Interview with Christian San Jose

Christian San Jose is a graphic designer and illustrator based in Pasig, Philippines. By day he is a senior web designer for an internet marketing company, and by night he works as a freelance illustrator. His list of clients include Nike Phil., The Coca-Cola Company Phil., ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation,… read more

The Secret Behind Great Designs: A Young Web Designer’s View

To find a career to which you are adapted by nature, and then to work hard at it, is about as near to a formula for success and happiness as the world provides.

One of the fortunate aspects of this formula is that, granted the right career has been… read more

On The Job: Time Tracking and Invoicing Made Easy

Dear freelancer, listen up – this is important: You need to track your time and expenses. Nowhere is the axiom “time is money” more obviously true than in the life of a freelancer. If you don’t pay enough attention, you will find money dribbling away – in unbilled… read more

Our Latest Book: How to Write Great Copy for the Web

Last week I introduced you to the latest collaboration between Rockable Press and FreelanceSwitch, How to Write Great Copy for the Web by Donna Spencer. I am happy to announce that the book has been launched today and Rockin’ List members get a $5 discount on the digital book, bringing… read more

Build Your Own iPhone Specific Website

It’s been a while since I’ve posted some legit content. I have been very busy lately with work, freelance, running BoomSkins, etc. Recently I just finished my first iPhone specific website. It was created in an incredibly short time (less than a week) and generated it’s first sale within 15… read more

50+ Free Resources for Charts and Graphs Solution

A chart or a graph is a visual representation of data, in which “the data are represented by symbols, such as bars, lines, or slices”. These symbols can represent tabular numeric data, functions or some kinds of qualitative structures. For one reason or another, a lot of freelancers use Charts… read more

5 Websites & Tools Bloggers Should Know About

While the job is interesting and one gets to discover the latest about the Internet, blogging is no easy task. “Time is money” could not be any truer for bloggers; impossible deadlines put us under harsh time constraints. Due to this constraint, bloggers are always actively on the lookout for… read more

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How to Give Yourself a Raise Without Losing Business

This post is an excerpt from my eBook, The Blog Business Funnel. It teaches freelancers how to run a profitable freelance business, fed entirely by a healthy and thriving blog. This excerpt is from Chapter 7: Scaling Up. FreelanceSwitch readers can claim a special discount at the end of this… read more

Why Designers Shouldn’t Settle

Ugly designs abound on the web, and behind each and every one of them is a “designer”.

In many of these cases the designers behind the sites are simply incompetent.

They’re often amateur designers or those who have little or no design training or people who design their own… read more

Freelance Freedom #146

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Common Questions About Design Professionalism

The design profession is full of happy folks, and understanding why so many designers enjoy their work is not hard. But not all are so happy. If you’re not careful, the joy of getting paid to pursue your passion can be tainted by the less joyous realities of the professional… read more

Best of the Week #109

It’s time for our best news of this week, the first one of 2010. We have a lot of graphic and web design, a bit of architecture, ads, tech news, awesome reads and other crazy stuff! So take a look at the links we’ve selected for your inspiration and to… read more

The Perils and Plusses of a Persistent Project

As a freelancer, I’ve tackled plenty of projects. Not all have been enjoyable, naturally, but I’ve been able to keep a steady flow of work. I don’t think every job has to be perfect, and as long as I’m making good money and maintaining my freedom, I’m generally satisfied with… read more

9 Ways Freelancers Disrespect Their Own Time

As a freelancer or independent designer, the most valuable asset you have is your own time. Your ability to earn a living relies upon your own time management, which will allow you to perform income-generating services for clients. With effective time management you may be able to earn… read more

Simple File Sharing and Collaboration with drop.io

While visiting my apartment leasing office, I was randomly asked if I knew anything about computers. This question is always an interesting one as it tends to go in so many different directions. The issue at hand involved sending a ~90MB video to the corporate office of the leasing agent…. read more

I wish I would have known: Answers from 11 top freelancers

I wish I would have known: Answers from 11 top freelancers

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How to Work with a Marketing Expert if You’re a Freelancer

As a freelancer, you may find yourself either a) too busy or b) too clueless to handle your own marketing. This happens more often than you might think, and even some excellent freelancers with a strong reputation aren’t doing a very good job at marketing.

