attracts search engine traffic.

6. Offer Options for Ongoing Maintenance

Most of your clients will need some type of maintenance on their site from time-to-time. Even with a CMS it is likely that at some point they will need some additions or changes that require services from a designer or developer. For clients, finding someone to perform the needed maintenance can be a major inconvenience if the original designer or developer is not able or willing to do the work. Clients like to know that someone will be available and willing to help them down the road after the initial project is completed.

Some designers charge an hourly rate for any work beyond the scope of the initial project, and others offer some sort of package that includes a specific amount of work on a recurring basis for a monthly fee. Whatever you choose to do, have some plan that you can present to your potential clients that will demonstrate that you are interested in a long-term relationship that will meet their needs into the foreseeable future.

7. Partner With Talented People in Related Fields

It’s very likely that your clients will be in need of services like logo design, copywriting, content creation, photography, social media marketing, search engine optimization, and more. Some designers offer additional services beyond web design and development, but for those services that you do not offer it would be beneficial to have a quality service provider that you could partner with. Your clients probably do not want to have to dedicate a lot of time to finding all of these professionals, but if you have a good working relationship with the client they will likely appreciate and trust the people that you refer. It can be a real time saver for clients and you can make their lives a little bit easier.

The partnership could simply be an exchange of referrals as situations arise, or it could be more formal where you would earn a referral fee for any paying clients. Additionally, you could consider outsourcing the work to other professionals and serving as a middleman between the client and the provider. This may be preferred by some clients because it would give them just one contact person, you, rather than multiple.

8. Have a Professional Portfolio

As potential clients are looking for a designer, they will be evaluating you based on your portfolio site in most cases. Having a professional portfolio will not necessarily increase the quality of work that you will give to that particular client, but it will help to improve the perceived value that the potential client sees in your services. Perceived value is from the client’s perspective and how they view your ability to get the job done. If there are two equal designers, one has a very professional portfolio site and the other does not, the client will likely see the value of service from the first designer as being higher, assuming all other factors are equal.

Give some attention to your portfolio site and see how it may be impacting the perceptions of your clients and potential clients. Take a look at well-designed portfolio sites to get some ideas for your own site. Make sure that it represents you, your services, and your abilities as well as possible.

9. Build Your Name Recognition

Name recognition is another factor that isn’t really going to improve the work that you can do for a client, but it can increase their perceived value of your services. Many clients prefer to work with a designer that is known or respected in the industry, at least to some extent. Some clients are willing to pay more simply because they know who the designer is. There may be more talented people out there who are unknown, but name recognition (or the lack thereof) can be a factor in how the potential clients sees the designer.

If you’re interested in improving your name recognition there are a few things that you can do beyond the obvious solution of creating great websites that get attention:

• Start a blog – Blogs have proven to be an excellent way for designers to get some exposure and to build a name for themselves.
• Be active on Twitter – Many designers are very active on Twitter and you may be able to build a significant following that will help to improve your name recognition.
• Get your work featured in CSS galleries – There are literally hundreds of gallery sites out there, so you can do your best work, submit it, and use that exposure to improve your name recognition and reputation.
• Find high-profile opportunities – One effective way to get your name out there is to be involved in a high profile project. An example is Unique Blog Designs who re-designed sites for people like John Chow and Jeremy Schoemaker for recognition purposes.
• Write a book – It’s not an option for everyone, but those designers who have written successful books have strong name recognition.

10. Organize Your Customer Service

From a client’s perspective, the service that they receive is equally important as the design work that you do. Instead of just focusing on improving yourself as a designer, you can also increase the value of your services by providing a higher level of customer service. There are a number of resources that can help with customer relationship management (CRM) and may make it more convenient for you and your clients (see 12 CRM Options for Freelancers).

11. Evaluate the Tools that You Use

As a designer or developer you will be using software, code editors, and other resources in your daily work. Do the tools that you are using allow you to do the best work possible? In addition to software, you’re probably also working with certain content management systems, shopping carts, and blogging engines repeatedly on client projects. There are a lot of options out there, so make sure that you are using the best options to give your clients a high value.

12. Consider a Private Label CMS

If you’re building a lot of sites for clients that are using a content management system, consider using one that allows you to be a private label re-seller. This means that the CMS will look to clients like it is created and controlled by you and it will have your own branding. A good CMS under a private label can help to make your business look more impressive to clients, which may lead to a higher perceived value. Additionally, as a re-seller you will usually earn commission from ongoing monthly fees for use of the CMS or for the hosting associated with it. One example is LightCMS by Element Fusion, which targets designers to be resellers of LightCMS.

13. Take Fewer Projects

If you want to increase the value that your clients are getting by doing your best work and getting maximum results, one option is to take fewer projects, which will allow you to dedicate more time to a smaller number of clients. Of course, this will require you to charge higher amounts for your projects in order to end up with the same hourly rate or total income that you would get otherwise, but your clients may be happy to pay a little bit more if it has a significant impact on the end results.

14. Take Care of Extras

If you look at the services provided by various freelance designers and design agencies you will see that there is a lot of variation in terms of what is included in the price for a web design project. If you want to increase the value of your services to clients you can go the extra mile and take care of things like setting up Google Analytics (or another stats program), helping them set up a system or plugin to backup their database, set up email addresses for them, etc. There are a lot of little things that are not part of the web design cost for most designers, but if you want to make yourself more valuable you can take care of some of these things that clients need but are not excited to deal with.

What’s Your Experience?

How do you go about improving the value of your services for clients? What impact has it had on your business.

Providing high-quality customer service can at times be frustrating for freelancers, but taking good care of your clients is critical for client retention and for encouraging word-of-mouth referrals. Here we will look at 10 aspects that should be considered by freelancers who aspire to provide a high level of customer service.

1. Being Reachable

When clients have a question or a problem, they want to know that there is someone they can contact to get help. Of course, freelancers don’t have a team of customer service people ready to handle calls and emails around the clock, but in general it’s necessary to be accessible to clients. Clients should know the best ways to contact you (office phone, cell phone, email, through a customer service portal, IM, Twitter, etc.) and when they can expect to get a response if they are not able to speak with you immediately. Most clients understand that freelancers will not be available 24 hours a day, but they should know that you are interested in helping them and the best way to go about it.

