Passive income for web designers and developers. Photo by borman818.

If you’re a freelance or self-employed web designer or developer you know all too well about the ups and downs of cash flow.  You’ll also know that the concept of passive income in our field is not one that many of us web workers entertain or know much about.  So here’s what I can share with you on the subject of creating and profiting from a passive income as a web geek … and hopefully give you an insight into how you can smooth out the peaks and valleys of your cash flow in a way that can truly change your life.

Passive model income for webs designer and developers

Next time you get a web design and development project consider this.  Instead of charging $X for the project, doing the work, getting paid and that being the end of the deal, you can try this approach which I use frequently:  Rather than your regular fee of $X, charge a discounted fee of $Y for the design and development of the site. Then charge $Z per month for the following:

• High speed hosting
• X number of email accounts
• Spam filtering
• Database backup (if Wordpress or Joomla etc. powered site)
• HTML/CSS backup (site backup)
• Security update (if Wordpress or Joomla etc. powered site)
• One hour phone training (if Wordpress or Joomla etc. powered site)

See where I’m going with this?  Your clients want all the above, immediately the high speed hosting and email (because every site owner needs this) and they also want to feel like they have everything being taken care of with the security updates and data backup.

Why this approach rocks

• Your client gets the site (or blog) they want
• They get their site or blog at a discounted rate (“Normally $X, get this package for $Y”)
• You get $Z every month to keep the site live, backed up and updated (Wordpress and other platforms update regularly with core upgrades and security fixes). I charge a minimum of $47 a month for this.
• If you hate hosting (like I do) then team up with a hosting provider who can do the hosting and provide hosting support. This is important to me because if I had to reset a password or answer another “I how do I set up my Outlook?” I would lose my shit. I’d rather pay $7 to $9 a month and get a hosting company to deal with it since that’s their core bizzo anyways.

Risk reversal

Clients love this model because they get into a great looking site for less (you are discounting the upfront design and development fee remember?) and you should love this because you will recoup that discount (and more) in the long run with the monthly fee.  The lower upfront cost is a great risk reversal and means more clients will take you up on the offer.  Just make sure you make it clear that they must host the site with you (or your chosen hosting partner) in order to take advantage of this offer.

Be aware of new businesses

You can safely offer this kind of package to an established business.  Reason being that anyone who been in business for four plus years is probably going to be around for years to come. However, given the failure rate of new businesses, you might want to consider traditional pricing and fee models with these clients. New businesses are by default just riskier to deal with.

Quick math

As stated, I charge a minimum of $47 a month and up to $135 per month for these kinds of packages with the pricing depending on the client.  For small, local business they get the $47 package.  $9 goes to hosting, the rest is for me and is (mostly) passive income.  It’s still a great deal for them and for me. Multiply that $47 by 20 sites and you’ve got a good recurring income predominantly on auto-pilot and a ton of happy clients who have killer sites, email and the knowledge that their site and database is being backed up and safe should hard drives crash, fires break out or hackers mess with their site.  Total win win equation.

Give more value and get more passive dollars

For more passive income, you can learn (or outsource) some basic SEO and bolt on a simple SEO package to the above.  Most local small businesses operate in markets that are easy to snipe for the keywords they want. It really isn’t all that hard to get a site to rank #1 for “carpet cleaning  [suburb] [city]” or “[city] [suburb] electrician” etc.  I do entry level SEO packages f0r $447 setup and $57 a month recurring.  And again, clients love them because they get their sites to the top of the search engines and actually start hearing their phone ring more often with calls of “I found you on Google, do you guys …  [clean carpets, deliver Chinese food, unplug drains or whatever]?” If you really want the business, you can naturally offer discounts on whatever your standard rates are to close more deals.

Summed up

OK so admittedly these aren’t totally passive models if you are doing the Wordpress and plugin updates yourself (you can outsource that too) but they are pretty darn close.  The time is takes to update Wordpress and a handful plugins for a client every now and then is minimal. And again, you are giving your clients great value with a discounted fee on design and development and chances are you will have them as a long term client who will be with you – and paying you every month – for years to come.

