Matt Rix – Game Developer + UI/UX Expert

Matt Rix is a talented game developer behind Trainyard, Scorekeeper, and Disco Zoo. Now he’s making FutureGrind (He’s one half of Milkbag Games). Matt pays attention to how games, apps, and projects behave with polished user experience and user interfaces.

Website: http://magicule.com/ or  http://www.milkbaggames.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MattRix @MattRix

Here are a few points that we could talk about:

• What are some of your techniques to help with user acceptance
• What do you hate seeing in UI/UX
• UI = How it works
• UX = How it looks
• UI/UX is very closely related. Its hard to change how something works without changing how it looks.
• Having a good UX is more important because you’re losing users
• What do you consider “bad” UI/UX
  • Popups on mobile sites with tiny close buttons
• ‘Dark Design’ – User experience used for malicious use
• What do you consider “good” UI/UX
  • Should be one key thing that a user should find
  • Group functionality with similar designs
• Learn what people want to use your site for and focus on that functionality
• You don’t want to assume how people are using your site
  • Google Analytics
  • User Testing
• ‘Intro movies’
• Developers will sometimes have to make design decisions
• How important is it to have a good UI/UX person
• Car websites almost all look the same
  • Non-mobile friendly site
  • Flashy intros
  • Focusing on the wrong parts
• Gesture are sometimes nice to have
  • Don’t force them
• Companies focus on external UI/UX more than internal
• Flat Design comes and goes
  • Useful in some situations
• Affordance
  • Sometime that looks like how it should be used
  • Push door without handles
  • Coffee mug handle
• Pokeyoke – ‘Idiot proof’
• ‘Screaming Face’ game icon
  • Common app using a design to gain quick users
  • Possible Clickbait/Garbage App
• Children are easily susceptible to ‘Dark Design’
• Inspiration can sometimes come from other products
• Sometimes short-term ticky/clickbait works on us
• Old-school gifs

Quick Picks

Marion

• Spotify Family level – $15/month
  • Premium Spotify for multiple people
  • One payment for 5 people at the same address
• Refactoring UI
  • Website for practical examples of how to build and design a UI/UX
  • Learn how to design awesome UI’s by yourself using specific tactics explained from a developer’s point-of-view.

Matt

• http://www.massdrop.com
  • Community driven commerce
  • Crowd voted products and group buying
  • Awesome for parts for your computer
• Philipp Stollenmayer
  • Minimalist puzzle games
  • Zip-Zap
  • Supertype

The post FHS 28 The Importance of UI/UX ft Matt Rix appeared first on The Freelancer Head Start.

Pete Rorabaugh – Writer and Editor

Hi! I’m Pete Rorabaugh, a husband, father, teacher, writer, and lover of hammocks and ultimate frisbee. I live in Atlanta, GA, and soak up as much of the film and music scene there as I can. I’m fascinated by the fiction of Cormac McCarthy, the films of the Coen Brothers, and the life Malcolm X.

I am an Assistant Professor in the English Department at Kennesaw State University. I earned an M.A. in English Education and a Ph.D. in American Literature and Rhetoric, both from Georgia State University in Atlanta. My research interests include contemporary American fiction, religious rhetoric, networked culture, and the intersection of digital and critical pedagogy.

Website: http://peterorabaugh.org/about/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/allistelling @AllIsTelling

Pete and I chatted about pop tech and pop culture and the digital age/culture. How technologies, companies, and culture intersect in today’s world.

A few points we talked about include:

• What subtle ways tech has moved into pop culture
  • Entertainment such as Black Mirror is almost “one more step before its real…”
  • Don Glovers show ‘Atlanta’
• Snowballs Effect of giving up our own personal data for convenience
  • See “The Circle” movie
• Terms of Service; Didn’t Read
  • Find out who is actually protecting your data versus getting you just agree on anything
  • https://tosdr.org/
• Has it always been there? (Are we now noticing Tech is merging into Pop culture or has it been there since the 70’s/80’s/90’s)
• Always-connected/sharing culture
• Good and bad
• Targeted marketing exists and knows more about you than you think
  • Woman living with father had Target accidentally reveal pregnancy with advert targeted to new mom
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation
• Aubrey Watters
  • www.hackeducation.com
  • Technology and education blog
• Civic Hack Night – Code for Atlanta
  • https://www.meetup.com/codeforatlanta/
• Data mining
• DuckDuckGo – Privacy search and browsing experience
  • https://duckduckgo.com/
• OwnCloud – Private cloud storage
  • https://owncloud.org/
• Be aware of your media sharing

