Ask any freelancer what it’s like getting work through Upwork and you’ll likely find two very different answers. There will be those who enthuse about how easy it is to get new clients, and there will be many more who claim that clients don’t ever read proposals, that getting work is almost impossible and that there are thousands of people competing for every job – and so what’s the point?

The problem is though that for the second type of person, the numbers aren’t in their favor. Yes, there are well over 12 million freelancers who are using Upwork right now, either as their primary income or to supplement their income, but there are also more than 3 million jobs posted every single year.

Work out the math and that means that there are, on average, only 4 freelancers for every job. Of course, some jobs will attract a great number of applicants, but equally, there will be jobs where the number of suitable applicants is very low.

So if you find yourself struggling to gain clients through Upwork, or you’re just starting out and want to learn how to be successful within the platform, here’s everything you need to know about writing an Upwork proposal that will get you shortlisted way more than average.

What is an Upwork Proposal?

You can think of an Upwork proposal as a little like an application letter for a job you’re interested in. It’s your chance to connect with the client, and hopefully establish enough of a connection that they’ll be interested in taking your application to the next stage.

Just like a cover letter, an Upwork proposal should be a short, snappy way of getting attention. It’s not your life story, or a long speech about how much of an amazing person you are, and how lucky any future client would be to have the opportunity to experience your magnificence.

It’s your opportunity to make a first impression. To catch their eye. To spark an interest in what you have to offer.

And it’s astonishing how so many people get it so wrong.

First impressions count, and an Upwork proposal is exactly that – a first impression. It seems that many freelancers imagine a client seeing a proposal and immediately dashing off to look up the applicant’s profile, work through all of that, maybe even look for their autobiography on Amazon, or search social media to learn more about their amazing life. 

Clients don’t do that. Any of that.

The truth is that most clients don’t even read proposals. At least not all of them. They don’t have to.

Because so many freelancers make classic mistakes, rendering their proposal destined for the trash pile before the client has even taken more than a casual glance.

But while some freelancers know about these classic mistakes, and take care not to make them, they instead make entirely different mistakes, unaware of certain points which can doom an Upwork proposal almost as quickly.

So let’s look at the mistakes people make, and provide a comprehensive look at effective Upwork proposal tips that will get you shortlisted.

1. Speed Is Good, Except When It Isn’t

Many clients start browsing through proposals as soon as they start coming in. It may be that they’ve more or less created their shortlist within the first day or so of the listing going live.

When browsing work opportunities on Upwork it’s always worth looking at those listings which are fairly new. Making sure you get your proposal in quickly will be key.

Think of it this way. If you’re at a party and there are only about 3 or 4 other people there for the first half-hour, you’ll get to know them better. You’ll remember their names and something about them. Over the next few hours, more and more people arrive, and you’ll meet some of them, some you’ll just see briefly but have nothing really in common with them, and by the end of the party, you’ve all but forgotten most of the people you met, or at least, most things about them.

Except for the first few you had more time to get to know.

If a client receives 3 or 4 proposals on the first day, they may well have time to look at them closely, and then go away and think about them. But if, over the next week, another three dozen arrive, then they’ll be very much quicker in dismissing any that don’t immediately grab their attention.

So speed is good. And we recommend checking Upwork at least once a day, if not more, to make sure you see new listings as soon as they arrive.

But sometimes speed is not the best tactic.

There are two ways in which people trip up badly on the whole idea of getting an application in quickly. Because there are three ways you can do this, and two of them are disastrous.

The first mistake people make is to complete the ever-so-tempting template provided by Upwork. This is sheer laziness and will do everything to ensure your proposal completely fails to stand out. No originality, no individuality, no effort. Not a great first impression.

The second mistake people make is very similar. They may not use Upwork’s templates, but they do reuse their own. Perhaps they’ve spent considerable time and effort making the perfect proposal, and now send it off to every single client, perhaps taking a brief moment to at least change the name of the client at the top! Again, this will certainly send completely the wrong message to the client.

The third approach is the best one. It may take more effort and more time, but since the purpose of the process is to connect with a client, this is certainly the most effective way to get yourself shortlisted.

Read the job description carefully, and write a proposal specifically for that client. You may have a crib sheet of relevant facts and information, but be prepared to ignore some of this, and filter down to the core points which are uniquely relevant to that one job. Make it personal, and make it clear that you have taken the time to read the job description, and understand their needs.

2. Keep It Short

Clients aren’t wanting your life history. If they wanted that, they’d go to a bookshop and buy your autobiography. They neither have the time nor the inclination to learn your entire life journey detailing how you arrived at this precise point in your life ready to take the inevitable step of fulfilling their needs.

Many clients automatically ignore lengthy proposals. They just don’t have the time, and frankly, if you can’t get to the point quickly in your proposal, what on earth would you be like to work with?

So keep your proposal under 500 words. Yes, it might hurt. Yes, there will be plenty about you you’ll need to leave out. But if you want clients to actually pick up and read your proposal, you stand a far better chance if it’s short and to the point. It still needs to say everything it has to, but not at the risk of becoming a paperback.

3. Use The 3-Point Structure

Your Upwork proposal needs to have three main parts:

The Acknowledgement

Right from the start, you need to make it clear that you understand the client’s problem or need. Identify their problem and make it clear you understand it. Don’t just quote from the job description – explain it your way.

The Evidence

Now you’ve made it clear you understand the client’s specific problem or need, provide them with the evidence of your expertise and experience that makes you the ideal person to be able to address those needs. Don’t just describe every previous job, but pick out examples that are relevant to the client’s needs, and show them how you have been able to successfully address similar needs or solve similar problems previously.

The CTA

At the end of the proposal make sure you include a call to action. This could be an invitation to discuss the job or their needs in more detail, perhaps over the telephone or even virtually using Google Meet, Teams, or Zoom.

4. Make It Personal

Sometimes the job description includes the client’s name, but not often. But if you take a look at the client’s reviews you will frequently find that previous people who have worked with them have used their names in their reviews.

This makes sense because once you have been offered the job, you’ll be communicating directly with the client and using names in emails or messages. Using the client’s name in a review is then quite a natural thing to do, but by taking the time to go and check the reviews for this piece of information you will certainly make sure your proposal stands out.

If you address the client by name, even when they haven’t included their name in the job description, you’ll quickly and easily demonstrate that this is not a template and that you have taken the time and trouble to do some research on the business. 

In fact, it will only have taken a few moments, but it can still seem very striking, and making your proposal more personal will certainly increase your chances of being shortlisted for the position.

5. Read The ENTIRE Job Description (To Find The Secret Word!)

Quite a number of clients can be very sneaky! They obviously want to make sure that they only receive applications from people who are suited to the job, and the best way of making sure applicants are suited is to make sure they read the job description fully.

But so many people just skim read and don’t read everything. In part, this is understandable because many of the jobs people are applying for are similar. But to assume that ‘similar’ means ‘identical’, and to fire off proposals that are identical is to potentially waste the client’s time, and completely scupper any chance of getting your proposal shortlisted.

So to combat this many clients have begun including secret instructions buried within the job description. If you only glance at the description or skim-read through bits of it, there’s a high chance you’ll miss the secret word or instruction, and this will be immediately obvious to the client.

For example, the client might include instructions such as:

• Write your name and address in capital letters.
• Mention the secret word ‘blancmange’.
• Make the first line of your proposal the job title.

It then becomes easy for the client to scan through proposals, and ditch any that don’t have the applicant’s name and address in capitals, or is missing the job title on the top line, or that don’t contain the word ‘blancmange’ (a quick Ctrl + F will quickly identify any omissions!).

Since many people do skim read or glance at the first few sections of a job description before applying, you can significantly improve your chances of having your Upwork proposal shortlisted by simply reading the whole of the description very carefully, and making a note of any ‘secret’ instructions like these.

But you can take this a step further. Although we don’t recommend being witty or entertaining, certain subtle humor can be allowed if the client has asked for a code word to be included, and that word is unusual, such as in our example – blancmange.

So for example, your opening line could include a reference to this word in a slightly humorous way. Don’t overdo it, but it certainly will make sure the client is fully aware that you have not just read the description fully, but that you understand it well too.

It’s important to strike a balance between being overly witty, and professionally dull. Try to make sure the client sees the human connection and doesn’t just feel as though your proposal is simply another automated copy-and-paste job that has taken the computer more time to process than the human.

6. Include A Free Tip

It’s important that you make it very clear in your Upwork proposal that you are the perfect candidate for the job, and that you understand their needs and are able to bring the solutions they are after.

One way in which you can achieve this is by including a tip in your proposal. It’s important to be careful here as you don’t want to come across as patronizing, but you might for example include a comment such as:

“I notice that you are currently using reCAPTCHA on your website to help prevent spam, which is certainly highly important. But I tend to recommend the hCaptcha alternative as this has a greater focus on user privacy, and can be set so that visitors needn’t be presented with image-based challenges as often.”

This has a double advantage, in that you are clearly showing your relevant industry knowledge, but at the same time demonstrating that you have spent time researching their business thoroughly already, showing commitment and professionalism.

7. Avoid The “Me, Me, & More Me” Trap

All too often clients receive Upwork proposals which read more like autobiographies. It’s an extremely easy trap to fall into, because as someone looking to secure a client, you are naturally going to tend towards talking about you, your achievements, your qualifications, your experience, your goals, and so on.

But this approach is not effective. In fact, it’s often a reason why proposals don’t get shortlisted.

The thing is that for any job or contract it is never about just one half of the deal. You might have fourteen degrees, 250 years’ professional experience, and the ability to time travel. But if none of that is of any direct relevance to the job itself, then the client is going to choose another candidate.

After all, you wouldn’t hire a plumber, no matter how qualified and experienced, to rewire your home, just as you wouldn’t get even the most qualified and experienced electrician to fix your leaking toilet.

So when completing your Upwork proposal you need to think about the client’s perspective. What is it that they are needing? How do you have the skills or experience to address that need?

Instead of writing this:

“I am a published writer who can write in 7 different languages and produce 10,000 words a day”

Say something like:

“I understand that your business needs somebody to produce high-quality SEO content for their blog. I believe that my experience as a blog writer at Blogs’Я’Us for 7 years’, during which referrals from Google increased by 2,500%, helps to demonstrate my ability to produce engaging, optimized content for the “Big New Business LLC” that you are looking for.”

Although a little contrived, this example shows the power of using the pronouns “you”, and “yours” in the same volume as “me”, and “I”.

8. Don’t Include Your Life’s Work As A Portfolio

Whether you’re a freelancer looking for a writing gig, coding, graphic design, or anything else creative, don’t fall into the trap of sending dozens of examples of your work.

It’s easy to look at your favorite twenty blog posts you’ve written recently, and send them all to the client along with your proposal. But the truth is that the client simply won’t have the time or inclination to read them all.

If you’re not going to make life easier for them, then what’s the point? After all, that’s why they’re looking to hire somebody. To solve a problem, make things easier, and help move the business forward. If you’re bombarding them with piles of examples of your work, you’re inevitably slowing things down and making things more challenging for them.

And the truth is that most of those documents are either irrelevant to the specific needs of the client, or only relevant in a very peripheral way.

Look long and hard at your portfolio, and at the client’s job description, and select only the very few which demonstrate exactly what the client is looking for. Sending just two or three examples at most, but all of which are absolutely nailing the client’s specific needs will massively increase your chances of being shortlisted.

Again, this approach demonstrates to the client that you have read the job description fully, you understand their needs exactly, and have a portfolio that makes it overwhelmingly clear how exactly your skills match their needs, making you the ideal candidate.

9. Don’t Rely On Your Profile

It’s amazing how many freelancers assume that clients will read both their proposal and their profile. And for this reason, they deliberately avoid repeating content that’s part of their profile while composing their proposal.

The trouble is that the overwhelming majority of clients simply don’t have time to read people’s profiles. At least, not until they have shortlisted them.

But since we’re here to identify ways to get your Upwork proposal shortlisted, this is definitely not a trap you’ll want to fall into.

At the same time though, we’re not advising that you simply copy the entire contents of your profile across either. But where you feel there is information that is directly relevant to your proposal, don’t be afraid to include it, even if it is on your profile too.

In fact, we’d suggest that you do go back through your profile and decide, for each item of information, whether it would help demonstrate its relevance to the client and your unique suitability for the job.

10. Make Sure Your Price Is Right

Many freelancers try to outprice the competition by pricing themselves low. By bidding way below anyone else, or at least below the average, they feel that the client will be more tempted to at least shortlist.

This isn’t the case. Rarely will clients base their decision solely, or even largely, based on price. In fact, by pricing yourself absurdly low you are giving the client a clear message – you don’t value your skills and experience very highly.

If you don’t respect everything you can offer, you can’t exactly go complaining that the clients never shortlist you.

But there’s a danger too in overpricing yourself. We’ve seen people make this mistake too, feeling that by significantly increasing their price, perhaps to the point of standing out as being particularly expensive, they’ll impress the client. But by doing this you may be in danger of giving the impression of overconfidence. Or arrogance. Or even ignorance about the value of such skills within that field of industry.

Have a look not only at the current bids but also at bids on similar products. Have a look at the past projects the client has awarded, and think carefully about the time the task will take, and what a fair reward for your skills, experience, effort, and time would be.

Be neither cheap nor extravagant, but somewhere in between. And make sure it’s a fair reward for what you can do.

In Conclusion

These ten tips will certainly increase your chances of having your proposal shortlisted. But don’t overlook the basics too. Always proofread your proposal and any accompanying documents. Make sure it’s been checked for spelling, grammar, and punctuation (you can use a tool such as Grammarly to help if you’re not entirely confident yourself).

But in the end, remember that patience is important. You’re simply not going to be shortlisted every time. Yes, these tips will make a big difference, but it may take a while to get started if you don’t have many (or any) previous reviews for example.

Our advice is to keep on applying. Apply for as many as are relevant, and send off your proposals promptly. But once sent, avoid the temptation of dwelling on them. Keep looking to the future, and once one proposal is sent, refocus your mind and enthusiasm on the next one. But always keep an eye on your messages, and be prompt in replying, regardless of the client’s decision.

It isn’t surprising how much money companies are willing to spend on a logo. Did you know that the most expensive logo in the world cost $1,280,000,000? That was Symantec, integrating the Verisign logo into their own. 

The UK’s BBC spent $1.8 billion on its logo, which is just three boxes with the letters ‘B’, ‘B’, and ‘C’ in them. The logo is the most easily identifiable aspect of a business, transcending language and culture. That’s why the Coca-Cola brand is now recognized by 90% of the entire population of Earth!

So you’re in the process of having your business logo designed, or perhaps going through a rebrand. If you recently commissioned a logo designer to prepare a website logo, you should know that they will probably send a bunch of different files, and in different formats. At first glance, understanding logo file formats seems a bit confusing. 

