This was originally posted 22/12/09. Below I’ve updated some of the content, and added a few more resources. If you know about one that has helped you, feel free to mention it in the comments (even if it doesn’t fall under one of the categories).

For those designers and artists out there who may not exactly be swimming in money, it seems like the only resource out there are the free ones. Mucking through those however, can make even the strongest will snap.

Invoicing

• WordPress 3 Invoice: Handy invoicing in WordPress plug-in form.
• Side Job Track:Web-based job tracking, invoicing, reporting and project management software.

Time and Record Keeping

• Open Office: Open source office suite, comparable to Microsoft Office. While it may have less features, it’s not by too much. It has the word processor (of course), spreadsheets, and a vast array of different plugins and more (not even counting the other great things that this has).
• Toggl: Available as web based or downloadable time keeping.

Free Commercial Use Images:

A good image can make a website that much better, while not everyone may have the ability to pay for them. Below, 100% free (commercial use) stock images. There are a few websites out there that claim to have ‘free images’ and they are either far from free, or there may be some questionable legality on them.

• Morgue File: Morgue File has a ton of images on it’s website. On their home page: “for your inspiration, reference and use in your creative work, be it commercial or not”.  The image library is vast, and you may be able to find some gems in there fairly easily.
• Open Clip Art Library: High quality (and open source) vectors, illustration, and other pieces all of it in the public domain.
• Stock.chng: More free stock photos.

Free Commercial Use Fonts:

• Larabie Fonts: Most of the fantastic fonts on this website have a free version.  They are all commercial-usable as well.  One feature that is seriously awesome?  The ability to change the display/ preview text to anything from ‘The Quick Brown Fox” to the latest headlines.

As a note, be careful when making your selection as not all the font options are free across the board.  If, upon check-out you see that there is a total aside from 0, scan the list.  While I would definitely insist one buys something from Larabie, to support the fantastic website.

• daFont: While you do need to make absolutely sure that the font you are getting is free for commercial use, the notification is right above the download link.  The website has a huge selection of all typefaces.

Information and Tutorials

There comes a time that anyone from beginner to masters of their trade may need some information.  The resources below are all personal favorites and have saved me some time and given their fair share of inspiration as well.

• Typedia:  If you happen to be a typography-o-phile** this website will ruin any chance you may have at free time for the foreseeable future.  It has a ton of information about typefaces, their use, their invention, and a ton of other information.
• PSDTuts:  This website has a brilliant set-up for their tutorials.  If you want to be able to download the sample files, you do have to join.  If, however you are looking for some new ideas or information- it’s free.  Even if you do pay, it’s only $9 a month.  So, just skip two lattes and you are set.

Copyright and Legal

If you are a freelancer, you need to protect yourself.  If you are normal, more than likely you aren’t fluent in legalese.  There are still some resources for when you can’t afford a translator (namely- a lawyer).  While these are far from being end alls, they will help protect you in the short run (at least until you can afford that lawyer).

• Creative Commons:For licensing and all that ‘fun’ thing.  It’s best to protect yourself early and avoiding any damages later.  For more information on Copyright, here’s the US government’s information page: Copyright Office.
• Contracts: About.com guide for designers.  This link has a bunch of resources for contract needs.

Miscellaneous

• Color & Code Cheat Sheets: In the interest of not repeating things, a handy list of cheat sheets (from this very website).
• Blender: Open source 3D software.

While there really are online jobs out there, there seems to be more confusion involving them and outright lies to be had than real and substantial information. Admittedly, there seems to be more in the way of outright scams than real work when you take a look at listings, however there are ways to tell what is real from what is a scam.

Below are quick points to look out for:

• Promises of huge earnings: Let’s face it no job is going to be giving you any kind of huge sum if you don’t have experience.
• The Words ‘Data-Entry’: Data entry is real work, BUT it is something you need to  train for.  Most of the ‘data entry’ jobs online are surveys which may or may not pay out.

To find legit work online jobs, you do need a definable set of skills.  Considering the largest growing portion of online jobs is blogging, writing is a must.  While you may be able to find jobs for coding or art, typically you need more experience than the ability to code.

No matter what you would like to look into, you need a way to back up any claims.  Anyone can claim to write or code, but claiming something won’t get you jobs.  Create a portfolio or a blog (there are tons of free areas to get set up, WordPress and Blogger being two of the best) and get to work showing your skills.

Any website you create doesn’t have to be insanely popular to get jobs from, it’s just to show that you really can do what you say you can.  It should have at minimum 10 or so posts or examples (fairly arbitrary number, but you need a good amount up to show what you can do).

So what can you expect?

• Rejection.  You will be rejected and ignored more often than you get a declined offer.  It may or may not be anything against you, often you just won’t know.  The important thing is to keep trying.
• Low pay.  You more than likely aren’t going to get much, especially if you are just starting out.  If you are brand new at writing online (and the same can be said about other areas of online work) getting more to add to your resume may be able to help more with early gigs, so it may be worth taking lower paid jobs for a while.
• A lot of work.  You will work, a lot.  Often the hours invested at first may not seem to be worth it, and often you may not want to work on a certain day.  Yet, you are expected to so if you are serious about working online you have to work even if you ‘aren’t feeling up to it’.  It will get better, and those long hours will be worth more in the end, and as you keep it up, it does become a lot easier.
• Topics you may not be interested in.  Most of the time you don’t get to pick and choose what you are writing about.  At times you may find a topic boring, or downright dreadful (admittedly some of us do get lucky).

It’s not a job field for everyone, and you really need a lot of time to invest and dedication to the work.  When you are looking for a source of income online, remember the adage: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Anyone can start a business.  It’s easy; write out a few things, set up a website and domain and you are good to go.  Really, even the out of pocket expense is minimal.  One can easily find $10 hosting with a domain, and with that comes a large abundance of business ventures.

