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Must Have Items In Your WordPress Freelancer Toolbox

Must Have Items In Your WordPress Freelancer Toolbox

Over the years I’ve accumulated loads of great reputable tools to use for my web design business. Many of them are freebies, while others I pay for to maximise the potential of my freelance WordPress web design business. Without these tools I would not be able to streamline my business workflow or do what I do.

Where To Stylish Script Fonts & Other Free Fonts For Commercial Use

Beautiful fonts come in various different categories. These fonts are perfect for web headings, logos, digital marketing material, and to use for business branding. I specifically love the number of quality fonts found on this site. There’s something here for everyone. Please read individual licenses carefully before downloading. Visit Befonts.

Web Developer Tools – Free Google Extensions From The Chrome Web Store

  1. Get a Hex or RGB colour code from any web page or image. Using your laptop or desktop, when visiting any web page you can click on the eyedropper icon located on the top right-hand side of your browser. using Google Colour Picker.
  2. Take a full-length screenshot of any website with the GoFullPage – Full Page Screen Capture extension. Using a pc or laptop, one click on the camera icon located in the top right-hand corner of your web browser will create your screen capture. Then you can download it, after choosing to save it as a pdf or a jpg.

A Powerful Freelancer Client Management App – FREE FOREVER

When I first started out in my business, I didn’t feel the need for a CRM. I had been working from a bunch of Excel spreadsheets that were very useful to help organise my clients, which was more of a side hustle at the time. However as I began to work from home full-time, my business grew quite a lot. So, I began looking for ways to streamline my processes to save time. Using various free or trial version CRMs, none came close to the HECTIC App & CRM. This is exactly what I’ve been looking for in terms of value for money, and I really love that it’s jam-packed with features to improve the quality of my customer’s experience.

Features

  1. Project management
  2. Calendar
  3. Invoices
  4. Proposals & Contracts
  5. Time Tracking
  6. Accounting
  7. Meeting Scheduler

Hectic App is one of the least intimidating CRMs I’ve used.  Features – There’s no limit on how many clients you can have.  It offers project management, invoices, and subscriptions, accept online payments, proposals and contracts, expenses and accounting, forms, time tracking, calendar, and IOS and Android apps. The Hectic App CRM can be used for free for as long as you want. It’s definitely worth checking out! The paid version is very affordable! and offers a client portal for providing secure login to your clients where they can access their documents and invoices. Check out the Hectic App CRM Here. Note: Hectic has a lot going on in the works to roll out more functionality and learning videos. We will be able to access them very soon!. However it’s easy to set up for yourself, or for your clients who need a payment gateway as their FREE FOREVER version allows for it!  Paid version prices are really great if you require more functionality from the app. Guaranteed not to break the budget. Their support is great, as you talk to a real person with their chat support and all enquiries and all responses to your enquiries are relayed back to you by email.

Free Website Stock Images With Unlimited Use For Website Design

While this is not the free version of Canva, all premium Stock images available in your Canva Pro account can be used on your client’s web pages legally, and also be used to create marketing digital designs. You can create video headers for your client’s websites, create video marketing content, and also make a video recording of yourself. Canva pro is a web design game-changer, offering a huge library with thousands of free commercial use images that are easily accessible from within the app, and can also be shared with your clients or team from within Canva. An Android and IOS app is available so you can create from your smartphone and post your creations directly to your social media profiles. Canva Pro is a digital design platform that allows non-digital designers to create some amazing stuff. The Canva Pro app greatly expands the features of the free version, enabling the removal of backgrounds in logo creation and download of *.png format transparency images. Canva Pro offers print orders as well. You can create digital designs, order them to arrive at your client’s doorstep, get paid for your design work, and charge for printing if you like Check out the many great features in Canva Pro Here.

Where To Find WordPress Themes

Elegant Themes – The Divi Theme – A powerful theme and stand alone site builder that has drag and drop features to create websites visually.  So easy to use your clients will be able to manage their own content. A Lifetime Access License allows members to create unlimited websites, gain unlimited downloads, use all of their products on unlimited sites, and have support that NEVER runs out!.  Simply create a new API key for each account. ThemeForest – A huge assortment of WordPress themes. View theme here. As a WordPress freelancer, you may want your client to buy their own themes, ay a monthly fee to access all of their files.