Your focus will obviously be on the brand, but in some cases, certain file formats might not look as good in print, or when uploaded to your website or social media channels. That’s probably because you aren’t using the right file format. 

In most cases, the original logo is a vector image (don’t worry if you’re not sure what this means – we’ll explain that in a bit). But, logo designers often use different formats or even compress their images to save space. But, how do you know which logo file format you should use?

In this article, we’re going to discuss the basics of logo file formats, and guide you on how to choose the right logo file format.

Why Do You Need Different Logo File Formats?

Different logo file formats are required because you’ll want to build a profile on different platforms without sacrificing image quality. Certain file formats deliver pristine image quality, but at a cost: the file size is too high.

Other file formats compress the images, reducing file size, but also quality. Some, on the other hand, are used for maintaining maximum color accuracy. It’s not that one particular logo file format has an edge over others; they all serve specific purposes. 

Raster vs. Vector Images

All digital artwork formatting can be divided into either raster or vector images. Before we talk about the different file formats, it’s important to understand what they mean. 

Raster Images

Raster images are essentially images widely used in digital applications. This means any standard image that you see is usually a raster image. If an image pixelates when you zoom in, it’s a raster. Common file format extensions for raster files include JPG, PNG, and TIFF.

Vector Images

Vector images generally consist of thin lines and curves. Every line and a curve is calculated by the computer almost as though it was a graph line, which means that scaling it up simply means redrawing the graph so that the lines and curves remain crystal sharp no matter how big you blow it up – go planet sized if you wish! 

The key distinction between raster and vector images is that the latter doesn’t tear up when you zoom in. Logos are always designed in vector formats, as they can be scaled without affecting the quality of the file. 

Understanding Different Logo File Formats

Logo file formats are denoted by their extension. Some of the most common logo file formats you might have come across include:

• AI
• PDF
• EPS
• SVG
• PNG
• JPG

Now, let’s break each of these down and understand the differences. 

AI — Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator is a popular program used by graphic designers. AI files are generally vector images and are used by designers to create logos. Essentially, you can edit the logo as much as you want without letting it affect the quality of the image. 

However, to open Adobe Illustrator files, you’ll need the eponymous software program. In general, designers usually convert these files into other formats so you can access them. 

In some cases, designers also use PSD (Photoshop) or CDF (CorelDRAW) for designing logos. These are only accessible with specific applications. 

PDF — Portable Document Format

This is arguably the most common file format. Designers usually provide a PDF version of logos, and in some cases, it might be a vector-based image. You can open PDF files through your browser, or through Adobe Acrobat Reader. 

PDF files aren’t just limited to logos; you can export many types of documents or images to PDF too. The quality differs too since users have the option to export for web or print. The latter is obviously higher quality, though the image size is greater. 

SVG — Scalable Vector Graphic

SVG files are primarily vector images that are created for use on the web. They are used for logo designs, icons, or for basic graphical elements. SVG is the most popular choice for designing logos since the file size is nominal, and they have a transparent background.

Compared with alternatives such as JPG or PNG files, SVG offers a crisper, sharper image. So, when sifting through the files sent by your designer, make sure an SVG file is included.

SVG files are supported by virtually any graphic processing program, and you can even open them on your browser. Compared to PNG or even JPG, SVG files are lighter in size too. 

EPS — Encapsulated PostScript

EPS files are also quite popular and are used by many logo designers. Ideal for print use, these are vector images ported from Adobe Illustrator. This allows you to scale your files for print without much of a hassle. 

If you want to send images to your designer for making any changes, you should generally use the EPS or the AI file. This allows them to make changes to the source without letting it affect quality. 

In many cases, designers use EPS for future editing too. But, it might be a wise idea to check software compatibility first before you start working with EPS files. Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop are both capable of opening EPS files. 

PNG — Portable Network Graphic

PNG files are used primarily for a wide range of digital applications. These are generally available with transparent backgrounds, allowing users to add background images. PNG files don’t lose their quality when you compress them, and can easily portray millions of colors. 

They are used commonly for featured images, social media profiles, cover photos, and as a letterhead on Microsoft Word or Google Docs. 

JPG — Joint Photographic Experts Group

JPG or JPEG files are raster images, so they are not ideal for designing logos. The file size is incredibly small, which is why they are so popular for use on websites. Also, they don’t support transparent backgrounds. 

To make JPG files work properly, you need to make sure that they are of the right size and resolution. JPG files support 24 bits of color, letting designers work with 16 million colors. (Oh, and don’t worry about the extra ‘E’ in ‘JPEG’ – both formats are exactly the same. It’s just that early versions of Windows couldn’t cope with four letter extensions!)

Frequently Asked Questions

Which type of file format is best for a logo?

SVG files are the best for designing and displaying logos on the web. That’s because SVG files have a smaller sile size, support transparent backgrounds, and have a higher resolution. 

Is PNG or JPG better for logos?

Between JPG and PNG, the latter is the better choice. It supports transparent backgrounds, offers a higher resolution, and they’re scalable too. However, PNG files are bigger than JPG files (because PNGs don’t lose any data, whereas JPG do use lossy compression, which means some data is permanently removed)

What is the EPS format for logos?

An EPS file, also known as Encapsulated PostScript, is a vector graphic file. It doesn’t store your logo as a standard image, instead of saving it using curves, lines, and joints. 

Is SVG the same as EPS?

SVG is ideal for use on web publishing platforms, whereas EPS is a legacy format that was designed for print applications. 

Which Logo File Format Is Best For Use on Websites?

For web or digital use, you should consider using PNG or SVG files. This ensures responsiveness for visitors who access your site through different screens. For the best color reproduction, it’s important that the files are saved in an appropriate RGB color format. 

For printing logos, the best format that you can use is AI, EPS, or PDF. These formats give you the highest resolution, which ensures your logo will be printed in the highest quality, and you’ll want to switch to CMYK color format.

When consulting with your designer, it’s also important that you get a transparent logo file. Remember, JPG files are not transparent, but PNG or other popular formats can be. That’s why it’s important for you to get all the relevant file formats from your designer.

The macOS is widely regarded by many as the operating system of choice, especially designers and developers. It’s based on Unix, which means developers get to access a familiar terminal with an expansive ecosystem of development tools. 

More importantly, a significant part of website or app development relies on working with graphics, from designing logos to working with vector images. It’s an established fact that creative software support on the macOS is miles ahead of what Windows has to offer, which is why it’s the number one choice. 

If you’re looking to streamline your workflows, maximize your productivity, and improve your performance, there are several Mac apps that you should consider integrating into your workflow. 

In the following article, we’ll take a look at some of the best Mac apps that designers and developers ought to consider using, and highlight their key features. 

The Best Mac Apps for Designers

If you’re a designer, here are some of the best Mac apps that you can use. 

1. Affinity Designer

Affinity Designer leverages the power of the latest M1 chips, including the Max and the Ultra chips, and is widely regarded as one of the best design apps in the industry right now. 

It’s ideal for designing logos, icons, UI mockups, web interface designs, and a lot more. If you’re a professional illustrator, you’ll really like the minimalistic approach that Affinity Designer takes. There’s no bloatware to worry about. 

When you open the app, you’re given a blank canvas and a variety of tools that you can get started with. The Affinity Designer engine is capable of handling thousands of objects without lagging, and also gives you a live outline view for selecting objects more accurately. 

You can switch between raster or vector workspaces quickly, edit individual pixels, add or remove grain, or clip layers as you see fit. 

The app offers several time-saving features, ranging from a saveable history option, auto-snapping and alignment, and a ton of customizable keyboard shortcuts. If you’re firmly embedded in the Apple ecosystem, you can also work seamlessly with the iPad app for Affinity Designer. 

Key Features

• Cross-platform compatibility with apps for iPad and Windows available
• An excellent vector toolset
• Stabilization for pencil and brush tools
• Boolean operations are non-destructive
• Unlimited artboards
• Allows you to view vectors in either retina or standard resolution 
• Support for OpenType and an array of paragraph + character styles

2. Figma

Figma is widely regarded as one of the best design apps for web designers and developers. From designing wireframes to app concepts, Figma offers a ton of different components and styles. 

Figma is known for its collaborative properties, and FigJam, its online whiteboard is suitable for brainstorming ideas, reviewing processes, mapping user flows, and internal systems. 

If you’re a designer, Figma gives you a bunch of options, including OpenType support, a fantastic pen tool, arc designs, and offers quality-of-life improvements such as stretch to fill, Auto Layouts, and automatic resizing. 

Figma also has hundreds of plugins that you can use to optimize your workflow and improve your designs. And, if you can’t find a suitable plugin for your needs, you can always design your own. You can even create private plugins and distribute them within the company.

Key Features:

• Cloud-based software with native macOS support
• Intuitive prototyping platform that requires no technical knowledge
• Tons of searchable assets that you can drag and drop
• Responsive components make it easier to hand off designs to developers as they map closer to code
• There’s a free plan available 

3. Adobe Creative Cloud

The industry standard in design, Adobe Creative Cloud is essentially a suite of design and editing applications from Adobe Inc. Hosted on Azure, Adobe Creative Cloud’s pricing starts from $52.99/mo, which gives subscribers access to all the Creative Cloud apps. 

Whether you’re a freelancer or running a small design agency, Adobe Creative Cloud gives you access to all of the top design apps, including:

• Photoshop — ideal for creating beautiful photos, art, and graphics. 
• Illustrator — the leading design app for creating vector illustrations and art. 
• InDesign — lets you design and quickly publish elegant layouts for digital and print.
• Creative Cloud Express — allows designers to quickly create unique content by using hundreds of pre-made templates. 
• Lightroom — the ultimate application for capturing gorgeous photos, editing lighting, and customizing them to your requirements. 

Cross-platform apps are available for the iPad and Windows too, making Creative Cloud the ultimate choice for designers. It’s packed with features, and there’s also a free trial available!

Key Features

• Includes everything you need to create stunning designs 
• Adobe Stock templates for starting your next project 
• Ideal for 3D design and development
• Photoshop is the best graphic design software right now
• Compatible apps available for other devices too
• Cloud-based support for easy team collaboration

4. ColorSlurp

ColorSlurp is an excellent color tool for designers and developers. It lets you quickly pick any color you want from your screen, and comes with an exceptional magnifier. This makes it easy to pick any color on the screen using simple keyboard shortcuts. 

More importantly, you can easily create and organize palettes conveniently using different editing tools, check the contrast, and even select colors using the companion app for iOS. Export and sync options are available with iCloud. 

Since you can easily check the contrast between two colors, it also allows you to create more accessible designs. There’s also a cute slurp sound effect every time you pick a color! 

Key Features

• Accurate color picking with an in-built magnifier that lets you select colors from each pixel
• Tons of keyboard shortcuts
• Lets you pick colors directly from pictures through iOS
• It’s free to use! 
• Lightweight, functional app

The Best Mac Apps for Developers

If you’re a developer, macOS has a bunch of excellent apps. Here are some of the best that you can use. 

5. Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code is one of the most versatile code editors for macOS and works very well with different programming languages. VS Code, as it’s commonly known, is completely free to download, and is completely open-source. 

It lets you debug code straight from the editor, allowing you to run apps simultaneously and edit code using an interactive, well-designed console. It’s got Git commands built-in, letting you make commits or stage files directly from any major SCM provider. 

VS Code is also highly customizable, with a bunch of extensions that you can use. It’s hosted on Microsoft Azure, and developers can use that to easily deploy sites made on Node, Vue, Angular, React, Python, and others all within the editor. 

Key Features

• A blazing-fast cost editor 
• An extensive range of third-party extensions that you can use to customize VS Code
• Integrated support for Node.js development with TypeScript and JavaScript
• Excellent tool support for JSON, Less, SCSS, HTML, and CSS.
• Open-source, free code editor.

6. Fig

Fig came out of Y Combinator’s S20 Class and managed to raise more than $2M right off the bat. Fig essentially improves your command line terminal, adding a range of enhancements that developers will greatly appreciate. 

For instance, one of its biggest advantages is the autocomplete feature. As soon as you start writing a command in the terminal, Fig automatically shows you a drop-down menu of recommendations and saves your selections as you go. 

This is ideal for developers who type similar commands on cloud services daily, simplifying workflows and saving precious time. Fig also has a platform that Markdown-based apps can use, adding a visual interface when you add commands. Pretty neat.

Key Features

• Integrates with macOS’ built-in terminal seamlessly
• Excellent autocomplete feature that you can tweak to your preferences
• Saves a great deal of time, especially when running repeat commands
• Built by the community, and all completion specs are open source

7. Termius

Termius is an excellent SSH client that works seamlessly across different platforms, including macOS, Windows, and Linux, and allows you to easily connect to your servers. There are companion apps available for iOS and Android as well.

Termius is a command-line solution that’s ideal for network engineers or for allowing remote access to sysadmins. There are 12 themes, adjustable fonts, and it’s even got a dark mode!

Termius offers a 14-day free trial, and syncing using military-standard AES-256 encryption. It also lets you pair credentials and servers, offering quick access to your data. It’s ideal for accessing IoT or Linux-based devices and fixing problems quickly and efficiently. 

Key Features

• A single subscription works with all desktop and mobile devices
• Lets you save repetitive shell commands
• Server tagging for better organization
• Port forwarding to encrypt any connection 

8. DataGrip

For developers who work primarily with data, DataGrip is an excellent option. DataGrip is a simple database IDE that’s designed for SQL developers. 

DataGrip offers simple schema navigation, letting you switch to any view or table efficiently, and even lets you execute queries in different modes. It also offers context-sensitive code predictions, so you can complete SQL queries faster. 

More importantly, DataGrip also highlights bugs and even offers suggestions for quick fixes. That’s great when you are trying to identify unresolved objects through your code. The smart text editor can be customized to your preferences, with a bunch of themes and a light/dark mode option.

Key Features

• Automatically detects issues and helps you fix probable bugs
• Resolves all your references in SQL files
• Customizable appearance
• Automatically generates code for changing objects like columns and tables 
• Offers schema switching, including a local history so you keep track of all activity

The Best Apps to Improve Your Workflows

9. 1Password

Using a password manager is virtually necessary for the modern age. Your data is at considerable risk if you aren’t using a decent password manager that generates strong passwords and keeps them safe. 1Password, thankfully, does all that and more.

Its native Mac app lets you automatically enter passwords in browsers and anywhere on your system. It’s a great option for developers as it lets you store SSH keys, any infrastructure-related secrets, and passwords, in an encrypted vault. 

It supports biometric unlocking, and you can even set up workflows or manage your SSH keys straight from the terminal. A REST API lets you move encrypted data directly to services that need authentication. 

