Freelancing is riddled with challenges. You end up being part designer, developer, copywriter, marketer, social media guru, customer service representative, and tax expert all at the same time.
If anyone thinks that doing freelance work is easy, they need to think again!
And that’s why it’s so important to make sure you don’t stumble into the freelance pricing trap many freelancers fall into. As there are already so many things you already have to deal with, you really want to avoid this one from the beginning.
So, What’s the Freelance Pricing Trap?
The freelance pricing trap is not charging enough for the work that you do. And it happens much more often than you would think.
Many freelancers feel like they don’t have enough experience or expertise to charge a certain rate, so they simply don’t. They price below the market rate because they feel they aren’t qualified to charge for more.
Some freelancers may actually feel bad for charging more. They feel like it’s too expensive and that they can’t justify charging so much.
However, if you want to make it as a freelancer, this needs to change.
Why it Needs to Change
Not charging enough for your services is a huge issue because it sets up the wrong expectations for your clients from the outset. It makes them devalue your work and expertise. They may also presume that you’re not as talented as others in your niche because you don’t charge as much they do.
This is a real problem. I know of an online learning school that couldn’t get work in a wealthy city because they didn’t charge as much as the competition. Since they didn’t charge as much, the perception was that they weren’t as good as other similar schools. This happens to many businesses, and it happens to freelancers as well.
It also makes the work you do less rewarding. And since the work is less rewarding, you’re much more likely to get disheartened and potentially burn out. Consider this common scenario for a moment:
A client calls asking how much a particular web project would cost to design and build. You ask for the brief, take the time to work out the number of hours it would take, and then respond with an estimate. But this is where it gets interesting.
The client tells you they can’t afford that much and counters by asking if you can do it for less, much less. Not wanting to lose out on the business, you agree since you don’t feel confident enough in your ability to negotiate a higher rate.
You also really need the work and don’t want to miss out on the revenue. Or so you think…
You begin working only to realize that you’re getting paid for half of what the project’s worth. If you’re just starting out in the freelance world, that may not necessarily be a huge issue because you’re trying to build up your portfolio and get your name out there, but if you’ve been freelancing for a while, that is a huge problem.
You’ve got bills to pay and mouths to feed. You’ll end up working more hours on extra projects just to make up for the drop in pay you’ve received from this project.
You may become resentful of the client and more than likely disappointed in yourself. Instead of putting in your best work, you give less than your best effort. And why shouldn’t you? You’re getting paid less than what you’re worth.
Then it comes time to get the project approved. Surprise, surprise: the client has a list of changes they would like. But you’re already over on hours! And you’re already getting underpaid!
More resentful than ever, you dig back into the project half-heartedly. When will this project finally be finished?
Have you ever experienced a project like this? If you have, you understand the primary reasons it’s detrimental to charge less than you’re worth:
- You won’t put your full heart and soul into the project.
- You won’t produce your best work which ultimately is what would allow you to raise your rates in the future.
- You won’t attract clients that value your work and understand the costs.
- You won’t make enough money to cover your bills and will mean an increase in the number of hours you work.
What Should You do Instead?
In order to not fall into the trap of lower-paid work, here are three tips to consider:
1. Find out what the market pays for your type of service and get to that rate as quickly as possible.
Whether it’s photography, web design, or copywriting, there’s a freelance market rate that professionals realize they need to earn to make a living.
Instead of thinking you can win more work or clients by undercutting this price, do whatever it takes to get to the market price as quickly as you can.
Yes, you’ll need to spend some time building up your portfolio and personal brand, but once you have reached that point where you’re happy, stop offering discounted rates.
2. Don’t be afraid to charge what you’re worth.
Many freelancers don’t like asking for more money or even asking for the going freelance rate. They feel like they’re not qualified or experienced enough.
If that’s the case, continue building your portfolio, but if it’s not, don’t be afraid to ask what you’re worth.
3. Incrementally raise your rates.
The number one thing that shoots negotiators in the foot is being desperate to close a sale. If you’re desperate for the business, you won’t be able to negotiate as well.
This means you’ll have the most trouble at the beginning of your freelance career. But once you start picking up clients and have a decent amount of work, start raising your rates.
If you aren’t as desperate to pick up your next client, you can afford to ask for more money now. If they take it, you can drop lower-paying clients at the right time and raise your rates again with subsequent clients.
Just remember to continue raising your rates once you have a healthy amount of work. It only makes sense that you charge more as you get better at what you do.
