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.

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One of the challenges of being a web designer is dealing with other people’s babies.

Sometimes a single client meeting, and a Google search is all it takes before you are tasked with creating a new design to wrap that baby in.

And most of us get pretty good at it. We take a look at their current design material, what the competition is doing and we’re off.

But coming up with written content is a whole other matter.

Content can be a thorn in a designer’s side. The main reasons poorly written client content makes its way into a project are a lack of: time, skill, backbone, expertise, and budget. Let’s take a closer look at these issues. Continue Reading

We love the community of readers we have at FreelanceSwitch and your opinion is incredibly valuable. This week, we’re giving you the chance to have your say about the site, and win a few fantastic prizes at the same time! Read on to find out how to get involved and stand a chance of winning an impressive prize package…

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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.

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View engaging conference lectures, interesting how to discussions, and high quality freelance advice via video here on FreelanceSwitch.

This week we look at Promote Your Freelance Service with A Buzz Piece by Lexi Rodrigo. In this video she shares with us the effectiveness of creating a free, soft pitch, promotional item to give away to clients. This could be in the form of a white paper, eBook, etc.

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Hey folks! I’m Jordan McNamara, the Community Manager for Envato and I wanted to share some exciting news with you about the Envato Marketplaces.

The 12th of September was an exciting day for me as a member of our thriving Marketplace community. I along with everyone here at Envato HQ watched eagerly as the global Marketplace member count steadily grew higher and higher and higher…

We were close, very close to the 1,000,000 member milestone. With every page refresh the count grew higher and I began to reflect on just how staggering having 1,000,000 members really is and on just what a fantastic community everyone has helped to build here.

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A freelance blogger is a jack-of-all-trades. This person has writing, design and coding skills, all used to create inspiring content. Besides, blogging requires a lot of responsibility, perseverance and diligence dealing with web media on a daily basis.

There are plenty of tools that facilitate blogging and allow freelancers to demonstrate outstanding results in all spheres: design, writing and web performance. Here is a round-up of top apps that will help freelance bloggers be more efficient, as well as create with greater effectiveness. These tools will improve how you work with the blogs you own and your clients as well.

Thinglink

Thinglink

Thinglink is a web app that makes images interactive and helps engage blog readers. As you slide your mouse over an image, Thinglink shows pop-up messages with additional information – image source, wiki, videos or related web pages. Thus, a blogger supplies images with useful hints and also boosts audience interest in blog images.

Besides, your readers can share or embed favorite images with your custom pop-ups. Thinglink works with the main blog platforms like WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger, etc. All you need to do is install a plug-in or deploy a little code before the body tag and start tagging your photos. Continue Reading

Freelancers new to flying solo can be overwhelmed by the mass of marketing opportunities on the web. And while social media is a great way to promote your business, it can be enormously time consuming.

Like any marketing activity, it takes time to build up your brand, but there is no need for promotional work to distract you from your core business. With careful planning, some quality writing and a time limit on your efforts, you can soon have a strong reputation across a large network of potential clients and promoters.

Setting up an online brand can be done quickly by following these simple steps. Continue Reading

Most freelancers need to create a website at some point in their career. A website is an important aspect of any business and is something that many freelancers spend quite a lot of time working on. Unfortunately, not all of us are expert web designers. Some of us may know code really well; others may not. Today, our friends from BaseKit have come to the rescue and are giving away a free 1-Year Business Plan ($240 value) to 3 lucky readers of this website.

BaseKit is a website builder. It allows you to create professional websites from within your browser in just a few clicks. You don’t need any technical skills and there are loads of templates and widgets to get you started. Simply choose how you want your site to look, add your content and publish.

Update: Congratulations to Abraham Diez, Julia Voncannon, and Seth Hall! You have all won a free business account from BaseKit! Thanks everyone for your participation!

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Of all the many marketplaces we run here at Envato, the one I use the most myself is GraphicRiver. So I was very excited to get to pick out $500 of files from GraphicRiver and PhotoDune to include in a Graphic Designer Bundle which is now on sale for just $20!

The reason I love GraphicRiver is that while I can usually create (or recreate) most things myself, it saves me a lot of time and effort. And there are some really cool ideas, images and effects that can be combined to awesome effect. I don’t know what other designers think of the site, but for me personally, I love it! And I picked out a whole bunch of my favourite items for this bundle, not all of them though – so there’s still lots of reasons to go shopping! Continue Reading

Each month, we bring together a selection of the best tutorials and articles from across the whole Tuts+ network. Whether you’d like to read the top posts from your favorite site, or would like to start learning something completely new, this is the best place to start!

Psdtuts+ — Photoshop Tutorials

Create Animal Textured Typography

In this tutorial we are going to create fun, realistic, animal textured, 3D typography in Photoshop using CS5′s Repousse tool. Let’s get started!

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Create a Detailed User Interface for an iPad Application

In this tutorial we will show you how to design a detailed user interface for an audio-themed iPad application. We will design this application using a retina display resolution and will make use of Photoshop’s shape layers and layer styles. Let’s get started!

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Rockable Press is very proud to announce the launch of our newest book, LinkedIn and Lovin’ It!

Why a LinkedIn book? LinkedIn veteran and FreelanceSwitch writer Susan Johnston was encouraged to write a guide on LinkedIn after noticing something: “Although LinkedIn is a fantastic platform for freelancers and other creative professionals, I noticed that much of the information on LinkedIn is geared towards job-seekers. So, I decided to create my own guide specifically tailored to people who consult, freelance, or own a business.” In LinkedIn and Lovin’ It, Susan Johnston teaches you how to build a rock solid LinkedIn network that can be a constant source for recommendations and referrals. Advice includes:

• Setting up every aspect of your profile to bank on maximum response.
• Build your network to reach your next top client, employer, or partner.
• Build your profile to get your work in the spotlight.
• Do research on the competition & companies, find jobs, gather data.

Interested? Head over to the Rockable Press page to download a free 14 page sample! LinkedIn and Lovin’ It is available in three DRM-free ebook formats (epub, mobi, and pdf) for only $17. Join Rockable Press’s LinkedIn Group to get an additional voucher for $3 off!

We’ve had a few posts recently discussing the usefulness of networking sites like LinkedIn for freelancers: 5 Reasons to Use LinkedIn, Are You Getting Clients on LinkedIn? And over on Rockable Press’s own LinkedIn Group, we’ve had a fantastic discussion full of tips for freelancers looking to network. Read on for some of the tips from our readers!

Since I’m a FreelanceSwitch writer, I have to keep coming up with ideas for articles. Since LinkedIn is one of those places where you have to write in order to communicate, it’s a great generator of raw material. Say someone asks a question, I answer it, and I happen to think that my answer is pretty clever. (It’s one of those writer things. We all think that what we say is pretty clever.)

So, I take said clever answer, do the copy and paste thing, and there it is, the germ of another FreelanceSwitch article. Call it the LinkedIn Forced Writing Plan. (Martha Retallick)

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