Quick Tips

Marion

• Korean Short Ribs
  • OMG Amazing: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/10/grilling-galbi-recipe.html
  • Marinate the ribs for about 8 hours. They cook really quickly.
  • Costco or Sams Club has the best prices for beef short ribs in bulk. Check your local butcher
• Japanese Hardcore Metal
  • Lady Baby – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8-vje-bq9c
  • Babymetal – http://babymetal.com/
  • Dead Lift Lolita – https://www.dl-lolita.com/mv

Pete

• Japandroids – 2 piece rock band
  • http://japandroids.com/
• David Byrne of the Talking Heads
• Hip-hop
  • Run the Jules, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole
• Spotify Playlist – Underground Kings Playlist
  • https://open.spotify.com/user/madchildbaxwar/playlist/0MdJZWbfOCaM4csxERAzg0?si=wxULHz7-QWWrri5pvxIyhg
• Multiple music depending on mood

The post FHS 26 Pop Tech ft Pete Rorabaugh appeared first on The Freelancer Head Start.

Alex Okafor

One Man Left Studios is an American game design duo working remotely between Alabama and Georgia. Alex Okafor is the developer, Adam Stewart handles artwork and animation, & we collaborate on game design decisions. We’re responsible for some games you might have played.

Email: contact@onemanleft.com

Twitter:

• @OneManLeft
• @AlexOkafor

Website: http://onemanleft.com/

Highlights Include

• What IS an app
• Brief history of Apps
• Finding skilled contractors and what skills may be required
• Google Play, Apple Store, Windows Store
• Build vs Buy and when you should consider
• Difficulties with building on Android, iPhone, or Windows
• How to make money from your app
  • Paid vs Free-to-play vs In-app Purchases
• What makes your app stand out
• Form vs Function
• UI Design is INSANELY important
• Start with requirements rather than cost

Quick Picks

• Last Pass – https://www.lastpass.com/
  • Manage all your passwords and never have to remember
• 1 Password – https://1password.com/
  • Similar to Last Pass
• Pixel 2
  • Camera is amazing
  • AR with Star Wars and Stranger Things

The post FHS 10: “Can you build me an app…?” ft Alex Okafor appeared first on The Freelancer Head Start.

Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love the lights, the sounds, the smells, and finding that perfect gift! Let me give you a few suggestions in a couple of different price brackets with this 2017 Holiday Gift Guide. These gifts are sure to please that freelancer or entrepreneur no matter what they specialize in.

Gifts for under $10

Foot Hammock – $7.89
This foot hammock is easy to use and carry. Great for under the desk or when you travel by plane or train. You can quickly set up and grab some comfy Zzz’s with this foot hammock.

Click Here to Purchase on Amazon

To Do Notepad – $8.99
This notepad is going to help keep you organized and on track with what you need to do. A perfect mix of action tracking and completion.

Click Here to Purchase on Amazon

Wooden Puzzle – $7.99
Keep your mind sharp with this fun little puzzle. Its small enough that you can keep it on a desk or in a travel bag.

Click Here to Purchase on Amazon

Gifts for under $50

Anker High Capacity Portable Charger – $41.99
Its so frustrating to be in a situation where you need to charge your phone and you don’t have access to a charger or a plug. With the Anker high capacity portable charger, you’re able to take care of multiple devices at once and hold a ridiculous charge at the same time. You can charge your phone 7 times over with this bad boy. WHAT?!

Click Here to Purchase on Amazon

Amazon Echo Dot – $29.99 Sale (Regular $49)
The Echo Dot is a great companion to your office or home. It allows you to vocally ask an assistant a mullion questions. You can also perform thousands of tasks with just your voice! Light control, calendar organization, make phone calls, play music, set reminders, dictate notes, and even play games. The Amazon Echo (the large unit) has a larger speaker for bigger rooms, but the Dot has the exact same functionality…minus that large speaker.

Click Here to Purchase on Amazon

Sony Extra Bass Smartphone Headset Over the Ear Headphones – $34.99
These Sony Headphones are perfect for working on something that needs your attention. You can grab these bad boys and help down out some distractions. It does have an inline mic and volume control to help you manage phone calls as well.

Click Here to Purchase on Amazon

Gifts for under $150

Blue Yeti USB Microphone – $80 Sale ($150 regular)

The Blue Yeti microphone is a great microphone for people who do alot of conference calls or recordings. This microphone can pick up some pretty specific noises with its various profile selectors. You can choose to set it up for single voice recording, omnidirectional recording, or entire room/location recording with the turn of a selector. Pair this up with a shock stand or a microphone arm and you’re set!