Reputable WordPress Plugins To Have Under Your Tool Belt

  1. WordPress SecurityWordfence – keep your website secure with a firewall, malware scan, blocking, live traffic, login security and much more.
  2. WordPress Cache WP Fastest Cache is a great free option, with minify an is best suited to those without image heavy sites.  However, WP Optimize is my favourite choice for their free image compression capabilities.
  3. WordPress SEO –  Two tool to help with WordPress Search Engine Optimisation of your content . Choose from: Yoast SEO, or from the All In One SEO Pack, ( AIOSEO). This one is more complicated to set up but allows for the addition of more keywords.
  4. WordPress MigrationDuplicator – A powerful plugin that allows you to create clones of your website for migration purposes.. Duplicator zips website files, grouping them into a “package.” Use your Duplicator package to migrate your entire site to a new host, domain, or staging site.

Write A Great Web Copy & Pair IT with On Page SEO To Increase Conversion Rates

Most web designers are privy to the fact that content is king.  Create keyword rich content with clear direction and a call to action, pair it up with a powerful SEO Plugin, to drive Search Engine Page Results (SERP. This is how to increase conversion rates. A great web copy that brings in clients is written in a way that compels site visitors to buy or take action. Transform your web pages into powerful keyword rich content. Read my article:  9  Impressive Tool To Help You Polish Your Web Copy & Drive More Traffic.

Send Your Message

WordPress Web Design & Business Support Services

By Sandra Ciminelli

A Canberra based WordPress Web Designer/Developer

3 Powerful Website Packages

Brace yourself for impact.

Having a top-notch website is crucial for your business success. In today’s competitive market, it’s essential to have a website that is engaging, attractive, responsive, user-friendly, fast-loading, and high-performing. A strategic website focused on converting visitors into clients can help your business thrive. 

Website In A Day!

$1200

Ideal for starters wanting an SEO business website up and running fast.

What You Get

  • Starting Price – An intuitive 1 page custom-designed WordPress website with no other functionality other than a contact form. (see upgrade opportunities below)
  • Inclusions as listed for all new websites as above.
  • Up to 8 hours of my dedicated time to work on your project.
  • Up to 10 stock images from my stock photography account.

5 Page Site

$2500

A 5 page SEO website with no other functionality other than a contact form.

What You Get

  • Starting Price – An intuitive 5 page custom-designed WordPress website with no other functionality other than a contact form. (see upgrade opportunities below)
  • Inclusions as listed for all new websites as above.
  • Approx 2 – 3 weeks to work your project.
  • Up to 15 stock images from my stock photography account.

10 Page Power

$4200+

A 10 page SEO webite, or a website requiring complex integrations.

What You Get

  • Starting Price – An intuitive 10 page custom-designed WordPress website with a contact form, or a website with complex functionalities. (see upgrade opportunities below)
  • Inclusions as listed for all new websites as above.
  • Minimum of 3-4 weeks to workon your project
  • Up to 20 stock images from my stock photography account.

What’s Not Included

1. Web Hosting & Domain Name Registration

The price list above is for the design and development aspect of your website only.  Web hosting and domain name registration are separate annual subscriptions that can be purchased at Ventra IP or the provider of your choice with my guidance if required.

2. Divi Theme Lifetime Access Rights

As part of my services I install a fully functional and updatable copy of The Divi theme and the Monarch Social Share Plugins at no extra cost. However, it’s up to the client to purchase their own Lifetime Access License to get full membership rights to the plugin, support from Elegant Themes and any other associated products that are part of this license.

3. KEYWORD RANK VISIBILITY BOOSTER

Give your online visibility a boost on the search engine as an addition to your website’s SEO strategy. Rank for 100 keywords/search terms that appear on the first page of Google Search Results Pages for keywords others typing into their searches. This is a stand alone service that enables you to monitor up to 10 of your closest competitors, and it not bundled with my web design packages.

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