Over the month of February, I asked all my regular readers to help me build a better website by telling me how I could improve my website or pointing me to better articles, I have to say honestly that I was overwhelmed by the feedback. Many of you send me private emails with great resources and I want to say thanks to everybody who contact me. As a prize to the best contributions (which I have to admit I randomly selected because everybody was so helpful) the fine people over at Marketcircle agreed to give away three copies of Billings, the most awesome time management and invoicing software for Macintosh.
Billings 3 isn’t about accounting, it’s a time management tool for designers which feels more like an extension of the Mac OS than an account tool. The interface is easy to learn and uses standard iTunes style drag and drop functionality. In fact, the tool appears to be built from the ground up to take advantage of the Mac OS by integrating directly into Mail and Address Book.
The software comes complete with some stunning templates to make your invoicing less about accounting and more about your companies image, which of course is important to any designer. There are around 30 templates to choose from or you can use the invoice designer to create a unique theme for your business.
Sending an invoice is as simple as clicking the button, Billings will then ask you if you’d like to print the invoice, save it to PDF or automatically open Apple Mail to email the invoice to your client.
Improved Wordflow
What’s unique about this particular package is the integration between client management, estimates and invoicing. A typical work cycle for a project outside of Billings involves me tracking most things on paper or spread sheets, leaving dozens of emails marked unread to indicate which tasks have yet to be accomplished but with Billings, I simplify the process using the following steps:
Create a New Client
Using the Mac OS, Billings shares details
Before I can send an estimate to a client, I need to create them as a client but there’s no clunky copy and paste with Billings I simply right click the client’s name in Email and add then to the Address Book. Once the new client is in my Mac OS address book, I import them into Billings. That way, if I change their details in one application (Mail, MS Office, Billings etc) their details are automatically changed in Billings.
Create an Estimate
Now that my new client is in Billings, I can create a quote using the internal quote tool pictured here. Billings allows me to set my overall billing rate for all clients as well as specify my rate per client and per project. Another benefit is that it allows me to quickly offer my client a discount or if they deserve a PITA (pain in the ass) tax I can quickly do it here.
The quote also allows me to set taxes for individual clients or projects, set this specific quote to be billable or “for my eyes only” which allows me to track time regardless of if clients see the final bill or not.
The resulting estimate is automatically formated and transfered to my email application so that I can easily customize my message and send it off to the client.
Working on the Project
Once my client has accepted the estimate, I can begin the project by clicking a simple iTunes style button labeled Start Working. Pretty complicated so far right? It gets better.
Each job is controlled by a series of timers, you can have as many timers as you’d like per job or you can add fixed rate items such as hosting or domain name registrations to the final tally. Timers are used to calculate actual time on the project and can be set to round to the nearest minute or time interval. If I get up to run an errand and leave the timer running, Billings automatically stops the timer and prompts me to deduct the time I was away from the computer.
Once I’ve completed each timer, I accept the charges or choose to mark the time as non billable, which allows me to track a lot more than my client ever knows and improve my billing capacity down the road. Dr. Michael Markovitz, the CEO of Yorkville University once told me that without data you can’t run a business, that’s sound advice for running a multi million dollar company or a small consulting team.
Invoicing the client
Now the fun part, sending the bill … it’s actually a snap with the built in One Click Billing system. Basically, you click the button and send the bill by email or printing it out.
The same system works for generating monthly statements or reports and it’s this simplicity that has done a few things for my small business:
- Now I know how much time tasks take
- I can produce estimates faster than other designers
- My estimates are based on information, not hopeful projections
- I can track outstanding tasks and complete assignments in a timely manner
- My invoicing is stream lined
- My mortgage is paid.
Frankly, I think that last one is very important but more importantly for me is that because Billings makes my life easier, I can focus on what matters … getting jobs done and spending time with my family instead of fighting with other billing software.
Reporting Tools
What I actually love about Billings is that it tells me what I need to know in simple, easy to understand language such as the brilliantly named Billed & Collected report displayed here.
It tells me what I billed and what I collected. Brilliant.
Other reports let me quickly see who still owes me money, which accounts have retainers applied and who’s accounts are behind schedule or are costing me more money per project or task.
You can download a copy of Billings on a 21 day trial to see for yourself.
Mar
2009
25 Things to Do to Increase Your Website Traffic Right Now
Everybody wants to be successful on the Internet right? Of course we do, nobody want’s to be sitting at home on prom night especially when there’s money involved so how do we do it? Well, here’s a list of 25 things you can do right now to increase your website traffic …
Make Your Content Accessible
Use the SEO Checker I built to see what Google can see. This tool will also help you understand what visually impaired people in your community can see … they make up almost 10% of the population, so can you really afford to only appeal to 90% of the market?
