Linkswitch #93, Productivity Apps, Simplifying, Content Cycles
Every other week we roundup some of the highest quality articles and resources that benefit freelancers from across the web. We present these articles here on various helpful topics. This week we have articles on productivity apps, simplifying your freelance business, content cycles, and more.
10 Leading Chrome Productivity Apps
As Chrome is in vogue among freelancers, the new Web Store collection is worth checking out. There are many entertainments tools, online games, utilities and productivity solutions. The last category of getting things done apps deserves freelancers’ attention. Chrome has free web applications like to-do lists, calendars, note takers to help you work faster, easier and more efficient. Let’s browse the top 10 productivity leaders in Chrome’s Web Store.
How You Can Simplify Your Freelancing Business
Simplifying your freelancing business and the rest of your life will give you more time and energy for what’s really important to you. How can you simplify your freelancing business? Let’s consider several areas of your business that you can examine and simplify.
Content Cycles – Make your Business Famous by Reinventing the Wheel
We all like to fool ourselves into thinking that we are covering new ground but the reality is that someone, somewhere has done it before. But is this a problem or does it actually present an opportunity? It depends on your outlook but for the wilier of you out there your mind should now be firmly locked onto the latter.
Al Seckel: Our Brains are Mis-wired, Video
View engaging conference lectures, interesting how to discussions, and high quality freelance advice via video here on FreelanceSwitch.
This week we look at Our Brains are Mis-wired by Al Seckel. In this talk, Al Seckel, a cognitive neuroscientist, explores the perceptual illusions that fool our brains. Loads of eye tricks help him prove that not only are we easily fooled, we kind of like it. Continue Reading
A Smarter Twitter Page in Under 15 Minutes, Video
View engaging conference lectures, interesting how to discussions, and high quality freelance advice via video here on FreelanceSwitch.
This week we look at A Smarter Twitter Page in Under 15 Minutes by Adi Purdila. In this video learn to design a smart, vintage modern background to welcome visitors to your Twitter page. Discover layout considerations, then dive into Photoshop. Continue Reading
Linkswitch #92, Big File Transfer, Google +, Web Design Guidelines
Every other week we roundup some of the highest quality articles and resources that benefit freelancers from across the web. We present these articles here on various helpful topics. This week we have articles on top apps for transferring big files, how Google+ can help creative freelancers, new guidelines for web designers, and more.
Transfer Big Files: The Top 7 Tools You Should Use
If you work online, and most of us do in some capacity, it’s likely that you’ll have to transfer big files from time to time. Usually, the quickest way to transfer big files or share your work with someone is to email it to them, which means you just attach it to the email … right? Not so fast my friend. The problem, of course, is that most email clients have an attachment limit of 25MB. I’ve had Powerpoint presentations that are well over that limit. If you find yourself in a similar predicament, check out some of the following tools.
10 ways Google+ is Better than Facebook for Creative Freelancers
People are understandably hesitant about using Google’s recent addition to social networking in the form of Google+. Surely having a presence on Facebook, blogs, LinkedIn, Twitter and more, is enough for sharing content and promoting ourselves! Facebook alone can prove to be an enormous time-burner.
10 New Guidelines for Web Designers for 2012
To capitalize on the earning potential of web design industry there has been surge in the number of custom service web design providers. However, only a handful of freelancers are able to sense the change in the industry dynamics and add value to their creative ideas during implementation. In order for you to stay competitive, effective, and yet innovative with your web designs I propose the following ten guidelines.
Video, Insight Design Conference-Quite Strong Talk
View engaging conference lectures, interesting how to discussions, and high quality freelance advice via video here on FreelanceSwitch.
This week we look at Insight Design Conference-Quite Strong by Design Collective Quite Strong. In this video two members from the group, Jennifer Sisson and Jana Kinsman, share tips and and ideas on self promotion in the design industry.
Ian Ritchie: The Day I Turned Down Tim Berners-Lee, Video
View engaging conference lectures, interesting how to discussions, and high quality freelance advice via video here on FreelanceSwitch.
This week we look at The day I turned down Tim Berners-Lee by Ian Ritchie. In this video he goes over one of his biggest fails, not buying into Tim Berners-Lee idea that his World Wide Web would take off. This is a short story about information, connectivity and learning from our mistakes.
Linkswitch #91, Facebook Apps, Boost Productivity, Tribal Management
Every other week we roundup some of the highest quality articles and resources that benefit freelancers from across the web. We present these articles here on various helpful topics. This week we have articles on getting going with top Facebook apps, grabbing productivity boosting tools, strategies for managing your tribe, and more.
