There’s a lot more to onboarding new clients than meets the eye. Sure, there are the major necessary evils, like invoicing, support and contracts, but have you ever thought about all the time you spend organizing emails, files, requests, logins, tasks and notes? The more clients and team members you add, the more confusing the whole thing gets. Luckily there are so many tools and approaches you can take to make onboarding new clients a breeze, while keeping yourself sane and your clients happy. Here\’s how forms can help you out.

Drumming up web design business can be a challenge. It’s often irregular; meaning you may get a lot of work requests all at once and go long periods with few or no new clients. For this reason alone establishing multiple streams of income is a great idea. Especially passive income steams that earn even when you’re not actively working on them. Ensuring that even when new clients are scarce, you’re not worried about cash flow. In this article, we’ll talk a bit more about why it’s smart to use multiple streams of income as a web designer. We’ll also walk you through seven project ideas you can put into action to increase your earning potential.

Partner programs help you through revenue, resources, credentials, promotions, leads, and discounts. While the value of these benefits varies, depending on your business and the specific program, they’re all worth serious consideration. Adding multiple revenue streams to your business mitigates risk. More income sources makes you less dependent on any one source. That gives you more negotiation power in dealing with clients, and it can help alleviate the “feast and famine” cycle of chasing the next big client or project.

No matter how experienced we are at doing something, there’s always a chance that we’ll make a mistake. So, in this article, we’ve pulled together a checklist of tasks that web designers and developers should consider when launching a new site. By following this checklist — or, even better, by using these recommendations to create your own checklist — you’ll have a documented process to follow for every site that you launch.

Pitching a website redesign is a tricky process. It can be hard to show why a redesign is needed without sounding as if you’re putting down the site’s current look. Plus, sometimes your potential client is the original designer, and insulting their skills or vision could ruin your relationship. In this article, we’ll discuss some reasons why working on redesigns can be beneficial to your career. Then we’ll share four tips on how to approach website redesign pitches to help you land the job.

Fiverr is often associated with low-quality services and people working for peanuts. That’s partly true, but things have changed significantly since the site’s early years. Did you know that some basic SEO gigs currently start at $595? Other gigs start at $500, $400, or $300, so forget about the idea of getting everything for $5. Fiverr has allowed users to sell gigs above the $5 standard price since November 2015, and it created a large variety of services and prices. Are you interested in selling WordPress services on Fiverr? This post is the perfect start for you! Here are the pros and cons of this activity.

First you’re mildly annoyed. Then you’re frustrated. Then you’re worried. Then you panic. This is not playing out as you had envisioned. Did they not like you? Did they change their mind? Did they find a faster or cheaper solution? Possibly none of the above. Possibly all of the above. For whatever reason, when people don’t respond, you begin to have doubts about yourself, what you said, what you did. But don’t let those doubts or concerns take over. It’s time to follow up, determine what caused the lapse in communication, and get the conversation back on track. Here\’s how to do it right.

Sometimes, getting new clients is as simple as being a little creative. I know how it feels sometimes. You are stuck. You need clients to pay the rent next month. You think that if you don’t get anything soon, you are going to be turning out the lights in a couple of months. You are stressed out. It is at this point that you have a hard time focusing and thinking of anything to do to round up some paying clients. Relax. Breathe. Take a deep breath. You are going to get through this, I promise. You just need to take a step back and come up with a gameplan. Today we are going to look at four things you can do to find clients for your freelance WordPress business. Let’s get started, shall we?

Have you ever wondered how much a new lead is actually worth to your business? And, more specifically, whether you have a particular funnel or channel that brings in more valuable leads over others? It can be frustrating trying to glean these kinds of insights from a tool like Google Analytics (because you can’t), which is why Troy’s discussion with Keith Perhac is a must-listen.

On the surface, an existing site in need of maintenance is a gift. No development or build needed; just check the dials on schedule, be ready if anything goes awry, and bill the client. Well, of course, this is WordPress, and although we love it, it is never quite that easy. A site you didn’t build is an unknown entity, and most clients have very little knowledge of their site “under the hood,” as long it appears to be working. Go through the following intake checklist when accepting management of WordPress sites you didn’t build. These steps are designed to help you evaluate the site quickly, so you don’t spend too much time getting up and running.

In this article we discuss the eight changes you can make in your freelance business to stop being just another choice and become the only choice for your ideal clients (and start chargming more too!).

Getting started in the world of freelance web development is not an easy task. In addition to solid technical knowledge, you’re on the hook to constantly keep up with the latest tools and methods, as well as to persuade prospective clients that you have the necessary skills and abilities to deliver the results they demand. Fortunately, a part-time side hustle as a freelance web developer can provide an excellent opportunity to gradually get some experience before making a full-time commitment.

Chris Lema is no stranger to the WP Elevation crowd or the WordPress community at large. This is his second time joining Troy on the podcast; the first was to discuss the secrets to growing a business. He also recently stopped by WP Elevation Live to explain why storytelling is essential when it comes to marketing your business. If you missed the opportunity to see Chris in Santa Monica or you simply want more juicy tips on how to use storytelling to get the right clients, give this episode a listen.

Most people that receive a salaried paycheck are probably less interested in taxes than the average freelancer. If you’re self-employed, taxes can get really interesting because paying Uncle Sam is something that you must plan for, not something that happens automatically. If you don’t, you run the risk of being hit in the face at tax time with a big debt. Like I was. While I’m not an accountant, I’d like to share some of the things I’ve learned about the U.S. tax system and the real price of existing within the gig economy.

There’s a simple enough strategy for driving up the value of your WordPress business and keeping finances in the black. If followed, your business could be quite prosperous in just a short amount of time after launch. But what happens if you lose sight of the value of your WordPress business? It’s easy enough to do. And with the perceived and actual value of your services driving how much money your business makes, anything that throws it off kilter could effectively wipe away all that hard work you did to make it profitable in the first place.

In this post, I’m going to share everything I know about attracting and winning better WordPress website clients with decent budgets into your business. You need to read the whole post. If you\’re going to do this, commit to it and I promise you it can be done. This post is part mindset and part tactical. I don\’t believe the tactics are valuable without the right mindset, so if some of this feels a bit “Woo Woo”, try and sit with that feeling and do it anyway. What have you got to lose?

However, the exact same higher-touch lead generation and nurturing strategies enterprise companies use can be used by you, even if you’re solo. There’s a lot about effective audience building that we can learn from enterprise leaders who have lead generation and nurturing down to a science. Ready to start playing the long game? I’ve got 3 core truths to start with (that many of us learned the hard way).