Given the interest in this subject I am writing a thorough guide on this subject which I will be adding to the Elite Freelancing Method in the next few months.  Hopefully this will help some of you struggling to take your businesses to the next level with some steady cash flow.

Photo by nez.

Keyboard shortcuts ... now 66% more profitable than your mouse.

Before you start thinking woopdey freakin’ doo … go ahead and multiply that 4 minutes a day by the 250 odd work days in any given year and you get: 1,000 minutes.    Now replace those mouse actions with much faster keyboard shortcuts — which I estimate are at least two thirds faster — and you’re on your way to an extra 660 extra minutes (11 plus hours)  in your life per year to spend doing something else than mousing for File > Save.

You’re welcome!

Feel free to correct my math, it’s never been a strong suit of mine.

Let’s begin. Note: I know you pros will be like “duh!” about these.  This post is and was inspired for beginners like Anna from Twitter; who asked me what my favorite short cuts were and why. I’ve gone ahead and listed as PC and Mac shortcuts, what I think are the top three keyboard shortcuts that everyone should know. These go a long way to improving your productivity and in the case of our first one, prevent you losing your mind by not losing data.

Ctrl-S / Command-S

As far as I’m concerned, Ctrl-S (for “Save”) is the undisputed King of keyboard shortcuts.  If you only ever learn one shortcut, learn this one and use it every single time you need to save. Do NOT save using your mouse (unless you’ve got food, drink, baby, cat or pistol in your keyboard hand).  Eventually your subconscious will absorb Ctrl-S and it will become a reflex action to the point you won’t even notice you are doing it anymore — and your data will be nice and safe.

Ctrl-Z / Command-Z

Undo is probably the next most useful. The ability to take a step back and undo our last action is incredibly helpful. Out of all the keyboard shortcuts I wish I could have on my mouth, this is one. (My woman will confirm this.)

Alt-Tab /Command-Tab

Fastest way to switch between applications is Alt-Tab. You can switch much faster than trying to mouse for the task bar or dock. I tend to “anchor” my left hand on these two keys while my hand is “idling” e.g. Not using a keyboard shortcut and laying at rest.

Between keeping your data safe with Ctrl-S, undoing your last action with Ctrl-Z and swapping between applications with Alt tab you’ll save minutes a day, hours in a year and just feel like an all round pro level geek.

Your favorites?

Those are my top three.  What about you … got any keyboard shortcuts you can’t live without?

P.S. Those of you who were having trouble with the RSS feed here at EliteFreelancing.com … it should be all good now.  Google ate … er, bought … FeedBurner and I’m one of many sites that experienced a couple small glitches in the transition.  Cheers.

Photo by pearbiter.

"Umm God ... so aah ... which logo do you want to go with?"

To me, that’s very interesting. I mean think about it; unlike prolific brand marks of our times like the Nike swoosh or the Apple apple, some of these religious symbols have been in circulation for centuries if not thousands of years.  Lets take a look at some of these brand marks … those belonging to religions big and small, old and new.

Bahai Faith

• Founded: 19th century
• Favored branding: 9 pointed star

Relative new comer to the business of religion is the Bahai Faith.  The Bahai seem to use a few symbols when branding their organization — yet supposedly favor above all — a 9-pointed star.  Word has it the itself star isn’t part of the Bahai teachings but used simply to represent the number “9″ due to the Bahai associating the number 9 with perfection, unity and Baha (an Arabic word for “glory” or “splendor.”)

Buddhism

• Founded: Approx. 544 BC
• Favored branding: Bhudda himself

Bhuddism is one of the world’s oldest major religons and has a reported 376 million practicing followers. Like most religions, Bhuddist also have many symbols, however the preferred one  Bhudda himself, a man which Buddhists believe was an “awakened teacher”.  Depiction of the Bhudda ranges from a serious yet serene looking figure to a jolly, chubby fellow sitting comfortably in simple robes with his big belly showing. Since their are no best practices for depicting Bhudda, I’ve opted to show him as a silhouette to reflect because he comes in so many shapes!

