After I took the plunge and began to freelance full-time, I needed a system to manage my invoices. I run Ubuntu Linux on my laptop so Quickbooks was not an option and I never found a suitable alternative.

Just when I was ready to bite the bullet and settle on a conventional paper-based system, I discovered a Wordpress plugin that allows you to create and distribute invoices easily over the internet. Once a project has been completed and an invoice has been created, I can e-mail the invoice directly to the client!

Above all, security was my main focus — I didn’t want to take any chances. Enter Google Checkout. When my clients are ready to pay their bills, they click an official ‘Checkout’ button at the bottom of their invoice. The client and their invoice are directed to a Shopping Cart where they can review each item and enter their information. Google collects, authorizes and charges each transaction and everything is kept confidential. Paying for services has never been easier!

This system creates a win-win situation for me and my clients. It’s secure, simple and painless — the way things ought’ to be!

To learn more about Google Checkout and other services from Google, visit the Google Checkout Homepage

Sitemaps
What are they?

A sitemap is a list of the pages of a web site which is accessible to search engines or users. Sitemaps can improve search engine optimization of a site by making sure that all the pages can be found. You can view the HTML version of my sitemap here and you can also view an XML version here.

404 Pages
What are they?

The 404 or Not Found indicates that ‘The page you were looking for could not be found.’ My goal was to create a more friendly 404 page that provides visitors with options. Once a visitors reaches my new 404 page they can choose to submit an error report, go back to the homepage, read the latest blog posts and even run a search. Want to see it in action? Go to a non-existing page like this one.

Lightbox 2
What is it?

Lightbox is a simple, unobtrusive script used to overlay images on the current page. It is used on this site to display large images in my portfolio. Check out this example or Browse my Portfolio

My goal for this site is to give you an inside look at my life as a freelance web developer. It will include a personal blog about all things web, a portfolio to showcase my work and of course a ‘contact’ page to give you a way to contact me.

In the coming months I will work directly with clients, both old and new, to create innovating websites that produce real results. I will write in my blog as often as possible to introduce new technologies, fresh websites and a creative insight to the world wide web.

Well that is about it for this post, thanks for reading and don’t be a stranger!

Comments: I enjoyed working on this website because of its fun theme. As a developer on this project I was primarily responsible for creating the shopping cart and the image galleries. I chose PayPal to process credit cards because of their low rates and easy-to-setup “Add to Cart” buttons. The sleek effects of the image galleries are powered by a widely used Javascript library called ‘lightbox’ which I will continue to use and future projects.

Kate Albert did the design for this project.

Comments: In these days typing a URL into a web browser is just as common as typing a number into a telephone. Traditionally people prefer the telephone because it offers a more personal way to get the information you need. When you called, someone greeted you and offered their assistance. But as an organization gets larger the way in which they handle calls becomes less personal and callers lose the sense that they are important. It becomes harder to get the information they need and those frustrated by the whole process often turn to the web.

The first page in this unique three page system was designed to give visitors as much information as possible including contact information, location and hours. If visitors need additional information the second page was designed to initiate a conversation via e-mail. The third page is simply a confirmation that their e-mail was sent.

Comments: This successful website proves how effective direct mail marketing can be.

Comments: I enjoyed working with Plan-It Now and would love the opportunity to work with them again.