Falling Out of the Trap
If you feel like you’ve fallen into the trap of not charging enough for what you’re worth, make the decision to start charging more today.
By incrementally increasing your rates, you can quickly get to the market rate for your type of freelance work, and if you’re really good at what you do, you can even start charging more than the market rate.
That’s the kind of “trap” you want to fall into.
The post Getting out of the Freelance Pricing Trap appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.
If you are thinking of starting your own social networking website, take a look at the
Free Social Network / Media Software
page, where a new open source program has been added. This one lets you create a microblogging platform
(like Twitter) where your users can post text, pictures, videos, and audio.
Package:
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Execute a function a given number of times
Groups:
Author:
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This class can execute a function a given number of times...
Read more at https://www.phpclasses.org/package/12271-PHP-Execute-a-function-a-given-number-of-times.html
Package:
Summary:
Execute a function a given number of times
Groups:
Author:
Description:
This class can execute a function a given number of times...
Read more at https://www.phpclasses.org/package/12271-PHP-Execute-a-function-a-given-number-of-times.html
Amazon’s internal search results pages are showing up in Google’s search engine results pages. Some are ranking well for their chosen keyword.
Google is showing, and in many cases, ranking Amazon’s search results in their search results pages. If you search for a keyword in Google, such as ‘smores k cups’, one of the top ranking results in Google’s organic search results is Amazon’s search results page for that same keyword, ‘smores k cups’. This is a big deal for several reasons, but I don’t think it’s acceptable to rank search results pages in the search results pages. It’s just a bad user experience overall.
Search Results in Search Results is Bad for Users
Showing pages of search results in the search results is, essentially a bad user experience. When we search at Google, as a user of that search engine, I am generally looking for information about something. Or, in the case of the name of a certain product or product category, I am looking for that product. The last thing I want to do is click on a search engine result and then see another page of search results. It just adds more clicks. And, personally, if I was looking to buy something on Amazon, I would go directly to Amazon and search for it. I don’t need to go to Google, search for something, and then have to essentially search AGAIN at Amazon.
The Amazon Search Results in Google’s Results
In the case of Amazon’s search engine results showing up in Google’s search engine results right now (as I write this), we can see exactly that this is, in fact, search results pages from Amazon that are “ranking” in Google’s search engine results.
If you look at the URL that is indexed in Google, it looks like this:
https://www.amazon.com/smores-k-cups/s?k=smores+k+cups
The “smores-k-cups” is a category (a sub category actually) of another category page on Amazon. The “s?k=” part of the URL is the search function (k stands for keyword), and you can easily see the keyword smores+k+cups in the URL. There is absolutely no question in my mind that this is a search result from Amazon, just looking at the URL. But even better, when you click on the result (the page that is ranking in Google for “smores k cups”), you get a page of search results at Amazon, that looks like this:
Screen capture of the Smores K Cups search results page at Amazon.
This search results page at Amazon is apparent since the search function is already populated with the keyword, ‘smores k cups’.
Internal Search Results Pages are Thin Content
It’s been widely known in the search engine optimization and search industry that internal search results pages in websites are regarded at “thin content”. In March 2021, Ron Lieback wrote about thin content on websites in Search Engine Journal:
“Oh, doorway pages. They are a huge problem, and easy to recognize. Google describes these as:
- Having multiple domain names or pages targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page.
- Pages generated to funnel visitors into the actual usable or relevant portion of your site(s).
- Substantially similar pages that are closer to search results than a clearly defined, browseable hierarchy.”
It’s actually the 2nd and 3rd example there, that Mr. Lieback mentions, that I would like to point out. In fact, the Amazon search results pages, the pages that are currently ranking in Google, are, in fact, pages designed to funnel visitors into the actual usable portion of the site: Amazon is creating these pages so they’re indexable, and so they bring visitors to the actual product pages. These pages are also “substantially similar pages that are closer to search results”. They are, well, search results. Internal search results.
Let’s look at the Google Webmaster Guidelines: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/guidelines/thin-content
There is that actual page about thin content. Let’s see what they say:
Google will take action against domains that try to rank by just showing scraped or other cookie-cutter pages that don’t add substantial value to users.
Wait, what?!? Google will take action (as in give the domain a manual action penalty) against sites that “try to rank by just showing scraped or other cookie-cutter pages”. I don’t see how internal search results pages, literally millions of those pages, add substantial value to users. After all, users can just go search for that keyword at Amazon. And “try to rank”? Well, it’s not Amazon trying to rank: they’re actually ranking for these keywords.