Click Here to Purchase on Amazon

Amazon Fire HD Tablet – $120 Sale ($149.99 regular)

The Amazon Fire HD 10” tablet has an impressive HD quality display with 10 hours of battery life. You’re able to surf the net, check your email, take notes, and relax with some Netflix. This tablet is light enough that you can take it on the go to meetings on the road or keep it in your office to do quick and light work.

Click Here to Purchase on Amazon

Year Subscription to Audible – $165 (I know I cheated a little here…)

Audible is an subscription based audiobook marketplace with THOUSANDS of books. One of my favorite books to start with is “Book Yourself Solid” by Micheal Port. This book will seriously transform how you think about finding and acquiring clients. Each month you get a credit for a single book, regardless of the purchase price. It’s hard to listen to that many audio books…..

Click Here to Purchase on Amazon

Gifts for under $500

Asus Chromebook Flip – $497.50
A Chromebook is an awesome alternative to a traditional laptop. This Asus Chromebook Flip is a perfect mix between a tablet and a laptop. You can change the physical aspects to display a presentation, use as a tablet, or use as a laptop.

Chromebooks are lightning fast, light, and super agile and this Asus is no exception. Most freelancers and entrepreneurs can take advantage of some new hardware so pick this Chromebook up for the holidays.

Click Here to Purchase on Amazon

Samgsung 500GB Portable Harddrive – $169.97
Make sure your data is secure and always with you with this massive hard drive. You will have that peace of mind with this Samsung portable hard drive with 500GB of space. With impressively fast transfer speeds and an option to secure your information with a lock-tight password, this portable hard drive is a must have.

Click Here to Purchase on Amazon

Google Wifi Mesh Network – $269.99
Wifi coverage can be a pain in the butt when you’re trying to work. Its annoying and unproductive if you have coverage in only ONE spot in your workspace. Spread out the wifi and blanket your home or office with some awesome speeds. You’ll be able to extend the range of your existing Wifi and increase coverage dramatically.

Click Here to Purchase on Amazon

Gifts for under $1,000

Google Pixel 2 XL – $899.99

The Pixel 2 is the newest phone from Google with an impressive camera. The low light, portrait, and new Augmented Reality features are ridiculously good. You’re going to have problems finding a phone that has comparable photo abilities. If your purchase the new Pixel 2, you have unlimited Google Photos storage until 2020.

Additional features that you’re going to take advantage of with this phone is the Google assistant with a quick squeeze of the phone. Thats right…squeeze. You can also use the new Google Lense to learn more about landmarks or look up books, movies, albums and artwork. Its pretty accurate and will bring more info that you thought.

I cannot recommend this phone enough. Stop reading and grab this powerhouse.

Click Here to Purchase on Amazon

Samsung 34-Inch Curved Monitor – $749.99
Having a workstation that can help you multi-task or have multiple programs displayed gives you hyper productivity. Most people have multiple monitors already, but not that many have a single CURVED monitor. This Samsung curved monitor workhorse bring you a fantastic HD experience and crisp resolution. You’re also getting the desktop space of almost 3 monitors side-by-side! I love this monitor because the footprint that it takes on the desk is limited and it gives you the impressive desktop space.

Click Here to Purchase on Amazon

iRobot Roomba 980 Robot Vacuum with Wi-Fi Connectivity – $897.99

I have yet to meet someone who enjoys cleaning their place up. The iRobot Roombas have been around for a good while and have been synonymous for their awesome Roomba robots. The new Roomba 980 have Wifi connectivity that allows you you clean, schedule, & customize cleaning preferences from your smartphone; compatible with Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant. You can control the Roomba with your voice!

The iRobot Roomba can clean your office with their iAdapt 2.0 Navigation with Visual Localization Runs for up to 120 minutes. It will then recharges and resumes cleaning to complete the entire job on the fly. No need to babysit this guy.

Click Here to Purchase on Amazon

The post FHS Bonus: Ultimate Freelancer 2017 Holiday Gift Guide appeared first on The Freelancer Head Start.

Marketing Your Services with 6 Effective Strategies

I recently read an amazing book that helped me reach a 40% increase in my revenue. Get Clients Now (by C.J. Hayden) has helped me identify a rhythm of marketing and promoting my services. This basic guided outline takes you through the different types of effective marketing strategies.