2. Timely Response

Since it’s very common to deal with customer service via email and voice mail, the client should be able to know that you will get back to them as quickly as possible. The amount of time will vary, but clients should not feel like their messages are falling through the cracks and only answered whenever you have the spare time. Clients will appreciate customer service that involves a prompt response, which shows that service is a priority to you.

3. Organization

Organization is important in order to be able to provide quality customer service with timely responses. Working on multiple projects at any given time, plus some questions/issues from other clients needing maintenance, means that without organization it will be difficult to stay on top of things. Some freelancers use a CRM (see 12 CRM Options for Freelancers), while others institute their own system for organization. Organization also has a major impact on the ability to meet deadlines, which is a critical aspect of keeping your clients satisfied with your work.

4. Patience with Explanations

Clients like to work with designers who are willing and able to meet them at their level, where the designer will explain things in a way that makes sense to the client. There will be plenty of situations where you will need to explain your reasoning to the client, whether it be in response to a question or suggestion from them, or whether it is something that you feel needs to be pointed out. Taking the time to explain things without technical jargon will help to educate your clients and should help to make your job easier going forward.

5. A System for Quotes/Estimates

Some designers use packages with set prices for specific types of projects, but many designers will provide a quote specifically based on the needs of each client. Even for those designers that offer prices by packages, there will be situations where a client’s needs do not quite fit into one of the existing packages and a quote will be needed anyway. Pricing design services is a hot topic that gets a lot of attention, but the quote/estimate process doesn’t get as much attention.

The quote involves more than just being able to price your services. It should also help you to evaluate exactly what the clients needs and what you can offer, the specific details of what is included in the price and what is not, any deadlines and/or project milestones that are involved, and any other relevant details. Having a system will help you to get information from the client that will help you to make better estimates, provide a timely response, and to cover all bases so that both the designer and client understand the specifics of what is being offered.

6. Effective In-Take Process

One of the most critical aspects to a successful design project is getting to know and understand the client’s specific needs, their business, their customers, and what is needed from the website. In order to get this right, it is necessary to dedicate the needed time upfront before the design work begins. Many designers have standard approach to client in-take that helps them to make sure all the right questions are asked.

Putting more effort in to the early stages of the designer/client relationship will help to improve the customer service down the road. A project that involves a solid in-take process will result in a more effective and efficient use of your time, and fewer issues that will need to be resolved at later stages of the process, which will make your customer service much easier.

7. Clear Contracts and Terms

Contracts not only serve to protect everyone involved from a legal perspective, but having contracts and clear terms with clients will help to reduce the potential for miscommunication and misunderstanding about pricing, payment terms, what is included in the price, and the responsibilities of the designer and the client. A lack of clarity in any of these areas can lead to problems and lots of customer service work.

8. A System for Working with Feedback

Every client project will involve some sort of feedback, and many will require revisions from the designer. In some cases, the feedback may be coming from a few different sources, and it could involve a number of different people. This contributes to making it even more important to have a system to deal with feedback and to incorporate it into the project.

There are a number of different resources out there, such as Proof HQ, that are available to make the process more streamlined and effective.

9. Concern for the Client’s Best Interest

In order to provide the highest level of customer service possible, it is necessary to have the client’s best interest in mind. There will be situations where you could recommend something to a client that would involve more money for you, but it may not be in the best interest of the client. While putting the client’s interests in priority may cause you to miss out on some income opportunities in the short-term, it’s a necessary part of providing good customer service. Clients will recognize when you are truly looking out for them and it will lead to increased trust in you, a greater chance of getting repeat business, and more referrals from current and former clients.

10. Respect for Your Time

Just like you need to respect your clients, you also need to respect your own work and time. Simply catering to unreasonable requests or doing endless revisions for clients that keep changing their mind is not required to provide good customer service. The ideal designer/client relationship involves mutual respect and a concern for being fair on both sides. There will be times when providing some type of service to your customer is outside the scope of the contract. In these situations the best customer service will involve a willingness to help the client get the service that they want, but at an additional fee.

Provide the best customer service that you can, but also have a respect for your time that prevents you from getting walked on. A healthy designer/client relationship will produce the best results for the client, improve the chances of a long-term working relationship, and promote a genuine interest in working together for success.

What’s Your Experience?

From your experience, what do you feel are the most essential aspects to customer service for freelancers?

For more business and freelance related content please see:

• How to Make a Positive First Impression with Potential Clients
• 13 Tips for Effective Communication with Clients
• 10 Keys to Growth as a Designer
• 10 Passive Marketing Opportunities for Freelancers

In this post we’ll look at 10 keys to growth as a designer. This list and discussion should serve as a reference or guide for any designer that wants to improve. Focus on these areas and you will become a better designer. Please share your own thoughts and experiences in the comments.

1. Solid Foundation of Knowledge

There are plenty of different things for aspiring and improving designers to learn, and more than enough resources and tutorials to make it happen. One of the temptations is to jump ahead and try to learn too many specifics before having a firm grasp on the essential fundamentals of web design. Some tools, such as Adobe Dreamweaver, can lead designers to think that they don’t need to be proficient in HTML and CSS. However, having a solid knowledge of HTML and CSS, plus basic design principles, is necessary and trying to learn too many other things at once can lead to confusion. If you have not already reached this point, make it a priority to attain the foundational knowledge first before you try to build on it.

2. Tools for Learning

Many designers are completely self taught, and even those that have a formal education in design will have the need to continue to learn on their own. Fortunately, there are plenty of great resources and tools for learning. This includes countless books that can be purchased or borrowed from a library, and of course the huge number of tutorials that are posted on websites and blogs that cover all aspects of design and development.

The tools for learning are readily available, it is just up to the designer who wants to learn to choose an area for improvement and to find the appropriate resources and tools to accommodate this.

3. Priority on Learning and Development

Most designers are extremely busy with client projects, finding new business, networking, and managing their business. Unfortunately, scheduling time for learning new things usually gets sacrificed. Designers who want to continue to improve their skills and stay on top of the industry will need to prioritize their own development, even if it means giving up some time that could be used for other purposes.