Will Google actually take action against Amazon because they are getting their internal search engine results pages to rank in Google? I don’t know the answer to that. However, all I can do is point it out: and do my best to make sure that Googlers have a chance to see this.
Google Has Indexed Search Results Pages Before
It’s not like we haven’t dealt with this before. A while back, I wrote about Google indexing Bing’s search results pages in their search results. Once that came to light, and Google found out about it, Google promptly removed those search results from their search results. It happened back in 2019, and before that, it occurred in 2013.
As a searcher, or a user of the Google search engine, do you think that an internal search results page should rank well in the Google search engine results? Regardless of whether this is Amazon or not, what if it is another large retailer? Or even a small retailer? Does that provide a good user experience? I don’t think so.
In this nineteenth episode, WordPress’s Executive director, Josepha Haden Chomphosy, discusses and expresses gratitude for the inspiration behind the People of WordPress series, HeroPress.
Have a question you’d like answered? You can submit them to wpbriefing@wordpress.org, either written or as a voice recording.
Credits
References
People of WordPress series
HeroPress
HeroPress Network
WordPress 5.9 Development Cycle
Call for Team Rep Nomination
Transcript
Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:11
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the WordPress Briefing. The podcast where you can catch quick explanations of the ideas behind the WordPress open source project, some insight into the community that supports it, and get a small list of big things coming up in the next two weeks. I’m your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy. Here we go!
Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:29
The month of November includes the Thanksgiving holiday in my part of the world and in my familial traditions. And one of the things that November always brings up for me is the concept of gratitude. I have a gratitude practice that lasts throughout the year. But this time of year always kind of lets me look outside what makes me feel routinely grateful and explore areas that I don’t always notice.
Josepha Haden Chomphosy 01:05
This year, I’m taking some time to do that in the context of the WordPress project, and it’s reminded me of one of the foundational things I talk about a lot that may be a little harder for folks to see. I am routinely grateful, of course, for the people who show up to maintain WordPress, the people who keep the back office work going, the contributors who contribute directly to the WordPress CMS and project, the folks who routinely go out and tell other people about WordPress and make sure others know how to use it.
Josepha Haden Chomphosy 01:35
But there’s another group that I talk about a lot that is a little harder to grasp. And that’s this conceptual group of people whose lives have been changed by WordPress. I used to run into people like this all the time when I was organizing WordCamps. And the small but meaningful successes that they share year after year made me realize that my small contribution of organizing these events was really quite valuable; valuable to them, and I assumed also valuable to just other people in the WordPress project.
Josepha Haden Chomphosy 02:09
Now, if you’re contributing in a way that doesn’t let you have contact with the same users consistently over time, or if contributing doesn’t quite balance out in your ledger at the moment, it can be hard to put names to faces in a way that lets you see how your contributions are making an impact. To help with that, a few years ago, the WordPress project partnered with the community Marketing team and the HeroPress team to share the People of WordPress series which you can find monthly on wordpress.org/news. For me, this series provides a glimpse into the humanity of the people who use WordPress, and for me, that’s enough. If all the series ever did was to remind us that WordPress was made for people whose needs matter, that would be enough to continue to have that series forever. But fortunately, the series does quite a bit more than that.
Josepha Haden Chomphosy 03:04
The People of WordPress series also lifts up the stories of people who we don’t always hear from in technology. It highlights the wide array of origin stories that lead people to WordPress. It reminds us of the global nature of what we’re doing. It reconnects us to the hopefulness of our own first WordPress successes. And it draws a direct line to why we should care about refreshing the commons of this open ecosystem. I’m sure that there are more things that do as well. But those are just the things off the top of my head, we draw all of the people of WordPress stories that are inside that series directly from the HeroPress essays that have been submitted by users. And I was gonna say users like you in a kind of Reading Rainbow way. But I actually don’t know if any of you are everyday users who are also using WordPress but maybe not contributing yet. If you are then like I’m talking to you. And if you’re not, I’m probably still talking to you. Because all of these stories that go to HeroPress are very valuable and very important for us to know. Anyway, I digress.
Josepha Haden Chomphosy 04:14
Topher DeRosia, who founded HeroPress, is among the first people I met in the community lo these many years ago. And I think the impact that HeroPress has on the WordPress community as a whole is not always well recognized. So in the spirit of expanding the scope of my gratitude, and in the context of refreshing the commons, I would encourage you to head over to HeroPress.com and their newly launched HeroPress Network and see if there’s any little way that you can contribute to their commons, submitting your story donating to their network offering a small bit of volunteer time if you happen to have any spare time lying around. I know that the team would be delighted to hear from you.