But you, you’re smarter than that…. read more

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Beautiful Illustrator Artworks By Artists Around The World

Adobe Illustrator is a powerful software for illustrating that allows users to produce beautiful artwork, technical illustrations, and even graphics for both print and the web. Adobe Illustrator is a multipurpose vector illustration tool and its versatility makes it the most preferred choice among many professional artists and designers.

In the… read more

To Sketch or Not to Sketch – That is the Question

Close your eyes and picture this scenario. You have just landed a dream contract with a client and you are anxious to start working. You have already consulted with them regarding the subject matter (a logo, a website, a brochure, etc.) and you’ve written up a design brief. It’s time… read more

Coming Soon: How to Write Great Copy for the Web

A couple of years ago, FreelanceSwitch brought you How to Be a Rockstar Freelancer by Collis and Cyan Ta’eed, which helped a lot of you find your feet in the world of freelancing. Since then, FreelanceSwitch and Rockable Press have been working together to bring another great guide to your… read more

How to Kill the Design Community

Recently, the notion of killing the design community has come up on a few blogs (sometimes indirectly), creating many intense conversations on the direction the design community has taken over the past couple of years, and what can be done about it.

The possibility that such discussions… read more

Get Noticed And Grow Your Business With MyTemplateBox

The Internet is filled with useful resources for business owners and especially for web designers and developers. From free icon sets to CSS templates, and from web design inspiration to stock images, websites like these have everything one may need. There are a number of tools, useful pieces of advice,… read more

Top Articles On The Web Design Billboard In February’10

A perfect layout, A Good Design and Nice Resource can produce a creative output. Layout, textures, typography and patterns are used more often than one may think but the outcome of different combination can result verity of excellent designs. Professionalism is built upon knowledge and experience. However, When it comes… read more

Keeping Yourself Motivated

Staying motivated isn’t easy – we often convince ourselves not to be. We often give ourselves excuses, allow other people to put us down, or look at the success of others and think, “That’ll never be me.”

There are two basic types of motivation: intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic motivation comes… read more

10 Fantastic Places for Finding Designers Online

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

Unless you are a creative agency, most small businesses don’t have the luxury of having an in-house designer. There are literally thousands of freelance designers and… read more

Designers: How to Search For, Hire, and Work With a Web-Developer

The market for freelance web design is huge. Being able to design a beautiful site in Photoshop is one thing. Programming a website is a whole other story.

So when clients come knocking at your door asking for web design services, what do you, the non-programmer but rockstar designer,… read more

Web Design Criticism: A How-To

Web design is a relatively young field. It’s youthful, growing and made up of people from all kinds of backgrounds, many of whom lack formal design training. We have learned, and still are learning, as we go.

I came into my first job as a Web designer for Boeing back in… read more

Awesome Wordpress Themes at Woothemes!

Ask the Expert – Speaking About Startups with Collis Ta’eed of Envato

Speaking About StartupsEnvato has emerged as one of the most exciting companies in the creative world. Can you please give us a brief history of your startup?

Envato started out about four years ago initially to build a marketplace for Adobe Flash files. Back then we were… read more

Freelance Freedom #145

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Seven Reasons Not to Meet with Prospective Clients

Seven Reasons Not to Meet with Prospective Clients

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How to Build a Footer That Doesn’t Stink

As the first thing visitors see, home pages and headers often steal the design spotlight.

But above-the-fold thinking neglects the natural flow of vertical page layout. What happens when people reach the end of a page?

You can bet that a simple copyright statement won’t hold visitors’ attention, but many pages are… read more

Creative Bookmarks: Best of February 2010

February was a great month full of awesome tutorials, interesting articles and interviews, and stunning showcases for inspiration.

