All Graphic Design Portal is a directory of resources, articles, & design education links for graphic designers & web designers including a design forum, blog, & directory.
Take a look at these creative templates for brochures, flyers, newsletters, stationery, postcards, ads, menus and posters for a variety of businesses. If you're faced with time limitations, budget constraints or simply need new creative ideas, let these designs do the work.
Should You Do Work on Spec? - It starts off simple enough. A prospective client calls and says, “Show us a few mock up ideas and we’ll pick which one we like.”
Making A Great Second Impression This "extra mile" service will be way beyondwhat they expected and it will build a powerful business for
you.
Customers: The Key To Successful Marketing - What is the primary reason your customers or clients come to you? Or purchase your product or service? What is the Number One problem you solve for them? Do you know? Are you certain? If you don't, your marketing could be missing the mark, and you could be missing out on sales.
Stepping Into Your Client’s Shoes - You could be losing tons of customers simply because your website is not up to par with today’s standards and does not properly deliver the valuable sales information that potential customers are looking for.
Freelancing Writing: When Going Overboard Can Cost You a Client - As editorial professionals, our jobs are to make documents as perfect as possible when it comes to editing, copyediting, writing, etc. However, going overboard can cost you a client, even if your changes are absolutely correct.
Difficult People - How To Deal With Them - These notes are primarily designed to help deal with difficult people when we have made a mistake. We often have to deal with other people where we have not made a mistake however the people we're dealing with often prove to be difficult and unwilling to accept what we say.
10 Tips For Long Term Client Retention - Attracting and retaining long-term clients is a powerful strategy for growing your business. Long-term clients are likely to feel more satisfied, are more likely to refer others, and are more likely to purchase additional services from you. The savvy solo professional or small business owner gains big from focusing on these 10 sound strategies for long term client retention.
Caring for Your Customers - I have many philosophies when dealing with customers, but I definitely do not believe that the customer is always right. However, when the customer is wrong, you must handle the situation delicately.
A Happy Professional Chooses Clients - Many professionals do not refuse clients out of fear of losing money. However, there is another side to the coin -- the high price of the negative effect of accepting everyone who walks in the door.
Eight Questions to Ask a Potential Client: Closing B2B SalesWhen someone interested in your product or service contacts you, closing the sale should be easy, right? They’re interested. They took the initiative. But all too often, for some reason, the sale falls through.
Building A Business Relationship - Since the majority of your business transactions are online, you’re not out meeting people one-on-one developing business relationships. So you need to focus on building these relationships via the Internet. You need to communicate and establish trust with your customers or business associates, as it is a vital step to your business success.
Mastering Getting And Using Testimonials - Perhaps no single element can perk up the response rate on a web page more than hard-hitting, credible testimonials. They work because somebody other than the seller is telling prospects how great, and useful the product is.
How to Convert Prospects into Paying Customers Getting lots of enquiries from potential customers is great. It means that you are well known in your chosen market. But all this popularity won’t do you much good if it doesn’t generate sales.
How To Get the Right Clients and Avoid the Wrong Ones - If you are like most service professionals and small business owners one of your primary concerns is generating as many leads as possible. And that may be your biggest mistake, resulting in wasting time on unqualified prospects and working with to many clients you wish you didn't have to.
Words Your Customers Want to Hear and They Aren't - There is a different feeling in the air and I look forward to September like a "New Year's" day. Starting fresh, having an open mind and ready to take on new and exciting challenges. I hope you feel like that in your business. If you do, sharpen your pencils and let's look at a grammar lesson that could help you increase your business by just using a few extra words when you speak to your customers.
The Top 10 Ways of Thinking That Will Get You New Clients - Once you adopt a certain MINDSET, you begin attracting new clients. The following will help you develop and sustain the mindset that will have you consistently filling your practice or business with new clients.
What Do Your Customers Really Want? Ask Your Competition Many marketing pieces such as brochures, sales letters, or Web sites include testimonials. I’ve found over the years that this is an untapped source for “customer intelligence.”
Losing Angry Customers - This article offers five ways to help you deal with angry customers.
10 Ways to Attract Higher Paying Clients Some people have little difficulty attracting and maintaining clients who have higher discretionary funds to spend for solutions. Others can't get to first base.