Key Features

• Completely eliminate any plaintext keys on your system
• No more manually typing in passwords
• Use Secrets Automation to create a single source of truth for managing all infrastructure secrets
• The industry standard when it comes to password security

10. Superhuman

On the surface, Superhuman may look like an email app on steroids, but if you take a look under the hood, you’ll realize it’s got a lot more going for it. It’s only available to macOS and iOS devices, and every person who signs up is personally onboarded by one of their agents. 

Superhuman’s aim is simple: to help you reach inbox zero. It looks absolutely stunning, with its minimalistic interface. It’s incredibly fast — probably the fastest email app out there, so you’ll be blazing through your inbox in no time.

It’s even got an Undo Send button, so you can quickly correct typos and errors before resending emails. It even has read receipts built-in! 

Superhuman follows a simple approach: it gives you a ton of keyboard shortcuts, so you don’t have to use your mouse when you’re in the app. That’s also a slight downside because to leverage the full power of the app, you need to know these shortcuts! 

Any doubt that Superhuman might be designed for casual email users goes away when you consider the price point: it costs a whopping $30/mo to use this service! But, if you’re a power user, that’s a small price to pay. 

Key Features

• Read receipts are built-in
• Automatically set up follow-ups and reminders
• Snooze conversations to focus on your work
• A ton of built-in keyboard shortcuts
• Personalized onboarding so you can set up Superhuman the way it should work for you.

 11. Things

Arguably the most popular task management app on macOS, Things is an excellent app that lets you manage your time and your work better. The newly redesigned app doesn’t just look great, but it’s also more functional.

It’s easy to get an understanding of tasks, and to-do lists and the design language is so simple that users intuitively know what to do next. Information is presented in a neat, well-designed layout right on your screen.

The only gripe I have with Things is that you have to pay separately if you want the app on your Mac and your iPad, or your iPhone. They are discrete versions, even though you can sync them together. 

Key Features

• Quick Find feature lets you quickly search through everything to find what you need
• Includes everything you need to organize your tasks lists
• A beautiful, aesthetically pleasing user interface
• Reminders, quick commands, and an option to work on multiple projects simultaneously

12. CleanShot X

The default screenshotting solution in macOS is good, but it could be better. This becomes important when you have a bunch of images to share back and forth with clients. Enter CleanShot X, a minimalistic screenshot tool that adds a ton of functionality to boring screengrabs.

For starters, it lets you quickly highlight important parts with annotations, and you can even upload images to the CleanShot Cloud and share it with others. 

From pixelating items on the screen to auto-smoothing, CleanShot X lets you take precise screenshots in under a second. You can efficiently adjust overlay sizes, positions, and even view file information! 

Key Features

• Simple drag and drop in any app you use
• Hide overlays temporarily or access quick actions 
• Screenshot with or without backgrounds
• Scrolling capture
• Record your screen (and adjust recording settings!)

Conclusion

The macOS is known for its excellent support for different apps. Designers and developers are often very picky when deciding which apps to use. However, if you really want to streamline your work, these are some of the best Mac apps out there!

Did you know that by 2025, over 200+ zettabytes (that’s a trillion gigabytes) of data will have been uploaded to the web? Although your own website users are unlikely to need to upload quite that much (hopefully!), providing the ability for users to upload files, images and other documents is definitely a growing need for many businesses.

A WordPress file upload plugin allows users to easily upload documents, including spreadsheets, images, PDF files, or other supported formats without logging into the site directly. 

This also makes it easy for webmasters to receive file attachments by creating simple forms that anyone can use. In this article, we’ll examine some of the most popular file upload plugins for WordPress, and identify clearly what sets them apart.

Why Use a File Upload Plugin?

File uploads on websites are useful in several cases. It allows you to get more insights and detailed information from your audiences, and it can help you greatly improve the overall user experience of your website. 

Here are just some of the many reasons why you may want to use a file upload plugin:

• Accept guest posts: With the help of a file upload plugin, you can easily get users to submit guests posts to your site. 
• Streamline the hiring process: Instead of asking people to mail you their resumes or cover letters, you can simply ask them to upload these documents straight through the website.
• Get quotes or official documentation: If you constantly have to work with quotations or documents, you can easily ask your clients to upload them through the platform.
• Uploading pictures: WIth a file upload plugin, you can easily ask users to upload pictures on your website, helping to increase the amount of user-generated content on your site. 
• Better support: By allowing customers to upload photos or screenshots, you can get a better understanding of the problem they’re facing, and suggest more accurate solutions. 

The Best File Upload Plugins 

Here are some of the most popular file upload plugins for WordPress sites that you can use today. 

1. WPForms

WPForms is one of the biggest names mentioned when we talk about contact form plugins. It’s more than a conventional file upload plugin — it’s a full-scale form builder that comes with a whole range of different options.

You can easily create forms to accept file uploads, including limiting these to specific file formats. There’s also no need for you to copy or paste any HTML on your site to display the form, which makes it a great choice for non-technical users. 

More importantly, you can also configure the plugin to store all uploads in your Media library. WPForms gives you a couple of different options for setting up the file upload fields. The Modern style is clean and offers drag-and-drop functionality, as well as supporting multiple uploads. 

Or, if you want to accept embedded images, you can also set up WPForms to show a Rich Text field, allowing users to submit images and content together. 

It lets you set the maximum upload size, or choose the file type itself. It works seamlessly with other email marketing providers, and you can also integrate WPForms with payment providers to accept donations or other payments. 

Key Features:

• AJAX forms are supported (doesn’t require a page reload)
• Very easy to use with a simple interface
• Drag-and-drop functionality 
• Set up conditional logic to show or hide specific fields based on user selection
• GDPR agreements can be added to file upload forms. 
• You can set up email notifications to receive an email with a link to the file directly. 

2. Ninja Forms + File Uploads

With over 1 million installs, Ninja Forms is one of the most popular choices if you want a user-friendly WordPress plugin to create gorgeous-looking forms. 

The core plugin is free to use and allows anyone to create good-looking forms using the drag-and-drop style form building tool. You don’t need to know any code to tweak the forms and make them look good. 

It’s important to mention here that the free version of Ninja Forms doesn’t allow you to accept file uploads. However, if you choose the paid extension (a one-time $49 fee for one website, $72 for five sites, and $99 for 20 sites), you can then easily accept file uploads, which can be sent directly to your WordPress Media Library, Dropbox, Google Drive, or an Amazon S3 bucket. 

And, like other top options, you also get added functionality including limiting the number of file uploads, determining the maximum file size for each upload, and selecting the type of files you want to accept. 

As an extra touch, you can also set up a progress bar so people know the steps left to completion. 

Key Features:

• Lets you accept payments and donations and integrates with PayPal or other credit card payment providers. 
• Lets you create customizable lead generation forms to grow your mailing list. 
• Supports GDPR compliance.
• Comes with an array of pre-built templates. 
• Mobile responsive forms that can blend well with any theme.
• You can export submissions to a PDF or Excel file. 
• Supports conditional and multi-page forms. 
• Spam protection is available through Google ReCaptcha and Akismet
• Translations for more than 16+ languages are also available. 

3. MonsterInsights

MonsterInsights is slightly different to other plugins on this list. At its core, it’s a Google Analytics plugin that lets you track form completion rates and know how users are interacting with the file uploads or forms on your site. 

At the moment, Google Analytics doesn’t offer support for file tracking. However, MonsterInsights lets you do just that, offering tracking support for multiple file extensions, including popular formats like .docx, .ppt, .pdf, and others. 

With the MonsterInsights plugin installed, you can view live data straight from your WP dashboard. 

MonsterInsights costs $99.50 per year, and it’s generally a wise choice for people who want to integrate greater file tracking on their websites. 

Key Features:

• Lets you track all file downloads
• Integrates seamlessly with Google Analytics
• No need to edit code – supports out of the box tracking
• Offers detailed insights into how users interact with files on your site.

4. Contact Form 7

Contact Form 7 is an open-source plugin that lets you create and manage different types of contact forms. It offers unparalleled customizability, letting you optimize forms and make them blend in with your website’s theme. 

Contact Form 7 is fairly basic, and it’s great if you want to create a simple contact form that your users can interact with. 

Contact Form 7 offers form tags that you can use to add file uploading fields to your forms. If you don’t define the file type or the file size limit, it automatically sets default restrictions, with file sizes reduced to 1 MB and acceptable file extensions being all the popular ones including jpg, docx, png, gif, and pdf. 

You can also set up mail tags to attach upload files directly to email and get notified right away. 

Key Features:

• Supports local file attachments 
• Automatically checks for PHP errors when you upload files. 
• Lets you define the absolute directory path or relative path to store uploaded files. 
• You can also define and create payment parameters to receive payments via Stripe. 
• Includes spam filtering using CAPTCHA and Akismet.

5. Formidable Forms

Another popular file upload plugin that you can choose is Formidable Forms. This plugin comes with all the features that you need to create engaging and intuitive forms.

Formidable Forms is a pretty popular name in the community, offering a wide range of options, including multi-page forms with a progress bar, repeater fields, date picking options, cascading lookup fields, and a lot more. 

It also offers comprehensive support for file uploads, letting you create a simple drag and drop upload forms. They are responsive, so your forms will automatically scale according to the screen size and device. Given that mobile devices account for half of all website traffic, having mobile-friendly, responsive forms is a must for almost any business.

It features a multi-file uploader, allowing users to upload as many files as they want. If you want to attract more user-generated content to your site, Formidable Forms is a fantastic choice. 

It is also great for collecting data about how users interact with the forms on site. However, Formidable Forms is expensive, starting from $39.50/year. The most expensive version (Elite) costs $299.50/year!

Key Features:

• More than 170+ form templates (only with the Elite version).
• Integrations for Stripe, PayPal, Salesforce, Hubspot, and others.
• API available
• Money-back guarantee
• Free version is also available 
• Drag-and-drop functionality 
• Fully GDPR friendly

6. Forminator

Forminator is a fantastic contact form plugin that’s easy to use, versatile, and above all, free. Whether you’re running a finance site or a recruitment site, Forminator can be customized to meet your needs very conveniently. 

It features a visual drag-and-drop builder that lets you customize and create any form you want by simply dragging and dropping blocks. From hidden fields to calculations to pagination, Forminator has everything you’d want. 

More importantly, Forminator offers subscriptions for more than 1,000 apps, including all the big names like HubSpot, Campaign Monitor, Google Sheets, and many others. Forminator is a great choice if you want to create quizzes, or conventional forms to use as lead magnets. 

It supports Gutenberg blocks and prevents spam using Google reCaptcha. And, more importantly, it’s also GDPR-friendly. Since it doesn’t cost much at all, this is a fine choice for those who want a decent file upload plugin that’s easy to use and packed with features!

Another great feature we love with Forminator is the ability to run live polls directly on your website. This is great for encouraging user interaction and interest, with live stats displayed using great-looking pie charts and graphs.

Key Features:

• Offers a dedicated Import Wizard to move all existing data from CF7 (Contact Form 7)
• Lets you create custom login and registration forms
• Multi-file upload supported 
• Drag-and-drop file uploads also supported
• Specify limits for file size, or restrict file types
• E-signature form field available with the Pro version (which costs from $190 to $990 per year, depending on the size of your business.)

7. WP File Upload

If you’re looking for a fairly simple file upload plugin that’s free to use, go with WP File Upload. It lets you or any other user upload files through a page, post, or sidebar very conveniently. 

All you have to do is to add a shortcode to the contents of any WordPress page, and you’ll be able to upload files to any directory within wp-contents. 

WP File Upload also displays all uploaded files in a top-level menu that you can access through your Dashboard, and there’s also a file browser to help you manage the uploaded files. 

It’s arguably not the most popular plugin, but if you need a free plugin that you can use on your site to accept file uploads, this one does the job well.

Key Features:

• GDPR compliant
• Built using HTML5 so it works well on mobile phones and on older browsers. 
• Notification emails and messages can be configured. 
• You can set up an upload progress bar. 
• You can also save uploaded media to an FTP location
• Support for additional form fields is also available. 

8. File Manager

File Manager is a nifty file upload plugin that you can use to enable file uploads on your website. However, instead of simply being a file upload plugin, it also offers file management features. 

You can manage files on a remote server, including running common file actions such as copy, move, upload, delete, rename, etc. It also comes with an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) so you can test and edit the code.

File Manager also lets you share files via email and even has support for PDFs and other popular file formats. A search function is also built into the plugin. 

Key Features:

• Multiple themes are available for maximum customization
• Preview support is available
• Files can be automatically resized after uploading
• The plugin works just as well on mobile or other devices
• Support for multiple languages is available
• A Pro edition is available which greatly expands functionality. The cost for this is a one-off price of $25 for a single site, or $99 for up to 10 sites.

9. Everest Forms

Another fantastic option available is Everest Forms. While it’s an intuitive form builder, don’t let its apparent simplicity fool you, as this plugin offers a huge amount of features. It supports multiple file uploads, letting users simply drag and drop files to manage uploads. More importantly, you can also configure the plugin to only accept specific file types, and reject others.

You can also use it to create multi-step forms or accept payments online. It’s a great plugin that works like a breeze, though there’s no free version. 

The Personal plan costs $49, and prices go all the way up to $199 per year for the Agency plan. Lifetime prices are available, but obviously at much higher prices.

Key Features:

• Offers simple drag-and-drop functionality 
• Lets you configure file uploads based on your requirements
• Easy to use, very quick to configure

Key Features to Look For in a File Upload Plugin

Before you decide to shell out and purchase a file upload plugin, or opt for a free alternative, there are a few important things that you would want to look at:

• Customer support: This is obviously very important. You’ll want the plugin to work seamlessly, but if it doesn’t, there should be a number or email that you can contact the company through.
• Support for multiple file formats: Similarly, you’d want to make sure that the file upload plugin offers support for multiple file formats.
• File size restrictions: The file upload plugin you choose should allow you to restrict uploads to a maximum size.
• File management: The uploaded files should be stored in an easily accessible directory, and you should have the option to store it in your website’s directory or on a remote server. 
• Notifications: Whatever file upload plugin you choose should be able to notify you when a user uploads a file. 

Conclusion

Any of these plugins will allow you or visitors to your site to quickly upload files. But, you should know that some hosting providers often limit the types of files that users are allowed to submit, and you may encounter file size limits too.

A WordPress installation will, by default, include a maximum file size limit of between 4 MB and 128 MB. This will usually be determined by your web hosting company, so if you’ll need your users to upload files greater than this limit, make sure you discuss this with your hosting company before you decide to purchase a paid subscription for a file upload plugin!

What is the single biggest cause of delays for creative marketing agencies? If you said last-minute revisions, you’re in good company, with over half of all marketers finding this same problem. But that’s only one cause, and there are many – so what’s the solution?

It is essential in today’s world that agencies that offer creative services, especially those relating to ad creatives, UX or UI design, or other services, focus on establishing creative workflows to meet all deadlines and provide deliverables on time. 