Fortunately, there are a number of different ways that you can learn and work to improve your skills. It may involve simply setting aside some time to read books occasionally or to work through online tutorials. Also, taking projects that will stretch your abilities and give you the opportunity to learn new things is another option. If taking paid client work isn’t an option for you, there are always opportunities to do volunteer (or discounted) work for non-profits that will give you the opportunity to work on something specific. Another option, and one that I like to use, is working on projects of your own. We’ll discuss this topic more in just a moment.

4. Feedback from Clients

One of the best ways to learn about the work that you are doing is to listen to feedback from your clients and see how they feel about your work. Ultimately, the client’s opinion is what matters the most, so make sure that you take the time to get feedback from them about your work, the process of completing the site, and the service that they received from you. Feedback from clients can help you to identify your strengths as well as areas that you could possibly improve upon.

5. Constructive Criticism

Taking criticism isn’t always easy, but it can be key to improvement and growth as a designer. Constructive criticism will not simply say that a piece needs work or isn’t very good, but it will point out specific areas that could be improved, which helps you to see what you’ll need to do in order to be more effective. Constructive criticism can come from clients, from visitors, or from other designers. Andrew Follett wrote a post a few weeks ago for DesignM.ag, 10 Rules and Resources for Better Design Feedback. That post includes several excellent resources, including Concept Feedback, that will be of great help to you if you are looking to get some constructive criticism.

6. Effective Sources of Inspiration

Designers rely on inspiration for helping to improve their creativity and spark their ideas. There are tons of resources available for online design inspiration, such as CSS galleries and design blogs. Additionally, designers should have some variety in their sources of inspiration. Rather than relying strictly on getting inspired by other websites that you find at design galleries, take the time to look for inspiration in other sources like magazines and other printed works, photographs, nature, and anything else that is around you. I wrote a post a few months ago at Vandelay Design that covered the topic of maintaining an inspiration notebook that you can turn to in times when you are looking for some creativity.

7. Experimentation on Your Own

Earlier we looked at the need to prioritize learning and development. One of my favorite ways to work on learning something new is to set aside time for personal projects. If you want to learn something specific but you don’t have any clients who are looking for this type of work, why not just do it on your own?

This could apply to just about anything. If you want to learn how to work with Drupal you could start a blog or website powered by Drupal. If you want to learn more about a specific shopping cart or e-commerce CMS, you could take time to work on designing and developing a theme to use for yourself or to give away. With personal projects you can pick and choose what you want to learn. The things you learn will be applicable to real-world situations, and you’ll probably have fun doing it.

One of the biggest challenges is just finding the time to do this type of experimentation. For me it helps to build this in to my schedule rather than seeing it as something that I will do in my “free time,” because if that is the case it probably will never happen.

8. Mentors to Follow

I believe that having mentors or designers that you look up to can also be a help to your own development. In some cases your mentor may be someone that you know personally or that you even work with, but in other cases it could simply be a designer that you like to follow. You can find a designer whose work you appreciate and respect, and make an effort to follow them closely.

One example of how you can follow someone is graphic designer and blogger David Airey. I’ve followed David’s blog for a long time and one of the great things about it is that he covers his design process for client projects in detail. He’ll post his sketches of logo designs and explain the thought process behind the decisions and gives a general overview of how the project progressed (for one example, see Vissumo brand identity design). This is very valuable insight into the logic of a talented designer, and it can be helpful for your own work. I believe that having some successful designers to follow can be a resource and an encouragement for aiding in your own growth as a designer.

9. Taking Risks

Particularly when you are experimenting or working on personal projects, I think it’s good to try new things and take some risks with your design. What I mean by this is that you step outside of the box of what you are comfortable with. Many designers have a particular style that usually turn to with their projects, but making an effort to break from the norm and try something completely different can be a great exercise for learning new things. Practice is great, but if all of your working is taking the same path and leading to similar results, mix it up and try something new. You may come up with some things that really don’t work very well, but you’re also likely to surprise yourself at times with results that you didn’t know you were capable of.

10. Focus on Improvement Rather Than Perfection

All designers, even those who have years of experience, have new things to learn and room for improvement in their work. Rather than expecting perfection in your work, focus on continually improving your skills and becoming a better designer over a period of time. As long as you are improving, you are moving in the right direction. Expecting too much at once can lead to discouragement and a lack of confidence in your abilities.

What’s Your Experience?

How do you meet the challenge of continual development?

For related content please see:

• Tips for Dealing with Competition as a Designer
• 13 Principles of Effective Time Management for Freelancers
• 15 Tips for Breaking in as a Part-Time Freelancer
• 17 Tips for Designers on Starting a Freelance Business

With the level of competition that exists for designers and developers, being successful as a freelancer or working independently requires a combination of technical and creative skills, as well as business skills. Naturally, most freelancers are more comfortable with the technical and creative aspects and less comfortable with running a business. While you do need to have some capability to run the business, you do not need to be a business guru to be an effective and efficient freelancer.

Part of the struggle from the business aspect involves knowing how to encourage clients to use your services when there are a million other options out there. In this post we’ll take a look at the subject of competition for freelancers, and discuss some things that you can do to thrive in this competitive industry.

1. Embrace the Competition

Although this is an industry that is filled with “competitors,” the nature of the community of designers is completely different than that of most other industries. Designers generally are very approachable and other service providers aren’t usually viewed as competition. Take the time to get to know others who are offering similar services, whether they are freelancers, employees of an agency, or in-house designers.

There are a number of significant benefits to embracing the competition and making friends in the industry. First, there is a lot to be learned from other designers. Most designers do not attempt to protect the secrets to their work. There is plenty of information freely available through books, magazines, and online tutorials that will allow you to learn from those who could easily be viewed as your competitors.

Second, a lot of referrals that are passed on to clients for other designers and developers. When designers are too busy to take a particular project or when it is not a good fit with the type of work that they do, it is not uncommon to refer the client to a friend or contact that may be able to help. Of course, if you are not connected to others in the industry you will not be getting these types of referrals.

Third, everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. If you are working independently as a freelancer you will not have the resources at your disposal that you would have if you worked at a larger agency. You won’t have co-workers who excel in certain areas that you can turn to for a quick question or some advice. In these cases, if you are friendly with others in the industry you may be able to get some assistance when needed. And of course, you’ll also be able to help others when the situation arises.