Josepha Haden Chomphosy 05:01
That leads us now to our small list of big things. We are about a week away from the feature freeze for WordPress 5.9, the final release of the year. Feature freeze caused a little confusion last time. So I just want to clarify there won’t be a package released with this milestone. But no more enhancements or features will be worked on at that point. And bug fixing will become the primary focus. That will be on November 9, which I believe is next Tuesday. It’s definitely next week whenever the calendar turns to nine of November 2021. That’s the day that we’re going into feature freeze.
Josepha Haden Chomphosy 05:38
The second big thing in our small list of big things is that team rep nomination season is upon us. If you are a team rep or want to learn more about being one, now is the time to kind of look at what’s going on and how to keep everything moving in that way. I’ll include a link to the announcement post of that in the notes below.
Josepha Haden Chomphosy 05:57
And finally, Daylight Saving Time movements are also upon us. Some parts of the world are ending Daylight Saving Time others are starting it and some have already started or stopped that already. So no matter where you are, don’t forget to check and double-check the timing of things across time zones for the next few weeks.
Josepha Haden Chomphosy 06:21
And that is your small list of big things. Thank you for tuning in today for the WordPress Briefing. I’m your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy, and I’ll see you again in a couple of weeks.
When it comes to creating a great piece of web-based art, the details are what stand out. Lighting and shading effects are prime examples. They can turn a flat, 2D work into an immersive 3D experience.
For quite a while, the ability to add realistic light and shade to an illustration or animation seemed like the holy grail. The technology wasn’t always there. Thus, developers had to find workarounds to approximate the effect.
Thankfully, the power of CSS and various JavaScript libraries have ushered in a new age. It’s now possible to add lighting and shading effects that are nearly on par with what we see in video games.
Today, we’ll share some CSS and JavaScript code snippets that bring these effects to life. Enjoy!
Creativity Now✨(click anywhere) by Anna the Scavenger
Text seems like a natural place to add lighting and shading. But this example takes it to a whole other level. The creative makeup of each letter and cursor-following animation makes this a true work of art. It’s akin to a 3D mobile hanging from your ceiling. Even better: click on the presentation to create an entirely new look.
See the Pen Creativity Now✨(click anywhere) by Anna the Scavenger
Photo Tear by Steve Gardner
Place your cursor on one of the upper corners of a photo, then click-and-drag downwards. You’ll notice the image ripping apart. By itself, that’s a pretty cool effect. But what really sells it is the shading as the perspective shifts. The entire process feels very much authentic.
See the Pen Photo Tear by Steve Gardner
Platonics by Liam Egan
This 3D animation has a stunning liquid effect. A piece of metal twists and morphs its way into various objects. Realistic reflections make it all the more compelling to watch, thanks to WebGL.
See the Pen Platonics by Liam Egan
Beat Burger by Steve Gardner
Nothing like performing a huge drum solo in the spotlight. What? You’ve never been in a famous band? Maybe the next best thing is to play this virtual drumkit, made from a hamburger. You get the sounds, the spotlight and even the shadows. Just don’t get any grease on your new clothes.
See the Pen Beat Burger by Steve Gardner
Monochromatic Yoyo – Pure CSS by Josetxu
Here we have a slinky-like array of pure CSS squares. Their chain-reaction animation is further enhanced by the use of, you guessed it, lighting and shading. Gradients add the illusion of depth, while drop shadow moves along with each layer of the animation.
See the Pen Monochromatic Yoyo – Pure CSS by Josetxu
Art Gallery by isladjan
This virtual art installation is certainly abstract. It features a colorful blob that morphs as your cursor moves across the screen. Rays of light add a touch of realism. However, click on the “Light OFF” button and the entire presentation transforms into a particle explosion.
See the Pen Art Gallery by isladjan
SVG lighting shader by Artem Lvov
With clever implementation, the flashlight effect can be simply amazing. Here it’s used to illuminate a rocky surface. Thanks to SVG, the image looks ultra-realistic. Both the light and perspective shift along with your cursor. It also has the benefit of being safer than walking around in the woods after dark.
See the Pen SVG lighting shader by Artem Lvov
Pacman Concept by Ivan Juarez N.
This PAC-MAN inspired snippet brings the beloved video game into the 3D age. Ghosts travel through an illuminated cube, with sharp rays of light bursting through the maze. Once again, the cursor plays a role, as you can change the scene’s perspective by moving around.