From MOST Effective to LEAST Effective Marketing Strategies:

1. Direct Contact & Follow Up
2. Networking & Referral Building
3. Public Speaking
4. Writing & Publicity
5. Promotional Events
6. Advertising

Direct Contact & Follow Up

This involves making a person-to-person connection with a prospective client through email, phone call, in person, fax, text message, etc. This tactic can include cold calling, warm calling, and lunch/coffee with potential clients. I touch on a few steps that I’ve done personally to land some of my first clients as well as some of my most lucrative clients.

Have a strategy created of when and how frequent you will followup with potential clients. Keep them thinking about you and they’ll remember you when their project is ready to move forward.

Create a mailing list of your customers/clients and keep them updated with a monthly newsletter. This will help top-off their memory of your services and will greatly increase the opportunity to work with them. By having that mailing list option on your website, you are inviting people to raise their hand and directly tell you that they are willing to listen to what you have to say and potentially buy. Win-Win for you!

• Mailchimp.com – Free for first 2,000 subscribers
  • Mailchimp is my go-to email marketing tool. They have some slick automation, triggers, and feedback loops to let you know what’s working and what isn’t. You can use the free version for a long time before you need to bump up to their $10/month version. Create your newsletter with ease with Mailchimp.

Networking & Referral Building

Meeting people face to face at networking events is just a drop in the bucket for this strategy. Building a list of contacts that you can tap into for referrals, clients, resources, ideas, or information should be the goal of networking.

My strategy for networking events is to just go and meet people. I rarely use a sales pitch or push a product. 99% of the time, what I can do for clients comes up organically in a conversation. When was the last time you enjoyed talking to someone who was just trying to sell you something……..?

• Meetup.com – Free
  • Meetup is going to be your go-to to find events to attend. Meetup lets you find link-minded people or categories that matches your audience. You can search based on a product, idea, or other categories. If you can’t find groups that meet your criteria, why not create your own group of common interests and goals?

• Eventbrite.com – Free
  • Eventbrite is where you can find events and conferences all over the US. They can even be online. You can search based on categories or for a specific event. Eventbrite is perfect for grabbing those tickets to the conference or event you want to start networking.

Public Speaking

Positioning yourself as a expert to your potential clients can start from public speaking. Public speaking will help you become more memorable and noticeable than if you were in the crowd. Find already established groups and participate on any level. Whether it be a M.C., sitting on a panel, making a presentation, or just facilitating classes, you will be viewed as the expert more often than not.

Community colleges, local meetup groups, or small events are perfect to start your speaking engagements.

Writing & Publicity

Writing about your expertise can also be a powerful marketing strategy by gaining visibility and credibility among your peers and potential clients. Start small through social media, blogs, or your own website. Reach out to other blogs as guest writers can quickly lead you to more and more opportunities to show that you’re an expert.

My choice of marketing, at the moment, is writing. I have a blog, newsletter, and other publications that I contribute to. I also frequent forums and chat rooms to help position myself as a SharePoint and WordPress expert.

• Buffer.com
  • Buffer is a must-have in my wheelhouse of marketing tools. Buffer allows me to schedule and manage social media posts across my profiles. You get 4 social media accounts for free (LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, and Facebook). Pintrest and Instagram are paid features that require a monthly subscription. You can pre-schedule my social media posts to go out at specific intervals during the day. This allows me to easily create a posting schedule where I don’t have to physically sit in front of a computer.
• Medium.com
  • Medium is a popular blog/website that hosts thousands of articles for millions of visitors. The content is usually very polished and informative. The potential of you reaching thousands of people is pretty great and they allow almost everyone to contribute to the site. Create an account and stalk a few popular posts to learn the ‘rhythm’ of Medium to get a sense of reaching a bigger audience.

Promotional Events

Creating an event such as a trade show, fundraiser, or a conference can put you in direct contact with potential clients and bring the audience to YOU. This also holds true with participating in an existing event by owning/renting a booth. Cost is very real on both end at with this strategy: participating in an event or creating an event can be a very expensive cost per head experience.

Advertising

There are generally two different types of advertising: organic and paid.

Organic advertising is essentially word of mouth and low/no-cost advertising. Advertising by talking about and promoting your goods and products on social media or withing your mailing list is an example of organic advertising. This is the lowest cost engagement and can have some of the highest returns. Referrals are very powerful and builds trust.

Paid advertising can help fill your pipeline with paying customers, but they don’t necessarily build trust in your product. Treat advertising as a way to increase your visibility and awareness to potential customers. The trust and eventual sale will come with them interacting with you directly.

