Here are ten popular WordPress plugins that let you create contact form, survey form and registration form without the knowledge of web programming language.

1. Clean-Contact: Clean-Contact is clean and simple contact form plugin that the user easily understands. It doesn’t require user to jump through hoops to send you a message. It hides itself from spam-bots using Akismet.

2. Contact Form 7: Contact Form 7 is simple yet powerful, flexible and highly customizable contact form plugin. It manages multiple forms, plus you can alter the fields in the form to change the look and feel. It supports CAPTCHA, Akismet, Ajax-powered submitting and other technologies.

3. SimpleModal Contact Form (SMCF): SMCF is highly flexible Ajax based modal contact form. SMCF includes ‘Send me a copy’ option for the sender. It makes use of Javascript library, jQuery and SimpleModal plugin.

4. cforms II: cforms II is feature rich plugin for Wordpress. It offer convenient deployment of Ajax driven contact form. It lets you create multiple forms on one page and vice versa. Some of the attractive features are: Tell-A-Friend, Fully localization, Backup and Restore.

5. WP Contact Form: WP Contact Form is a simple contact form plugin for Wordpress that provides the basic features of a contact form.

6. MM Forms: MM Forms is a powerful form plugin, yet so simple to use. With MM Forms you can customize form, create multiple forms, spam filter with Akismet, protection by CAPTCHA and Ajax driven submission. Some of the unique features are: Automated ‘Thank you’ email after submission, save form submission to database and let you customize HTML from code instead of using built-in code.

7. Dagon Design Form Mailer: This plugin is also known as Secure Form Mailer. Some of the wide ranges of features offered by this plugin are: creation of multiple instances, multiple recipients, multiple attachments, CAPTCHA and many security features. This plugin is designed to be use while being flexible enough.

8. Scaleable Contact Form: Scaleable Contact Form is simple Wordpress plugin that let you create Ajax or non-Ajax driven form in no time. With this plugin, the required and non-required fields can be easily configured. It supports CAPTCHA but not Akismet for spam filtering.

9. Visitor Contact Forms: This plugin let you create stylish contact from web 2.0 style. To use this plugin you need to create contact form here. You are done, once you fill the form id field in the plugin page. Apart from regular features it provides some cool features like: Geocoding, contact manager, twitter follow and many more.

10. Fast and Secure Contact Form: This plugin lets your visitors to send quick emails. It is super customizable with an option to redirect visitors to any URL after the message is sent. It doesn’t require JavaScript and have many strict security features.

When you have a solid background in design, the world is your oyster. Today there are countless avenues that you can explore if you’re a skilled designer with the education and experience to back it up. Design has become such an integral part of many industries, so opportunities to explore different areas of design are no rare thing. As much as I think it’s great to really flourish in one industry, it can be equally important to delve into several. Showing off that your skills are applicable to many industries and that you’re a versatile designer can only help your portfolio – and maybe you’ll even find yourself meandering down a career path you never imagined for yourself and actually enjoying it.

1. PHPurchase: It is one of the best plugins that many Wordpress e-commerce sites use. This plugin let you quickly integrate online shop with fully functional shopping cart.

Some of the features of this plugin:

• The most customizable e-commerce WP plugin.
• Integrates Paypal and Authorize.net and more.
• Track the inventory

2.  Simple Paypal Shopping Cart: The WordPress Simple Paypal Shopping Cart is a very elegant plugin which allows you to add ‘Add to Cart’ button anywhere on your wordpress blog. It also allows you to add the shopping cart anywhere in the posts/pages. The payment is processed by Paypal.

3. FatFreeCart: FatFreeCart is an e-commerce plugin designed to work within your Wordpress post editor, thus avoiding the need to paste any code in CSS or HTML of Wordpress theme. It allows you to add ‘Add to Cart’ and ‘View Cart’ button anywhere in the post, so that you can sell your product from the posts. It is nicely integrated with Paypal and Google Checkout.

4.  Shop Tab e-commerce: This plugin lets you create a tab on your Facebook fan or profile page that showcases your products from your online store.

5. LockPress: With LockPress you can ‘Lock’ your posts/pages (or part of it). To view the locked item your viewers need to pay the fee set by you. Your visitors will pay directly to your Paypal account to view the locked content.

6. MiniCart: MiniCart WP plugin will let you place a ‘mini’ shopping cart in your Wordpress blog. By ‘mini’ it means it can show only one item in a cart. This can also be used as donation plugin.