Quick Nav:

Photoshop TutorialsIllustrator TutorialsWeb/Blogging TutorialsFreebies, Inspiration, & ResourcesPhotoshop TutorialsSuper Easy Typographic Portrait in Photoshop

This tutorial, from Abduzeedo, will show you how to use the Displace filter and some Blend Modes to a great… read more

11 Tips for Making Your Home Office More Comfortable

Freelance designers will probably spend more time in their home office than anywhere else. Having a comfortable office that is conducive to work is essential in order to keep your working hours pleasant and productive.

In this post we’ll look at some things that you can do to… read more

Balance: Definition and Gallery

Balance: Definition and Gallery

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Wallpaper of the Week #89 – Saad Moosajee

The wallpaper of this week is another super cool artwork from the young self taught freelance Illustrator and Art Director Saad Moosajee. We have already featured him in the past but he has some new works that are definitely worth checking them out.

Since Saadart.com was established in September 2008, Saad… read more

Interview with Jonathan Patterson

Fans of Vectortuts+ are certainly familiar with the vector tutorials of Jonathan Patterson. He’s obviously a talented vector illustrator, there is however a wide variety of work he produces in addition to his vector artwork. Jonathan is a Michigan native working as a Senior Art Director at an advertising agency…. read more

Best of the Week #108

It’s time for our best news of this week, the first one of 2010. We have a lot of graphic and web design, a bit of architecture, ads, tech news, awesome reads and other crazy stuff! So take a look at the links we’ve selected for your inspiration and to… read more

Interview with Dan Noe of Noe Design Studios

I recently had the opportunity to interview multi-media designer Dan Noe. Many DesignM.ag readers have probably seen Dan’s portfolio site for Noe Design Studio showcased at various design galleries or blogs. Dan works at Screenscape Studios in Des Moines, Iowa. I hope you’ll find Dan’s insight and experience to be… read more

Do You Have What it Takes to be a Freelance Web Designer or Developer?

Do You Have What it Takes to be a Freelance Web Designer or Developer?

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12 Secrets Of Effective Business Communication

By Alyssa Gregory

The ability to communicate, and communicate well, is one of the biggest factors in business success. You could be an excellent designer, but if you’re unable to promote your services and communicate effectively with clients and colleagues, your potential is limited. The principal areas where communication is essential… read more

What’s the Next Step in a Freelancing Career?

If you’re working for an employer, your career patch can be pretty clear: work hard and move up the corporate ladder, hopefully winding up somewhere near the top. But when you’re freelancing, your career path can be a lot less clear. We all want to land more clients and earn… read more

Designing User Interfaces For Business Web Applications

Business Web application design is too often neglected. I see a lot of applications that don’t meet the needs of either businesses or users and thus contribute to a loss of profit and poor user experience. It even happens that designers are not involved in the process of creating applications… read more

Ask FreelanceSwitch #6

In this issue of Ask FreelanceSwitch, Travis King and Thursday Bram look at website maintenance packages and what to do if people have a problem with were you live.

Ask FreelanceSwitch is a new regular column here that allows us to help beginners get a grip on freelancing. If you have… read more

Mashable’s Weekly Guide to Social Media Job Openings

If you’re seeking a job in social media, we’d like to help out. For starters, Mashable’s Job Lists section gathers together all our resource lists, how-tos and expert guides to help you get hired. In particular, you might want to see our articles on How to… read more

Twitter Up Your Business: Rockable Mini-Book Review

Twitter seems to have a very polarizing effect on people. Some love it and some hate it. Some even love to hate it when they haven’t even tried the service yet. What makes Twitter so divisive?

