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.

With the web constantly evolving, even those with a fantastic memory need to find ways to remember the information about the latest in best practices and usability. This is even more true for those with the memory on par with a goldfish (myself included).  There are a lot of cheat sheets online, and finding some good (and of course relevant) ones is no easy task.

Below, some incredibly useful cheat sheets for those who work with code, design, and other website related things.

• WordPress Template Tags Reference

This reference chart is fantastic, it’s incredibly easy to navigate (simply click the heading and you get the code and description).  This is the very thing that is the inspiration for the rest of this list.  WordPress is one of the most popular platforms on the web, and this can save you a lot of time and headaches.

• Web Safe Color Chart

Finding the right colors can be a huge undertaking, especially if you are trying to work only with the proper code and trying to find a browser safe list (with the code). This makes the task much easier.

• System & Web Safe Font Chart

Not all fonts are system wide. The people at MIT put together this safe font list of the fonts that are found on all systems, for those who don’t want to deal with extra code for web design, this is an incredible reference (with examples of each).

• Style and Color

For those who don’t want to experiment, and are looking for the perfect color combination for their project, Colour Lovers really can’t be beat.  You can search by theme, color, or many other variables. The color choices that you can find a phenomenal, and really when it comes to style- this is the perfect website.

Is there a cheat sheet out there that you couldn’t live without? Post up a link in the comments, and I’ll add it to the list.

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.

Now, don’t get me wrong for all I know this is something else.  This is all merely something I just noticed and am incredibly uncertain about, see below and judge for yourself.  Normally I don’t write these kinds of articles here, and it admittedly has bothered me enough.  Considering that this ad is normally on this website, I’m putting this here to basically say: Buyer beware.

There is this ‘University’ (well, claimed to be university) that advertises a lot on my websites.  I finally was curious enough to Google them, and lo and behold I found Yelp reviews and they are all incredibly positive.  I read all of them and got to to bottom where it wanted me to verify I wasn’t a robot to see the rest of the reviews.

Last I checked it wasn’t indeed a robot, so I entered the code to reveal the rest of the comments, thinking of course they were simply older and less relevant.

What did it show?

All the negative reviews.

Strange I must add, mainly due to the ‘Review Filter’  heading they have (completely copy/pasted from the website):

Review Filter – Huh?

Yelp has an automated review filter to keep the site’s content as useful and trustworthy as possible. Read More

Erm, but the reviews that were filtered out were the negative reviews.

Before:

5 Star Review:

I have graduated from **** in 2005 and highly recommend it. I am thinking about going back for a Master’s degree in Internet Marketing. Full Sail is one of the best entertainment / arts schools in the world with cutting edge equipment and technology. It can be a very hard school, and therefore a lot of people badger the name when they don’t make it past the core classes. It won’t guarantee you a job, but it will give you all the tool and resources to launch your career in one of the most fascinating industries. Be ready to work very hard.

And:

5 Star Review:

****actually invests in giving each student industry relevant technology to work on that will still be relevant after graduation. My wife ended up dropping out, now she’s going to start at Full Sail in March I believe. She’ll be in Computer Animation, and from what the course adviser said they get even more cool toys than what we get, so that she can scan illustrations and such. I don’t think any competitor does that. Your stuck with whatever computer you had before enrolling, so
everybody is using different technology, which skews performance towards those with the most money. The instructors are definitely good, too. Although I can’t compare to any other online or physical colleges, everybody seems to be working in the field they teach.

Basically the whole comment was how you would be getting a super awesome laptop and some considerably expensive programs.  Okay, well sure no problem.

A lot of schools do that.  Some high schools as well, I sort of understand the logic behind it (really just to level the playing ground and all) but either way the whole review was just… off.  It basically made it sound as if getting new gadgets was the only fantastic part.

I do get that, and can see how it’s a bonus, but for the most part anything relevant to the educational part was.. light.

