Web Worker Daily

It’s a great time to be a web worker. Almost every day, a new site, service or product comes on the scene that promises to make our work more efficient (or more fun). Some areas, like project management or image editing, are crowded with options. And in order to gain a following, many services are being offered inexpensively or at no cost.

But as Paisano wrote recently, current conditions won’t last forever. Many sites will eventually become fee-based; others will shut down when their funding runs out, or when their owners decide to move in a different direction.

So when I evaluate a product that I’d like to incorporate into my company’s workflow — especially a product that will be visible to clients — I try to consider the product’s feature set, along with the issues raised in Judi’s 2007 WWD post. I also ask the following questions: Read the rest of this entry »

Apart from being a blogger, I also dabble in comics and illustration.  My friends from college where I was majoring in Fine Arts want to band together and start an illustration studio early next year.  This leads me to wonder whether I’m ready to start another freelance endeavor.

I’m not the only freelancer who faces this kind of situation.  Freelancers are used to wearing different hats and providing a variety of services.  Odds are, you needed to do a bit of SEO on your own site.  Or you had to design your own site early in your career when you were low on capital.  The diverse tasks we need to accomplish often lead us to learning new skills which may be applied professionally.

But if you’ve designed a website that converts well, or started an SEO campaign that makes your site the first in a long line of search engine results, does that mean you should be a professional web designer or an SEO consultant?  To answer this big question, you need to ask yourself five simpler questions first.

Read the rest of this entry »