photo credit: DioMakr

It’s that time again to refresh my main website for SD Designs. Looking back on my last design, I really do not understand what kind of look I was going for. Simplistic? Too simple, too much text.

I don’t really think I was convincing my potential clients of my “creative” abilities. I’m looking for a more pleasing outcome this time around and hope I can put my good skills into the design and focus on my content as well.

Right now it is in it’s early stages, but go ahead and give it a look; Let me know what you think about it.

http://rivermarketart.com/sdtest_web2009/sd2009

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As a freelancer, managing your time and business is mandatory if you want to get some time for designing. All the softares and websites introduced in this article can save you some precious time and money.

Money tools & Invoicing

1. Hourly Rate Calculator

A great tool for the freelancer starting out. Enter some informations about your fees, expenses, working hours and expected incomes, you’ll get the hourly rates you should be billing.

2. Web Development Project estimator

Once you know what your hourly rate is, you can start using it to give estimate to people asking you for quotes.

3. Freshbooks

Send, track and collect payments quickly. Great for teams, freelancers and service providers.

4. CurdBee

A simple and straightforward invoicing solution that also integrates with PayPal and Google Checkout.

Backup & Security

5. DropBox

Awesome online backup tool, user friendly and quite cheap if you go for a paid plan. Syncing folders can be a bit tricky though.

6. Mozy

Mozy is another popular online backup tool, you can try Mozy for free!

7. ClamAV for PC or ClamXav for Mac

OpenSource antivirus for both PC and Mac, have a more secured computer is better right?

8. Tor

Surf anonymously, Tor helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy. Its use is made much easier for browsing with Tor Button (for Firefox).

9. Snort

Open source network intrusion prevention and detection system for Mac.

10. Pastor

Mac software for storing all your passwords, website logins, serial numbers, etc. encrypted and password-protected. With built-in password generator.

Productivity

11. Remember the Milk

Take your tasks anywhere with this feature-packed application. See tasks located nearby, add and complete tasks on the go, organize upcoming tasks, and sync it all seamlessly with Remember The Milk.

12. Highrise

The ultimate online contact manager. Highrise prepares you for your next call, next meeting, next pitch, next follow-up, and next sale.

13. Things

Task management Mac application with tons of great and innovative features.

14. EverNote

Note Taking made simple. Save everything you like or need, and access it on any device.

15. Quicksilver

Application launcher for Mac and much more, a real time-saver (for Windows users, see Launchy).

Project management

16. Fuze Meeting

Organize online visual meetings with anyone, anwhere and at anytime. Try it for free.

17. drop.io

Simple real-time sharing, collaboration, and presentation.

18. MindMeister

Online mind-mapping.

19. Basecamp

The leading web-based project collaboration tool. Share files, meet deadlines, assign tasks, centralize feedback,…

20. AgileTracker

An Air App that allows you to keep track of time spent on projects by client.

21. Ora Time & Expense

Ora allows you to track expenses, keep a list of your tasks, run a timer on your tasks and more.

Feedback Tools

22. Please Critique me

A website for designers to get their work reviewed and critiqued by other designers.

23. ConceptFeedback

Free Feedback for Marketers and Designers, a good way to test your concepts before going live.

24. 5 seconds test

A simple online usability test that helps you identify the most prominent elements of your user interfaces.

Marketing

25. AWeber

Creates Lasting Customer Relationships with email marketing, AWeber is one of the leaders of this industry and is used by many popular bloggers and internet marketers.

26. iContact

Easily create, send, and track email newsletters, surveys, and autoresponders.

27. Ping.fm

Ping.fm is a simple and free service that makes updating your social networks a snap!

28. Shozu

Kind of like Ping.fm for images. Upload your photos and videos to your chosen online communities from Facebook to YouTube, Twitter to Flickr and many more.

29. LinkedIn

A good way to stay in touch with your professionnal contacts or to build some new working relationships.

Website & Analytics

30. Google Website Optimizer

Website Optimizer is Google’s easy-to-use tool for testing site content that delivers actionable results. It’s a great tool to listen to your visitors and increase your conversions.

31. Compete

Analyze the competition by getting some of their statistics and keywords.

33. Google Analytics

The free do-it-all Analytics tools by Google, let’s you set goals and trace them.

Search engine optimization is about making your website worth caring about so people want to link to it. That’s why most of my time here is spent talking about making non-shitty websites.

Still, there are some quick things you can do to optimize your pages and create your own “link neighborhood” when you launch a fresh site. I want to share some of my super-secret essential tips and tricks (shh, don’t tell anyone).