2. Know What You Do Best

Because there are so many options out there for your potential clients, it’s important for you to be able to show them (whether it be through your portfolio site, through email, or over the phone) why you would be a great choice. Knowing what you do best and exactly what you have to offer will make this a lot easier. Ideally, your potential clients will be looking for something that is a good fit for your talents and experience.

Take a look at the situation from the client’s perspective. Why should they hire you? What can you do for them that others cannot? Once you’ve seen these things from the client’s perspective it will be much easier to communicate with them in a way that will put your best foot forward.

3. Emphasize Continual Improvement

You won’t be able to change the fact that there are lots of other designers out there offering their services to clients. What you can control is your own skill levels and knowledge. Web design is an industry that requires continual improvement in order to stay on top of new technologies and to avoid simply following the trends. Rather than getting down about all of the other designers out there, focus on your own abilities and what you can do to improve them. If you are constantly improving yourself you are moving in the right direction.

Making yourself better at what you do will obviously help you to attract more clients and to overcome the challenge of dealing with competition. However, it will take a serious effort that includes leaving part of your schedule open to learn and study. Additionally, you could take certain work or pursue your own projects that will allow you to get more experience in particular areas.

4. Don’t Leave a Full-Time Job Too Early

If you currently have a full-time job and you are considering giving it up to start freelancing, I would encourage you to hold on to the job as long as you can. That doesn’t mean that you should never leave the full-time job, but most of us have the urge to leave a job before we’re really ready. You’ll have a much better chance to succeed as a freelancer if you can get some experience by taking projects on a part-time basis before going full-time freelance.

For more on this subject please see:

• 15 Tips for Breaking in as a Part-Time Freelancer
• 17 Tips for Designers on Starting a Freelance Business
• 10 Tips for Moving from Part-Time to Full-Time Freelancing

5. Look for Collaborations

One great way to deal with competition is to work cooperatively with others for mutual benefit. Typically this will involve collaborating with someone who offers complimentary services. Other designers and service providers could have something significant to offer your clients that you do not, and vice versa. Designers, developers, marketers, copywriters, often work with others to provide a more complete range of services for their clients, and to help each other to land more clients.

Take a look at the services you offer and the talents that you have. What other types of services could benefit your clients in addition to what you are providing? Make an effort to find others who are offering those services but not offering the services that you provide and you could have potential for a valuable collaboration.

6. Give Your Portfolio Site Plenty of Attention

The online portfolio of most web designers is a critical asset that is one of the best ways to attract new clients. Many of your potential clients will get their first-impression of you from your portfolio site, so it should make as good of an impression as possible. Be sure to take plenty of time to design a portfolio site that does an effective job of displaying your work.

If you’re interested in seeing some examples of well-designed portfolios, please see:

• 101 Awesome Portfolio Sites
• 50 Excellent Designer Portfolio Sites
• 30 More Portfolio Sites for Your Design Inspiration

7. Start a Blog at Your Portfolio Site

One of the best things I ever did for my business and to attract potential clients was to start a blog. From my own experience I have seen that a blog is an incredibly effective way to add content to your portfolio site that will attract visitors, links, and search engine traffic. Blogging does take some time, but you don’t need to post every day or even every week to have an impact on a portfolio site. There are a lot of potential clients out there searching for a designer, and having a blog in your site will give them a better chance to find you instead of someone else.

For more on this subject please see Guide to Blogging for Freelance Designers.

8. Be Active in Other Places

In addition to having a great portfolio site and starting a blog, there are plenty of other places where you can be active. For example, you could post some of your work on sites like the Behance Network, deviantART, and Flickr. Also, social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook provide opportunities to connect with other designers and potential clients.

Having a presence at other places aside from just your own site will increase the ways that potential clients can find you, and they’ll help you to build up your own profile within the industry. Another option is to write guest posts for various design blogs. Writing for other blogs is a great way to get your name out there and to build some valuable links to your portfolio site (most blogs will include an author bio with a link to your site).

9. Focus Your Efforts

Although I just recommended that you should be active at other places, I do think it is important to keep this under control. You’ll be more effective if you have a higher level of activity and involvement in a small number of carefully-chosen communities rather than trying to maintain a profile at 100 different sites, and not really being very active at any of them.

This doesn’t only apply to what networking sites you use, but also to your marketing efforts in general. Take the time to develop a plan that will focus your efforts in a few areas for attracting potential clients. Find methods that are effective for you and work to maximize the impact.

10. Diversify Your Income

Particularly if you are just working to get established, earning a living from freelance work can be difficult. One the best ways to deal with this is to diversify and earn income from a few different sources. If you’re having trouble staying busy and earning enough money from client work, use some of your time to develop these other sources of income. Just some of the possibilities include template/theme sales, stock photography, stock graphics or icons, freelance blogging, selling ads on your blog, affiliate marketing, and much more.

In most cases these things will not bring in enough money to live on, but they are all capable of providing a nice supplement to your income from client work. Another nice benefit is that they will give you some variety in your work and you can pursue things that you enjoy doing.

11. Consider Specialization

One way to avoid direct competition for clients is to specialize your services. For example, instead of simply marketing yourself as a web designer you could specialize in working with WordPress or Drupal. Any type of specialization you choose will help you to stand out to clients who are looking for those services. Of course, you’ll want to make sure that you are choosing something that you enjoy and that will have a large enough audience and demand for services.

12. Have a System for Client Intake

It’s possible that you could get more business and earn more money without even attracting more leads or inquiries. How? You could examine your process and find ways to improve your conversions from potential clients to paying clients.

What is your process for talking with potential clients and giving quotes? Think about how you could make that process more streamlined and more appealing to the potential clients. The subject of client intake is too large to go into detail in this post, but generally you should have a system that allows you to respond quickly, find out exactly what the client wants and needs from you, decide on a price or an estimate, communicate to the client everything that you are offering, and get a contract signed.

For more on this subject please see How to Make a Positive First Impression with Potential Clients.

13. Offer Options for Various Price Levels

If you’ve offered design services for any amount of time you know that clients come with a wide variety of needs and budgets. If you find that you are loosing potential business because you are unable to offer anything to a number of your potential clients, think about how you can meet them where they are at with their needs and their budget.