Establishing documented processes helps agencies track performance, minimize confusion, and ensure quality. Digital agencies that don’t invest in establishing creative workflows often have difficulty in managing resources or deadlines. 

Why Creative Workflow Processes Are Essential

A creative workflow is a process of generating new ideas, reviewing those ideas, getting approvals, and executing those ideas. All creative work requires continuous progress through the tasks at hand. Creative workflow management enables this by introducing structure and a set of protocols that all members of the team must follow.

Effective process workflows allow creatives to find a balance between fostering innovation and staying organized. Some professionals believe that meticulous planning is critical to their creativity. 

Defining process workflows for creative teams is essential for several reasons. Here are a few. 

Managing Time and Resources 

One of the major reasons why you should consider developing creative workflow processes is because it helps agency owners manage their time and resources more effectively. In digital agencies that work with distributed teams, it’s important to define processes to manage time and resources more effectively. 

Managing Deadlines 

Meeting deadlines is critically important for digital agencies. With multiple clients to manage and deliverables to work on, it’s important for agency owners to establish documented processes that they can use when working on different projects and introduce a measure of accountability. 

With formal and documented processes, it’s much easier for employees to know the next steps once the process is formalized and detailed documentation exists. More importantly, in case a client asks, they can update them accurately about where the project stands.  

Faster Employee Onboarding

It often takes more time for new employees to better understand new processes and become accustomed to the way agency processes generally work. However, when creative workflow processes are defined, it’s much easier for new employees to hit the ground running.

The Four Stages of Creative Workflow Processes

Before you start creating workflow processes, it is important to define the phases separately. Creative workflows start from ideation and then move on to creation. Once the creation stage is complete, it then moves to review, and finally, execution and launch. 

Let’s delve into these processes in more detail. 

1. The Ideation Stage

This is the stage where the idea has to be refined. This is arguably the most important stage, as it requires the validation of an idea before it moves to the creation stage. 

At the ideation stage, companies often require a brief from the client indicating the deliverables and the scope of the project. The focus is on identifying key milestones and establishing the key purpose that the client is trying to achieve. 

During the ideation stage, creative professionals often work together to determine the resources and the time that will be required to achieve their main targets. During this stage, the metrics of the project are also defined, including the main blockers that the company can expect.

Another important step during the ideation stage is the assignment of roles. The team structure is defined and members are given responsibilities for their tasks. If the company feels that the client’s expectations are not being managed properly, they also hold meetings to address this fully, including setting the timeline. 

2. The Creation Stage

This is the stage where the teams begin working on the idea. For instance, if it’s UI or UX design for a website or an app, the teams begin to get together and brainstorm solutions.

Depending on the nature of the contract, client collaboration often varies at this stage. The creation stage involves brainstorming ideas and using techniques such as sharing information on mood boards to determine what works.

It’s all about chronicling your approach to resolving the client’s issues. One of the best strategies to use at this stage is to evaluate other similar products in the market. It’ll give you a better understanding of the basic features, and the areas for improvement that you can focus on. 

Tips to improve the process:

• At this stage, it’s all about creating a collaborative work environment. All stakeholders involved in the project should be on board, and should regularly meet to discuss progress. 
• Using collaborative tools such as Sketch, Miro, or others like Trello is a great way to bring everyone on board and establish structures so that everyone contributes to the project. Sketch and Miro are visual collaboration tools, whereas Trello lets you collaborate on different tasks using Kanban boards.

3. Review

This is the phase where quality control comes into play. Reviews are required to oversee different action items and to determine whether they meet the client’s expectations. 

There are several activities that can expedite and streamline the review and approval process. For instance, agencies can share content with the clients to get their feedback once they’ve received initial feedback and approval from management. 

Again, using collaborative tools is a great idea as it helps product managers manage change, expectations, and helps bring all affiliated parties on the same page. It’s also important to assess and create internal review cycles. This reduces time wastage and ensures that every stakeholder is on the same page. 

It’s important to create a framework for managing the feedback from clients. It’s often susceptible to change, which is why it’s important that you track it effectively. 

Using project management tools like Basecamp can help streamline the flow of communication, and mitigate resource consumption overall. Once you have final approval from the client, you can then move to the next stage. 

4. Execution and Launch

The next step, and arguably the most exhilarating, is the execution and launch of the product. But, there are a few key pointers to discuss at this stage. 

It’s important that you get feedback from the client regarding the product launch, especially after handing over creative assets. After execution and launch, it’s also important to offer after-sales support and to send any outstanding invoices. 

Five Best Practices for Establishing Creative Workflow Processes

Seasoned professionals often recommend a variety of different techniques that digital agency owners can use when establishing or streamlining workflows for creative teams.

1. Create a Formal Project Request Process

Project request management is an incredibly important process for creative agencies. It ensures that only value-based projects are executed. It ensures efficient resource allocation, improves visibility, and reduces scope creep.

There are several questions that must be answered before a project is greenlit. Some common questions include:

• What tangible benefits will the project provide?
• What resources will be required for the project? 
• Can those resources be used more efficiently?
• What supporting documentation will be required? 
• How many milestones will be set for the project?

2. Establish KPIs and Metrics to Track

To effectively track the progress of different projects and maintain accountability, it’s always important that you establish KPIs and tracking metrics at the start of each project.

When the project is about to begin, make sure you get approvals from the client about what KPIs you’re going to track. It’s essential that all parties remain on the same page before the project gets underway. 

Common KPIs and tracking metrics include:

• Planned value (PV)
• Actual cost (AC)
• Earned value (EV)
• Cost variance (CV)
• Return on investment (ROI)

3. Be Clear When Assigning Roles

A planned and well-defined team structure plays a critical role in effective process management. Before a project gets underway, it’s imperative that you assign roles and responsibilities. Make sure that every team member knows what they have to work on, as well as any dependencies they might face. 

4. Create a Process for Identifying and Mitigating Issues or Blockers

It’s also important to establish a process through which team members can identify and mitigate any issues or blockers they might face. It’s imperative for teams to ensure that they follow a hierarchy, and know who to inform when they face an obstruction. 

5. Establish and Formalize the Team Hierarchy

Formalizing the team hierarchy is essential if you want to reduce communication barriers. Create a centralized document that’s easily accessible by all team members which highlights the roles of each stakeholder. 

A formalized team structure also makes it easy for new members joining in to quickly hit the ground running, instead of asking around from others about what they have to do. For instance, you could maintain an official document that shows the team structure and chain of command in Notion or any other document management software. 

Even project management tools like ClickUp now let you create and manage documentation, so anyone within the organization can access these to understand where they slot in the hierarchy. 

The Benefits of Proper Design & Development Collaboration Software

As you can imagine, there are a lot of moving parts in this process, so it’s important that you choose the right design and development collaboration software. You need software that lets you collaborate with distributed team members, share ideas effectively, and gain more visibility into different workflow processes. 

One of the best tools that you can use for this purpose is Atarim. Atarim helps you centralize and manage clients, projects, teams, and tasks, bringing them all together through a dedicated dashboard. 

You can assign tasks, reduce needless back-and-forth between clients, and manage communications all through a simple, easy-to-use interface. 

It’s also easier to gather content from clients and seek collaborative feedback from clients. You can see exact locations on the page where content is required, providing clarity and simplifying workflows.

How To Deal With Clients Who Don’t Follow Your Creative Workflow Process

The best-laid plans can come undone when you don’t have clients who follow your creative workflow process. Difficult clients are often a problem, especially when they start dictating your work. 

It’s incredibly difficult dealing with difficult clients, but not impossible. It all starts with understanding their concerns and then showing them the benefits of your workflow processes. 

In many cases, clients have a particular vision of what they want, and may even tell you how they want you to work. It’s important that you sit with them, propose your solution, and explain to them the benefits before you proceed further.

If you feel that a client is too disruptive, and wants to fundamentally change the way you work, it might be a wise idea to cut your losses, especially if you have to deal with excessive scope creep. 

Summary

It’s a fierce business world out there, and today more than ever it is vital that agencies are organized, efficient, accountable, and on target. Introducing creative workflow processes isn’t merely a nice option, it’s the only way to allow your agency to grow, and for your employees to feel effective parts within a well-oiled machine and not an old banger that’s ready to blow.

Running and managing remote teams doesn’t have to be an impossible task. As an agency owner, you’ll probably work with a distributed team, with many users joining in from different time zones. 

It’s often a bit difficult to manage everything, but not impossible. In this post-pandemic era, technologies have evolved to a point where it’s much easier to manage operations through a central platform, instead of having to reach your employees one by one.

Challenges in Managing Remote Teams

If you’re managing a remote team, chances are that you’ve faced some difficulty in managing employees from different parts of the globe. Here are some of the biggest challenges that agency owners face when managing remote teams:

• Lack of direct supervision: agency owners often worry that employees might not be working as hard as they’d like, or as efficiently as they can without one-on-one supervision. With remote teams, direct supervision is often difficult, which leads to issues. 
• Problems with setting clear expectations: if you don’t define expectations and get everyone on the same page, you might find it difficult to motivate all employees. 
• Low productivity levels: managing productivity levels is a serious challenge for agency owners. Employees in different settings don’t get that “office” feeling, so productivity is likely to vary. 
• Hiring: arguably the biggest issue with remote teams is that hiring is often difficult. Arranging interviews, overcoming time differences, and really explaining the core culture of your agency does become a problem. 
• Managing the flow of information: successful agencies have a single source of truth. If yours doesn’t, it’s a problem and could lead to serious communication gaps. 
• Project management: if you aren’t using a comprehensive tool for managing projects and assigning tasks, things are bound to get difficult. This could translate into missed deadlines or poor quality of work. 

These are just some of the many challenges that agency owners face when managing remote teams. While there’s obviously a lot more to it, you should know that many of these can be overcome, as long as you follow an established approach.

Many of the world’s leading companies and digital agencies are now functioning remotely, and there’s no reason why yours can’t either! In the following paragraphs, we are going to provide detailed advice on how to run and manage remote teams. 

Setting Clear Expectations

Setting clear expectations is critically important. Many teams have had to pivot over the past few years, and many employees will have to shift their focus to work on tasks in very different ways or include tasks they wouldn’t previously have completed themselves. That is one of the main reasons why you need to make sure that you align expectations carefully with your employees.

This has a major impact on employee performance. It would be unwise to assume that every member of the team would know exactly where they should focus their energy.

Agencies often have to manage multiple clients, so it’s important that you establish deadlines, key deliverables, and let your employees know exactly what you expect of them. Employees should know what constitutes task completion. 

For instance, if you have a content writer who’s asked to write a piece, it’s important that you define what ‘completed’ means. Does it mean that the writer must complete the piece as a draft, or does it mean that they must also publish it on the website?

Defining Roles and Clear Communication Channels

One of the most important tips that you need to do is to refine the channels of communication and make sure that you define roles properly. It’s virtually impossible for you to focus solely on fielding queries from your team members.

Defining roles and responsibilities for each member of the team is important. Make sure you create a centralized dashboard that indicates what each member is responsible for and then outline roles at the company.

This way, employees will know who to approach in case they hit a blocker. If you have a team-based structure, make sure you prepare a document that highlights each team member’s specializations. 

For instance, if a member of the team needs help with images, they will know who the designer is, and can approach them directly. It helps cut down on needless back-and-forth and reduces time-to-completion for key milestones.

Daily Stand-Ups or Check-Ins

The key to managing remote teams effectively without pulling your hair out at every turn is to establish communication between all major stakeholders. In this case, that’s every member of the team. 

Team members might not take it kindly if you randomly poke them asking about what they’re working on. It’s also difficult to keep track of what everyone’s doing, especially if you don’t have a system in place.

Instead, the best thing to do would be to establish a routine where you host daily stand-ups and check-outs. This means you sit down with every member of your team, at least once during the day, giving everyone a chance to share which tasks they have worked on during that day. 

This is a great way to know what each person is working on, and when to expect key deliverables. This way, it’s not necessary that you hold a meeting to check in with your employees.

If you’re using a project management tool that offers team support, you can set up regular check-ins. Employees can fill out the work they’ve done, or the work they’re going to do. 

You can then simply compare it with the actual work done to get a better understanding of overall team performance. 

Be Accepting of Cultural Differences

When working in remote teams, it’s vitally important to be respectful and accepting of cultural differences. As an agency owner with a distributed team, you need to take appropriate steps to maintain morale. 

This is only possible if you can accept cultural differences. There are going to be employees who might need a few days off to observe religious or cultural practices, for example. 

Everyone in the team will bring something special to your agency, so it’s important that you learn how to manage and promote intercultural awareness. This is all the more important in remote jobs.

This means being careful when you communicate with your audience. For instance, using expressions or jargon might not always help you in getting the message across, since they often don’t translate well across different cultures. 

Similarly, if you find yourself working with employees from a country that you know very little about, it might be a wise idea to do some research on your end. Find out appropriate time zones so you know when you can schedule or send emails. 

It’s also important to know about any religious or public holidays that your employees may have to observe. Your employees will be quite appreciative of the effort, and you will notice an uptick in overall morale and productivity. 

Remember, it’s not just about respecting intercultural differences between your employees. There will be times when you might slip up, which is why resolving conflicts is important. You will want to educate other employees, and as long as you exercise empathy, it won’t be an issue.

Automate Mundane, Repetitive Tasks

Managing remote teams means performing the same tasks every day, over and over again. It’s important that you automate mundane and repetitive tasks so that you can free up time to focus more on business-critical activities.

Otherwise, you will end up spending a considerable amount of your day simply chasing after your employees or asking for updates. Nobody wants that. There are a whole bunch of tasks that can be automated. 

You want your agency to run like a well-oiled machine. For this, you want consistency. It’s important to create comprehensive documentation so that you can map out recurring tasks and get employees on board quickly. 

Creating repeatable workflows and systems is important to avoid chaos. Document business processes and review workflows to see how you can automate them. 

There is a good range of tools that you can use to automate repetitive tasks, such as getting updates from employees or forwarding proposals. For instance, you can use Zapier or Make.com to set up automated workflows, integrating apps to trigger automations, and Asana allows for work plans to be created, with clear progress checks and discussions integrated at every step.

Some of the tasks that you can automate include:

• Setting task flows so employees are assigned relevant tasks whenever they have free space
• Setting processes to ensure you and your team remain on track for deliverables
• Managing deadlines and notifying employees when some deadlines are near
• Notifying them when tasks are completed or those which are high-priority
• Asking them about their daily tasks

Establish a Coherent Team Structure

Team structures often tend to vary in remote agencies, depending mainly on the nature of the work and the size of the agency itself. In larger agencies, teams often work in silos, with people connecting with each other when the need arises.

In smaller agencies, a more open, team-based structure is followed, where employees connect with each other whenever they want to discuss something. 