Communicate The Problem...Get The Client Positioning revolves around your core marketing message that clearly states who you work with, what problems you solve, what solutions you provide, what benefits you offer, what results you produce, what guarantee you give and what is unique and special about your particular service.
Knowing Your Customers; Closing the Sale Just because your business is based in your home that doesn't mean you can afford to ignore the most important element of your success: sales.
Get The Inside Scoop on Your CompetitionReplacing the simple decoder badge is the Internet: a powerful tool in our discovery of competitor information. Using the simple four-step system outlined in this article, you'll use your detective skills to uncover bits and pieces of vital details
How To Fire a Customer It must be Tax Season. How do I know? I'm swamped with work. And I just fired a client. Again.
Dealing with Disgruntled Customers Unhappy customers who receive satisfaction can become your biggest allies. The trick, of course, is discovering how to satisfy their needs so efficiently that they'll forget whatever caused their disappointment in the first place.
Bridging the Chasm from Lead to Loyal Customer It is as ludicrous to expect a potential customer to reach a purchase decision in one step as it would be to expect a Mount Everest adventurer to cross a chasm in one step. So how can you begin to move your potential customers across the purchase chasm?
How To Know Your Customers In and Out It is common knowledge that customers are the lifeblood of businesses. Let's face it, if you don't have customers, you don't have a business.
Your Ideal Client - Have you ever had a client/customer that was more trouble than they were worth? Whatever the situation, chances are you had an inkling when you first met that client...a tiny voice that you didn't listen to, that was probably overshadowed by the bigger voice that said, "Hey, it's business; I'll take it!"
How to Get Your Customers to Respond to Your E-Campaign If you've ever done an e-campaign and received no response, maybe you overlooked one of the top four elements: timeliness, consistency, benefits and a call to action.
8 Building Blocks to Attracting CustomersAre you frustrated by the lack of return from your promotional efforts? It may be that your plan for attracting customers is built on a foundation of sand.
How To Handle Criticism- The inevitable criticisms that come with the prestige of being called an author could very well be thought as an author's worse nightmare.
Finding Freelance Customers (About.com)Now it's time to share
with you how Judy Litt of About.com gets her customers
10 Steps to Your Next Freelance Client - OK, so you've pounded the streets, knocked on doors, and schmoozed 'til you're blue in the face... and it's finally paid off! You've landed a meeting with a potential freelance client! You polish up your folio, practice your hand-shake and iron a shirt. But one question remains: what will you actually do in the meeting?
Netting Your First Freelance Clients - I've often looked back and wondered how I've made it this far. It's not that I'm a Web superstar -- not by any stretch -- but I can't imagine how I survived the impossible world of being a part-time designer just starting out and looking for his first few clients.
Save Time and Money by Finding Freelance Clients Near Home - If you are seeking clients, you will want to approach businesses in your
community. Most people living within city boundaries will have virtually an
unlimited number of businesses within a mile of their home
How to Find Freelance Clients - In truth, there is no one answer because clients can come from many directions.
One of the advantages that we (and many small companies like us) have is that we
perform many services, and that provides us with a variety of "ins" with clients.
Finding Freelance Cleints - In most cases, at least ten percent of a freelancer's time must be spent drumming up new business. This doesn't require a wildly extrovert personality suited for cold-calling (if it did, I couldn't hack it). But it does require a proper respect for the "numbers game." This means not grumbling when you send out only one or two resumes/emails and don't hear back.
How to Build Your Freelance Clientbase - Virtually every entrepreneur can relate to the challenge of getting your first
paying client, myself included. We each start a business with acquired skills,
carefully honed talents and impassioned enthusiasm for what we have to offer.
Unfortunately, we also start with a lack of references or a proven track record
of business success, which is an ever-increasing requirement of potential new
clients. So the proverbial Catch 22 prevails: You can’t offer references if you don’t have clients; and you can’t get new clients without references.
Freelance Client Background Essentials - Every client relationship your company creates is incredibly valuable -- each has the potential to grow into a long-lasting revenue source.
