Web Worker Daily

From our hardware and software, to our telecom subscriptions, there are many aspects of our web working lives that may require us to contact tech support at some point; sometimes you can’t be your own tech support. Since I have many friends that work as tech support agents, I hear many stories about customers who make the problem worse or blame everything on the agent. Frustrating as it may be sometimes, resolving a tech issue works both ways. The support staff has to provide you with solutions, but at the same time, you need to make it easy for them to do so. Here are some tips on how you can do that: Read the rest of this entry »

Including free or “freemium” elements in online software and products has become the norm. There are several existing discussions about this business model, some questioning its effects on the industry, others touting its success. Whatever opinion you may have, freemium is the model commonly adopted by web app software startups. In fact, most of their users probably expect it.

This trend is not exclusive to web app startups, however. Even freelancers seem to apply some aspects of this model to their services. Let’s take a look at how it’s done and how to make it pay off. Read the rest of this entry »

Web working seems to blur the lines separating our professional and family lives. If you work from home, it’s common to find yourself switching back and forth from work to household tasks throughout the day. This isn’t an issue if your only problem with work-home balance is a growing pile of dirty laundry. But if you’re not eating well, your work tends to suffer. When that happens, you might be forced to exert some extra effort at work, which gives you less time to cook — turning into a vicious cycle.

The good news is that there are ways to break that cycle.

Read the rest of this entry »

When a friend of mine heard that I was teleworking, she said “I can’t imagine doing my work without my boss watching my back. What motivates you to get anything done?”

I paused for a second, then replied, “I love doing it.”

Fast forward to a few hours later — one of my hosting accounts crashed, a delinquent client’s bill was two weeks overdue, and I received a long line of harsh comments on one of my blog posts post. Remembering what I said about loving my work, I felt tempted to take it back.

How do we stay motivated when crises come to us in groups? Or, to address a broader issue, how do we find the motivation to get things done when we’re feeling stuck? Read the rest of this entry »

During the past month, I’ve been busy redecorating and rearranging my home office. I spend most of my time there after all, so it needs to be conducive to productivity. For all my planning, there seems to be an aspect of my home office that I’ve largely ignored — the lighting. Read the rest of this entry »

Soon after I clicked the “Publish” button on my blog dashboard, I realized I had made a mistake.

I’d read my post through three times before hitting that button, but somehow missed adding a crucial word — the word “don’t”. Inadvertently, I had told my readers that they “have to sacrifice too much to lessen their cost of living,” . Furthermore, two of the hyperlinks I had added were broken.

I am a sloppy self‑editor, mostly because I am forgetful. I realized it was time to create a standard checklist to remind myself of all the steps I have to take before clicking “Publish”.

Since creating this checklist, I’ve made fewer mistakes and I haven’t had another “oops” moment. I created a similar list for my fiction, too. Anyone who does creative work should have a similar checklist to ensure that their projects are polished before submitting them. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s become almost commonplace to consider teleworking as a career move. From companies wanting to reduce costs to individuals looking for alternative income streams, there’s no shortage of people interested in this option. But no matter how easy it looks on paper, successful teleworking takes time and effort to establish. This is especially true if you have personal characteristics that might make it harder for you to telework.

What traits should you watch out for and how do you overcome them? Read the rest of this entry »

For any web worker with a blog, web site or online portfolio, knowing how to optimize it for search engines is a must. After all, what’s the point of having an online presence if no one can find it? By using some simple Search Engine Optimizations (SEO) techniques on your web site, you can increase the chances that your target visitors will find it through Yahoo, Google and other search engines.

In this post, I’ll discuss some basic SEO techniques and how to apply them. Read the rest of this entry »