Recently, actor Sir Patrick Stewart came down on the usefulness of Twitter in his… read more

Top 20 Free Fonts for Distinctive Headlines and Titles

Whether you are reading a printed magazine or a web article it is very rarely the content that draws you in at first, the hook is always the title or the headline. A well written and thought out title or headline are fundamental, it has to not only describe with… read more

17 High-Quality Colorful Spring Images

17 High-Quality Colorful Spring Images

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Wake up Mr. Singh

Wake up Mr Singh. Its not a statement, it is the name of the design studio of Karan Singh. He is an grauate of the University of Sydney with a Bachelor in Design Computing and now works as a freelancer. Most of the work showcased here are personal artworks for… read more

Showcase of Great Web App Interfaces

Web Apps are popping up everywhere. Five years or so ago, we could live without them, but as the internet has evolved we use them more and more in our daily lives.

We have put together a great compilation of beautiful web application interfaces.

The web applications that were… read more

Top 5 Web Apps to File Taxes Online

It’s tax season again, at least in the States, and if you haven’t filed your taxes already then you probably will soon. Every year, more and more people file their taxes online. Not only are online tax applications making taxes easier than ever to file, they’re also making it easier… read more

Shalom! Showcase Of Web Design In Israel

Israel is a young country with an old heart. It has been quickly built up over the last 60 years as an independent democratic Jewish state and is shockingly cutting edge for a country so new.

It is a tiny surreal sliver of land smack dab in the middle of the… read more

Are Your Working Hours Jeopardizing Your Productivity?

Human beings are creatures of habit. (Yes, even freelancers like you.) We tend to wake up at the same time each morning, go through the same basic routine of tasks every day, and go to bed at the same hour every night. Routines are comforting and familiar.

Oh, and they could… read more

This Weeks Twitter Design News Roundup N.25

A couple of days ago our follower count crossed over the 10,000 mark – which is simply awesome! A little flattering, but awesome all the same. Thanks to everyone that follows us.

Anyway this is our weekly Twitter Design News Round-Up, a collection of fresh design related resources that I have… read more

Freelance Radio, Episode 43: Full-Time Experience

The latest episode of Freelance Radio, the official FreelanceSwitch podcast, is now available! This episode, the panel (John Brougher, Dickie Adams, Kristen Fischer and Von Glitschka) talks about full-time experience and its value for freelancers. Subscriptions to the podcast are available via iTunes and an archive of all podcasts will… read more

100+ RSS Feeds for the Reading List of the Well-Rounded Freelancer

100+ RSS Feeds for the Reading List of the Well-Rounded Freelancer

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Server Issues on the Weekend

Over the weekend and into Monday we unfortunately experienced some pretty severe downtime on all Envato WordPress blogs and here on the FreelanceSwitch Forums. The downtime was due to problems in the data centre of our current hosting company which was out of our control.

It seems to all be resolved… read more

Happy Cog’s Redesign of VisitPhilly.com: An Exemplary Modern Website

In January, Jason Santa Maria sent out a tweet announcing that visitphilly.com had been redesigned by world-renowned design studio Happy Cog. My interest was piqued, and I couldn’t help but take a peek.

I can honestly say that I’ve never been more impressed with a website redesign than… read more

New Details Emerge About Google Hackers

According to Financial Times, US officials have tracked down the authors of the malicious code used against Google in the recent attack.

First, US investigators narrowed down the launch of the malicious program to computers inside two educational institutions in China. Now, they’ve found a hacker, a “freelance security consultant… read more

20 Essential Tips for Graphic Design Blog Management

Whether you work in some corporate office, small studio, or as a freelance designer, chances are you have a lot to do. As blog owners, we many times have multiple tasks to work on, content to manage, writers to handle, research to do, and more, to increase the productivity and… read more

Freelance Freedom #144

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Secret Showcase – Portfolio Update by Rik Oostenbroek

Rik Oostenbroek, one of Abduzeedo’s favourite artists, has just updated his portfolio. His website is now fully in flash and focuses very much on his work. If you follow Riks designs you will recognize plenty new artworks, from client work for Mazda til personal work for the latest DepthCore exhibition…. read more

How To Design A Freelancer Portfolio Website

How To Design A Freelancer Portfolio Website

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Six Project Management Skills Every Web Design Freelancer Must Have