After the filter turned off:

1 Star Review:

I was a potential student for the online graphic design degree program.  I am a veteran at which my school is being taken care of by the Veteran’s Administration so the only thing I needed to do was find a school.  I have to say that I was very impressed by their website but I was extremely unimpressed by the admissions, financial aid department.  I practically did all the paperwork to include FAFSA but when I did have a question I would never get a return phone call or email.  after a week of no responses I went somewhere else, but usually when schools know I am a guarantee student and the money is for sure they bend over backwards, it was major red flags for me when a school lacks communication because if they can’t get back to me now for simple forms I doubt they are much help once I am a student.  So I have to say  def looks the part but acting it is a whole other story.

And:

1 Star Review:

The production company I work for was looking for graduate cadidates [sic] and we reviewed a couple people from ***. Each of them had completed a degree program but their reels were surprisingly paper thin and the work were only so, so. I heard **** charges $72,000 now, I could use that money, make my own movie and learn more myself. How the hell did they to graduate? Watch out for institutions that are in the business of making money not education.

While those are only two examples picked out, there are others from students and whatnot as well.

To get (finally) to the point, does yelp hide the negative reviews?  After all, if someone is just doing a very quick search, they are fairly unlikely to enter the captcha.  It has a noindex for the bots out there so they cannot ‘see’ the page.  However, the before view (before the captcha) doesn’t (I’ve checked), so all bots can read are those glowing bits and pieces.

Working online with a primary focus on blogging, more specifically, for the last few years has taught me a bit about the business end of it.  Considering I’m also a freelancer, finding and securing those jobs that help me pay all my bills is obviously an important factor.

I can wholly admit, I never intended to be a blogger, let alone a freelancer.  It had never occurred to me that I could even make money online, especially a livable income.  I did enjoy writing even though most of my earlier bits were considerably shorter than my present standard of about 300 words (or more).  While I did enjoy it, I wasn’t in need of a job until some of life’s little things came my way at once and I had mounting bills and other financial problems that needed to be taken care of.  At the time, I did turn to the internet and found a few editing and writing gigs that I had thought would be only temporary.

Of course that was also about 4 years ago, and I’m still working in writing.  I wound up falling in love with the hours, and the ability to work wherever I wanted, with no real ‘set-times’.  Getting started is harder now it seems that it was when I started, but once you get the ball rolling jobs will come easier.

Setting up your own website for writing, and potentially impressing a prospective client isn’t easy and you will need to work on a few basics before getting into the full swing of things.  Once you do however, all that work will be more than worth it.

Read:

Read other blogs in your intended niche.  While you do not want to copy them at all, it can help to see what voices are already out there are see what you can add to the discussion.  If you have an inspiring thought that you think should be said, write down the general idea for the next step.

Write:

Consider first your topics and intended audience, and think up a few entries to get you started.  Write out at least 10 or so full posts before your launch, and write and polish them until they are the best they can be.  While you don’t have to use them all immediately, it really helps to have that cushion in case you won’t be able to post on a few days or so.

Design:

Having a special design for your blog can help create a more memorable feel for it.  While it doesn’t have to be too fancy, it does help.  Make sure it is what you are looking for as switching constantly typically can make you look unprofessional and chaotic.  Your design can set the tone for the rest of your website, so think long and hard about it.  It should fit nicely into the theme of your website, and while it doesn’t need to be overblown or outrageous, a nicely designed website can really help out and work wonders.  At times, the perfect design will be unique and mesh well to the point of not really being noticed.

Research:

A fair portion of the typical blogger’s time is spent on research.  From chasing stories to looking up relevant links to add to those stories.  It’s not the easiest thing for a good portion of the time, but the more consistent research you put into your writing, the more knowledgeable you will be.  Being knowledgeable is a good chuck of where your readership will grow from.

Learn:

It’s the same with anything that can payoff, it really is a continuous learning process.  If someone offers you advice, it may be wise to take it under consideration.  Be it through contacts, or comments- constructive criticism will help you grow not only as a writer, but as a blogger as well.

Keywords are important sure, but a lot of times they are avoided or just glossed over due to confusion or being pressed for time.  Having automatic tools is helpful, but actually finding some good ones with the thousands available is a imposing job.  Below you will find 5 automatic keyword tools that are easily available and free (because if you are anything like me, you can really get behind the whole ‘free’ thing).