7.  Ecwid Shopping Cart: Ecwid is more flexible shopping cart plugin than its counterparts. The features of this are similar to that of a regular cart plugin, but it is faster when compared to others.

8. WP-Invoice: WP-Invoice is an ideal plugin for web developers, SEO consultant or anyone with Wordpress e-commerce blog. This plugin let Wordpress blog owners to send invoices to their client. When an invoice is created, the client receives an email with short description and a unique link. The client follows the link to special invoice page, view their invoice and pay the bill.

9.  Vanilla Cart: Vanilla Cart is crisply designed, beautiful and attractive theme that transforms your Wordpress blog into online store. It emphasis on product shots, allow the stocks to speak for itself.

10. flshow manager: This plugin manages flshow Photo Carousel. The Carousel is a great for displaying the products of e-commerce wordpress blog in the header.

It’s no surprise that the advertising industry is full of egos. A company full of creative minds is bound to have some friction from time to time when ideas don’t agree. And of course some of those stereotypes about creative people are true – that they can be overly passionate and attached to their own ideas, unwilling to listen to others and certain that their way is best. However stomping your feet up and down till you get your way is no way to act on the job, no matter how tempting the idea may be. Believe me, I know how crappy it feels to get your ideas dismissed, laughed at or have someone else come along and tell you how it would be way better this way. So here are some pointers for all those times you need to stand your ground while remaining professional.

CSS Type Set

CSS Type Set is a web based typography tool that enables web designers and developers to interactively test and learn how to style their web content.

This tool allows you to set the font family and size, line height, word spacing etc., The CSS file will be automatically generated for you, while you can see the changes taking affect instantly. It is a handy tool to test and experiment a suitable font type for your website.

Typechart

Typechart lets you browse and preview different web typographic styles and download corresponding CSS. It also allows to compare Windows rendering with Apple font rendering. Typechart also provides you with a list of useful resources about web typography.

Em Calculator

Em Calculator is a JavaScript based tool that helps making scalable and accessible CSS design. It converts size in pixels to relative em units, which are based on a text size. You might want to check out the new version under development.

CSS Frame Generator

If you are tired writing valid CSS code then, this tools makes your life easier by generating CSS code automatically for your input XHTML code. This tool could save time for web designers and developers in writing valid CSS code.

WordOff

WordOff is a handy tool to clean your CSS code. It applies a set of rules to strip off unnecessary attributes and elements from your CSS. For instance, It also contains an API.

CSS Evolve

This tool enables you play with many properties of a website, including the site’s color scheme, fonts, borders, and more.

CSSEvolve works through a process of simulated evolution in which you select site features that you like and refine them through multiple generations. It’s an intriguing way to tweak your site’s CSS and play with different color schemes.

CSS Text Wrapper

The CSS Text Wrapper enables you to quickly make HTML text wrap in shapes other than just a rectangle. It enables you to text wrap around curves, zig-zags etc.,

CSS Tidy

CSS Tidy is a free web based tool to clean, optimize and compress CSS code.

CSS Menu Generator

This tool lets you quickly create custom, cross browser compatible menus for your website. It makes it easy to create CSS menus without having to know about HTML and CSS.

Sky CSS Tool

This is an online CSS authoring tool which allows you to create CSS classes without using handwritten code.

Every job has its ups and downs. And depending on who you are and what you like, those ups and downs are different for everyone. No matter how you slice it, networking is a part of the advertising industry. If you’re an outgoing, bubbly and talkative person then this aspect will not only come naturally to you, but you’ll look forward to it. As for the more reserved types, this might be the aspect of advertising that makes you want to run for the hills. Regardless, it’s a must-do so you might as well learn how to do it effectively and accept it as one of the “downs” of having an all-around awesome job.

JS Bin

JS Bin is an open source collaborative JavaScript debugging tool. It allows you to edit and test JavaScript and HTML.  JS Bin enables you to test code chunks and debug the code collaboratively.

JS Libs Deconstructed

The Deconstructed series is designed to visually and interactively deconstruct the internal code of JavaScript libraries, including jQuery, Prototype and MooTools.

It breaks the physical JavaScript into visual blocks that you can easiliy navigate. Each block opens to reveal its internal code. Clickable hyperlinks allow you to follow program flow.