Ideally, you’d want to invest in communication tools such as Slack or Basecamp. Slack is by far the most popular choice, as it allows individuals to define their roles, and make communication easier. 

Achieving organizational coherence is much easier said than done. It requires setting a shared vision and establishing a shared go-to-market strategy. Employees should be aware of what they have to do, and there should be logic and consistency in business processes. 

Coherence means aligning key voices in your management so that they seem like one. This synchronized process of organization allows teams to establish a shared vision and promotes a team learning culture overall, which ultimately helps businesses grow. 

This will also help new team members onboard quicker as they will already know what the agency stands for. When managers have a shared perspective of how the agency should carry out its vision, things automatically become easier. 

You can create centralized documentation in Basecamp or another app like Notion. This way, any employee can automatically refer to the database instead of having to ask again and again. 

Invest in Project Management Software

Collaborative tools enable remote teams and agencies to work together despite geographical limitations. Good tools address many of the issues prevalent in virtual workspaces:

• How will members access all the documents to complete their projects?
• How will they stay in touch in an unshared space? 
• How will they keep track of project progress and client feedback? 
• Checking assigned tasks and categorizing them by order of priority.

One of the best examples of this is Atarim. Atarim is a fantastic tool for remote collaboration. The application has a central dashboard that shows active client feedback, requests, websites, and projects.

It’s not just a project management tool, but rather an entire agency management platform that allows you to manage your team and your client-side communication very effectively.

This removes the need to go back and forth on third-party communications platforms. The dashboard also features a task center that allows remote managers to set a task’s priority. Managers can also turn a client request into a task and assign it to a particular task member. 

That’s not all. Atarim greatly simplifies task management and collaboration, allowing clients to leave comments on specific elements of their website. Instead of having to jump on calls to identify particular elements, Atarim makes communication easy by letting clients leave visual feedback directly. 

These tasks can then be assigned to relevant individuals in the team, allowing you to track each task’s status accordingly.

Through their Client Interface Plugin, clients can directly leave feedback without ever having to browse away from their website. Through Atarim, you can easily see the tasks, their urgency levels, and delivery dates, as well as the team member who is supposed to be working on them.

Be a Leader, Not a Boss

Bosses are those who are simply present to ensure that tasks are completed. Leaders, on the other hand, do much more. Whereas bosses issue commands, leaders influence their employees. 

Leaders encourage their employees, understand their issues, and provide viable solutions. Good leaders play a pivotal role in the growth of an agency. If you have a dedicated team of managers and leaders in your agency, you’ll notice improved performance and morale across the board. 

It all starts by getting to know your team better. Remember, whereas bosses consider themselves above the team, leaders are deeply entrenched, and consider them a part of the team. They are genuine, loyal individuals, and are always willing to go the extra mile to set an example for other members. 

Set Cadence Meetings 

Daily standups and checkouts are great, but you also have to make sure that you set cadence meetings on a regular basis. This could be either monthly or biweekly, or even at the end of each quarter.

Cadence meetings allow you to better understand how the team performed. At the start of the quarter, you can ask your team members to define their objectives and key results. 

Then, you can set regular cadence meetings to determine overall progress. This makes it easy for you to see how team goals are coming together, and more importantly, how individuals are contributing towards this. 

Again, you can automate this by sending an invite on Google Calendar or Zoom. If you’re using ClickUp or any other tool like Asana or Jira, you can find integrations for that conveniently. 

Identify Blockers and Work With Employees To Overcome Them 

This ties in with several points we made earlier, but it’s also equally important. If you see an employee slacking off, find out why that is. If you see any repeated blockers, it might be a wise idea to sit down with them and find a workable solution.

In most cases, all you need to do is to reach out to an employee, and they’ll be willing to open up to you. This will help reduce friction overall and ensure that work is completed on time. 

Conclusion 

A major issue that many agency owners face when running and managing remote teams is that they have this misconceived notion that no matter what happens, physical teams do perform better. 

You need to let go of this prejudice because if the past couple of years has taught us anything, it is that remote working is the future. With the right tools at your disposal, you can easily reduce clutter and simplify management as a whole.

Agency owners and freelancers share a similar struggle: learning how to manage their time effectively and finding new clients. The industry continues to change rapidly, making it all the more important for agency owners and freelancers to adapt to the changing demands you face. 

Podcasts offer a unique learning opportunity to both agency owners and freelancers. Instead of setting aside a dedicated amount of time to devote to this, you can just listen to a podcast anywhere. 

Whether you are in the gym, going on a walk, or driving to work, just put on a podcast, and you can learn a lot of insightful things from people all over the globe. As an agency owner or freelancer, learning from the experience of others is very important. 

Podcasts aren’t just for information. They also allow you to draw inspiration from the experiences of others. Before podcasts, you would have to network or go to business seminars, which cost money. Podcasts, however, are free and simple, yet you can learn from the best. 

But how do you know what podcasts to listen to since there are so many? To help agency owners and freelancers, we have put together a collection of some of the best podcasts that will help you improve.

1. WP Builds with Nathan Wrigley and David Waumsley

If you design WordPress websites or work with digital clients that do, this is a fantastic podcast to listen to. WP Builds is a podcast by Nathan Wrigley and Wausmely, and they offer detailed discussions, news, and interviews with some of the leading names in the industry.

One of the reasons why WP Builds is so popular is because they have a very casual way of discussing the topics; they usually chat as if they are talking to a couple of old friends. You can also join in with live commenting, and there are special offers available too. With more than 150 episodes in the archives, this is a great podcast for people who want to learn and stay up to date about all things WordPress. 

2. Agency Trailblazer Podcast with Lee Jackson

Lee Jackson is a fairly renowned name in the WordPress community. His Agency Trailblazer Podcast is a recommendable listen for anyone who is interested in learning about the experiences of fellow agency owners. 

Lee does solo shows as well as guest interviews, making it an outstanding resource for people who aren’t just interested in listening to the experiences of others, but also need actionable tips on how to scale their agency. 

After the break from December 2021, Lee switched to YouTube in mid-February of 2022, so newer episodes can be found there.

3. GoWP — Digital Agency Owners Podcast

Since 2014 GoWP has been on a mission to help digital agencies become more profitable by increasing their revenue, cutting down unnecessary costs, and most importantly — helping agencies retain and attract new customers.

At the end of 2021, they launched a GoWP podcast where they are interviewing some of the most successful agency owners in the world and sharing best-kept secrets to success.

Even though they don’t have hundreds of episodes like others on this list, their podcast is extremely valuable and the best thing about it — you get to be a part of it from the early beginning and get the best assistance from the start!

4. Freelance to Founder by Preston Lee and Clay Mosley

Freelance to Founder by Preston Lee and Clay Mosley will help you make the biggest transition in your life: becoming an agency founder instead of working as a freelancer. Preston and Clay are two of the most confident speakers that you’ll come across, and they offer lots of tips and advice through the podcast.

The Freelance to Founder podcast will also help you become a better freelancer all around. New shows are available every Thursday, and the podcast is also available on all major platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcasts, Overcast, Pandora, and iHeart.

5. Smart Agency Masterclass by Jason Swenk

The Smart Agency Masterclass by Jason Swenk is one of the most detail-oriented podcasts that you can listen to. Jason covers every single conceivable aspect, from creating landing pages to setting up a successful lead generation strategy.

The podcast has been around since 2015, and it’s packed with impactful information that will make you excel in your work. Instead of barely scratching the surface with different topics, Jason really dives deep and offers actionable tips and advice to his listeners.

6. The Digital Agency Growth Podcast by Dan Englander

Another household name in the WP industry, Dan Englander’s Digital Agency Growth Podcast is a must-listen for people who want to understand how to run their agency in a more efficient manner. 

Agency owners often find it difficult to identify opportunities and scale. Dan Englander offers detailed advice for doing just that, covering a broad array of topics on agency management, life, and money. Dan leads conversations with confidence and shares lots of experiences, which makes it all the more relatable for listeners. 

7. Agency Journey by Andrew Dymski and Gray MacKenzie

Agency Journey by Andrew and Gray is a brilliant podcast that can help listeners understand the basics of growth and acquisition, as well as building a strong fiscal foundation — two things that most agency owners struggle with.

Andrew and Gray also bring on guests for each of the sessions, talking with experienced professionals on how they overcame challenges in their businesses. It’s an excellent podcast with lots of fascinating advice. 

8. Agency Dealmasters Podcast by Nathan Anibaba

The Agency Dealmasters Podcast by Nathan Anibaba is a top choice for people who want insightful information from smart and influential thought leaders in the marketing space. Nathan regularly interviews guests from around the globe, primarily those who have influenced specific niches in one way or another. 

It’s a great listen for people who want to learn how entrepreneurs dealt with different situations, and the changes they made as their businesses continued to scale. 

9. The Josh Hall Web Design Show

Available on virtually all major podcasting platforms, the Josh Hall Web Design Show focuses on strategies and tips on how to optimize web design. It’s not just about design, however, as Josh talks about SEO, branding, and gives tips on selling too. 

The Josh Hall Web Design Show is a superb choice for freelancers, as he gives detailed advice on getting clients from third-party platforms like UpWork and Fiverr. It’s full of interesting information that will only help you improve at your job.

By subscribing to Josh’s newsletter, you can also get access to a ton of new resources, like his ebooks, exclusive access to discounts, and a range of deals too. 

10. Landing Page School with Nicholas Scalice

Nicholas Scalice breaks down the key ingredients of successful landing pages in Landing Page School, a truly useful podcast that will help you become a much more capable designer. From using Hotjar to improve your landing pages to running tests, Nicholas makes it easy for designers to understand what works, and what to avoid.

This might not be a podcast geared towards beginners, as it requires a bit of specialist knowledge about landing page design. However, for people who want to step up further in their web design game, Landing Page School is a must-listen.

You will notice that there hasn’t been an episode since November 2021, and there’s a good reason for it — besides Landing Page School, Nicholas also runs Growth Marketing Toolbox, a podcast dedicated to exploring the best growth marketing tools and technology. 

This podcast is like a parent podcast of Landing Page School, and there you can also find a ton of super useful episodes that will help you improve your skillset.

Landing page as the topic itself isn’t that big, but the episodes you’ll hear on Landing Page School podcasts will definitely make you a landing page expert!

11. WPwatercooler – The Weekly WordPress Talk Show

Hosted by Jason Tucker and friends, WPwatercooler is another popular recommendation for WordPress plugins and development-related processes. It’s a geeky show that truly embodies the watercooler vibe — a place where a bunch of friends hang out to talk. 

The podcast talks about WordPress plugins, innovative solutions for WordPress, and other in-depth technical topics. WPwatercooler is entertaining and light-hearted. New episodes are aired weekly and have different formats. Some episodes are straight-up conversations on industry trends, while others take a more sophisticated Q and A approach. It’s one of the oldest WordPress podcasts on this list, with over 400 episodes over the course of 9 years. Overall, the podcast is targeted at a general audience, so anyone can pop in and listen without feeling lost.

12. Post Status by Cory Miller and David Bisset

With Cory and David, the Post Status podcast is concise at just 30 minutes per episode or less. The podcast covers news, WordPress updates, and interviews with other WordPress professionals. 

The Post Status podcast is also divided into three categories, Excerpts, Drafts, and Comments. Excerpts brief you on important WordPress news and topics in short episodes, while Drafts are longer with in-depth analysis and interviews. Comments are how the Post Status team communicates with its members by asking them questions about the WordPress industry.

Their website also has a transcript and blogs of each episode, which is always a plus if you want a podcast you can easily review. Although Post Status only has shy of 50 episodes as of writing this article, the hosts are experts on the subject and have keen insights. They also talk about the business side of running a WordPress website. If you’re looking for something more professional, with hosts who have years of experience behind their back, then Post Status Excerpt is a good listen.

13. The Kim Doyal Show or #FtheHustle

Also known as The WordPress Chick, Kim Doyal used to be a self-titled podcast that’s focused more on entrepreneurship through WordPress. Now, Kim has renamed the podcast to #FtheHustle. The podcast talks about general WordPress topics mashed together with business ideas and questions with her experienced guests. 

Other topics from the podcast include subjects like marketing, SEO, and company management.

It’s a non-technical show at heart and is a great way for female entrepreneurs and WordPress company owners to listen to a female podcast. Kim’s website has a blog, newsletter, and an online course you can buy that’s about content planning. The podcast has been out for more than three years at this point, but her uploading schedule is on a consistent basis. Still, she typically uploads two to four episodes a month. Each episode lasts for an hour at most and she has published more than 250 of these so far. 

14. Kitchen Sink WP by Adam Silver

For those of you who don’t have the time to sit through an hour of episodes a day, Kitchen Sink WP is the perfect podcast. Each episode runs for about 10 minutes or less, typically focusing on just one topic at a time. The beauty in this is that it’s all concise, just like reading summaries of each chapter from a book.

Adam Silver also does interview other WordPress experts from time to time, but the podcast is mainly focused on his learnings as a WordPress business owner. Everything from buying your first domain name, to hosting, all the way to using plugins and themes. Adam even talks about the books he reads and what he learns from the books every so often. The Kitchen Sink podcast is definitely aimed more at beginners who are new to WordPress. With over 400 episodes on the show, each at 10 minutes or less, you can play an episode just about anywhere. 

15. WP Briefing by Josepha Haden

WP Briefing is a WordPress podcast that’s celebrating its first year of airing just this February 2022. With Josepha Haden as the host, WP Briefing is primarily about WordPress topics that are more focused on the industry than the technology itself. Josepha goes over subjects like the WordPress community, what being a WP Executive Director is like, and what the future updates of WordPress hold for the industry. 

Each episode runs for around 15 minutes or less, with some extended episodes that do go for as long as 30 minutes. WP Briefing only has around 26 episodes though, so it’s perfect if you want a tight-knit community you can easily get up-to-date on. Listening through the whole podcast will take only about a day or two, but sad to say WP Briefing does not publish on a consistent schedule. 

16. WordPress Plugins A to Z by John Overall

A podcast dedicated, unsurprisingly, to WordPress plugins. WordPress Plugins A to Z by John Overall is a great resource for business owners who want to expand and improve their websites through 3rd-party plugins. 

John goes through a ton of popular plugins in this podcast and even highlights their vulnerabilities and where they fall short. It’s common for WordPress owners to install plugins that have 5 stars, activate them, and then forget about it. With WordPress Plugins A to Z, these 3rd-party services are magnified with John Overall’s close eye and expertise. He takes plugins apart, tests them, and goes through the other alternatives to find out what works best. Outside of just plugins, John also interviews other WordPress experts, professionals, and goes over important updates whenever possible.

With over 500 episodes, WordPress Plugins A to Z is a thorough collection of WordPress knowledge. Just keep in mind though that because this podcast is so long-running, older episodes may feature plugins that are already out of commission or are outdated. 