Unfortunately, many potential clients have unrealistic expectations in terms of what they want to get for a small amount of money, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot at least offer them something in their price range. It may not be exactly what they had in mind, but at least it would give them an option. Some designers have done very well by setting up some basic packages for clients with lower budgets. Additionally, other designers have templates or themes that they offer to clients (with or without customization services added on) who are unable to afford a custom design. This way you may be able to still generate some business and income from clients that you would otherwise not be able to help.

14. Subscribe to Job Board RSS Feeds

There area a lot of sites out there that can help you to find web design jobs and freelance opportunities. Unfortunately, if you’re monitoring a number of these sites it can take a considerable amount of time. Some design job boards offer RSS feeds that you can subscribe to. This way you will get updates when new opportunities are posted, but you won’t have to be constantly visiting multiple sites to see what is new.

Some that you may want to consider are:

• DesignM.ag Job Board (RSS feed)
• Smashing Jobs (RSS feed)
• Freelance Switch Job Board (RSS feed)
• AllDevJobs (RSS Feed)

15. Live on Less than You Make

If you are spending everything that you make, chances are you will always be feeling the pressure to bring in new business. If you want to relieve a little bit of the pressure from being in a competitive environment, work on your finances to get to the point where you don’t need all of your income to pay your bills and your taxes. If you can put something aside each month you will not feel as much stress to constantly be finding new business. Additionally, you’ll also have some money to re-invest in your business, which hopefully will allow you to earn even more in the future.

What’s Your Advice?

How do you deal with the issue of competition?

Before long I found out the hard way that just blindly taking projects was causing unnecessary stress (I still had a full-time job at that point and not much time for client projects) and more significantly, it was preventing me from doing my best work and taking the time to learn as much as possible through the experience, which should be a priority for any designer who is just getting started.

One of the best ways to learn is by making mistakes, so I did pick up some valuable knowledge that I have been able to use ever since. However, if you are facing situations where you are unsure about accepting a project or unclear about what factors you should consider, I hope that my mistakes can also be a help to you.

Unfortunately, making decisions on which projects to take (and also on pricing) is not always easy. In this post I’ll cover a number of different factors that I feel should be considered. Keep in mind that each situation is different, so not all of the factors will apply, and in some cases the significance of specific factors will vary greatly.

1. Your Availability

I’m not an advocate of taking on too much work just because the clients are out there. If your schedule is already full, taking on extra projects can lead to decreased quality of work which will impact you and your clients. Additionally, it will typically lead to longer working hours and added stress. For this reason availability is the first thing I take into consideration.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, if you are just getting started and looking for work, or if things are in a temporary lull in terms of your workload, you may benefit by being more willing to take a project than you would at other points in time.

Many designers are not able to start working with new clients immediately, but they don’t want to pass on the job just because they are not available at that particular moment. If this is the case for you, give your best estimate as to when your schedule will open up enough that you could fit in the new client and let them know that you anticipate being available at that time. Many clients are not on a tight deadline and these people will usually be willing to wait a little while if it means getting the chance to work with the designer of their choice.

2. Deadlines

Before you accept any project you should be aware of any deadlines that the client has, and when they expect to reach certain milestones in the projects (especially for larger projects). In some cases you may have the time in your schedule to get started on the project, but meeting their deadlines may be unrealistic. In other cases, you may not be able to get much done for them right now, but if their deadlines are comfortably in the future you may be able to get started slowly and pick up the pace as your other projects are completed.

Not paying enough attention to deadlines can cause major headaches for designers and can lead to rush jobs that come out with less than your best results. Also, your ability to meet the deadlines will play a significant role in the client’s level of satisfaction with your work, so the first step to meeting your deadlines is only accepting those that are realistic.

If a potential client approaches you with deadlines that you cannot meet, don’t be afraid to discuss the situation with them openly and see if the deadline is flexible. In some instances this can be negotiable depending on why the client is shooting for a specific date of completion.

3. Pricing

Of course, the amount of money that you will be paid is a factor to consider as well. Obviously, freelancers are working to earn a living, so the financial aspect of projects cannot be ignored. There will be some situations where you may be willing to give less priority to the money, such as when you are mainly looking for experience.

Keep in mind that the amount of money you will make on the project is all relative to a number of other factors, such as the amount of time and effort that it will require. Some jobs may sound like they are low-paying, but when you look at how long it will take you to complete the project and the hourly rate that it will wind up bringing you, it may look a lot more enticing. On the other hand, Higher-budgeted projects may initially appeal to you, but keep in mind that you will also need to perform your due diligence to estimate what it will involve from you.

4. Potential for Future Work

Landing new clients can take significant amounts of time (preliminary phone calls and emails, quotes, etc.), effort (evaluating the project to determine if it’s a good fit, selling your services to the client), and sometimes financial commitment (advertising costs). The best types of clients to have are those that will come back to you for more work in the future. It could be a situation where the client will need ongoing maintenance that you could provide. Other situations would include clients who have a need for other sites to be designed, or possibly even other types of work like business card design, logo design, or any other type of service that you provide.

Clients that you work with on a repeat or on-going basis are extremely valuable because there is usually very little or no investment (time, effort, or money) in landing their business once they are working with you. Instead of dedicating time to finding new work, the work will already be waiting for you and you’ll be able to spend more of your time generating income. You’ll just need to keep doing a good job for the clients and future work will be there.

If there are potential clients that bring the possibility for ongoing work or future projects, you may want to consider this heavily in your decision about taking the project. There may be other factors that are not ideal, but opportunity for on ongoing clients could prove to outweigh the other factors.

5. Existing Relationship with the Client

If you have already worked with the client in the past or if you have any type of relationship, that will also factor in to the decision. If it is a client that you have had a good experience with, you will probably want to do everything you can in order to keep the client rather than passing on the job. Not taking the project will lead them to work with another designer and they may wind up never coming back to you.

6. Networking Opportunities

Almost every successful designer has a strong network of contacts that they have built throughout their career. This could include other designers that offer similar services, developers, SEO’s, social media marketing consultants, and much more. Some projects will provide you with an opportunity to work with other professionals that could lead to mutually beneficial relationships that could lead to more work or exposure in the future.