30 Top Facebook Apps for Business
Facebook is a good place to communicate with friends and get new job offers. Freelancers should not miss an employment opportunity on Facebook. The social network app section is a real treasure box with multiple handy applications. These are some of the best Facebook applications that help freelances boost their productivity, enhance their business pages, show off their portfolio and attract new contacts. Since many freelancers work with social media as experts, account managers and analysts, the list below has both apps for personal profiles and Facebook pages.
50 Online Tools That Will Help You Boost Productivity and Earn
One of the great things about the web is the number of useful tools that can aid you in keeping track of all that you have to do and manage. More importantly, many of these tools can be used to save time, increase productivity, and earn more money.
10 Writing Mistakes that Will Guarantee Your Blog’s Failure
You have the ability to project them well on your blog, and you are quite confident in your writing ability. Yet, unknowingly, you could be building a sinking ship, punctured by these ten writing mistakes that will doom any blog to failure. You needn’t be disheartened, however, as any blogger can avoid them. It just takes awareness of their existence, and a keen focus on giving the reader what they want, at all costs.
Do you make any of these ten fatal writing mistakes on your blog?
The Benefits of Creating Talking Head Videos for Your Blog
View engaging conference lectures, interesting how to discussions, and high quality freelance advice via video here on FreelanceSwitch.
This week we look at The Benefits of Creating Talking Head Videos for Your Blog by Darren Rowse. In this video he discusses the benefits of creating simple videos on your blog. “Talking head” videos are easy to make, a great way to deliver information, while showcasing your personality.
Graham Hill: Less Stuff, More Happiness, Video
View engaging conference lectures, interesting how to discussions, and high quality freelance advice via video here on FreelanceSwitch.
This week we look at Less Stuff, More Happiness by Graham Hill. In this video he makes the case for taking up less space, and showcases compact living spaces, while demonstrating cost savings and lifestyle living alternatives.
Linkswitch #90, Experience Based Rates, Explosive Blog Growth and Talent vs. Grit
Every other week we roundup some of the highest quality articles and resources that benefit freelancers from across the web. We present these articles here on various helpful topics. This week we have articles on setting your freelance rates, the role of design in content creation, the power of persistence, and more.
Keys to Setting Your Rate Based on Experience
Instead of pricing yourself at a point that seasoned freelancers are getting, there’s nothing wrong with pricing yourself at a competitive wage that reflects your skill set. You can still make a good salary, plus you won’t be excluding the opportunity to build your skills and your portfolio.
The Role Of Design In The Kingdom Of Content
If content sits at the top of the food chain, why do we spend so much time talking about the finer points of design? Every day we debate, experiment with and discuss topics that easily fall into the category of aesthetics, enhanced functionality and layout; in fact, relatively rarely do we talk about content. Nevertheless, even though we should concede that content is king in this realm, this doesn’t mean that design should be devalued.
The Future of Self-Improvement, Part I: Grit Is More Important Than Talent
It’s not difficult to see how self-control would be predictive of success in certain spheres. It means trading short-term gratification for long-term goals, skipping the temptation to go to the movies and working on your novel instead. But that’s a relatively simple example — one that makes the decision to exercise, or not exercise, self-control easy to see.
How Speaking and Attending Conferences Can Boost Your Profile, Video
View engaging conference lectures, interesting how to discussions, and high quality freelance advice via video here on FreelanceSwitch.
This week we look at How Speaking and Attending Conferences Can Boost Your Profile w/ Jake Goldman by FreelanceJam.
In this video Jake Goldman, frequent speaker at WordCamps and founder of get10up.com, a WordPress development shop, joins Dave and Brian to talk about how speaking engagements can boost your profile as a freelance web professional. They cover meetups, conferences, attending, speaking, networking, and everything in between.
Product Review and $1200 Squarespace Giveaway
Editors Note: This contest has closed. Congratulations to the winners Holly, Mark Smith, and Brent. We’ll be contacting you shortly to distribute your prize. Big thanks to everyone who entered.
If you’ve ever needed to build a website on a quick deadline, then you know how difficult it is to make one from scratch. If you’re anything like me and don’t keep your web design skills sharp, or you don’t have a web design background at all, then you’ll be scrambling for help.
Fortunately, there are systems that take much of the workload off your hands. Every content management system (CMS) has a different feel. Some features work great for a particular audience, while those same features aren’t the right fit for other users.
If you’re a developer, then you might work with Ruby on Rails, WordPress, or custom roll your own CMS, but for those of us that are less code savvy Squarespace offers a solution that allows us to create a website without having to fiddle with CSS or databases. You can get your website launched in a hurry with Squarespace, with professional results, and a quality design. For those with web design chops, you can customize Squarespace quite a bit. Let’s take a closer look.
Jump down to the bottom of this post for the Squarespace giveaway. One of three winners will grab a full year of their Business class service for free (a $432 value for each winner).