Six Project Management Skills Every Web Design Freelancer Must Have

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In-Depth Logo Design Process

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5 Dreaded buzz kill phrases every freelancer should avoid

5 Dreaded buzz kill phrases every freelancer should avoid

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4 Tips to becoming a good freelancer

4 Tips to becoming a good freelancer

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Best of the Week #107

It’s time for our best news of this week, the first one of 2010. We have a lot of graphic and web design, a bit of architecture, ads, tech news, awesome reads and other crazy stuff! So take a look at the links we’ve selected for your inspiration and to… read more

Interview with Glenn Jones

With his fifteen years of experience, intelligent and humorous style, graphic designer and illustrator Glenn Jones from New Zealand, answered our questions on building a career, discovering his talent, finding inspiration, and the process of creating his pop t-shirt illustrations. Let’s have a chat with Glenn.

1. Welcome to Vectortuts+ Glenn…. read more

60+ Latest High-Quality Free WordPress Themes

WordPress! is an award-winning CMS, which enables you to build Blogs, Web sites and powerful online applications. Many aspects, including its ease-of-use and extensibility, have made WordPress the most popular blog software available. Best of all, WordPress is an open source solution that is freely available to everyone.

There are… read more

5 Tips to Add Hours to Your Day

For freelancers, there’s a direct correlation between how many hours you work and how much money you make. Increasing your income can be tough because there are only 24 hours in any given day and most of us have to do things like sleep and spend time with our family… read more

Win GraphicRiver’s Freelance Earner Pack

Fellow Envato site GraphicRiver is running a competition for its first birthday, and it’s perfect for aspiring freelancers with over $4,300 in prizes aimed at helping you make a living from what you love doing.

To enter, you need to create a collection of GraphicRiver’s best files in a certain area… read more

10 Things I Hate About Clients!

10 Things I Hate About Clients!

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Mashable’s Weekly Guide to Jobs in Marketing & Social Media

If you’re seeking a job in social media, we’d like to help out. For starters, Mashable’s Job Lists section gathers together all our resource lists, how-tos and expert guides to help you get hired. In particular, you might want to see our articles on How to… read more

Advocating for Freelancing

It doesn’t take a long visit to FreelanceSwitch to figure out that many of us were unhappy employees.

Some of us made dramatic exits from the job world–stomping out of the office after a fight with the boss, telling an especially demanding client exactly what you think of her micromanagement of… read more

5 Ways to Manage Distractions for Increased Productivity

Are you supposed to be doing something else right now?

You’re probably in the midst of a complicated project and had planned to take just a minute to send a tweet or update your Facebook status. Then you saw the link to this article and figured that reading about how to… read more

Group Interview: Expert Advice For Students and Young Web Designers

Our readers have requested that Smashing Magazine conduct an interview with industry leaders on issues that are relevant to students and those just starting off in their design career. With the help of our panel of 16 designers, we’ll dispense advice that should help new designers get their career off to… read more

7 Things to Consider for Social Media in the Enterprise

Lon S. Cohen is a freelance writer and is @obilon on Twitter. He’s also the Director of Communications at @ALSofGNY. This post was co-authored by Steve Cohen, who is the Founder of Baywood Consulting Group and the former CIO of M&T Bank. He can be contacted at baywoodconsultinggroup@gmail.com.

Marketing… read more

How To Create A Vintage Camera in Photoshop

In this Photoshop tutorial, we’ll reproduce a fairly old camera: a Halina Super 35X.

We’ll use various tools and techniques to create a vintage camera from scratch, from the basic Marquee Tools (to create simple shapes) to the Brush Tool (for highlights and shadows).

The tutorial has 23 steps,… read more

Beyond the Boring Rectangle: Fantastic Die-Cut Business Cards

Many people completely overlook business cards when starting up their new company, mainly due to the capabilities of social networking on the world wide web. However, traditional networking is still a very valuable source when looking for new customers and clients, and the best way to network in the “real… read more

Are You Quick to Ditch?