In addition to just networking opportunities with other service providers, there may be situations where the client would be a valuable contact that you would like to have in your network. These are all situations that should be considered when they arise. While this particular project may not be perfect, it could open up doors that wind up making a big difference in your career.

7. Your Role

On smaller projects you will probably be responsible for everything involved. Whether you outsource any of it will usually be up to you, but ultimately the responsibility for the entire project will belong to you. In other situations, particularly larger projects, the specific role that you will be playing in the project can be a very significant factor. Be sure to take into consideration all of the necessary factors from the particular role that you will be performing.

Along with your role, also consider the scope of the project. What is included among your responsibilities? What will the client be expecting you to complete? Is it something that you can realistically accomplish, or would you need some help and collaboration from other designers and developers?

8. The Match with Your Skill Set

Most of us have certain things that we do better than others, and certain things that we enjoy doing. How does the project in question line up with your skill set and the type of work that you want to do? Naturally, some projects will be much better fits than others. Taking jobs that are outside of these areas can be good learning experiences, but if that is not your priority you are likely to be better off by focusing on projects that will allow you to do your best work.

9. Opportunity for Learning and Growth

As I just mentioned, there may be some times where stretching outside or your comfort zone or your established skills is a desirable characteristic of a project. In fact, taking projects that will allow you to grow and develop new skills is a major part of continual improvement. However, it’s important to consider the specific ways that you will be stretched and to accept projects that provide the right types of learning opportunities as opposed to projects that put you in bad situations.

Determining if a project will involve a positive learning experience or a negative “I wish I hadn’t taken that job” experience can be a fine line. There’s no exact way to go about it in every situation, but there are some things to keep in mind. If you are working on multiple projects at one time, it’s probably best to only have one of them that is in an area that you aren’t very experienced with. Trying to learn too many new things at one time for several different projects can be quite overwhelming.

Also, is the project going to help you to learn a new skill that will be valuable and marketable to you in the future? There is a big difference between taking a project to learn something that will help to make you more valuable to potential clients and taking a job that requires learning something new that you are unlikely to ever use again.

Additionally, what do the clients expect from you? Do they know that this is in part a learning experience for you, or will they expect your work to be at the level that would be expected from someone with more experience in this area?

If all of these questions can be answered favorably, maybe you should prioritize this factor.

10. How You Match Up with the Client

Sometimes you will be talking to a potential client and you will get a feeling that they will be a great client to work with, or maybe they would be a very bad fit for your personality or for your style of work. An ideal designer/client relationship involves everyone being on the same page and having a good professional working relationship. Your initial feelings about how you and the client will be able to work together is another factor that you should consider.

Along the same lines, you may have a particular connection to the client that causes you to want to work with them. For example, some designers accept projects from non-profit organizations that they are involved with in one way or another. The project may not be appealing to them if it were for another client, but the connection to the organization can appeal enough that it outweighs other factors.

11. Clear Vision and Purpose for the Project

One of the hardest things to figure out with some clients is exactly what they want from the project, and in some cases they don’t really even know themselves. Some clients contact a designer because they know they need a website, or at least people keep telling them that they do, but beyond that they really don’t have much of a vision for the project. Sometimes these clients can be great to work with because it may involve more creative freedom for you as the designer, but generally it is preferable to work with a client that knows what he or she wants.

A client that has a clear vision or purpose for their project will allow you to determine if it is a good fit for you, and if you take the job it will be a great help in knowing which path you need to take and what you can do to make the project a success. In order for projects to be as successful as possible they need to have commitment from both the designer and the client. A potential client that already knows what they need to get out of the project is a good indicator that they will be committed to making it happen.

12. Need Something for Your Portfolio?

In some cases, especially with designers who are just getting started, one of the most significant factors is simply a need to get some work that can become a part of the portfolio. Portfolios are important for all designers, and if you have nothing to start with, you may be willing to take a project that you would not be too excited about in another circumstance.

In addition to just new designers, there are some situations where having a project for your portfolio could be very valuable even for experienced designers. For example, it could involve work for a high-profile client that could give you some added credibility, or it could allow for an opportunity to get a piece of work for an area that doesn’t exist in your current portfolio. In these cases I don’t think it should be the only factor, but it is something that should be considered.

What’s Your Experience?

What factors do you consider when you are evaluation the project of a potential client?

In this article we will be looking at ten different ways you can passively market your services to potential clients. This includes some methods that involve work up front and then little to no work to continue marketing your services, as well as some methods that are passive in the sense that you are not actively pursuing clients or trying to advertise your services.

1. An Effective Portfolio Site

The portfolio site is a critical aspect to marketing for freelancers. One of the reasons that a great portfolio site can be so effective is that it will always be there to market your services to potential visitors. Regardless of what time of day it is or where the potential client lives, a strong portfolio site will promote your services for you. The portfolio site should showcase your best work, clearly communicate to visitors what you can offer, and allow them to get in touch with you about their project.

For more on portfolio websites, please see these resources:

• 60+ Helpful Resources for Portfolio Design
• Approaches to Showcasing Work in Your Portfolio
• Five Popular Design Portfolio Website Styles
• 10 Steps to the Perfect Portfolio Website

2. Design Galleries

Once you’ve got your portfolio site designed and it’s ready to market your services for you, give it some help towards getting exposure by submitting it to design and CSS galleries. There are hundreds of gallery sites that showcase well-designed websites, and they can provide plenty of exposure for sites that are featured. Of course, getting your site featured in these galleries is not easy. Most galleries accept only a small percentage of submissions, which is all the more reason to take your time and create the best portfolio site possible.

In addition to submitting your portfolio site, you can also submit your work for clients to the gallery sites if it is worthy. While this may not send traffic directly to your site, visitors may see that you designed the site and they may be interested in having you do the same thing for them. At the very least, showing potential clients that your work for other clients has been recognized by galleries should help to build your credibility.

Submitting sites to lots of galleries can obviously take considerable amounts of time. There are some services that will submit your site for a fee. If you’re interested in these services see:

• The CSS Gallery List
• MeeCSS
• CSS Web Submit
• CSS Gallery Submit

3. Referrals

Many designers get more business through word-of-mouth referrals than any other type of marketing or advertising. Referrals are highly valuable because if they trust the person who is referring you, you will benefit from that trust as well. With so many designers out there to choose from, many clients will ask friends or colleagues if they know of anyone to recommend. These types of inquiries are generally a little easier to convert than the average person who is contacting you about a project.