• Google AdWords
  • Google is one of the largest advertising companies around. They have reaches into almost any online platform from videos with YouTube, phones, other website, or other online sources. Based on your audience, keywords, and ad type, your cost will fluctuate. I would estimate $200 would help reach almost 5,000 people with a basic ad. Google goes above and beyond to help you target your audience and stretch your $$$.

What works and what doesn’t work?

One strategy that I personally use is to pick 3 marketing strategies that I am comfortable doing and be consistent with them.

• Direct Contact & Follow Up
  • Every business card I take, I take because it serves a purpose. I don’t collect cards just because.
  • I followup within a week of meeting or talking to someone by email that funnel the conversation back to my portfolio if its appropriate
• Networking & Referral Building
  • I am part of the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce
  • I participate in 2 other business to business networking group
  • I am active in various online communities
• Writing & Publicity
  • I have my blog, a newsletter, and various other publications I participate in.
  • All of my publications funnel back to my portfolio site, increases Search Engine (Google, Bing, and Yahoo) ranking, puts a fingerprint on the web

Keeping those sales pipeline filled is the goal of marketing. Pick three marketing strategies that work for you and stick with it for about a month or two. But you’ve got to put in the work to see the results. If you’re not getting the goals that you’ve set for yourself either adjust the goals or adjust your strategies. No one said you couldn’t choose a different strategy.

I was able to gain 40% more clients revenue through various marketing strategies that worked for me. Marketing your services may be different than mine but you will notice an increase in engagement. Your potential customers won’t know what you have to offer if you don’t position yourself in their cross hairs. Marketing your services with various strategies greatly increase ROI and turn around.

The post FHS 7: Marketing Strategies appeared first on The Freelancer Head Start.

Your business is now registered with the state and you have a Business bank account set up. Now we’re going to get your website online. Getting online is a relatively simple process if you’re already identified the goal of what you’re going to be doing online.

Total cost on the low end of getting online can run you around $160 per year. The high end is almost infiniti and can be as deep as your pockets will let you go. Depending on what type of business you’re wanting to bring online, actually acquiring a website is affordable.

Domain Registration

Domain registration is when you get an actual website name. It’s what your customers are going to type into the web browser. You can also us a custom domain name to be used as part of your email address. Let’s say you want to use a custom email address such as marion@mowenworks.com, you can use the domain registration for mowenworks.com to route the email to your specific address.

Think of Domain Hosting as the directions for data on where to go. Similar to a physical mailing address, a domain address lets you browser know where to go. The same thinking will happen when you are looking to build a custom app, email address, or online software. A domain would be one piece you’d need. For the most part, you’re looking at around $10/year for domain registration. Go ahead and grab 2-3 years of registration from the start.

WhoIs.com – $9/year

WhoIs is a standard in the domain name registration space. They have very affordable website names and will help you research different website names before you purchase. If you run across a website that already exists, they sometimes off the option to purchase/bid on that name

NameCheap.com – $9/year

Namecheap is another alternative location where you can register your domain name. Similar to WhoIs, they will allow you to purchase/bid on website names that already exist.  

Domain Hosting

Domain Hosting is purchasing server space to physically hold your website. This is where you files, images, text, etc will be stored and served to your visitors. This is where the your Domain Registration will point to.

There are three types of website hosting

• Shared hosting
• Private Hosting (VPS)
• Custom Hosting

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is the common type of hosting and the cheapest. You are sharing server space with other organizations, business, people. Shared Hosting is perfect for basic websites that just need  to “get online”. Shared hosting limits what you can do for a website as you can potentially run the risk of affecting the other websites that are sitting on the server. 

The other downside for shared hosting is that performance is usually not very good. Its ok, but not the best. Don’t forget, you are sharing a server with many other people, therefore you are sharing resources.

The good thing about Shared Hosting is that the cost to create a website is relatively cheap because the cost is spread across your neighbors.

Private Hosting

Private hosting gives you control of the actual server. You’re able to create custom code that does “something” for your website. This is a step up from Shared Hosting in cost as well as features. You’re able to control what goes on with the server to your liking.

The downside to Private Hosting is the initial cost. You’re going to be spending more money on a private server because the total cost is not spread to neighbors.

The pro about Private Hosting is the ability of total control. You can create anything you want whether its a private email server, chat-bot, payment processing server, or a Twitter clone.

Custom Hosting

Custom Hosting can be a hybrid between Private and Shared hosting. Custom hosting allows you to pick and choose which modules you may want to accompany your website. If you have a custom eCommerce online store and you need a large inventory database app, custom hosting would be the way to go.