Freelancers - Our Favorite Way of Finding Clients - We consider the most fun way to find clients is the cheapest, easiest, and least
time consuming method. We simply look for local business web sites and then
contact the owners of those sites that look like they did it themselves or had
nephew Joe do it because Aunt Mary wants to justify the cost of buying him a
computer.
How to Build a Strong Relationship with Your Customers - A Guide to Customer Relationships for Freelancers & Self EmployedOne of the best ways to run a good business as well as keep the clients which you currently have is to build a strong relationship with your clients. Everyone likes to feel appreciated and this is true for those who have a business relationship. The clients want to feel as if they matter to the business owner as they are part of the reason why the business is still in existence. There are a few ways for business owners to build a strong relationship with their customers as doing so will not only maintain their client base but possibly expand it as well through recommendations.
A complete, secure, online billing application that maintains hourly service billing, flat fee billing and recurring charges. Integration with Authorize.Net and other leading payment gateways provides hands-free recurring billing with a sophisticated CRM system.
If you feel like you are just going through the motions, and that you have no idea whether or not you are running your business properly, then you will be happy to know that there are many free small business courses, workshops, and seminars online. Below you will find a large list of these free educational courses.
A freelancer developing an effective marketing plan must have the right tools to foster success in business. The following list contains several links of marketing plan tools to produce a successful business.
A solid, well-prepared marketing strategy is the foundation of success in business. The freelancer or any type of business owner must become informed on the development of an effective marketing plan. The following links will focus on marketing plan articles for the freelancer to have a successful business.
In any type of the business including those people that perform freelance work, the proper tools are necessary to become a success. The following links consist of selected online tools for the freelancer to develop an effective business plan.
Business plans are necessary in all types of businesses … and this also includes freelancers. Writing an effective business plan will help you plan out the success of your future business. Factors such as customer base, profit potential, as well as many other factors will be placed in this document. The business plan will help you, the freelancer, think through every aspect of your future successful business. We found the following business plan articles to be very helpful and we hope that you will find them to be useful too.
A freelancer’s time is precious and he/she must follow precise tasks to maintain productive performance and income. The following link list will examine useful online tools that will keep the freelancer in a productive manner. The following list is a list of To-Do Lists and Task Management Lists tools and software.
In a previous list, the freelancer was presented with a list of tools for creating invoices. The following links will present the manner and methods in which to develop a proper invoice for the freelancer of any business type. With the following helpful guides and tutorials, you as a consultant will understand the steps that you will need to take in order to invoice your customers properly.
The Invoice is an important part of any type of business out there, including for the freelancer as well. The basic definition of an invoice is a detailed list of goods shipped or services rendered with an accounting of all costs included in the document. As a freelancer, we might not feel comfortable dealing with invoices or money in general. The links below offer a vast variety of online invoicing and billing tools for the freelancer in all business types.
Helpful hints and tips to overcome the dreaded White Page Syndrome - There is probably nothing more dreadful and problematic for a writer than not being able to get going, being stuck on a menacingly white page. Many a time, one or more writing assignment make us feel like Jack Nicholson in “The Shining”; one step shy of freezing to death in a haunted hedge maze. Once the choke has started its nefarious effect, it becomes quicksand, drowning us further and further into an inability to come up with something to properly put down on paper.
In the world of freelance, customer referrals are everything. The amount of customer referrals will often determine how successful one’s business can really be. As word spreads quickly, having customers refer others to you and your services is a wonderful way of gaining new business and making more money. There are a few distinct ways to get more customer referrals for your business.
A complete, secure, online billing application that maintains hourly service billing, flat fee billing and recurring charges. Integration with Authorize.Net and other leading payment gateways provides hands-free recurring billing with a sophisticated CRM system.
Browse through our extensive list of free Business, Computer, Engineering and Trade magazines, white papers, downloads and podcasts to find the titles that best match your skills and interests; topics include management, marketing, operations, sales, & technology. Simply complete the application form and submit it. All are absolutely free to freelance professionals who qualify.
The followup to Brendan Sinclairs successful Web Design Business kit is a comprehensive look at all the business aspects of working as a web designer. It's thorough and has some excellent advice in it.
All Graphic Design Portal is a directory of resources, articles, & design education links for graphic designers & web designers including a design forum, blog, & directory. 
Billing Orchard's Invoicing for Freelancers