17. Women in WP

Women in WP is a podcast that promotes exactly that. The show talks about popular women in the WordPress community who have tips, opinions, and advice for aspiring professionals. Women in WP currently have around 77 episodes as of writing, each episode lasting for about 40 minutes on average. 

The Women in WP website also has blogs, show notes, and transcripts for each episode, making it easier to browse and review their podcast. The female side of the WordPress industry is incredibly diverse and the Women in WP podcast helps highlight that with each episode. You can learn about SEO company management and customer service all the way to the technical aspects like coding and open-source WordPress solutions. Women in WP is a valuable resource for cross-referencing opinions and listening to the bigger picture.

18. How I Built It by Joe Casabona

How I Built It is an informative podcast on business development through WordPress. Hosted by Joe Casabona, this show’s format primarily focuses on interviews with successful WordPress website business owners. Each episode is as diverse as the many industries in WordPress itself and since each episode lasts for about an hour, you can learn a lot just from one interview.

Just like the podcast name, How I Built It goes over success stories and the key learnings from those achievements. These key learnings are vital for small businesses, especially ones who are looking for inspiration and guidance in niche sectors. Whether you’re selling an online course, trying to fill in a market gap for consumer tech, or need some help with advertising, How I Built It has guests and episodes that are filled with these types of topics. 

The show has been going on for almost seven years now and has a consistent publishing schedule every week.

19. WP Tavern Jukebox formerly WordPress Weekly

WordPress Weekly, now rebranded into WP Tavern Jukebox, is a podcast that covers general topics around the WordPress space. From interviews and news to general editing features and WordPress plugins, WP Weekly is a popular podcast for anything WP-related. 

Considering how WP Tavern is a well-known WordPress news site in the first place, it’s no surprise that their podcast also covers these updates in-depth. With each episode between 40 to 60 minutes, WP Tavern Jukebox tackles relevant news and interviews with popular WordPress professionals. This podcast is recommended for WordPress enthusiasts who want to continually stay on top of things, especially updates on the technical aspects of the WordPress CMS.

20. Matt Report

Matt Medeiros, the man behind Matt Report, is the director behind Podcaster Success at Castos. This podcast talks about business building and highlights creative achievements in the WordPress landscape. Each episode lasts between 30 to 45 minutes, with many of these being interviews, updates, and general website content.

The show already has more than 280 episodes, so there’s a lot to go over for first-time listeners. You can find content about marketing, actual web development, and blogging-related tips across dozens of episodes on the show list. Granted, Matt Report is more about the business side of WordPress rather than the technical, coding landscape. For those of you who are looking for another source of business ideas, inspiration, and even industry updates, Matt Medeiros does a great job at reporting them on his podcast.

21. WP-Tonic

Last but not least, WP-Tonic is arguably one of the top podcasts with the largest collection of episodes on this list. With nearly 700 episodes, Jonathan Denwood and Steven Sauder cover a wide range of topics on the show. 

It’s a weekly podcast with episodes between 30 to 60 minutes that go in-depth at WordPress tech, marketing automation, and business-related subjects. Although it’s a podcast that looks at WordPress from the business side, the topics covered here get technical when talking about news and WordPress tech updates. The show also does interviews with company CEOs and WordPress experts. One of the strong points of this podcast, just like some other shows here, is in how long it’s been in the WordPress game. The hosts behind WP-Tonic have been in WordPress for years and have tons of experience that help back up their claims, advice, and tips for new WordPress businesses.

Listen to Podcasts That Resonate With You!

As you can see, there’s no shortage of podcasts available for agency founders and freelancers. However, different hosts have different ways of delivering the same message, so you need to find a podcast that works for you. 

Depending upon what stage of your business journey you are in, and what you intend to glean from it, there are different options available.

As a designer, developer, or agency owner you will often find you & your work subject to criticism.

Sure, you could easily follow the good old saying that “the client is always right” but that’s the easy way out. Criticism always leaves a mark and is a form of feedback if you know how to handle it well which is exactly what we’ll cover in this guide. 

So without further ado, let’s get into it.

What is Criticism And Why Is It Important?

The reason why learning how to handle criticism is important is that just like any other business owner (or freelancer), you want your business to grow, and one of the most essential things is to learn how to cope with any type of feedback.

Simple Google search will tell you that criticism is “the analysis and judgment of the merits and faults of something”, and that’s correct. However, in order to clarify that even more, we can freely say that criticism is a type of feedback that often holds negative connotations, and it usually highlights the bad sides of the subject.

Work you deliver to your clients is often a subject of criticism, and even though in real life, criticism is partially defined by the tone, that’s usually not the case in the business world, as tone doesn’t play much role when a client says something like “Background picture is really bad and overall theme is not on point.”

Sure, there are multiple types of criticism, but one is sure — you will recognize one when you get one.

Even though no one is practically a fan of being criticized, criticism is an extremely important part of your personal development but also the development of processes and quality of delivery in your company. Without it, you simply wouldn’t be able to level up the standard and therefore to grow in general.

The best way to learn how to deal with all types of criticism is to learn to distinguish criticism from feedback because even though they are similar, they can be (and often are) handled differently.

What Is The Difference Between Criticism and Feedback?

Besides the tone, the main difference between criticism and feedback is that criticism almost always focuses solely on the problem, while feedback covers the problem and potential solutions.

Since the feedback in its form is more complex than criticism (and the fact that criticism is a type of feedback, not the other way around), it’s usually considered as a positive or neutral comment, because those are usually emotions the receiver feels when he gets one.

To clarify the structure even more:

Criticism: “The background motives are not in place, and colors do not match our brand design identity”

Feedback: “This is a good start but we have a lot more to do! Let’s try to change background motives to curvy lines so we can see how that option looks. And also, let’s try to align colors more to our brand design identity”

As you can see, criticism just points out the issues and bad sides, while feedback contains a positive and stimulating narrative, and may offer solutions to the problem.

Knowing by default that everyone (if they got to choose) would prefer to get feedback over the criticism, it’s important to know that not all clients know this difference, and truth to be told, they don’t really care. So it’s completely on you to improve handling criticism because you will likely get it more than feedback.

How To Handle Criticism From Clients

Now that you know why criticism is important and what it actually is, here are the best ways to handle it properly and get the most out of it. 

Be Open to What Client Is Trying To Tell You

Don’t take it close to heart immediately. 

Be open to what the client is trying to tell you and disregard the way he’s trying to tell you.

That way, you’re left with what exactly is the issue, and what’s the next step in the development.

It’s completely normal that you are not on the same wavelengths as your client, that you picture things differently, and that you can’t read your client’s mind. Sometimes they may expect such things from you, which is why it’s important that you define all those things in a web design proposal (https://consultants.atarimworker.io/blog/web-design-proposals/) in the future, but in general, it’s completely normal that your work becomes a victim of bad communication.

Either way, if you get criticism on your work, don’t form the attitude right away — there’s definitely something useful there that you can use to improve everything.

Speaking of attitude…

Control Your Emotions

Removing your bias and objectively assessing criticism means being calm. 

You can’t make a solid, well-informed decision if you’re angry or annoyed. In fact, you may even cloud yourself from advice that might be helpful. Controlling your emotions isn’t the easiest in the world and it’s not everyone’s strong suit.

However, what you always can do is step away for a few minutes and cool down. Don’t ever let your emotions take the best out of you, because:

• You will not make the best decision
• It’s not professional
• You will fail to spot key points criticism holds

Once you reach the ability to be objective again, then provide your client with the feedback, and plan the next steps.

Distinguish Constructive From Destructive

There are two types of criticism: constructive and destructive.

Constructive Criticism

Even though constructive criticism still may hold a negative connotation, the reason it’s called constructive is that it focuses on the problem. It highlights the downsides that can be improved and help define the client’s expectations.

With this type of criticism, you can do a lot, which is why it’s important to distinguish it from destructive criticism.

Destructive Criticism

Destructive criticism often comes from frustration and therefore the inability to provide constructive elements that may improve the subject of criticism.

General signs of destructive criticism involve:

• Baseless accusations
• Insults on professional and sometimes even on a personal level
• Client’s inability to point to exact issues
• Repetitive criticisms without caring about your progress

If you find yourself in a place where criticisms you’re getting are becoming more and more destructive here’s what you should do:

1. Put a halt on the work — from that point, nothing will be good enough and the productive atmosphere is long gone. 
2. Calmly reevaluate your working relationship with the client — make sure you’re emotions are off and look for unethical clues of the client’s behavior.
3. Express your concerns — talk to client directly and let them know that things are not where they’re supposed to be
4. Try to form a constructive environment — set new foundations of healthy communication and try to get on the same wavelength as your client
5. If things don’t take a positive turn, cut off the work.

The biggest favor you can do to yourself and the client is to cut things off if it doesn’t work out, even if it’s a super important client or currently your only source of income. And as always, try to part ways in the most polite, respectful, and professional way possible.

Acknowledge Criticism

Even though it may sound similar to being open to what the client is trying to tell you, acknowledging is something different.

Often, clients feel like their feedback or criticism isn’t acknowledged and that designer or developer constantly takes their own path.

This leads to more aggressive criticism that often becomes destructive, and from that point forward, things usually don’t have a happy ending.

Therefore, make sure your client is aware that you acknowledge their criticism. Let them know that you “hear them” or “understand them” and then follow the path of providing feedback or adopting the criticism and working on another solution.

Provide Criticizer With Your Feedback

Once things have settled and you’re able to objectively review the criticism you received, make sure you make your feedback as constructive as possible

If you agree with the criticism let the client know that edits per their request shall be made, but make sure you remember what was the actual issue — document it, and make sure to avoid it in future references as you don’t want to face the same criticism twice.

However, if you assess that criticism you got doesn’t align with your vision or client’s request, make sure to elaborate the best you can why don’t agree with it:

• Elaborate on your process how you came up with a solution you delivered
• Elaborate why the solution you delivered is the best solution (use backed-up facts, not opinions)
• Emphasize spots you believe the client failed to observe

After you do, feel free to ask the client the questions on how he visioned it — that way you may get a better picture of what’s actually needed.

From that point, a constructive dialog should take place where only two scenarios can happen:

1. The client understands your intentions and adopts your solution
2. The client persists in making changes he requested 

Either way, you know exactly what to do and the criticism you received turned out to be a learning curve for you (depending on the scenario, either for your work or for your communication skills).

How To Avoid Getting Criticism From Clients

Truth to be told, there’s only one answer to this question — you can’t fully avoid getting criticism. It’s fully normal that your work (regardless of how good is it) simply doesn’t meet someone’s expectations.

However, here are a couple of things you can do to avoid criticism.

Keep a Box of Constructive Ideas

Keep some constructive criticisms safe in a box for future use.

While constructive criticisms are all fair and good, you shouldn’t act on everything that’s supposed to improve your system. 

To be effective and confident in any field, you need to have experience in both success and failure. You should always try to see something through until it fails or it shows signs of failing. 

Some criticisms will come your way that may differ from how you do things now. And, while that may be an improvement, it’s important to see what works best for you or for the problem you’re tackling. You’ll never know which one is the best until you try them all, and you’ll never really try them all if you keep switching from methodology to methodology.

Overcommunicate

If something is not clear, ask. If you need more information, ask. If you need to follow up, do so.

Lack of communication often leads to bad results in the end, and most people avoid asking as they think they will leave a bad impression.

Communication is essential especially in the beginning when you and your client are still “feeling the ground” and getting on the same wavelength. 

You may bore your client a little bit, but they will most certainly appreciate you doing your best to deliver the best results you can.

Also, let them know in the beginning that you may need extra communication for that purpose.

Either way, communication is the key to success in any sphere of business, so don’t be afraid to overcommunicate.

Suggest Using Atarim

This may sound like a regular pitch, but Atarim can truly help avoid getting your work criticized.

Criticisms most often come from bad/lack of communication, poor organization, and in general, the inability of client to tell you what they need exactly.

Atarim is a solution that focuses strictly on improving all processes, making deliveries faster, and having communication on point.

With its features, you will be able to let clients literally demonstrate to you with a click what they need, organization of your work (and agency if you have one) is improved by detailed descriptions in a kanban board, and communication via Atarim’s systems is super simple and straight forward. Basically, you have everything in one place!

Check all our features here, and see for yourself how many improved their processes (which definitely resulted in receiving fewer complaints from clients).

Conclusion

Everyone reacts differently to criticism, and since criticism often holds a negative tone, people tend to take things personally.

However, criticisms are pretty much the best thing that can happen to you for your personal and professional development.

Learning how to handle criticism can be a bumpy road but eventually, things will take a positive turn, and you will know how to use criticism for improvement in general.

Having small business website goals is a crucial part of tracking progress and growing your website in 2023.

Knowing how to define and set suitable website goals for your small business is a powerful skill that every business owner should know. In this article, we’ll teach you how to use the SMART goal system and guide you through the goals you should be making as a small business!

Let’s get started.

The Importance of Website Goals as a Small Business

Small businesses need clearly defined goals to build websites that will generate high amounts of traffic within the next couple of years. Growing a site takes a long time, so you can’t go into it blindly and hope for the best. Otherwise, you’ll be wasting your time and money.

There are many reasons why website goals are vital for small businesses:

• Encourages focus and clearly defined expectations
• Promotes teamwork and collaboration
• Increase morale
• Makes success measurable in quantifiable terms

By allowing your team to focus and measure success, you zone out all the noise that isn’t important to your business. Promoting teamwork and increasing morale make teams more productive as well, especially when goals are met within time.

Nugget of Wisdom: How to Make SMART Goals

Before we start talking about the goals you should set, here’s how you can make SMART goals. SMART is a method of setting goals that are well-defined and attainable.

• Specific – clear and easily imagined
• Measurable – a criteria that measures progress, failure, and success
• Achievable – attainable within reasonable expectation
• Relevant – impactful and helpful to your vision and mission
• Time bound – with a deadline and timeline that you can hold yourself accountable to

Here’s an example of a SMART goal.

“I have 400,000 monthly visits on December 2022”

The goal is specific and measurable (400,000 monthly visits), is both achievable and relevant to the growth of the website, and is time bound (December 2022). 

Now that you know about the SMART system, it’s time to start setting goals. 

Sell More Of Your Product

This is one of the most important goals for eCommerce websites. If you’re selling a product, setting a goal of how much you should sell is an essential first step to starting 2023 right.

You can figure out how much more product you should be selling by looking at your previous sales. Do some math and figure out the average increase in sales by percentage per month. Use that formula to find out how much you should be making next month and the months after that.

This way, you’ll have a realistic, specific number of sales that are based on your past performance. 

If you try out a new system and find that your sales do better, don’t be afraid to make another set of numbers for that system. That will help you evaluate which strategies and systems work best for your business.

Increase Website Traffic

Another essential part of growing an online website business is increasing traffic to your site. Whether it’s organic traffic from Google or someone clicked a link on your advertisement, take advantage of any strategy to get visitors to your website.