You’re able to host your website and create a database to manage your inventory, sales, customers, and more!

The downside to Custom Hosting is that you have to have a roadmap of what you’re going to be doing. There are a lot of choices (in a good way) that lets you pick and choose what you need for your project. You can get lost in the choices because you don’t know if you need a no-SQL database or another module to accompany your website. The cost of Custom Hosting is also very variable and can change from $50/month to $500/month with the simple addition of a new module.

The plus about Custom Hosting is that you have so-many-choices when it comes to your online platform! You can mix and match and use any module that suites your needs. Need to have an email processing piece that reminds your customers of upcoming sales? Your Custom Hosting can do that for you!

For the Custom Hosting route, you will more than likely use this route if you need a highly custom online solution that requires you to bring in a developer (like myself: marion@moweworks.com).

Overall Hosting Estimates

BlueHosting.com – about $4/month for basic

Bluehosting has very competitive pricing for Shared or Private hosting. The up-time and performance of your website will be noticeably better using this hosting provider versus the competition. They are have an awesome price and package of $4 per month to help get you started! That’s hard to beat.

If and when you do decide to upgrade your website to a more robust level, it’s pretty dang easy and cheap to do so. Blue Hosting virtual servers and private servers allow you to build solutions that wont bog down.

WhoIs.com

I mainly use WhoIs for domain registration and domain research. They do have a solid domain hosting plans that includes virtual and shared hosting. I love their domain hosting and registration management panel in case you have more than one website you run/manage.

HostGator.com

Host Gator is a popular choice for web hosting with shared hosting. They are possibly one of the largest providers for shared hosting. Host Gators customer support is pretty

Hybrid Hosting (cloud computing)? : Send over an email (questions@freelancerheadstart.com) and lets chat about what you’re looking to do. Hybrid hosting is a long drawn out conversation and can get pretty complicated. Lets chat about what you need.

Types of Websites

eCommerce: An eCommerce website sells or buys goods with an online marketplace. This is a common website type that a lot of business try to have. The cost for an eCommerce website is relatively low but can become expensive depending on what the website is attempting to sell/buy.

The size and type of inventory that you’re selling/purchasing can change the overall price of an eCommerce site. If you are selling digital goods, you’ll need a little bit larger server space. If its physical goods, you’ll need a way to track and manage shipping.

The main thing that you will need for an eCommerce website is whats called an SSL security certificate. This will protect your visitors credit card and purchase information. It will also protect your data from being compromised. If you’ve ever been on a website that has that little green security lock next to the website address, that’s a clue that the website has an SSL security certificate to help protect your data/information.

These types of websites usually start at around $220-300/year to get started.

Online brochure: An online brochure is the basic type of website. It presents information to your visitors and has little to no interactions. You usually don’t buy or sell anything on these types of websites directly. You may link to something external to purchase, but your website is mostly used to present information.

An online brochure usually has content that doesn’t change that frequently.

These types of websites usually start at $160-200/year to get started.

Online community: An online community is one of the more complex websites you can have. You are essentially creating a tool that visitors can interact, consume, and maybe purchase information from. The online community will need a way to manage and accept user accounts.

You will need to also create content to initiate user interest and keep people coming back. From there, your community will slowly start to grow organically. Integrating with other social networks such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc can help get you additional traffic as well as usage.

As your community grows, you will find features and options that will work for your online tribe.

These types of websites usually start at around $250/year.

Custom vs Pre-Made

There are a lot of reasons that having a serious custom versus off-the-shelf solutions should be have. What is your end goal? What is your budget? What is your time frame? Who is your audience? Regardless of if you choose a custom development route versus a pre-made route, start with Mobile First in mind.

Mobile First development is a method of creating a website with a mobile device in mind first. What will it look like and what it will behave like on a mobile phone is important in this day and age. There are a lot of tools out there that will help mock-up from a mobile perspective. You will usually find that most solutions will have a built in mobile version as well. Just make sure that what you are trying to do fits within a mobile framework. You may be leaving 30% of your traffic on the table.

I’m not gonna lie, custom development is expensive in two fold: time and money. You will get a highly custom solution for what you need with custom development, but it will take time to create. Custom development should be looked at if you have not found a solution that can be purchased outright. Before you commit to a custom solution you need to speak to experts and get feedback on what you are attempting to do. This includes quotes, timeline, and support after the solution was created.

Off the shelf solutions can save you a lot of time and money. But you also have to look at the long term – will that off the shelf be used for just right now or can you continue using it in the future? What is the amount it is saving you? There will be a point where a custom solution will become a much more viable and cost effective solution than a pre-paid solution.