Christianity

• Founded: 1st century
• Favored branding: Cross

This one needs no introdcution.  Early on in Christianity, the cross superseded the Ichthus (commonly known as the “Jesus Fish”) as the predominant device used for branding Christianity.  The cross represents the crude, wooden structure upon which Jesus was killed.  The Christian cross is arguably one of the most recognized symbols on the planet. With the Nike swoosh hot on it’s heels!

Judaism

• Founded: Approx. 1300 BC
• Favored branding: Magain David

The oldest of the Jewish symbols is the Menorah, a seven-branched candelabrum (candle stick) used in Jewish temples.  In recent times, the Magain David (commonly known as the Star of David) is the symbol most commonly associated with Judaism.  Jewish teachings link this star to the “Seal of Solomon”, a magical ring used to control demons and spirits; as well as linking it to a magic shield owned by King David. In modern times, the star has been used as the favored branding device by Jewish Communities and by Israel itself, which features is on the national flag.

Hinduism

• Founded: Unknown
• Favored branding: Aum

There are ten important symbols in the Hindu faith but Aum, (also written and pronounced “Om” and also known as pranava) is the most dominant of all the Hindu symbols. Hindus believe that the prolonged intonation of the Om sound is associated with the primeval sound from which the universe was created.  It is also believed that the sound contains “all things”. The Om symbol is the favored device used for branding all things Hindu … and loads of products found in smoke shops.

Islam

Featured on the flags of many Islamic nations, the most well know symbol of Islam is the star and crescent. Although the most widely recognized Islamic symbol, its origins apparently aren’t so much Muslim as they are Ottoman.  The Ottoman turks ruled a massive area which encompassed many Muslim nations so they pretty much had the final say.

Rastafarianism

• Founded: 1930s
• Favored branding: Lion

Rastafarians are also comparative new comers.  This religion believes in both Jesus Christ and Haile Sellaise I (former Emperor of Ethiopia) as incarnations of God, which they call Jah.  Rastas use the lion as their preffered brand mark because Jesus was described as “the lion of Judah” in the Bible and it was also the symbol of Haile Sellaise I.

Scientology

• Founded: 1950s
• Favored branding:

Newest of all the religions on our list is Scientology which was founded in the 1950s by American science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard. The main device used by Scientologists is an “S” with two triangles called the “ARC triangle” and the “KRC triangle”.  The points on the lower triangle are said to represent “Affinity, Reality and Communication” while the points on the upper triangle are meant to represent “Knowledge, Responsibility and Control”.

Taoism

• Founded: 722 BC
• Favored branding: Taijitu

Almost everyone is familiar with the Taijitu, or “yin and yang” symbol of Taoism. This is the preferred symbol Taoist organizations use for branding. The symbol makes a backwards “S” shape and has even been used by the famous Town & Country surf company. Taoists use the symbol to represent how opposing forces are bound to each other, intertwined and interdependent; each giving rise to each other in turn.

Authors note: The bulk of the information, dates and statistics gathered for this article was attained from Wikipedia.

Photo by darkpatator.

You can still find a decent domain name ... without going crazy.

Then get red in the face as you repeat this search process a hundred times attempting to find a name that isn’t complete gibberish and/or 5 words long. Next time you’re in the market for a domain name, check out this crop of domain name generators and search tools that that will make your life way easier.

BustAName.com

BustAName.com - Domain name generator

Whoever is behind BustAName.com deserves a small shiny statue made of precious metals. BustAName makes you feel like you are always making progress towards an available name, which almost makes the process fun.  Web usability guru Steve Krug once observed that we humans tend to “muddle through” the web — and we actually don’t mind doing so — so long as we feel we are making progress towards our intended goal.  BustAName will quickly give you that sense of moving forward towards a decent and available domain name as you creatively muddle through all the ones that are already taken.

Visit BustAName.com

MakeWords.com

MakeWords.com - Powerful domain name generator

MakeWords.com is almost as impressive and powerful as BustAName and it only took second by a hair due to a lack of any realtime searching features.  MakeWords took a slightly different approach is a very powerful tool for quickly generating and screening domain names.  This tool can save you hours of your time and help you get into a domain name sooner rather than later.