One of my favorite shows on television is called “Flipping Out,” and it’s about a California house flipper with obsessive-compulsive disorder named Jeff. He drives everyone nuts and is, let’s just say, extremely detail oriented.

In one of the episodes, his assistant talks about dealing with Jeff’s ups and downs. She… read more

17 Google Chrome Extensions for Web Designers and Developers

Firefox is the browser of choice for most designers and developers in part because of the vast selection of add ons that are available. While Chrome does not offer anywhere close to as many extensions (yet), there are still a number that can be very handy for designers and developers…. read more

Cool Stained Glass Artwork

Cool Stained Glass Artwork

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The Myth of DPI

The size of an image in a website layout is important. From proper alignment to getting just the right amount of white space, sizing photos and graphics properly beforehand is essential to creating a balanced look.

Images on the web are measured in pixels. Yet many people… read more

Essential Lessons for New Freelancers: Setting Your Prices

Essential Lessons for New Freelancers: Setting Your Prices

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Freelance Freedom #143

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Interview with Artist Jurryt Visser: Pixel vs. Vector Mixmaster

I introduced Jurryt a couple of weeks ago, and with his previous feature, he has proven himself a truly worthy of an interview. Aiden Kolh, a writer, photographer, and painter, sat down with Jurryt for quite an intense and eye-opening interview. Enjoy!

Think positive, live day by day, set… read more

Top 50+ Online Freelance Marketplaces

Top 50+ Online Freelance Marketplaces

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5 of my greatest mistakes as a freelance designer

5 of my greatest mistakes as a freelance designer

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Rubber Font – Exclusive Free Font Download (For Private Use Only)

By Graham Smith

In another free font exclusive on Noupe, we present Rubber Font, a neat display font created by Yiorgos Yiacos. Rubber Font is a working but limited version containing roman capitals, numerals and some of the points of punctuation. Rubber Font is available as a free download for personal… read more

Interview with David Pache of Helvetic Brands

David Pache is a branding expert from Switzerland. His work is grounded in design principles, which gives him a strong platform to create unique identities from. He has recently rebranded his studio under the name Helvetic Brands, as that better describes his services.

David prides himself in not overcomplicating identity solutions…. read more

Best of the Week #106

It’s time for our best news of this week, the first one of 2010. We have a lot of graphic and web design, a bit of architecture, ads, tech news, awesome reads and other crazy stuff! So take a look at the links we’ve selected for your inspiration and to… read more

Glitch: Flickr’s Stewart Butterfield Explains His Ambitious Online Game

Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield and five other former Flickr employees are joined by one Digg alum, one games expert and several freelancers in Tiny Speck, a company that’s working on an online game that has a shot at rebooting the stagnating massively multiplayer online game genre.

The 2D game — called… read more

Freebie: Mountains Brushes for Photoshop

Today we have a free set of Photoshop brushes from Brandon Schultz. The set includes 5 high res mountains brushes. If you’re creating a nature-based design, these just may be the brushes for you.

The brushes are free for personal and commercial use, no attribution required.

Download the brushes (7.8 MB)

About the… read more

6 Embarrassing Celebrity Endorsed Ad Campaigns

6 Embarrassing Celebrity Endorsed Ad Campaigns

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Sites of the Week #89

For this Sites of the Week we have selected some great sites such as Kodu and Glitch. Also we’re featuring the new site for the Future of Web Design, by Carsonified and much, much more! As usual we would love to hear from you, keep sending your suggestions to us… read more

Successful Strategies For Selling Ad Space On Low-Traffic Websites

Upon first thinking about it, the idea of selling advertising on a website or blog with limited traffic seems a bit daft. After all, aren’t most advertisers interested in putting their product in front of the highest number of eyeballs possible? Approaching them with piddly visitor numbers seems like a… read more

How to secretly find out what your competitors charge

How to secretly find out what your competitors charge

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