Website Platforms

There are thousands of website platforms out there. A website platform is the framework on what your website is going to be built upon. There are tons of options, but here are the popular ones that I would suggest taking a look at.

• • WordPress – free or $60/year
    • WordPress is a popular solution for either custom built or pre-made. You have an almost unlimited amount of options that you can use within the WordPress environment. There are a lot of modules that you can turn on or off with a WordPress website that a lot of DIYers can take care of. If you feel that you’re out of your depth, grab a professional to knock your site out in no time.
  • Squarespace – $120/year
    • Squarespace is very user friendly and easy to use platform for people who don’t want to worry about their website. It is perfect for those people who just need to get something up and out there. The downside is that customization is limited to what you can do and is very difficult and expensive to go beyond the boundaries of Squarespace.com
  • Wix – $120/year
    • Wix is a similar to Squarespace in that it allows you to quickly throw up a website. You can expand a decent amount but are again limited by what Wix will let you do.
  • SharePoint – Starting at $5/month + Office 365
    • SharePoint is a unique solution where it is primarily used an an Intranet for your organization. An Intranet is a website that is private to a company or organization. The Intranet can help you automate a lot of tasks that your business does, such as employee onboarding, payroll and expense reports, inventory management, and much much more. SharePoint can do it for you with a few toggles of its settings and you can expand to do a lot more beyond that.

Social Media

We’ve entered and age where Social Media marketing and communication is becoming important. Gathering a following on social media helps give your banding and marketing social proof that you’re trustworthy or something people should purchase.

Grab yourself all the social media accounts you can for your brand or company. You never know when you’ll want to use them. You also dont want them to be taken by time you’re ready to start using them. So go ahead and grab your Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ accounts!

Analytics

Analytics about your website will help you make decisions on a lot of things. You can determine where people are accessing your website. You can then cater your marketing to speak to that audience. The reverse is also possible. You can validate that the marketing campaign that you are on is grabbing traction in the direction you’re wanting to go.

Google Analytics: With Google Analytics, you can keep tabs on where people are coming from (how did they get to your site), where they land when they do arrive, and where do they go after they arrive. This is important as you need to know how customers and consumers are using your site. You may have one idea in your head on how people will be browsing your site, but reality may show something different.

When you move into using Facebook, Twitter, or Google ads, you will use an analytics tool to see if your money is getting you a return. Google Analytics ties into your ad campaigns and helps you keep track of the visitors that come to your website.

The post FHS 6: Getting Online appeared first on The Freelancer Head Start.

Tax ID for Your Business

The first thing you’re gonna want to do after you have finally registered with your state is to then hop over to the IRS and grab yourself a unique Tax ID, your Employer Identification Number (EIN). Why do you need an EIN? Well, because you’re going to reach a point where your business is making some decent money and you don’t want the government to come in and seize it all. Al Capone didn’t go down for drug charges…..I’ll just say that.

A Tax ID is an identifier that is used by registered business entities to separate personal and business spending and taxes. You as an individual have a Social Security Number while a business has a Tax ID.

Getting a Tax ID is pretty straightforward and usually takes a few minutes. Its 100% free and can be done in a single sitting. That Tax ID can also be used when purchasing bulk or wholesale items. You’ll be doing taxes at the end of the year (or quarterly) with that specific Tax ID and will be tied to your profit/losses for your business.

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/apply-for-an-employer-identification-number-ein-online

Bank Account

You’re also going to be using your EIN to open up a business bank account. This is your new financial operating point of your business. It’s going to be where you spend and receive money. There are a lot of different offers for from almost every bank in the US, we’re gonna talk about the basic Business Bank Account. We don’t need any additional services other than a place to store your money (that includes credit card processing).

Head down to your favorite bank and ask them about the details of their Business Accounts. Some banks have yearly fees, or minimum amounts, or other special requirements. Go ahead and create an account with an institution you feel comfortable with. Bring your EIN number and your State Entity registration information when signing up. Your bank may need that information.

The other reason that you will want a Business Bank account is because you will eventually get to a stage where you may need to take out business loans or other credit-required actions. Even if you think you will never take out a loan or borrow money, you want to set yourself up now for future in-case situations. Building a relationship and credit with your bank will help in the long run.

Make sure you only spend or receive money that is specific to your business with this account! DO NOT MIX YOUR PERSONAL MONEY WITH THIS BANK ACCOUNT. You will screw yourself over royally because you’ve just created a DIRECT path to all of your personal assets. Which will-be and can-be seized if you’re ever faced with a lawsuit or bankruptcy. You’ve pieced that “corporate veil”.