Keywords can be useful little things, by helping out your search results or even just looking for an idea for a blog post.  At times, just looking at a list of related terms can help out immensely.

Wordpot

Wordpot has some interesting extras, while just like all of the others on this list it will give you keywords, it will also give you the exact amount a word was searched on the day you search spanning different search engines).  It also gives you related terms to help, associated words, definitions, and synonyms.

They have some subscription based services, and free account creation.  They are fairly new in the market and seem to be adding more services soon.  They are more advertising driven, with an intent of helping those who are looking into search engine marketing keyword tools.

Visit Website: Wordpot

Wordstream

Wordstream has some really useful free extras aside from the generated keywords.  A fairly nice service is their grouped keywords tool, which allows you to paste your top terms and will give you related broad terms, that narrow down further.   They also have some other informative and free tools available to the public (and you don’t have to sign up).  One of the more interesting tools is their Negative Keyword tool which advices you on which terms to avoid.

Altogether they seem to have a fairly good and robust suite of tools for the public’s use.

Visit Website: Wordstream

Wordtracker

Wordtracker will give you 100 free keywords, and some articles to help you boost your knowledge.  If you aren’t looking for much more than that it may suit your needs.  If you however want anything more, you will need to shell out a bit.

This tool would be best for someone just looking for words alone without any bells or whistles (keep in mind that this article is focusing on the free).

Visit Website: Wordtracker

Google Adwords Keyword Tool

If you have heard the term ‘Keyword’ you have almost assuredly heard of Google’s tool above.  They offer a ton of choices aimed at those looking for advertising options.  However when it comes to it’s keyword tool for other uses, it can be just as useful.  Being the most popular search engine around (and one of the most powerful companies) Google knows a few things about searching habits.

Visit Website: Google AdWords Keyword Tool

Google Search-Based Keyword Tool

Of course this tool can give you keywords and ideas based on them, but it can also tell you how robust your usage of those keywords are on your website.  It’s of course easy to use, and the results are based on actual searches for both what you enter and the related keywords.

Visit Website: Google Search-Based Keyword Tool

Choosing the way you display your art and photography can be as important as your work itself.  Finding a simple and stunning choice with so many options out there can be difficult and time consuming.   Below are 12 stunning options that are as simple as they are elegant.

GalleryView

Demo/Download

GalleryView is a very simple but wonderful option.  If you are looking for something lightening fast and simple, it could suit your needs perfectly.  The overlay title and description is a wonderful part of the GalleryView script (plus, it really looks amazing with the simplicity). It definately success in it’s mission to provide jQuery users with a flexible, attractive content gallery that is both easy to implement and a snap to customize.

Supersized: Fullscreen background/ sideshow jQuery plugin

Demo/Download

Supersized really lives up to it’s name.  It’s a fullscreen gallery that is great for high definition photos, and anything with a lot of color would really pop out.

* Resizes images to fill browser while maintaining image dimension ratio
* Cycles Images/backgrounds via slideshow with transitions and preloading
* Navigation controls allow for pause/play and forward/back

Moving Boxes – jQuery Image Gallery

Demo/Download

MovingBoxes is  a very fun little gallery.  It’s incredibly simple to use, and the look is fantastic. The script uses there are buttons to change panels and the panels zoom in and out.

PiroBox

Demo/Download
Here are just some of the features:

* The script now weights only 12.5KB, (9KB Minified)
* There is a choice between five different styles
* Slideshow option More…
* Multiple image set option More…
* PngFix for Internet Explorer 6
* Keyboard navigation: Right arrow [next], Left arrow [prev], ESC [close]
* Broken Link Check
* Automatic repositioning of the image in the browser window
* Browser compatibility = FireFox 2+, Opera9.5+, Chrome, Safari (Mac/Windows), IE 6+

You can even check out some of the fantastic themes that the plugin uses.

PiroBox is similar to lightbox (and the many other versions) and is great for a simple and effective option.

Image Rotator with Preview

Demo/Download

You can use the Image Rotator for images, blog posts, and a few other things as well. It’s a great way to display portfolio pieces, eCommerce product images, or even as an image gallery. With both a simple and effective design, it’s also easy to implement and customize.