A good rule of thumb when it comes to growing website traffic is knowing the traffic cycles in a year. For example, if you’re a tech how-to site, you may not get tons of traffic during December since people are celebrating the holidays. For January, however, you can expect a lot of people on Google looking for help on operating the new phone or gadget they got for Christmas. 

You should also invest or learn some SEO tips and tricks that will help your site rank better. We’ll touch more on that below, so keep reading!

Increase Your Community Presence and Brand Awareness

Increasing your community presence and brand awareness via social media platforms like Reddit, Twitter, and Facebook is a great way to leave a footprint in your industry. 

Post and be active in subreddits or Facebook groups with members who are your ideal client. Chances are, when they see how helpful and knowledgeable you are about the industry you’re competing in, they’ll trust more the product you’re selling.

They’ll also link your aptitude back to your brand, helping them understand what your company is trying to solve and why they should invest in it through purchase or subscription. If your brand is different from the rest, filling a market that your competitors are struggling to do, then increasing public awareness of your brand is going to get you more recognition and customers.

A good start in this goal is to be active in at least five groups this year.

Another great source of networking is by attending online events like webinars, lectures, or press conferences. Just seeing your brand or name in the comments goes a long way to familiarize yourself with customers, especially when people find your products after several days or weeks.

Be Active on Social Media

Social media is a powerful tool when used correctly. If you can filter through the irrelevant content that’s posted on a daily basis, you can build a good following and become a figure in your industry. 

Business owners build the brand and company profile through social media outlets. Your social media profile highly reflects your company’s behavior and being active in your industry shows other users that you’re enthusiastic and passionate about the industry you’re in.

Now, advertising your website through social media doesn’t mean typing in the title of your article or product then posting the link. 

Social media advertisements are a little more sophisticated than that and will require some effort on your part. Aim to talk about the different technologies or trends that’s happening in your industry. By providing value to your followers first and then advertising your own brand next, your followers will be more likely to click on your products out of curiosity instead of cynicism. 

A popular method by CEOs and website founders on Twitter is to create case-study threads. Twitter threads that are full of relevant information, condensed into bite-sized 280-character tweets. With Reddit, the approach is generally through being active in comments and sharing important news on subreddits to generate discussion and interest. 

Optimize Your Website’s Designs for User-friendliness

It’s a common problem for users to find your website on Google but then leave once they open your page. This increases the bounce rate of users and is incredibly bad if you’re trying to tell Google that you’re worth being on the front page.

Sites that have a lot of cookies, pop-ups, and ask for lots of permissions are prone to this. If your users feel violated by your pop-ups and don’t feel safe with their information, then they’ll probably exit your website. You can avoid problems like this by changing from Google Analytics to an alternative tool since Google can be quite invasive with information sometimes.

Another great addition for user-friendliness would be to add excerpts to your posts. This makes it so that visitors can read 2-3 sentences summarizing a post without having to open a new tab themselves. Not only does this help you get more clicks, but it’s also pretty easy to do as well. Just use the same meta description in your article and make that as your excerpt. 

Here are some other optimizations you can add to your website:

• Have “Related:” blocks that recommend your other articles or products to your readers throughout each page to increase visit duration and generate more clicks
• Make a table of contents section at the start of each article
• Don’t bombard readers with long advertisements. Instead, space it out evenly across the article. This is especially useful if you have a section that’s just a block of text

These are just a couple of examples of website optimization and there are many other design improvements you can make to serve user-friendliness. Booking a consultation with a web design agency should be one of your goals this year.

Get Your Finances In Order

A good chunk of business owners are either financially illiterate or aren’t. While it’s true that it can be difficult, as well as potentially distract you from making your product better, accounting is the language of business.

Simply opening up a Google Sheet and figuring out how much you pay people, how much you earn, and how much you’re spending can go a long way. You’ll know if you’re profiting, by how much, and if your system needs a drastic makeover or not. If you’re making an investment with a site that’s growing in traffic, it’s still important to know how much money you’ll be spending on content before the returns come back as ROI.

You’ll also have to budget emergency funds for your business, how much money you can pull for personal expenses, and if it’s time to promote some employees to be managers.

You don’t need to be an accountant or buy an expensive accounting program to do this. A quick Google Sheet with your numbers and a system you designed for yourself will do the trick.

Improve Your Content Strategy

The right content strategy can be the difference between thousands to hundreds of thousands of monthly visitors a year from now. 

Remember, everything on a website is meant to provide value to a customer, enough that they’ll either continue reading or buy your product. Adding simple things like a list or table to your articles can be game-changing for reader retention. A short list of features or a table that explains pros and cons suddenly makes your content skimmable, increasing the chances of readers actually reaching the end of your article.

A good content strategy also involves SEO, and we’ll talk about improving your SEO game down below. Keep an eye out for that!

Here are some of the best content strategy tips and tricks you can try out for your website.

Update All Your Articles Regularly

There are three reasons why you should make updating articles a monthly or yearly task:

• To keep your ranking articles at their current rank
• To signal search engines that you are always up to date
• To keep the information up to date for the readers

Updating your content while you’re a small business website is relatively easy as you probably don’t have a ton of content which is good news because you have the chance to dedicate more time to existing content and improve it.

Google loves to see when content creators regularly update their content, as their algorithms are always focused on one thing — how to provide users with the best information on a topic they searched for.

Saying that that should be your main goal as well — providing top-quality content for the users.

When creating a content strategy, always seek to have a healthy balance between evergreen content and timely content. 

Evergreen content requires less attention after it’s written (e.g. How To Change The Lightbulb) as the information written in it is valid for years to come, but when it comes to timely content (e.g. Top 15 Lightbulbs On The Market Right Now) make sure it’s properly updated so Google and users both know you have the latest information.

Make Your Content Evergreen

Evergreen content refers to articles that don’t need to be changed or updated to still be relevant and accurate. This typically refers to product reviews (since products don’t change, e.g. iPhone 11 specs will be a constant), some how-to articles, and content with evergreen data.

Here’s a list of things you can avoid to make your content evergreen:

• Don’t write specific prices, especially when referring to products that are on sale. 

Since prices can always change in the future, it’s better to either link the product directly or just talk about the price through adjectives like “expensive”, “affordable”, or “mid-range”.

• Avoid sticking to a moment in time, like saying “this 2023” unless you plan on updating that content. 

Phrases like “this coming May 2023” can quickly make your article obsolete once the date mentioned has passed. If your readers even think that your information is old and outdated, their trust in your content will drop.

• Create case studies 

There’s no better evergreen content than doing a case study and sharing your findings with others. That content almost never needs to be updated as it was conducted at a certain time with a certain sample.

Overall, just as we mentioned above, always tend to have a healthy balance between evergreen and timely content.

Interlink Your Articles With Anchor Text

Linking your articles together is one thing, but using proper anchor text is another. Anchor text is when you link an article to a phrase of words that are nearly identical to the article title. Here’s an example with our article titled “How to Find Your Web Design Niche”.

E.g: With almost 80,000 web design service businesses in America this 2022, how can you find your web design niche?

The set of words linked is almost interchangeable with the title of the article linked to it. This means if a reader sees this, he or she will know that opening the link will redirect to a page relating to finding a web design niche. Don’t be lazy and link articles just because they have a common word or two. Making use of proper anchor text is a great way to keep readers on your site and have them explore the other articles that you’ve published. 

A good rule of thumb when linking with anchor text is:

• To only use 4 to 6 words when embedding the link
• Link articles that fit the context of your sentence or paragraph
• Link parent pages (articles or pages that are cornerstones to your content and have lots of links to other parts of your site)
• Let links open in a new tab so that readers won’t leave the article they’re reading
• Have only 1 or 2 anchor texts on the screen at a time

These are the general guidelines you can follow to make perfect anchor text. Just keep in mind not to overdo it, as too much interlinked content can feel more like reading an advertisement instead of an informative article.

Have a Backlog of Articles

Having a backlog of articles is both good for your website and your mental health. 

Publishing articles consistently is one of the things that Google considers for SEO. Missing a week or two of published articles can tell Google that either something is wrong with your website or it isn’t as reliable as other sites. Accidents and problems happen all the time and it’s impossible for you to stop all of them. Whether it’s losing a writer, getting hit by a storm, or living in the darkness for weeks because of a power outage. 

Your website shouldn’t be put on hold just because you are. 

Here are some types of articles that you can draft and keep as a backlog:

• Product reviews
• How-to articles 
• Informative posts

Basically, any content that doesn’t need to be published urgently to be relevant.

A backlog of articles lets you schedule posts ahead of time and gives you the peace of mind of never missing a week of publishing. If some relevant news pops up, you can always postpone a scheduled post to make way for the flash news you want to publish. 

Improve Your SEO Game

If your vision is to grow into a global brand, or at least one that’s recognizable by millions of people, then making your way to the front page of Google is a prerequisite.

Unless you’re a SaaS or service business that relies more on referral customers, then you may not need SEO as much. However, there’s no denying the benefits of making your business SEO-friendly. 

There’s always an option to hire an SEO agency to help you improve your SEO game, but since you’re starting a small business website (or you already have one), you should start working on this on your own.

Therefore, here are some good pieces of advice.

Start Using An SEO Tool

SEO Tools are popular for good reason: they provide you with a lot of useful data. 

Apps like SEMRush and Ahrefs are a few of the many great SEO tools in the market that you can choose from. This is especially important for websites that generate revenue off of affiliate products or through Google AdSense. If that’s your business model, then increasing traffic to your websites is the only way you’ll scale. 

Here are some of the many benefits you can expect from using an SEO tool:

• Keyword research 
• SEO competitor analysis 
• Website SEO
• Rank tracking your popular articles 
• Content marketing analytics

If you’re looking for a worthwhile investment that’s catered to serve your business, then an SEO tool should be among your top choices.

Have a Consistent Publishing Schedule

Google loves an active website. 

That means publishing articles on a consistent basis and sticking to a weekly publishing schedule. You don’t have to be needle-thread specific when it comes to this, but a good rule of thumb means publishing at least one article every week. Of course that heavily depends on the niche you’re in, but in general, you should post 2-3 posts per week.

A consistent publishing schedule will enable you to be recognized by Google as an active publisher but also you will have loyal readers who know when you’re publishing new content, hence your connection with them will improve immensely.

Overall, if you’re setting goals for your small business website, you definitely want to add an improved SEO game to the list, as the benefits you may get from it will help your site grow.

Streamline How You Communicate With The People Responsible For Handling Your Website

Your workspace heavily affects your productivity and in order to get the most out of your time, you should consider streamlining or even upgrading your workspace.

A couple of strategies you can use to streamline your workspace include:

• Make use of tables or Kanban boards if you have that option available
• Create a system for Status that indicates the status of that task
• Use Do dates and Due dates to encourage working on tasks sooner without having to wait for the deadline
• Use relational databases when you can

If you can’t streamline your workspace on one app, then perhaps it’s time you consider upgrading to a better workspace program. Atarim is perfect for web designers and agencies since it was developed for that purpose.

Some of the features that will improve your efficiency while keeping things simple are:

• Auto-login to client sites
• Visual feedback on on-page graphics
• Dedicated chat site for employees
• Overview of ongoing, completed, and tasks yet to be done

Of course, we’re much more than that, but these features are usually the first things that help our clients achieve better productivity and efficiency.

Make sure to check out all features of Atarim as we’re sure they will be a game changer for your business!

Have Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

Micromanaging is the enemy of business growth. Sooner or later you’re going to have to bring in a hire that you’ll trust. That means not double-checking his or her work when it’s time for submissions or publishing. Of course, finding someone you can trust at this level is hard and arduous. The process of teaching someone the ropes from the ground up and only having them either leave or fall short is disappointing. 

This is where SOPs come in. Standard operating procedures are guidelines that you can send to your hires so you won’t have to repeat yourself when mentioning the details of the role you’re hiring for. 

Here’s are some helpful tips when it comes to creating your own SOPs:

• Whenever your employee asks a question regarding that position, save the question and your answer. That way anyone with the same question in the future can just check the SOP
• Understand that an SOP is not written in stone and can change, especially if you’re adding improvements to the document
• Don’t make the mistake of creating an SOP that’s longer than 10 pages. You don’t want the onboarding process of an employee to feel like an exam for them. 
• Divide your SOP into sections, and if necessary, separate SOPs. This makes it easier to navigate through as well as lessen the intimidation of opening one long SOP document

Although it might sound ironic, your management team can only grow by taking your hands off the wheel. 

Define Your Target Audience

Understanding who your target audience is helps you focus your efforts on the people who are most likely to buy your product or visit your website in the first place.

Instead of wasting your time and resources trying to catch all types of users, try and single out your customers instead. This not only helps align your brand and product, but it also helps your employees understand what your business is trying to solve. 

Vertical SaaS is a great example of a phenomenon like this. Instead of building services to be as general as possible, companies like Atarim for web designers or BioIQ for the MedTech industry are offering solutions to niche-specific problems that only they can solve. This is a great way to model your business and profit off of a niche that hasn’t been occupied yet.

Conclusion: Defining and Setting Goals For Small Business Website is Essential for Growth

Making sure you’re using your time and money effectively is a crucial part of making a small website business turn into a bigger success. 

There’s a lot of hard work that goes into creating a small business website, especially when you’re competing in a saturated market. But the good news is that it isn’t impossible to pull off. Learning how to clearly define and set suitable small business goals is one of the best ways to start off 2023, especially as a small business owner. 

We hope you’ve found this guide useful & are able to set goals that lead to you doubling, tripling, or even 10x-ing your website’s success this year.

A website is a great way for any business to attract new customers, but it can be hard to know where to start. Thankfully, learning how to build a website in 2023 is much easier now than ever before, to the point where you don’t even need any technical coding knowledge to build one. 

As long as you are adept at basic features, like drag-and-drop functionality, you can easily build a website and launch it within a few hours. 

Whether you want to start a blog, an eCommerce store, a portfolio website, or any other type of site, it’s never been easier to do so. If you are interested in building a site, here’s a comprehensive guide that you can follow. 

What’s Your Website About?

Before we get started with building the site, there are a few important things you need to focus on. First off, you need to decide what your website is about. This is going to affect the plugins you choose, the design of your website, and the overall structure. 

For instance, if you are starting a portfolio website, you’ll want to choose a theme that lets you showcase your imagery or videography. On the other hand, blogging websites should choose a theme that has content features like excerpts, commenting, related blocks, and so on. It’s also important that you do a bit of research first. Check out the websites of competitors in your niche, as that’ll help lay the groundwork for some design inspiration. 

Pick a Hosting Company

Another important step is to choose a reliable hosting company. Essentially, you will be leasing server space from a hosting company. All of your website’s files and folders are going to be stored on that server. 