Primer CSS

Primer is a web based CSS generator. It extracts classes and id’s from an HTML page that can be used as the base for an external style sheet.  Just paste your HTML and click on ‘Prime it’ to get started.

Alloy UI

AlloyUI is a user interface web application framework. It’s purpose is to help make building and designing web applications an enjoyable experience.

Alloy UI provides a consistent and simple API for building web applications across all three levels of the browser: structure, style and behavior. You might want to check out a few demos. Alloy UI also provides detailed documentation for the API.

You can view documentation for each module and filter results by private, protected and deprecated.

Cappuccino

Cappuccino is an open source framework that makes it easy to build desktop-caliber applications that run in a web browser.

You can program in Cappuccino, without the concern of complexities of traditional web technologies like HTML, CSS, or even the DOM.

Cappuccino is built on top of standard web technologies like JavaScript, and it implements most of the familiar APIs from GNUstep and Apple’s Cocoa frameworks.

You might want to go through demos, tutorials, and browse the documentation.

Once in awhile, I start feeling just a tad selfish for going into advertising. I have friends who are going through hell to become doctors, occupational therapists, nurses, and friends who just do charity work and volunteer in their spare time. I on the other hand, love to write. So that’s what I do. I don’t know if it really pleases anyone else and I doubt it’s improving anyone’s quality of life. Sometimes I think I should be doing more with my talents and time.

First of all, you must have the personality to be a freelance designer. I know you might be wondering what personality has to do with it, but when you’re running your own business you have to be a certain kind of person to make it work. You should be able to work well on your own, be highly disciplined, productive, and have the ability to stick to time schedules without any pushing from co-workers or higher ups.

Secondly, you’ll need to wear many hats. You won’t just be a designer at home. You’ll be a designer/salesman/accounts payable/receptionist/marketing coordinator all rolled into one. Make sure you’re up for the challenge of keeping track of your expenses, dealing one on one with clients, finding ways to market your business and garner new clients and meet all your design deadlines.

Thirdly, stay on top of your finances. Seriously. You have to do the math as you go along and make sure you’re actually making a decent profit off your work. Charge an hourly rate that will allow you to still get clients but also cover all your operating expenses.

Make sure you have everything you need. This goes beyond your computer printer. You’ll also need all the office supplies a regular office would need like paper, staples, pens, file folders, company letterhead, business cards, envelopes and stamps, a business phone line, etc. A key element to being a professional freelancer is treating your work as if it were a company, not just a stay at home gig. It’s a lot of responsibility and you have to be up for it.

You should also have a plan for printing. Are your clients doing their printing through you? Or will you just refer them to a local printer that has a decent price? Make sure you’re taking your clients from concept to completion, so you feel like a full-service agency instead of just the designer.

Lastly, remember that freelancing isn’t like a year-round vacation. You’re going to have to put in the time to meet with clients face to face, sell yourself, sniff out new prospects, and get all your work done. Freelancing offers a great amount of freedom and flexibility but you have to be sure that you don’t abandon your clients when they need you so you can sleep in or go on a spontaneous vacation. The success of your freelancing business rests squarely on your shoulders. If you’re okay with that, then you’re ready to begin.

Backpack – Helps you better organize your business. With backpack, you can quickly share information with your team and keep your documents, discussions, and schedules at one place. A Backpack page can have any combination of to-dos, notes, images, and files. You might want to go through some examples.

Writeboard – A free web based tool which enables you to create as many writeboards as you would like and invite as many people to collaborate on the writeboards. Writeboard provides web based text documents that save edits, so you can collaborate, go through revisions and compare changes.

ConceptShare -It is a simple, cost-effective web-based design collaboration tool for gathering feedback from team members and clients. ConceptShare enables you to easily share media and invite others to add and reply to comments, approve artwork, and markup on visuals.  You might want to go through ConceptShare tutorials.

Wridea – is a free web based idea management and collaboration service. It helps you to avoid ideas being forgotten and to organize and improve those ideas by sharing your ideas with friends. Wridea also provides necessary tools to improve your ideas by yourself.

This service helps you organize your ideas by creating new idea entries in no time, discuss in depth with your friends and categorize under pages with different categories.

GoPlan – Goplan lets you keep track of your projects and collaborate with your colleagues securely through an intuitive user interface. Goplan enables you to organize your projects into tasks and milestones. It includes team status updates and time tracking.