1. Pick a domain name that matches your primary keyword.

2. Get other important keywords into the secondary page URLs using mod rewrite (or a platform that supports it, like Wordpress).

3. Make sure every page has a unique title and H1 tag that matches your primary keyword objectives for that page.

4. Make sure the homepage links to most, if not all, other pages (at least to start).

5. Make sure every page links back to the homepage and many other secondary pages using appropriate anchor text.

6. Register on every social media site that makes sense for you (using this list). Include a link to the site in your profile. You can see how I have done so at Twitter or LinkedIn. It helps if the username you choose is a primary keyword.

7. Link the social media profiles to each other where applicable. Fill them out as fully as possible.

8. Actually use the social networks. More activity will create more links to the profiles, in turn passing more “juice” to the website.

9. Want a link from Wikipedia but you’re not famous enough? You can write whatever you want on your own user page.

10. Claim your site using Google Webmaster Tools. Submit your sitemap (preferably one that is automatically updated when you add new content, like with this plugin for Wordpress).

11. Add a link to your email signature. No, it doesn’t count as a link. Yes, it can get other people to link.

12. Write guest posts for blogs matching your niche. Include your link in the byline.

13. Bookmark every page on Delicious. And if you want, Mister Wong too.

14. Do a Google Search for every one of your top keywords. Figure out how to get a link from any site showing in the top 20 results.

15. If it’s a blog, become a Chris Brogan Rockstar, Liz Strauss SOB, and Alltop Whatchamacallit. If possible, start your own badge instead.

16. Do not under any circumstance pay someone for a link. Do not offer or accept offers to trade links.

17. Avoid linking out to shady websites of any kind.

18. Study the keywords your competitors target (if they use meta-keywords you can just view source). Write landing pages ultra-optimized (is that the name of a Transformer?) for those keywords.

19. Write a blog, or find some other way to continually add new content. This adds to the content you have indexed, but is also another opportunity for links.

20. Forget everything I just said, because it’s worth one millionth the value of making something worth caring about that people want to link to. Instead, focus on pumping out great stuff and telling people about it. And approach search engine marketing with a real strategy. Oh, and link to old content.

21. BONUS: I don’t know, build a Twitter client or something.

Follow these tips and you’ll end up with a few hundred links to your site. It’s a start, but no replacement for the real work of being worth caring about.

Please add your favorite tips in the comments below.

If you work in a creative field, chances are you have a personal blog.  So what makes the difference between your blog and your grandmother’s? You actually have content that you need to share with the world. Similarities?…Unfortunately no one reads either blogs.  So what can you do to finally get traffic to your blog? Try some of the suggestions below:

1. Make it attractive.
Get a personal URL, learn a little code, and set up a nice professional site.  I prefer wordpress blogging platform over any other as do most designers.  Creating a neat, professional look is the first step in setting yourself apart from a good majority of the blogs out there. This shouldn’t be a hurried process. Sit down, even in multiple sessions, and crank out a site that you can be proud of and others will want to visit.

2. Provide Quality Content.
Okay, maybe no one but your girlfriend reads your blog right now, but the goal is to one day have an entire following.  Provide high-quality, well thought-out content on your blog.  Find ways to make your writing unique.  There are millions of articles about how to design a logo, but each logo design process you go through is unique.  Post an article describing how you went about concepting and creating a logo for a client.  The post should be complete with high quality images and links.

3. Publicize.
Once you have high quality, unique content for your audience to read, it’s time to call people to your site.  Advertising can be expensive and less rewarding than hoped.  There are many great ways to publicize your blog, but be careful that you don’t cross the dreaded lines of “annoying blogger” or “spammer”. Visit high-traffic blogs that deal with similar content to your own. Leave meaningful comments and contact the site administrator to get on the site’s blogroll or even write a guest article. Any free advertising for your blog is exactly what you are looking for. Be creative.

4. Rejoice and Reap benefits.
Getting a blog up and running is hard.  Generating interest and creating an audience is even harder. If you aren’t there yet, and feel like you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, don’t give up! If you are finally starting to see progress, rejoice! There is a lot of gratification to be found in being a part of the creative community.  If you feel it would be successful, you can even try advertising on your blog to help subsidize expenses or even generate revenue.

Whatever you do, remember that blogging is as much for your own personal experience as it is for others.  Write not only for your audience but for your own learning and growth as well.

What other steps have you taken to make your personal blog successful?

<This article reposted from http://graphicdesignblender.com/four-simple-steps-to-get-your-design-blog-off-the-ground#more-35>