Visit MakeWords.com

InstantDomainSearch.com

InstantDomainSearch.com - Real time domain searching

This site isn’t a generator but it made the list because it makes old school domain name searching look about as useful as a pair of flip-flops at the running of the bulls.  Trust me, go on and try InstantDomainSearch.com for a couple of searches and you’ll see what I mean; this thing freakin’ rocks.  From a technical point of view, it’s brilliantly executed and an impressive display of modern searching techniques in action. You can even switch modes to a secure search if yer feelin’ a little p’noid.

Visit InstandDomainSearch.com

Web 2.0 Name Generator

Web 2.0 Name Generator

The people behind this generator obviously have a sense of humor.  Not so much a domain search engine as it is a word gen, Web 2.0 Name Generator can help get your mind exploring different avenues you might not otehrwise consider on your own steam. Tambuu anyone?  What about Gabcube?  They don’t promise any of the names will be available, but the stuff this tool comes up with is fun and definitely valuable for sparking new ideas.

Visit Web 2.0 Name Generator

Got a favorite tool when it comes to cookin’ up or searching for domain names? Leave us a note in the comments.

Photo by lefthand.

Recession got you bummed? Fear not, there is much you can do.

I’m no economist, but it seems only natural that markets should correct themselves (level off and perhaps retract) after consecutive years of positive domestic and global growth. In any case, the situation is what it is. So what’s a freelancer to do amidst leaner and tougher economic times? The answer is: Be even more valuable to your clients.

If you’ve been freelancing for any length of time, you’ll know that your cash flow probably looks like a volatile stock chart; spiking up and down, up and down. The nature of our game is one day we’re so busy we can barely keep up, the next it’s so quiet we can hear the wind whistling through the trees.

Working on retainer is one way to smooth out cash flow volatility, yet during a recession, it’s even more important to focus on providing added value to your client base and help keep your income stream healthy.

This isn’t about being some flakey networker that spams clients with fluff, it’s about doing your best to provide your clients with some real benefit from knowing you. The more genuinely valuable you are to your client base, the better off you’ll be.

Now, I know customer service is something many freelancers aren’t fond of, but listen; when it comes to your clients, you want to be at the forefront of their minds, always. Lets take a look at some techniques that allow you to quickly and easily stay on their radar … and add value where possible.

Ping your clients

The no-brainer way is with a quick e-mail ping.

“Hello Dave, Checking in to see how everything is going and whether I can help you with anything?”

Article of interest

While you are cruising the web, take note if you spot something that might be of value to a client.

“Hello Dave, I came across this article on potential new regulations that could affect your entire industry and thought it might be of interest to you.”

Add a link to the article. The more relevant the it is, the better.

Refer and introduce

Check your client base and see who might benefit who then make some quick introductions.

“Hello Dave, I’d thought I would take a moment to introduce you a client of mine, John Citizen. John runs Crazy Potato Studios and has a great team of SEO experts that I think would be of benefit to you.  John, Dave works over at Better Buggy Whips Inc. and can service all your buggy whip needs.  I’ll let you guys connect and take it from here.”

Naturally it’s preferable to connect two people whose offerings compliment each other but one beneficial “introducee” will do.

Error check client websites and update

Take a moment to scan client web sites for errors.  A good technique here is bug hunting for breaks in that ultimate nightmare of all professional web developers; Internet Explorer.  Cruise around your client’s websites and spot breaks and errors then notify them about it.

“Hey Dave, I was doing some quality control on your site today and found that X was breaking on page Y in Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP.  Give me a shout if you want me to fix it for you.”

Offer a little free time

Ping select clients with a “Limited Time Offer” of free time (your time, that is).  For example:

“Hello Dave, A quick note to let you know that as a valued client of mine, I am extending 2 hours of my time to you for free to use as you wish.  There are some conditions for this free time which are as follows:  You can use this free time towards any of my services.  This offer of free time expires exactly two weeks from today. My recommendation is to use that time taking care of X but again, you are free to use this time any way you wish.”

This generates a ton of goodwill and you’ll find that more often than not your client will end up spending more than the hour or two you give away for free.