Ta-Da Lists – A simple and fast web application which enables you to make to-do lists for yourself or share them with others.

ActiveCollab – is a project management and collaboration tool that you can set up on your own server or local network. It enables you to work effectively with your team and clients in an easy to use environment, while keeping full control over your data.

Project work in ActiveCollab is organized around important project milestones, where each milestone can have its own set of tasks, discussions and files.

When art directors and copywriters work as a team, it’s important that they work well together. But it’s hard to say where one’s role ends and the other’s begins. Of course advertising is an industry full of big egos, and creatives don’t usually appreciate their work being critiqued. As a copywriter, I want to be the one doing the writing. If an art director comes along and says “hey that line is alright, but how about if we said it this way instead?”, my gut reaction tells me that this person is just an art director and doesn’t know what they’re talking about. But if we can learn to silence the egotistical voices in our heads and listen to what our team members have to say, art directors and copywriters can work together quite well.

There are some pieces that a copywriter can easily write on his or her own, without much input from others. But for other projects, especially if they feel less knowledgeable about the material or if it’s for a new client, a brainstorming session can be really helpful. That way they can get a good handle on the direction and message of the writing, without the art director putting words in the copywriter’s mouth.

By brainstorming and talking together ahead of time, the art director can decide what the look and feel of the ad should be. This helps narrow down design options immensely, giving them an idea of the kind of images, typeface and layout that would work best. Even though the art director is the design expert, the copywriter should always take a look at the ad as it’s being created. Some copywriters are more visually inclined than others, and some will have an idea of the designs and images that would go best with the copy they’ve written.

As much as writers hate to have their writing criticized, I think it’s necessary. I would love for my writing to come out perfectly every single time, but that’s just not practical. Some days writing comes easier than others. Some days it’s a struggle, and other days it feels effortless. On those days where the writing isn’t flowing as it should, showing the first draft of copy to the art director is a must. While not everyone has a good sense of how to write well, most people have a good sense of what sounds funny or off and what sounds good.

Still, tensions can run high when someone who considers themselves to be a design expert is having their work criticized by a copywriter. We often feel threatened by the critique, as though we expect our work to be inherently flawless simply because that is where our talent lies. If we can stop thinking of ourselves as strictly copywriters and art directors and just start thinking of ourselves as creatives, the lines begin to blur. We stop feeling like our talents are at odds with each other and start thinking of how much talent we have combined. We start to truly work as a team, ignoring our damaged egos and instead focusing on creating the best possible ad that we can.

Stock photography can really help out a designer when time is of the essence. If you’re in a jam and you need a picture of a smiling real estate agent standing in front of a sold sign ASAP, then stock photos are your best bet. Finding a picture that works can be super fast, easy and convenient. Also for smaller ad agencies who don’t have the resources to have a photo shoot every time they’re producing an ad, using stock photos can help cut down on expenses and time.

On the other hand, some stock photography sites have recently raised their prices, so cost savings is no longer a clear cut matter. Agencies should start to wonder if these pictures are worth what they’re paying, and if it might be best to dish out a little extra money to shoot photos themselves. Sometimes stock photos just aren’t good enough, and if you have an important big name client you’re trying to impress, stock photography might not be the best way to it.

Firstly, stock photography that looks like stock photography is a problem. You don’t want to fill your agency’s portfolio with photos that all have a similar look and feel. Especially when that look and feel consists of a politically correct multi-racial group shot with fake smiling faces. Some stock photos are very cliché looking and I totally understand why a designer wouldn’t want to use them.

On top of the corny photos that designers must avoid, the fact is that stock photos are highly overused. This is where you have to be careful. A friend of mine told me about an ad they had mocked up for a client, having chosen the right stock photo and copy for it. They decided to place the ad in the next month’s issue of a publication. Then they saw that publication’s current issue and found that not only was that very stock photo in there, it was being used by their competition. And of course if their ad came after this one, they would’ve ended up looking like chumps.

To avoid the pitfalls of stock photography, you have to spend extra time searching. Don’t try to make your searches as fast as possible; take the extra time to find the right photo. Don’t forget that most designers will be using the photos found in the first batch, and the lesser used photos will be found later on.

When you’re searching, try to not think so literally. Instead of looking for a specific photo, try to think of related and more abstract concepts to search for. Also remember that you have the option of editing and playing with the photos so you can adapt them to your needs.