While referral business is a great thing to have, it will take some work to develop. The best thing you can do to increase the referrals that you receive is to focus on doing the best job you possibly can for your clients. Happy clients will result in referrals. Also, it helps to ask your clients if they know of anyone that could use your services, or at least mention to them that you would be happy to speak with anyone that they refer to you.

In addition to referrals from clients, you can also benefit from word-of-mouth advertising through your friends and family. Make sure that your friends and family know what you do for a living and that they have some business cards or at least a phone number or email address that they can share with others who may be in need of your services.

Another potential source of referral business is from other designers and professionals in related services. Many designers will provide referrals when they get potential clients that are not a good fit for their services, and other professionals in related industries may prefer to have relationships with designers that they can refer. This all comes down to having a strong network and actively pursuing relationships and arrangements for mutual benefit.

4. Footer Links

It’s very common for designers to include a link to their portfolio site in the footer of sites that they have designed for clients (of course, you should get a client’s permission to do this). As other people come to the website, if they like the site and they are in need of a designer they may click through to your portfolio and contact you. Especially on sites that are showcased in design galleries or recognized in some way for their design, having a footer link can help to increase your exposure and to build your reputation.

5. Designer Profiles

There are tons of sites out there for matching designers and clients up with each other. Many of these sites, like Elance, allow designers to create an account and add their profile. These types of sites are used very actively by many freelancers to find work, but they can also be resources for passive marketing. As potential clients come across your profile it is possible that they may contact you directly if they like what they see. While this can provide some business for you, it won’t send floods of new clients, so use it as a part of your passive marketing plan as opposed to being your only passive marketing technique.

Other sites similar to Elance include:

• Guru
• iFreelance

6. Portfolios on Other Sites

In addition to having an effective portfolio site, there are other places that you can display your work where it will be able to promote your services for you. Sites like the Behance Network are great for providing a platform where you can benefit from some added exposure. These sites tend to be frequented by designers, but they still lead to work for take advantage of the opportunity.

Aside from the Behance Network, some of the other places where you can post your portfolio include:

• deviantART
• Flickr
• Coroflot
• Carbonmade
• Virb

7. Your Blog

Having a blog at your portfolio site is a great way to attract visitors to your site and to build your name recognition as a designer. Maintaining a blog and writing posts does take time, so it is not a passive marketing technique in the sense that it takes no effort on your part. However, it is passive in that the blog will draw potential clients to your site and subtly promote your services, and once your posts are published they will be there to attract visitors and provide information until you choose to take them down. The main function of a blog is to provide content to readers, not to sell products or services, but it can still be very effective for landing more clients.

Through your blog you can publish content that will show visitors that you are a qualified designer who would do a great job with their project, but you don’t even have to say so. Use the blog posts to help readers by providing valuable information, show your expertise, and people will be more inclined to work with you when they are looking for designers.

One of the best reasons to have a blog at your portfolio site is that it will drastically improve your ability to draw search engine visitors. With so many portfolio sites out there it is difficult to rank well for just about any phrase that receives decent search volume, but a blog will help you to attract more inbound links, plus you can target specific keywords and search phrases with posts and have a better chance of drawing traffic.

8. Writing for Other Blogs

While publishing posts on your own blog is a great way to attract visitors, writing for other blogs also can help by providing exposure to a new audience. Some blogs pay for articles that get published and others may not pay, but they are likely to include an author bio with a link back to your site. Like posts that are published on your own blog, they will stay out there to promote yourself for the long term.

I have personally landed a few clients that have come to me through my articles that they found on other blogs. In these cases, I have been paid to write the blog posts, so the marketing benefits are really just a bonus. Landing clients through posts on other blogs can certainly happen, but don’t expect to find tons of clients this way. If you’re getting paid and benefiting from added exposure and the chance for new clients to find you, it’s a pretty good situation.

9. Interviews on Other Blogs

A lot of design blogs frequently publish interviews with various designers. While it may seem like you are not getting anything out of the time that you dedicate to an interview, it is just one more way to get some free exposure, and like blog posts, it will remain out there for the long term to be found by potential clients. Interviews are great for allowing people to learn more about you and to become more comfortable with you. Theses things can make all the difference when potential clients are trying to decide who they should contact about their website.

10. Social Networking

Like blogging, social networking requires time and effort but provides an opportunity to market yourself in a passive manner. You can get to know other users and get involved in the community of the social networking site, and it may wind up leading to design business. many designers get clients through their activity on sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

What About You?

How do you market yourself passively? If you have any tips or experiences that you would like to share, please leave a comment.

In this article we’ll take a detailed look at the topic of communicating with clients. Many of the tips that are mentioned can apply to communication in general, but the article comes specifically from the perspective of a designer/client relationship.

1. Start with a Solid Foundation

Communication is of critical importance during the early stages of the client process. At this time you will need to get to know the client’s business as well as possible. You’ll want to understand the products and services that they offer, their corporate culture, and what makes them unique to their customers. Additionally, you should get a solid understanding of their customers and what they will be looking for when they arrive at the website. It’s also important to understand the client’s specific goals for the website, what they wish to improve (if it’s a re-design) and what they need to get out of the site.

By taking the time up front to communicate with the client and to build this solid foundation for the project you can save time and avoid miscommunication later. It’s a good idea to have some sort of intake process that you go through with clients to get through this stage, it can help to make sure that you don’t miss out on any important points.

Some clients may be hesitant to dedicate much time before the project begins for this type of communication. When that is the case it can be helpful to explain that all of this is important in order for you to give them a website that will truly work for their business and for their customers. Emphasize that taking this time up front can help to make the process smoother and quicker, and to avoid costly mistakes.

2. Have a Method or a System

In the previous point I mentioned that it is a good idea to have a standard process for client intake. In addition, it’s also helpful to have a method or system for client communication beyond that point. If you are just responding to emails or phone calls as they come in with no records or organization, chances are you could benefit from putting a system in place.