Use Valid xHTML Markup
xHTML is the language web pages should be built in. If you write your page in sloppy code, it’ll be harder for web browsers to display it properly so just like a Word document, you have to save it in the right format for your audience to read it.
Translate Your Content
thisismyurl.com is available in 20 languages, 40% of my traffic comes from outside the US and Canada and is viewed in a language other than English using a free online translation service, I know it’s flawed but it’s the best I can offer and people learn from my postings.
Understand Keywords
Keywords are the heart and soul of the Internet, they’re like fresh pasta in Italian cooking or eye shadow to drag queens … if you don’t understand the value and application of keywords, get off the Internet.
Build Relationships with Other Websites
Almost half my traffic comes from Google, the other half? Came from other websites and referrals from great people that I taught something to and in turn taught me a lot.
Add a Google Sitemap
Google want’s nothing more than to know about you, it’s the companies only goal in the universe, so help them to help you.
Help People
Speaking of helping, help people. When you see a website with an error or run into a problem on a site, let them know. If you can fix a glitch, tell them how … I’ve picked up countless readers and sources of inspiration by simply being supportive.
Use Analytics
Back to Google for a second, they have a tool called Google Analytics. It’s free, it’s powerful and it’ll help you understand your audience.
Join Social Networking Sites
Websites like LinkedIn and Facebook are powerful tools to help people. Helping people leads to trust, trust leads to prospects and prospects lead to clients.
Add Fresh Content
Ask yourself, why do people come back to your boring old stale content? They don’t. If you ran a restaurant you’d have daily specials right? Well I think running a restaurant is easier than running a website, so make sure you have fresh content served daily.
Know Who’s Better Than You
There are a lot of web sites out there that are better than me:
Know who’s better than you and read them every day. The best way to learn is to know you need to learn. (btw, if you didn’t make the list don’t be sad I have hundreds of sites I read every week, these are just the first ones I though of)
Respond to Criticism
There’s a lot of things that I write on my blog that are not as well researched as they could be, and when I’m corrected I love it. You’ll notice if you pan through my comments that I don’t remove the negative … in fact I relish them. If people take the time to point out your flaws, thank them and you’ll grow.
Write Good Content
The best way to build traffic to your website? Make people want to come back. It’s harder to get new visitors than to keep your old ones.
Be Timely
Write about things that you know will be timely but don’t chase trends, it’s not relevant what others are writing about … only what your readers are reading about.
Get to Know Yourself
The past five months of blogging have taught me a lot about myself, I look back at some of the early pieces I wrote and know that I’ve changed. That’s part of what blogging is, it’s about growing not only as a business but also as a person and learning new things.
Make your Title Tag Valuable
Your title tag is a critical piece of the organic marketing puzzle, if you don’t understand how or why to use it properly … excuse my french but vous êtes vissé.
Add an RSS Feed
I don’t care what type of business you are … if you can add an RSS feed to your web site do it! Let people know what you’re up to if they want to know. Same goes for Twitter, use it to exploit your interests.
Give Stuff Away For Free
I love giving things away for free. I have website templates, plugins and artwork people can download for free as well as over 600 pages of advice here on my website. Guess what? It cost me nothing and it put me on Alexa’s radar without having to do anything complicated.
Respect Your Audience
There’s only one thing more important then you on your website, your audience. Take time to get to know them and help them.
Know Your Goals
Why do you own a website? You’d be surprised how many people have no idea why they want to run a website … it’s a little sad really.
Use a Content Manager
Websites that are build on a content management system (I use WordPress) make it easier for people to update their websites. Websites that are updated more often get more traffic.
Read Matt’s Articles
Matt Cutts is Google. Actually he’s not but he’s the face of Google, the man who talks to all of us and tells us what Google is thinking, explains what they’re up to and helps lowly web masters to interact better. His job … to help the public make the most of Google, so why don’t you read his blog?
Join Forums
Forums are a great place to generate free traffic to your blog. They help you build relationships with other bloggers, build respect in the community and get into endless conversations about topics that interest you.
Comment on Other Websites
One of the most overlooked methods for building traffic to your website is to simply comment on other peoples websites. Remember my point about helping others? Point out flaws or add to the conversation and you’ll be generating great traffic back to your website.
Analyze and Adapt
Finally … the most important point … look at your analytics often and improve your website to help your audience make the most of your content.
Tags: advice, analytics, blog, building, comment, content management system, content manager, Facebook, forums, google analytics, html, Learning, lorelle, matt cutts, organic marketing, Plugins, search, templates, translate, web browsers, web master, web masters, WordPress
Posted in Marketing Advice