Even if your agency rarely shoots its own photos, venture out and do it from time to time. It helps your mind to stay fresh and inspired instead of rotting away in the land of stock photography. And when using stock photography is a must, try switching up where you get your pictures from. There is iStockphoto, DreamsTime, Shutterstock, Stockxpert, Japanese Streets, Fotolia, Gettyimages and more.

The important thing when using stock photography is that you don’t sacrifice your creative integrity too much just to save a little agency time and money.

Using a Website Monitoring Service is just the solution. Website monitoring services enable you to monitor your website at specific intervals and alerts you via e-mail, SMS, or phone whenever your website goes down. Below are few of the best website monitoring services that enable you to monitor your websites for free.

1. Ding It’s Up – Ding It’s Up is a free service that sends you alerts via Twitter, E-mail or SMS whenever your website goes down. It is a simple and easy-to-use service.

2. eBiz Monitor – eBiz Monitor is a free and easy-to-use website monitoring service. Whenever your website goes down, eBiz Monitor immediately notifies you via E-mail or SMS. It also sends you periodic reports indicating the health of your website. These reports can help you decide whether it is necessary to re-think your website design or hosting service.

3. 24×7 Website Monitoring – 24×7 is a free website monitoring tool that monitors your website 24×7 and sends you notifications you via e-mail or SMS when your website goes down. It has an easy-to-use control panel that enables you to manage all your monitors and settings. In addition to this, you also get detailed reports and graphs indicating the loading time as well as the uptime of your website.

4. Observu – Observu is yet another online tool that enables you to monitor all your websites for free. It sends you an e-mail notification as soon as your website goes down. However, compared to the other tools this tool doesn’t send you text (SMS) notifications. Observu lets you monitor any number of sites.

5. Service Uptime – Service Uptime’s free monitoring service enables you to monitor only a single website. It checks your website at an interval of 30 minutes and notifies you via e-mail or SMS as soon as your site goes down. It monitors your website from over 10 locations around the world.

6. SiteUptime – SiteUptime’s Free Plan enables you to monitor one website with check intervals of 30 or 60 minutes. It enables you to monitor your HTTP, FTP, SMTP as well as POP3 service. It monitors your site from 4 monitoring locations and sends you notification about your site’s downtime via E-mail. SiteUptime also has an easy-to-use control panel with monthly reports and statistics about your website.

7. InternetSeer – InternetSeer’s free website monitoring service remotely monitors your website from several geographic locations at intervals of one hour. Whenever your website goes down, InternetSeer notifies you via E-mail, SMS or pager. It also provides weekly reports of your site’s performance.

Big Agency

Pros:

With a big agency, you typically have the opportunity to work for bigger and more well-known clients. This is often because a big agency has access to more resources and capital, so they are able to attract more popular clients. Of course, those big company names look better on your resume and in your portfolio. Because there are more personnel at a bigger agency, you are able to be very specialized in your field. This means you’ll be able to strictly do design, and you won’t have to be a “jack-of-all-trades” who has to worry about acquiring new business, doing pitches, strategy, PR, dealing with clients, etc. If you just want to stick to design and fine tune your skill set, then a big agency is best. A big agency also comes with a secure salary and benefits, and has a more lively environment with more people to work with.

Cons:

In a big agency, more clients can mean things don’t get done as fast. A slower turnaround time can lead to frustrated clients, which can then result in losing those clients. Bigger agencies also have a higher turnover staff, and the creatives are a bit more dispensable. Also at a big agency, because there will be many copywriters and art directors, you might get stuck on doing all your design work for one account. That means designing similar ads that share one look, all the time. You might be lacking in variety and get bored of your work.

Small Agency

Pros

Simply put, in a small agency you are depended upon. Every person at a small agency plays an important role in making the agency work efficiently. This means you’ll have the opportunity to get involved in many areas and you can branch out of design work if you like. This will hone your skills as more than just a designer; you will get more experience under your belt in many areas like sales, research and client relationships. Small agencies have a more intimate and personal environment, where you work closely with the same people everyday. As a whole you will have a faster turnaround time which means happier clients who stick around. And since they have to compete with big agencies who have more resources, a smaller agency will try harder. What they lack in resources they will make up for with passion, effort and creativity.