Due to this easy nature, there are of course a lot of business out there vying for customers.  Most will sink quickly, and others may falter a bit but still succeed, or maybe if there is a lot of luck at play they will succeed right off the bat and keep growing.

Having a good business, is a huge undertaking. One may be tempted to buy into one of the many fly by night operations or even employ some shady business practices, but that would signal the death knell fairly quickly. Especially considering that many of the shadier practices will do little more than alienate any customers you already have.

While there is no ‘secret’ to a business’ success, at least nothing guarded by armed men and only told to a select few, a surprisingly large portion of people will quickly become frustrated and turn to a fairly shady avenue that they may hope will bring them success.

So, what is the solution?

Patience:

It takes time to get a business to grow.  If your product or service is worth it, it will be able to last, of course you do need good marketing methods in place and some tenacity as well,

Effort:

The more effort you put into your business the more you are giving it a chance, don’t simply ‘set it and forget it’ but work on it, write up blog posts and refine your overall networking, social, and marketing approaches.

Customer Service:

It don’t take too much to lose customers and faith in your business.  Heck, a simple search can reveal a lot.  Good customer service and an approach based on the customer and their satisfaction can help you get further than anything shady can.  A good customer will stick around and come back.

1) Answer your phone.

2) Don’t make promises unless you WILL keep them.

3) Listen to your customers.

4) Deal with complaints.

5) Be helpful – even if there’s no immediate profit in it.

6) Train your staff (if you have any) to be ALWAYS helpful, courteous, and knowledgeable.

7) Take the extra step.

(Source: About.com)

I’d like to add in: Believe in your product. No matter what it is, if it is something you aren’t sure about yourself, you shouldn’t be selling it.  No matter if it is anything from furniture to eBooks, if it isn’t of any actual use- avoid it.

In a nutshell: If it is something you wouldn’t use, or even believe in- don’t push it to others.

What would you like to see in a business?  Is there something that should be avoided (or even encouraged) that isn’t mentioned? Tell about it in the comments!

There is a school of thought that any traffic is ‘good traffic’, unfortunately it simply isn’t true.  There is both good traffic and unproductive traffic, and the SEO of your website will decide on which one you will ultimately receive.  If you are checking your search statistics and are finding that many are getting to your website after searching for unrelated terms to your business, you are suffering from not-so-great SEO.

Before you pull your hair out trying to figure out how to fix it, there are some simpler things you can do to help.  Some of those options are a bit more time intensive, but they are workable and will help you improve your relevant search rankings.  Before you continue, make sure to write out a lists of terms that you are looking to rank better for.

Start Now: This is an under-utilized but good choice.  If you have a lot of content and a lot of visits that you don’t want to lose start writing posts now geared towards correct SEO.  Use keywords properly and often, the list you made can also serve to give you some post ideas.

Rewrite: If you don’t have too much in the way of content already on your blog, you can seriously consider just rewriting your present content with the keywords you listed in mind.

Start Over: Consider starting over only if you feel that your website is truly hopeless.  Generally speaking, this should be only used if there are absolutely no other options,  this option used far more often than it really needs to be.

Constantly updated content is the key to better rankings and more popularity with the search engines. By incorporating your main keywords into your posts, the search engines will see them and you will rank better.

For someone just starting out without a whole lot of back work, it can seem beyond impossible to get work coming in.    You need your foot in the door, and have no clue how to get it there.  Starting out writing or designing online is a great way to work, and the job’s hours are unbeatable but if you can’t find the work it’s just another dream.

Be honest with yourself before you continue- can you really hack it? 

Generally, when working online you need a few things, and to be able to do a few things. 

This goes for both writers and designers, and to be perfectly honest, if you don’t have much to offer- you aren’t going to get far.  Someone with a better understanding will get the job.  While the term writing is used below, the same goes for design as well. 

Fluency: If you are applying to a gig, and you don’t speak the language- you aren’t getting that job.  More and more companies are wanting a writer than has a good grasp on the English language.  If you really don’t have a clue about grammar, spelling, and punctuation you won’t be getting far.

Time Management Skills: If you can’t be arsed to finish your work in an appropriate time span, you aren’t keeping any jobs you may have gotten. It’s not going to happen.  While sure, things come up- it happens and that’s life- being constantly late isn’t going to do you any favors. 

Start Up Money: Before you start, make sure you have some extra money in your bank account.  You will need it for living expenses.  Better yet, don’t quit your day-job quite yet.  While in some cases you get lucky, or forced into the same luck- more often than not you would be just royally screwing yourself over if you quit and can get any new work.

An Ability to Handle Disappointment:  On average you aren’t going to get the gig.  Depending on your credentials, and prior experience you will be applying to jobs that you more than likely aren’t going to get. Especially if you are brand new.  It sucks, bad.  If you can’t handle that, don’t freelance.

A Blog:  You need somewhere to send perspective clients to show you can write.  Starting your own blog is the absolute easiest method.  You need something that shows you can be engaging and are capable of writing properly.

Patience: It takes a while before you may be seeing anything coming from your writing.  By a while I don’t mean two days or weeks- try anywhere from 6–9 months or over a year.

In addition to the above, don’t be afraid to take lower paying positions.  It’s a good way to work up to the area you want.  A good deal of those will also help you work yourself into the position itself.  Just don’t be an ass and burn that bridge.  Never leave a website or gig on a bad note, besides it just not being ‘polite’ it’s a good way to get yourself blacklisted.

Think of that (now cliché) ‘You will never work in this town again!’ today, anyone can actually make that happen.