Wrappin’ it up

Ok so now you’ve got a few techniques you can roll out when the urge arises.  Remember, be of value to your clients and you’ll always stay busy and well paid.  If you have some techniques you use during slow times, let’s hear ‘em!

Photo by marinacvinhal.

"I got the answers I needed and my boss loves me."

Yep, speed is important!  The old cliche is that “time is money” and when your clients consistently get super fast responses to their queries, your stock with them invariably goes up. It’s also important to understand that as a freelancer one of your greatest strengths is your mobility. Studios and development teams aren’t generally able to respond as quickly as you are.  So get guerrilla and leverage that competitive advantage to the max!

OK let me put the brakes on here for a sec though.  I know some people advocate checking and replying to email during specific sessions — like when you first log on for the day, and before you leave for the day — for reasons of supposed productivity.  That technique is fine, clients will be happy enough if you get back to them a couple times a day, I guess.

Since I’m nuts about differentiating myself with killer customer service, I recommend doing things a little differently.

The 30 Second Customer Service Technique

The 30 second customer service technique is as follows:

• When you’re on the clock, keep your email client open and running in the background
• When a new email comes, skim it
• If it’s a query which would take less than 30 seconds to reply to then …
• Reply right away

Like, whoa!

Put yourself in Joe Client’s shoes for a sec.  After weeks or months of working with you and you consistently get back to him almost as quick as the message is sent, do you think Joe is going to think you are one stand up professional or what? The short answer is: Big time.

Joe will be so stoked he’ll:

• Give you more and more work as it arises
• Be willing to pay you higher rates
• Be less likely to shop around with your competitors for similar services
• Happy to tell others how “awesome my web guy is.”

All because you spend 30 seconds now and then to get back to the guy at speed.  How about you, have you got any best practices for customer service?

Job data by Simply Hired

Average salaries in web design and development for September, 2008.

What surprised me the most was that flash design and development jobs have a lower average than general web design and development positions. I’d always assumed that the niche skill set of working with Flash paid better, not worse.

Also interesting is that along with user interface developers, project managers are pretty much the highest paid position.  Not surprising given that the average PM needs to be able to understand (and speak) fluent Geekanese with developers and then translate that into a language that the average client can understand.

The data & money.

In a nutshell, what this data tells us is that vanilla web designers are worth the least.  Along with project managers, peeps that can design and code user interfaces are worth the most.  Naturally full time jobs pay less per hour than freelance and contract jobs but there are trade offs galore. Full time people generally have to sucker it through traffic, work nine to five, go to meetings, get paid vacation time etc.  Freelancers march to the beat of their own drum and likewise incur benefits and disadvantages of their own.

Me & my goals.

I had modest goals for my life as a freelancer. I wanted to work a light work week so I could have more free time to spend as I wish. Also important to me was working from home so that I could nix having to commute. And lastly, I wanted to make above average income.

It took me a little while to work out how to achieve these things goals but with persistent trial and error, I got there. In my last year as a full time freelancer (2006) I made about $90k working approximately 25 hours a week.  I’m (by far) not the best web designer around so I figured I was doing something right.  I subsequently wrote The Elite Freelancing Method to teach people the same techniques and best practices I used to reach my goals.

What about you?

Are you making above or below average? Would you like to be making more? Have you struck a good work/life balance?  If so, what are some of the most effective strategies you have implemented to make it all happen … or what are some of the main challenges impeding you?  Lets hear it in the comments.

It was a couple of years ago that I first joined LinkedIn and it’s been good to me. For those of you unaware, LinkedIn is a social network focusing on work and career with a reported membership of 25 million people strong.  Think of it as a place where you can build social network which revolves around your professional life. Now, LinkedIn is great for worker bees of all kinds but of particular value for us freelancers. Here’s why:

Feedback for the win

A long time ago, the powers that be at eBay understood that buying goods from a remote seller is a leap of faith. In order to make the leap smaller, they implemented the eBay Feedback system; where buyers could leave comments about their experience with their seller.

Whether some nice woman quickly shipped that handmade shaving bowl or some dude burned you when the  Zapotronic-Blowblaster you bought was busted; you could leave feedback and let people know what your experience was like which these sellers.