Cons

However, if you’re not interested in becoming a businessman and developing your skills in multiple areas, a small agency might not be the place for you. If you don’t ever want to work with others or deal with clients, then a small agency won’t be the right choice. A small agency can also be more boring, and you might have a less secure salary. Also because a small agency has less clients, they can become very dependent on the ones they have. So if the agency loses one client, that can mean a lot less business for the company and a lot less work for you.

Take all these things into consideration before you start applying anywhere, so you can make sure you find an agency that’s the right fit.

Following are five time saving resources for web designers I came across, which I believe are worth sharing.

Pencil Project: Sketching and Prototyping with Firefox

The Pencil Project is a free and opensource tool for GUI prototyping, making flowcharts and diagrams. It has built-in stencils for prototyping and drawing diagrams.

This application enables you to install user-defined stencils and templates and allows exporting to HTML, PNG, ODF, MS Word and PDF. The Pencil Project supports standard drawing operations like scaling, aligning, z-ordering, rotating etc.,

Pencil can be used for creating simple web layouts as well. It can be installed into Firefox 3 as an addon or you can run it as a standalone application on Windows or GNU/Linux. You might want to go through the user guides for Pencil Project.

Divine: Convert PSD to WordPress Theme

With Divine, you can convert any Photoshop design to a WordPress theme in short time, thereby saving you time and effort.

Divine suggests quick and easy steps for you to convert a PSD file to a Wordpress theme. No HTML or other coding knowledge are required to convert your PSD to Wordpress. You might want to go through video tutorials on how Divine works.

HTML Purifier – Standards-Compliant HTML Filtering

HTML Purifier is an open-source and highly customizable HTML filter library. It will remove all malicious code (better known as XSS) and makes sure your documents are standards compliant. HTML Purifier ensures standards-compliant output.

HTML Purifier is a great library to integrate with existing content management systems and other applications or WYSIWYG editors. You can check out a demo of HTML Purifier here.

Sketchpad – Online Drawing Application

Sketchpad is a web based image editing application. It provides you with some useful tools to draw/edit images draggable interface. You can position various tools like gradients, swatches, patterns etc., anywhere on the screen based on your convenience. You might also want to check out Darkroom.

Know your audience

If you’re applying to an agency that strictly does web stuff, than your portfolio better have web design. If their clients are mostly retail type companies, then that is the kind of work your portfolio should have. Don’t just have one blanket portfolio that you show to every CD you meet with; you can have campaigns that you bring in and out, so you can tailor your book to suit the agency.

Branch out from student work

For new designers, it’s tough to get a job. Which means it’s tough to have work in your portfolio that isn’t student or spec work. But you should always be trying to change that. Even if you’re having a hard time finding a job, there are a ton of freelance design projects available. Search job postings for those one-time gigs that can help you build your portfolio. You can even volunteer to do design work for a local company for free, like updating their website design or designing a few ads. This is a great way to get started and add real work to your portfolio. (And free design work is hard to refuse!)

Make sure that it’s clear and organized

Nobody should ever look at your portfolio and be confused about what they’re looking at. With guerilla or non-traditional advertising, it becomes a bit unclear as to what exactly is going on. One great way to keep it simple is to have a written piece accompanying every design piece in your portfolio. This should be a paragraph explaining who the client was, what the aim of the project was, what exactly you did, how you came up with the idea, and why you believe it was the right idea. Make note of any obstacles that got in the way and how you overcame them. You can succinctly say everything that needs to be said by dividing everything under the two headings “The Problem” and “The Solution.”

Make sure it’s online

It’s important to have your portfolio both in print and on the web. That way, creative directors can look at your portfolio with you during an interview, or they can check out your work in their own time. Be sure to have your website address on your business card so that when you’re networking CDs will have access to your work and a way to get in touch with you if they like what they see. There are sites like Carbonmade.com where you can download your portfolio pieces. However you can also get your own website. You can find inexpensive web hosting and it looks incredibly professional to have your own website domain name. here are some examples of impressive web portfolios: mattdempsey.com, digitalmash.com, alexcohaniuc.com.

All in all, try to look at your portfolio objectively. Think about what you would be looking for as a creative director or what would jump out at you. Be particular about what work you show to people. Don’t have 35 okay pieces. Have 12 amazing pieces. You’ll show that you can discern what work is better, and that you focus on quality instead of quantity. Once your portfolio is all that it can be, it’s only a matter of getting that portfolio out there and showing agencies all that you have to offer.