If you’re working with several clients at one time it can be very challenging to remember exactly what was said by which client and what was done at different points. There is no right or wrong method, but you could consider using a resource that is intended for customer service (see our post 12 CRM Options for Freelancers), or you could develop your own system and processes to keep track of communication. At a very minimum you should have folders in your email to keep track of messages from and to specific clients.

Without a system you will probably find yourself scrambling to find out what was said about different aspects of the project. Having a record is always good because it will avoid the need to go back to the client when it’s not necessary and it will also help to protect you in case there is some type of dispute down the road.

3. Do More Listening Than Talking

The client’s website is all about them, their business, and their customers. For this reason it is important to emphasize the need to listen and let them provide you with the information that will help you to do the best job possible. Of course there will be plenty of times where the clients should be doing the listening, but especially during the initial stages when you are just getting to know about their business, be sure to place the most value in listening to what they have to say.

4. Don’t Be Afraid to Ask Questions

Misunderstandings will always lead to wasted time, so don’t be afraid to ask the client questions that will help you to get on the same page and to design something that will work for them. Your customers are busy, just like you are, so they may be in a hurry when you are talking to them, but don’t let that discourage you from getting the information that will help you to do your job for them.

Many clients won’t give a lot of information to you about their business or their customers unless you ask because they may not see the need for you to fully understand their business. Those clients who don’t have a good understanding of what is involved in creating a successful website will often think that a skilled designer can just pick up a new project and create something special without really taking the customer’s specific situation into consideration. In most cases they just don’t stop to think about all of the communication that is needed, so you may have to be proactive and ask a number of questions.

5. Be Patient with Your Explanations

The typical client does not have a great understanding of websites or design, and that is why they are hiring you. As you are explaining things to them throughout the process, be patient and remember that this is probably not an aspect of their business that they are very comfortable with. Clients appreciate designers who show patience and a willingness to explain things in a way that they can understand, without putting them down.

6. Explain Your Reasons and Thought Processes

As you give your opinions throughout the process it is important that you also explain to the client why you are giving that advice. Clients will often want you to do something that you don’t think is a good idea. When those situations arise, rather than just doing it the way they want or doing it your way with no explanation, take the time to demonstrate to them why you think it is important and what the potential impacts can be.

Clients will typically see things as they appear on the surface, but from your experience you may know that there is more to be considered in the situation. When this is the case you need to explain to the client the other factors that are involved and why you feel a certain way.

7. Give Advice When Needed

Designers really are consultants to clients as well. Clients (at least most of them) know that you have more expertise in the area than they do and they’ll trust that you are interested in doing what is best for them and their business. There will be situations where you will need to be willing to give them advice on a particular decision that needs to be made, or situations where you should add some of your own ideas for making the project better.

Some clients know what they want and as a designer it can be easy to get caught up in giving them what they want, without giving much thought to ways that it could be improved. Don’t be afraid to advise clients based on your professional experience. Most clients will respect your opinions and appreciate that you are looking out for their best interests.

8. Avoid Jargon

One of the biggest frustrations for clients is when designers talk to them with terms and phrases that they don’t understand. Although you are working online all the time and you probably communicate with other designers and developers a lot, keep in mind that your clients will not have the same experience, so you should avoid using terms that they are unlikely to understand (or at least explain what they mean).

As you work with clients you will get a better understanding for how tech savvy they are, and you can adjust your communication accordingly. Some clients will have a very good understanding and will be able to communicate without the need to explain everything, and others will have very little knowledge or experience related to the internet and web design.

9. Avoid Assumptions

Assuming that the client understands certain things or that they want something a particular way can lead to miscommuniation. If you’re unsure about something, take a minute and ask the client rather than assuming and causing a lot of work that needs to be re-done later.

10. Use Examples When Possible

One thing that can really help your communication, particularly when you are explaining things to clients or giving them choices, is to use real-world examples. Explaining options over the phone or through email can be challenging, and at times ineffective. By using examples to help, you can make things more clear for clients and get more accurate response and avoid misunderstanding.

An example of this would be if you are talking to a client about the type of navigation menu they would like to use on their site. Rather than trying to explain the differences you could provide them with URLs of a few sites with various styles so they could see it in a real-world situation.

11. Make Your Communication Count

Because your clients are busy, most of them will not want to be constantly receiving emails or phone calls about the project. One of the lessons I’ve learned from my experience is to make the communication count. Try to put your questions together in one email rather than sending 4 different emails in one morning with one question each. Additionally, make an effort to be as clear as possible when you communicate so there is no need to go back and forth several times just to understand the issue at hand.

Because clients value their own time, they will appreciate if you maximize the time that you have in communication and if it requires them to respond to less emails or take less phone calls. This also goes back to the need for good organization and having a system to keep tabs on the communication. If you forget what a client told you, you can either go back through your records to find out yourself or you can contact them to ask again. Of course, it’s preferable to not have to go back to the client when it’s not necessary.

12. Put it in Writing

One of the reasons that email communication is effective is because it gives you and the client a record of what has been said. There may be times where it is necessary for customer service or for legal purposes to have a record of what was said, by whom, and when. Aside from email, other types of CRM tools can also help for record keeping.

For situations where you are talking to clients on the phone, it’s a good practice to type notes after you get off the phone to summarize what was discussed, and of course you will want to include the date and the names of the specific people that you spoke to. While you may not be able to prove that what is in your notes was actually discussed, it is still better than not having record at all, and it can be just as effective when you need to go back through the records for your own purposes. Another option is to send a summary of the conversation to your clients by email. This may be overkill for short calls just to discuss one point, but it could be helpful with longer, more detailed calls, and it could also help clients to have an account of the conversation for themselves.

13. Keep it Professional

While you are communicating with clients, whether it be face-to-face, telephone, or email, always stay professional. Clients are paying for your services and they will expect you to conduct your business in a professional manner, so avoid things that could cause them to see you differently. That’s not to say that you can’t get to know your clients on a more personal level, but remember that what you say and write can impact you designer/client relationship.

What’s Your Advice?

What lessons have you learned in your experience with clients? What tips do you have for other designers?

For more business and freelancing-related content please see:

• 27 Places to Find Web Design Jobs
• Essential Qualities of a Home Office
• 17 Tips for Designers on Starting a Freelance Business
• 15 Tips for Breaking in as a Part-Time Freelancer
• 9 Ways to Get Your Design Portfolio Seen