Make sure you keep track of EVERY receipt for every purchase you make from this account. You’ll be using it as deductibles AND budget tracking.

Business Savings

Yes, that dreadful word; “savings”…..yes..even your business will need it! A business savings can be used used to help keep you going when times get a little rough in the cashflow side of things. Its there to give you the confidence to make decisions that may be risky. Its there to help push your product or service through rough patches and keep things going.

You want to have a business savings account. A WAR CHEST!

To keep things simple, you generally want to have about 3-6 months of $$ stashed away. This is 3-6 months of basic needs (food, light bill, rent, mortgage, etc) to keep you alive and sheltered. This is also going to be your runway of trying things out before you need to alter course.

Trust me, it make your life easier as an entrepreneur when you know you’ve got financial backup in case the poo hits the fan. You will have the freedom to take more risk to reap those rewards.

Record Keeping

Mint – http://mint.com (free)

I use Mint all the time! It does an awesome job of letting me know about my spending habits. I can easily use it to automatically categorize and organize my income and expenses. You can also set goals for yourself and use Mint to tell you REALISTICALLY how to create them. Pretty slick. You connect your bank account(s) to Mint and it helps you keep track of spending and income in a meaningful way.

Alternative: Quickbooks  http://quickbooks.com ($5/month)

I tried Quickbooks a few times in the past as well as the online version. The online version is the preferred route if you’re looking for an all-in-one solution. QB has a LOT of features that might make that $5/month fee very attractive, for sure.

Invoicing

Get Harvest – http://try.hrv.st/1-294321 (Free for 2 project OR $130/year for unlimited)

Harvest is my go-to for invoicing. It definitely pays for itself with your first client. You can send out an invoice and give the option of 2 payment routes: PayPal or Stripe. Invoices get sent electronically either with a PDF, link, or an email where the clients can pay online directly. You get reporting on who is late and who paid on time. The invoices also have automatic reminders that are sent out at specific intervals.

You can also use Harvest to keep track of time to bill hourly, keep track of projects, and keep track of expenses. Reporting is not bad. It won’t tell you categories in your spending like Mint does, but it will let you know if you’ll be pretty close to blowing your budget out the water in overspending. If you have a team of more than one person, you can also keep track of spending and income per-person or per project.

Alternative: Hello Bonsai – https://www.hellobonsai.com/ (3 projects per year OR $192/year for unlimited)

Hello Bonsai originally started as an online contract manager tool. I use it primarily to send agreements to clients for them to sign from their emails or online. It helps keep things simple.

They’ve added additional features such as sending invoices out based on the agreement of your contract. You also have the options of sending out reminders as well as new invoices to your clients. Similar to Harvest, your clients have the options of paying online with PayPal and Stripe.

Getting Paid

Square Cash – https://cash.me/ (free for Personal, 2.75% for Business)

Square Cash is one of the simplest routes you can use to send or receive payments. With the business version, you are not limited to the amount you can send or receive. With a person account, you will have trouble over $2,500.00.

Create a “cashtag” to create a unique URL that you can use to allow people to send you payments online. That URL will display a large payment input method that will send money directly to your linked bank account. Square Cash use a special link called Cash.me to give you a unique link for payments online.

You can also text, email, or link to your Cash.me page to allow your clients to pay online. No, you do not need a Cash.me account to pay someone with a Cash.me app. You will simply be prompted to input your card information.

Square Cash also has a few physical products that you can use for your physical store to process credit cards. Their Point of Sale hardware has been installed in a lot of different stores/locations and are very affordable.

Alternative: PayPal Personalized – https://www.paypal.me/ (2.9% + $0.30 per transaction)

PayPal has been around for a long long time. They have recently caught up with allowing people to pay online with a single URL, link, or text message. You can have either a personal or business version, but the functionality is similar to Cash.me.

You can also use PayPal to handle your invoice payments from Harvest or Hello Bonsai.

Alternative: Stripe – https://stripe.com (2.9% + $0.30 per transaction)

Stripe is an online payment processing software solution that is essentially scaffolding. You register yourself and your bank account to receive payments. Its then up to you to BUILD that payment portal. Stripe takes care of authentication, payment processing, and refunds. You would use Stripe if you wanted to create your own software, website checkout, or custom in-app purchase piece.

The post FHS 5: Money Talk appeared first on The Freelancer Head Start.