Offer Add-ons to Your Clients

While working with a long-term client, apart from maintenance and regular updates, you can offer useful add-ons to your clients. For instance, for a static website – adding a blog is a good idea to provide readers with news and updates. Similarly, if the website you are working on caters to a community of audience, you can use a forum or a social networking platform to engage the website audience. For a website with multiple forms, you can install a easy-to-use form management system – form tools.

Volunteer?

Some of the job postings you come across might be about volunteer work. Like, designing a basic website with minor updates on a monthly basis. If you are an expert in your field, managing such can be very helpful for respective organizations and such basic websites shouldn’t take much of your time. Volunteer work gives you a balance for your career.

Invoicing – Do You Make Use of Web Based Tools?

If you are dealing with multiple clients, managing your work and payments due is quite tedious. There are many web services which offer basic invoice service for free. Some of the web services also offer time and task management, and project management tools. These services will enable you to create invoices and track payments that have been received or have not yet been paid. Some of these tools will help you to create elegant-looking invoices and send them to your clients in a easy way.

If there are any other prolific tools or services you came across, please do let us know in comments.

Be persistent.

I honestly believe that if you try at anything long enough and hard enough, you will succeed eventually. Creative directors are busy people who you might have to harass a whole bunch just to wrangle a sit-down. While some might find your persistence to be an annoyance that interrupts their workday, some will definitely be impressed by your refusal to give up. It shows how badly you want the job, and that you’re passionate about the field (and their agency).

Network.

I am not a fan of schmoozing whatsoever. It seems like a pretentious and superficial part of the advertising world. But whether you like it or not, networking is important. Look into any design events, award shows and the like, and be sure to attend. Make some nice business cards that show off your design skills and bring them along. Get in touch with as many people as you can and learn how to successfully market yourself. Be sure to visit sites like designedgecanada.com to find events you can go to (and job listings too).

Be an intern.

I know the thought of working for free may seem impossible or just downright disagreeable. But for designers starting out, internships can be unavoidable. Employers want to see how you work and take you for a test drive before hiring you full time. Those without experience need experience, and internships can help you get it. For designers who are experienced, an internship might still be necessary when looking for a new job. And if you’re experienced you might get a paid internship. Let’s say you work at a direct mail agency and now your portfolio is full of brochure copy. If you want to work for a super creative agency, you’re going to have to prove yourself and an internship can help you do just that.

Perfect your portfolio.

I say perfect because your portfolio will never be perfect, and so you can keep working towards that impossible goal. An important thing I learned during my copywriting program is that your portfolio is never finished, ever. Never be satisfied with it. Never be content and sit back and marvel at all your genius work. You have to keep updating, keep improving, keep fine-tuning your skills. Also when you’re looking for jobs you should really research the agency you’re applying to. Look at their clients and their portfolio, and have similar work in yours. If they see that you can write good copy for a financial institution and one of their biggest clients is CIBC, you’re really showing how you can be an asset to the agency.

Keep all these things in mind when you’re job-searching and apply them with unwavering determination. Sooner or later, the right opportunity will present itself and you’ll be ready for it.

Social Bookmarks

Web based bookmarking services like delicious are a quick and easy way to save and share your bookmarks rather than bookmarking within a web browser. Social bookmarks are accessible from anywhere, at anytime.

Quick Surfing

If your favorite web browser is Firefox, you can use extensions like Ubiquity to quickly surf the web with quick commands and shortcuts, bookmark web pages and update your status on Twitter.

Ubiquity commands are small chunks of javascript which can interface with web services. Any website can offer Ubiquity commands; any Ubiquity user who visits the site can see the commands and choose whether to subscribe to them. Once subscribed to, those commands can be used anywhere.

You might want to go through Ubiquity commands to enhance your web experience.

Blog to Get visibility – Guest Posts | Link Juice

Most web blogs encourage guest posts. In order to get visibility in the blogosphere you might want to blog about web design and development trends and share your works. This way you can share stuff you are an expert at – to extend your visibility in the blogosphere. Updating your blog with your latest works and case studies is also a good idea.

SEO – Best Practices and Trends

Matt Cutts from Google, answers intriguing questions about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) about every week on Google Webmaster Central Help Youtube channel. This is a good source to keep yourself updated with the latest SEO trends. You might want to go through some of the best SEO tools. Optimizing your website for search engines can help your website(s) get better visibility on search engines and improve search engine rankings.

More tips coming soon!