Spacegallery – jQuery plugin

Demo/Download

SpaceRotator has a fun and elegant animation when switching views.

AD Gallery

Demo/Download

AD Gallery is another simple, but visually pleasing option.

Zoomer Gallery

Demo/Download

Zoomer Gallery is really fun and it would be a great choice for someone that has a lot of images to display (much like PiroGallery) it adds in a simple ‘zoom’ effect, and could easily be customized to fit other needs as well. It has flash-like effects but is written in javascript.

ImageFlow

Demo/Download

ImageFlow is a very graceful and elegant gallery/ slider.  It has a gorgeous reflection and while it’s simple visually- it is still very user friendly and beautiful. It has quite a few features for such a considerably small plugin.

jQuery jsGallscroll Plugin

Demo/Download

Another simple and effective option. jsGallscroll takes list of images and creates a smooth scrolling photo gallery scrolling vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. The plugin will also create pagination to allow you to flow through your photos.

Galleriffic

Demo/Download

Gallerific allows you to have a full featured and easy to navigate (and set up) gallery. It comes with a ton of options including pagination, graceful degradation if a user doesn’t use javascript, and a ton of others including many different user-options as well. If you want something that has more features and can allow you to customize more than Gallerific can definitely be for you.

Dynamic Image Gallery and Slideshow

Demo/Download
The Dynamic Image Gallery and Slideshow is incredibly lightweight, at only 3kb. It’s elegant in addition, and it’s a user-friendly and easy choice for someone who may want the simplicity without too many other things cluttering things up. The developer has released a new version however if you want a few more options.

When looking for inspiration or a full logo don’t discount stock websites.  There are many very talented designers who use them and you may be able to find a perfect logo for your business.  Below is a gallery of a very small sampling from the very talented individuals at Stock Logo. `

It is just a very small sampling, all using the simple theme ‘Green’ just to give you an idea of the many amazing logos that can be found there.

Do you have a favorite? Admittedly, I’m personally partial to the bike to the left.

Simply click an image to start the slideshow:

Update: for those looking to buy the Yellow Damask Paper Below please visit the new shop here: Yellow Damask Shop Page

This wonderful download is one of my newest and personal favorites.  Admittedly, I do have some favoritism going on here anyway as this was created by me.

Just in time for those nicer months ahead comes this fabulous yellow and white damask printable craft paper.

• $1.99 for unlimited use!
• Printable .pdf format
• Prints out to 8 x 10 inches

From the shop page.

There are so many different uses for the printable goodies, and especially the fabulous Yellow Damask Paper above.  From general artistic endeavors to crafting projects (and of course, a ton other than that).  I hope you enjoy it!

The printable below comes in an easy to use .pdf file (same as all my other items) and can be edited in Photoshop as well as printed as-is.  It can be bought through this page, or the shop itself.

Right off the bat, there needs to be some apologies for that punny title, so consider this that apology.

Facebook has a new position that is giving it even more control of the web.  While the OpenGraph is still being adopted and heavily debated over, considering the amount of people using it already, it looks poised to take over Google’s link positioning.  Google’s algorithm depends on websites linking through to each other, while Facebook’s OpenGraph is more user-oriented.

People are coming down on the new features fairly hard, some are worried about privacy others just aren’t sure.  This could all be the normal concerns that new technology tends to create, but they could be validated soon.  Facebook also announced the new rules for their advertisers and they don’t have to delete your information anymore after 24 hours, naturally this is one of the main points of contention.

The new ‘Like’ button runs off your own group.  For instance, if you click the like button at the top of this article, only you and your own Facebook network will see it.  It don’t post to your profile, or really much else than show your approval of an article or website to your Facebook Network.

Right now it just seems to be eye candy for those fairly limited websites that use it.  One day sure, it may replace Google’s linking algorithms, and websites will be forced to conform to a new web standard, but until it is picked up a lot more than it is presently, Google simply isn’t going anywhere.

While they may be able to to position itself as the new web standard, how many people will now turn to Facebook instead of Google?  Would you?