The result of all this feedback flying around is that we gravitate towards the eBay Powerseller; people who have a proven track record of successfully completing sales (deals) on eBay. These are sellers who have tons of positive feedback from satisfied buyers and this feedback is a powerful social proof mechanism which instills a ton of confidence in potential new buyers.

LinkedIn offers you the opportunity to become a power seller of your own by utilizing their “Recommendation” feature. Recommendations on LinkedIn are like feedback on eBay and benefit you in similar ways.

Advantages of LinkedIn recommendations

The Advantages of using LinkedIn are many.  The one we’re interested in right now is the ability to attain and manage recommendations from clients, partners, co-workers etc.  LinkedIn Recommendations

• Act as positive social proof in the same way eBay feedback does
• Lower barriers new clients might have in hiring you
• Give you an edge over your competition

It’s all about Trust

Whether it’s eBay feedback, LinkedIn Reccomendations or any similar mechanism, it all boils down to trust.  When a new client is looking to hire you, they essentially have a problem they need solved and to connect with someone they feel they can trust. By having visible recommendations from past clients on LinkedIn, you generate confidence in potential new clients.

The other benefit is you’ll always have a great stash of testimonials to use wherever you want, whenever you want.  Like this:

Danno is great to work with. He listens to what I want as a client and helps me understand what I really need. He has put together an awesome team of creative and technical experts that do great work. Danno is a strong leader who is building Graphics.net into one of the leading design firms in the world.
- Dave Bascom, President, SEO.com

A quick copy/paste and booya: I can show a potential new client that Dave digs me and they should too.

OK enough theory.  Consider heading on over to LinkedIn and taking it for a test drive. Create a profile for your professional life, use it, nurture it and make it a best practice to actively seek Recommendations. It takes time to mature your LinkedIn profile but it’s an investment that will continue to pay you back for years to come.

Photo by ericmcgregor.

Keep some dumbbells laying around the office and sneak a set in now and then.

The downside of being a nerd is having my body atrophy when I don’t push myself to stay active. I mean, we all know that keeping in shape is a great idea (for a so many reasons) but I think it’s especially true for us desk jockeys who are in long-term peril of turning somewhat chair shaped.

So I got to thinking about making my fitness more accessible.   About a month ago I purchased a set of dumbbells.  You know the ones with metal handle and you slide the plates on each end; and I’ve been keeping these off to the side of my desk, on the floor.  And I gotta say, I’m lovin’ it!

Nowadays, when I need a break or figure it’s just time, I get up and do a set or two. Dumbbells rock as there are tons of excercizes that you can do with ‘em.  My faves right now are:

• Hammer curls
• Shoulder press
• Lateral raises
• Squats!

Admittedly, lifting weights felt gross for the first couple of weeks; as it always does. It had been awhile for me and when I got started I was shakey (read: weak). Those shakes went in less than a couple of weeks as my muscles adapted. So yeah, about four weeks into it, I’m already feelin’ that much stronger and … well … better!

Any of you got tips on keeping active while at work?

Photo by king edward.

Keep your clients coming back with killer customer service.

Differentiation

More than anything else, customer service will make or break your business and set you apart from your competition.  Yep, even more than your design work.  Many clients aren’t sure about what constitutes poor design work but you can be sure most of them know what poor customer services feels like. The good news is this: it’s way easier to consistently provide rock star customer service than it is to provide rock star design.

Providing killer customer service is easier than you think and has tons of benefits like:

• Helping you win new clients
• Your current clients refer you to others
• Protect you from having your clients poached by competitors
• Keep your clients coming back for more of your services

I mean, chances are most of your potential clients have bought services from other designers before and that experience is their benchmark. Clients will only put up with poor communication, lateness and rudeness for so long before they go their own sweet way looking for someone else … no matter how good the design work is.

Trust

The most valuable commodity you poses as a freelancer is trust.  If your clients feel like they can rely on you then your chances of getting work from them go up and it makes it harder for a competitor to steal that client from you. The best way to build trust is in consistently being polite, reliable and if you can; fast.