See the Pen Pacman Concept by Ivan Juarez N.
Finishing Touches That Stand Out
It used to be that you needed high-end software to create convincing lighting and shading effects. But, thanks to the advancements in web technologies, similar enhancements can be achieved through code.
The ability to leverage hardware acceleration also plays a key role. Without the power of the graphics processing unit (GPU), these advanced scenes couldn’t run with such fluid motion.
Put together, the results can be stunning. And the examples above might only be scratching the surface of this potential.
Want to check out even more amazing 3D scenes? Visit our CodePen collection to get your fill!
The post 8 CSS & JavaScript Snippets for Creating Incredible Lighting & Shading Effects appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.
BuddyPress is a powerful, free plugin that adds community features to your WordPress website. Install it on your site, and you’ll have access to handy features like activity streams, user profiles, notifications, groups, and private messaging. But that’s just the base layer of what BuddyPress can do.
bbPress is a forums plugin that is often used in conjunction with BuddyPress. The forums are easy on the eyes, simple to use, and fit nicely with BuddyPress groups.
Extending BuddyPress and bbPress with plugins can bring even more functionality to make your site into a real online community hub. You might be surprised at some of the cool features you can easily add-in.
Here are 10 free plugins you can use to make BuddyPress and bbPress even better:
Free BuddyPress Plugins
Not only will BP Profile Search allow users to search member profiles, but it’s also a quick way to create a member directory. When it comes to search, you can build a custom form to meet your community’s needs. Directories are also easy to customize, with the ability to apply filters and create multiple member listings.
Add the power of collaborative documents to your community with BuddyPress Docs. Documents can be uploaded, assigned to specific users or groups, and edited on the front end of your site. There’s also a revision history and the ability to categorize/tag uploads.
BuddyPress has a default messaging system. But if you want to take things up a notch, BP Better Messages offers an improved user experience. It uses AJAX to power live chat, allows for file uploads and multimedia embeds. Messages can range from a private chat between two users or site-wide notifications.
BuddyPress Group Email Subscription helps keep group members informed of activity. There are five different notification levels members can choose from: No Email, Weekly Summary Email, Daily Digest Email, New Topics Email and All Email. If desired, admins can set a default notification level for users.
Spam bots can hit BuddyPress just like everything else on the internet. BuddyPress Registration Options helps squash spam registrations by allowing for moderation on new user accounts. Email notifications are sent when an administrator either approves or denies a new registrant. This plugin also works with bbPress.
Free bbPress Plugins
GD bbPress Attachments enables users to upload files to forum topics and replies. Administrators can control file size limits, the number of files that can be uploaded at once, and can change things up on a forum-by-forum basis.
Want to change up the look of your bbPress install? bbp Style Pack lets you change fonts, colors, and forum layouts. In addition, you can tweak emails, and add handy features such as an unread topics page. And that’s just the beginning. This plugin gives admins plenty of ways to make bbPress their own.
Take control of bbPress email notifications with bbPress Notify. Easily customize messages sent to users and choose who receives them. The plugin is developer-friendly, with lots of hooks and filters at your disposal.
GD bbPress Tools offers a suite of tweaks for your WordPress forums. Visual changes include the ability to disable breadcrumbs and advanced topic filtering. There’s also a collection of 30 shortcodes that make adding custom functionality a breeze. Unlock even more features with the pro version.
If you’re looking to limit your forums to a specific group of users, give Private Groups a try. The plugin allows administrators to restrict specific forums and topics. There’s a lot of flexibility here when it comes to user permissions – perfect for bbPress installs that need both public and private access. This is a great option for membership websites.
Build Your Community
The combination of BuddyPress and bbPress can help you build a bustling and productive online community. And, because they both take advantage of WordPress, they’re also very easy to use and customize to fit your needs. Experiment with them and see how they can benefit your WordPress website.
The post 10 Free WordPress Plugins for Extending BuddyPress and bbPress appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.
Package:
Summary:
Framework to develop after installation
Groups:
Author:
Description:
This package is a framework to develop after installation...
Read more at https://www.phpclasses.org/package/12272-PHP-Framework-to-develop-after-installation.html#2021-10-31-17:17:11
Package:
Summary:
Framework to develop after installation
Groups:
Author:
Description:
This package is a framework to develop after installation...
Read more at https://www.phpclasses.org/package/12272-PHP-Framework-to-develop-after-installation.html#2021-10-31-17:17:11