If you really want to get in at the cheapest end of the spectrum, start with shared hosting. The pricing is incredibly cheap, usually around $3-$4 per month. However, it can get slow after moderate traffic because server resources are generally shared with other websites.

If you are going to build a more resource-intensive site, then it might be a wise idea to go with dedicated or managed hosting like Servebolt. Alternatively, if you’re open to self-managing a server, you can choose to use cloud hosting provides like DigitalOcean, Linode or AWS paired with an easy-to-use platform like RunCloud. 

• Dedicated or managed hosting – having a website host and manage the technicalities of your site for you but at a premium price
• Cloud hosting – paying for a cloud server where you can upload your website and manage it yourself

If you’re still uncertain and just want to give it a try with shared hosting, you might want to check out HostGator, Hostinger, NameCheap, or BlueHost. 

Buy a Relevant Domain Name

Now that you know what your website is about, the next step is to purchase a relevant domain name (also known as the website’s URL address). Ideally, you’ll want the domain name to reflect the nature of the site.

However, for branding purposes, if you are starting a website for your brick-and-mortar store, try to get the same domain name as your business’ name. If not, look for a similar option, perhaps with a different TLD (.com or .net).

Keep in mind that certain domains might be more expensive. These are known as premium-level domains and are generally bought out by investors who intend to sell them at a profit. 

You don’t have to be particular about buying a .com domain as that doesn’t have anything to do with how successful your website will be.

Find a relevant domain name that matches your niche, so you can eventually grow it. You can buy a domain name from any domain registrar. Common options include:

• Domain.com
• GoDaddy.com
• NameCheap.com

Choose Your CMS

Now that you have a domain name and hosting, the next step is to install a content management system or CMS. Content management systems (CMS) like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla are web applications that support the creation and modification of digital content. In simpler terms, they give website owners the ability to create websites without knowing HTML or other programming languages.

WordPress is an open-source CMS written in PHP which means it is free to use and modify. It is currently the most popular CMS with over 60% of the market share. Drupal is also open source and second in popularity with around 20% of the market share. Joomla is closed source but has a larger market share than Drupal with around 10% of the market.

If you don’t know much about content management systems and just need a simple option, go with WordPress. 

It’s the most popular choice and it’s free. For the purposes of this article, we’ll be focusing on building a website using WordPress only. 

Style Your Website

Figuring out the style of your website is essential for building your brand because your style is something that can be very recognizable.

This process can be super simple or super complicated and it solely depends on your resources, but also on your needs. Therefore here are 2 methods we’d recommend when it comes to styling your website.

Choose a Premium Theme & Style The Website Yourself

If you are using WordPress as your content management system, there’s a variety of different themes that you can choose from. Think of a theme as a group of files that will alter the appearance of your website.

Themes can be paid and free, but since you’re focusing on bringing value to your website and brand, we’d definitely recommend going with a premium (paid) theme. The reason for that is that premium themes give you a variety of features and dozens of ways to style your website according to your vision and needs.

You can see previews and choose a theme directly from your WordPress dashboard or, you can also find a theme from third-party marketplaces, such as the InstaWP Template Marketplace, Envato Market, Theme Forest, Elegant Themes, etc. 

A couple of themes we’d recommend:

• Generate Press — if you’re looking for speed
• Divi — if you’re looking for a beautiful design
• Ultra — if you’re looking for flexibility

Bear in mind that even though these themes will help you style your website immensely, you may find yourself in need of some advanced customization, which means that you may need (at least basic) HTML, CSS, and JavaScript knowledge. Luckily most premium themes have a refund policy, so there’s not much risk involved.

Also, great design takes time and if you’re not that familiar with the entire process we advise moving on to the other option.

Hire a Profesional Design Agency

If your resources allow it, hiring a design agency is always a good idea.

Every design agency will go with you through figuring out what’s your brand about exactly, and what would be the best ways to present it.

After that, they are able to deliver multiple solutions, and for every customization you’d want, they will most certainly be able to honor it.

Even though this option is a bit pricier than doing things yourself, you can rest assured that you will end up having a professionally designed website that will tell a story about your brand and most certainly convert your visitors better.

If this step is something you intend to do, we’d highly recommend working this process through Atarim.

Atarim is the ultimate solution for communicating and organizing things for design agencies but also for website owners. With it, you will be able to show exactly what you want and create tasks for your design agency where you can provide more details and set deadlines.

Communication via Atarim is the most efficient way to get things done, and we’re 100% certain that your design agency will be able to deliver better and faster results.

Check our plans here!

Create Important Pages and Organize Them

The structure of your website should be as lean as it can because once you grow big, it’s very easy to lose yourself in the organization. Besides that, there are some very important pages you should have on your website so for the beginning here’s a short list of pages we’d advise you to start with.

About Us (Your Website/Company)

The best way to start building trustworthiness is to present your brand the best you can.

Keep things short and sweet, but at the same time make sure to present:

• How it all started
• Company/Website representatives or the team
• Vision of the company
• Company goals
• What difference is your business making in your industry

This page can be in your header or footer — location isn’t that relevant, but it’s very important that this page exists.

About Content Creators

Regardless of the nature of your website (blog for affiliate marketing or SaaS), your website should present the content creators or in case that’s just you, then dedicated About page for you.

If one of your growth strategies is optimizing your website for search engines such as Google, then this is mandatory as creating About pages of your content creators directly affects your EAT.

Naturally, this page should link to the About Us page and the other way around. Also, the signature or author box on the bottom of the blog post should also link to the About Content Creator page.

So for example — if your writer is John Doe then you will have a page called “About John Doe”.

When it comes to the content of this page, it’s pretty similar to the About Us page — do your best to provide concise and accurate information about the writer himself. Make sure to include things like:

• How long has the writer been in the industry
• How he started
• Why is the expert on the topic/What makes him the expert
• What is he passionate about
• Optional: his certificates, diplomas, etc.

And of course, make sure to include a portrait photo with a smile!

Blog

The blog page is where your content (as blog posts) will reside.

Create categories of your content and make sure to enable visitors to filter the blog posts per category.

The blog page should always be visible to the reader, so we’d recommend having it in the header of your website.

Legal

Legal pages are one of the most essential (if not the most essential) part of your website as they have a sole purpose to protect you legally.

Even though there are a lot of templates for any type of legal page, if you’re planning to grow big, it’s ultimately the best thing to consult the lawyer and have them custom make you legal pages for your business.

Every industry is different, and in every industry, you will find different things that you will have to include.

Essential legal pages to have:

• Terms & Conditions
• Privacy Policy
• Disclaimer
• Refund policy (if you’re selling a digital product or SaaS)
• Cookies Policy

In case you miss to set up your legal pages properly, you’re risking getting sued, and potentially spending a lot more than legal pages cost.

Contact

Your visitors should be able to reach out to you whenever they want.

How will you handle the emails or calls is up to you, but the contact page (just as the action of replying to inquiries) builds trust between you and your visitor.

Create a contact page and place it in the footer — a simple contact form that requires Name, Email and the Message should be just enough.

However, if you’re running SaaS and have already planned a support department, then you should also include support’s phone number.

Product Landing Pages

Last but not least, landing pages for your products should be out of most importance as they will basically convert your visitors into buyers.

Designing landing pages but keeping conversion rate high is an art of itself, which is why we recommend reading our full guide on how to design effective landing pages.

After you’re all set up with all these mandatory pages, it’s time to move on to the next step.

Add Apps and Plugins

Once you have the CMS, mandatory pages, and the overall design of your page locked down, the next step is to add some apps and plugins in the background. These are essential for improving the overall functionality of your website, as well as its speeds. 

Here are some essential plugins that you should include on your new site. 

Rank Math SEO

Rank Math is one of the most popular plugins for WordPress websites. As the name suggests, the plugin is designed to improve the overall SEO of your website. It’s one of the best SEO plugins for WordPress, as it offers live suggestions for improving your content. 

Rank Math SEO also offers smarter link suggestions, detailed information on different keywords, as well as intelligent recommendations about how to improve your website’s technical SEO. You can see how posts rank and what changes you can make to improve your website’s rankings. 

Akismet Anti-Spam

Akismet is owned by the same company that owns WordPress, so that should tell you all you need to know about its importance. As the name suggests, Akismet helps filter spam from your site. 

The service carefully checks all contact form submissions and comments on your website and carefully filters out spam. If you want to prevent your website from getting bogged down in spam, Akismet is a fantastic choice. 

It’s incredibly lightweight as well, so your page loading speeds won’t be affected either. You can opt for either a free or paid option.

Wordfence/ Sucuri

WordFence is an important plugin to add to your site as it addresses a critical issue with running a public online business: security. It serves as a firewall and offers a malware scanning tool to quickly identify and remove all malicious files from your website.

The program protects your site straight from the endpoint, offering considerably deeper integration than other options. Protecting your site from malicious software is important and Wordfence does an excellent job of doing that.

You also have the option of choosing Sucuri. Like Wordfence, Sucuri is a potent malware scanner and is offered free to all WordPress users. 

Ideally, you can choose from either of these plugins. It’s very important to add a plugin that scans your server periodically for malware if you want to prevent costly backups or recovery!

Paid alternatives are available for business websites that want to prioritize security. However, if you’re a large-scale business already, then moving to a managed WordPress host would be a better investment. It costs a bit more than cloud or shared hosting but managed WordPress hosts offer daily backups and stricter policies on security.

Autoptimize / Async Javascript

Autoptimize is a fantastic plugin that makes it easy for website owners to quickly optimize their websites. It can easily minify and cache styles and scripts, as well as inject CSS in the page head by default. 

You can even lazy-load images and optimize Google Fonts. It also lets you async non-aggregated JavaScript. At its core, Autoptimize is a caching plugin that will help improve your website speeds.

If your hosting company doesn’t allow the use of caching plugins, you might want to consider using Async JavaScript. Released by the same company, Async Javascript helps remove render-blocking Javascript in all above-the-fold content on your site. 

This can ultimately impact your ranking as well as improve the user experience. Async JavaScript also lets you choose which scripts to async or deter, thus giving you greater control over the improvement of your website. 

How To Optimize For The Best Performance

There are a number of different steps that you can take to optimize your website for the best possible performance. Here are a few:

Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

One of the best ways to improve your website’s loading times is to use a content delivery network, or a CDN as it’s commonly known. CDNs distribute your content across a vast network of servers. 

Based on the end user’s location, the content is served up from the closest server location. Instead of servicing a user request from your original server, CDNs serve requests from closer locations. As a result, your website loads up quicker. If you choose a reputable hosting company, it’s probably because they already have a CDN. If not, you might want to choose an external option, such as the Cloudflare CDN. 

Optimize Images on Your Site

You might be tempted to use the highest quality images on your site. However, higher quality comes at a price: a bigger file size. It’s obvious that you are going to be using a whole lot of images, graphics, and photos on your website, so you should take steps to optimize them. 

Larger images take longer to load. That’s why you’ll want to use a plugin such as Smush to compress and optimize images. You can also optimize your images through a site like TinyPNG before uploading them. 

Reduce The Number of CSS Files and JavaScript

If you are using an excessive number of CSS files or JavaScript on your website, it’s going to generate more HTTP requests. Each request is treated individually, which is simply going to prolong loading times.

Instead, you can group JavaScript and CSS files into one to reduce loading times. 

Use Prefetching on Your Website

Prefetching simply means reading and executing instructions before a user even sends a request. If you are able to anticipate a user’s behavior on your site, you can use prefetching to significantly reduce load times. The most common prefetching techniques include:

Prerendering: This means rendering an entire page, or key elements on that page before a user navigates to it. 

Link prefetching: If you have a strong hunch that a user will click on specific links on your site, you can “prefetch” links. This is ideal for optimizing shopping cart journeys on your site.

DNS prefetching: DNS prefetching simply means to resolve domains into IP addresses quickly. These might seem like subtle changes, but the aggregated impact is generally high. 

Remove Nonessential Plugins

The more plugins you have on your site, the longer it’s going to load. That’s because your website will use more resources, and it could also lead to security issues. It’s important for you to periodically review all the plugins that you are using on your site and remove the unnecessary ones. You should notice a significant increase in website performance as a result. 

Connect With Google Analytics and Google Search Console

Google Analytics and Google Search Console are two of the most potent tools that you can use to analyze the performance of your website and user behavior in general. 

Data you will get from Google Analytics and Google Search Console will be essential for your website’s growth, and truth to be told, you can’t get such data from anywhere else.

Connecting your website to Google Analytics and Search Console is a somewhat simple process, but if you’re getting Rank Math on your website, then we suggest following their step-by-step guide as it’s ultimately the fastest and simplest way.

Publish

Now that you have created your website, added the essential plugins, optimized your site, and connected it to Google Analytics and the Search Console, it’s time to publish your site! 

It might be a wise idea to create a staging site first to test out any new features. 

Also, we’d highly recommend going through our detailed checklist for publishing the website, just to make sure you’re all covered!

That’s all! Your website is now live!

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I build a website for free?

Yes, you can build a website without spending any money but as one of your businesses’ most important assets, we suggest setting yourself up for success by investing in your new website.

All free options have very strict limits when it comes to customization and you will never be able to build a website like you want it to look or to look as professional as it could on your own hosting.

Saying that we strongly suggest investing in website hosting and getting a premium theme or even hiring a professional to help you.

How can I earn money with my website?

If your website doesn’t already represent your service business, then you can earn money in various other ways some of them include (but are not limited to): selling digital products, running affiliate marketing, displaying ads, etc.

What types of websites are in demand?

This particularly depends on the niche you choose. There’s no way to “gauge” demand for websites, but if you had to choose, go with a review website or a blog that focuses on technology. 

Do websites make money per click?

Only if the website is displaying ads. To make money with your website, visitors need to click on the ads. Clicks on your website don’t necessarily translate into earnings. 

Do I need SSL and Domain Privacy?

You absolutely need an SSL certificate, as it ensures data is encrypted during transmission. Otherwise, a warning will be shown by your browser to visitors, and it also negatively impacts SEO. Domain Privacy is generally recommended to prevent scammers from knowing your personal information such as phone number, address, full name, etc.

Does my domain name have to be relevant to my website?

It doesn’t have to be, but it’s definitely recommended. A relevant domain name gives visitors a better idea of what your website is all about. 

Should my website have a blog?

Yes, absolutely! Having a blog is a great opportunity for you to create content to attract your ideal customers, nurture them and help them make the most of your products & services throughout their entire customer experience. 

Conclusion

Now that you’ve reached the end of the article, hopefully, you’ve already successfully built a website you can call your own.

Building a website is one thing; maintaining it is another. If you want to continue increasing the website’s ranking, it is important that you regularly post new content. Remain on top of technical SEO and conduct regular site audits to ensure everything is running smoothly! Once you have your website up and running, it’s important for you to start researching your competition and post quality content.