Modern food packaging design can be sexeh. Photo by schoschie.

Behind everything you buy at the super market are food packaging designers who’ve made some serious choices. Taking a food product to market must be nerve wracking and pretty exciting but oh man, what a process! I was wondering about how much I take for granted the other day when I stopped for a moment in the supermarket and realized I was surrounded by thousands of products AND what must be millions of hours of design time to make all these food products shelf ready.

Think about it. You want to take your food product to the marketplace so you spend countless hours in the kitchen developing your product. You tweak ingredients to perfection to get it tasting just right. Once that’s done, there is the work of production to deal with. Now that could be anything from a commercial kitchen to a full blown factory style production line. Either way, it’s not for the faint of heart. Then there’s the distribution to contend with. All of this is a huge deal and somewhere in there is branding and packaging design: the one thing that we see when we’re standing there in the store.

A great food packaging designer will understand that the product he’s been tasked with working on has a target market. The food packaging design she creates will charm it’s target audience and go unnoticed by the rest of us. That’s exactly as it should be. Everything from colors and fonts are carefully considered.

Everything is scrutinized and calculated and nothing is left to chance. Consider that next time you pick up that box of whatever and are thinking “hmmm… I wonder if I should buy this?” You can be sure the designers behind the food packaging did their level best to get you to pick it up and put it in your cart!

I guess it’s easy to take a lot of things for granted when we’re surrounded by it every day. Here’s to looking at things through a different lens.

Over at Fast Characters.com we’re definitely biased when we say “cartoon mascots rock!”.  Why? Because great mascots add character and charm in ways that makes us humans take notice, and these days, anything that can capture attention is a valuable thing.  You know the deal; we get so swamped with media every single day that we tune most things out that aren’t life threatening and I guess we have to or we’d fry our noodles from information overload.

But cartoon mascots are different.  They stand out from the crowd in ways that are difficult for other forms of visual communication.  Great typography, photography, web design .. you name it, they all have their place but when was the last time you think a Regular Joe saw a billboard and thought to themselves … “Wow, that’s very cool typesetting!”  Yeah, exactly. A good mascot design just stands out and sticks in your brain like nothing else can.

OK so mascots aren’t quite as powerful as a catchy jingle you can’t help playing over and over again, but they do have the power of recall on their side.  Once you see a great mascot, you aren’t likely to forget it, ever. They are visually sticky and they get seared into our memory for a reason I’m sure someone a helluva lot smarter than me knows why. With all that bazoohah about mascot design let’s get onto the swag!

FastCharacters.com, the world’s premier mascot design company,  are giving away one of their premium mascots, a big ole grizzly bear mascot named “Jesse”.  At least I think he’s a grizzly bear, it’s hard to tell.  He’s definitely a bear and he’s definitely big.  This mascot is perfect for use on any project where you need some seriously fun presence.  What do I mean by that?  Well Jesse looks pretty confident and strong like he can hold his own, but he is a cartoon bear after all so he can’t be taken too seriously.

He’s got the right look and will add a memorable touch to any website or blog.  He comes in a “Character Pack”which means you get all different kinds of file formats and color variations (including vectors with transparency). So head on over to Fast Characters and grab your own Character Pack of Jesse!  You’d pay $10 to $25 for a mascot of this quality on a site like iStockphoto and to have a custom designed mascot would cost hundreds of dollars.  Download Jesse while you can and stash him in your collection of digital assets.

Passive income for web designers and developers. Photo by borman818.

If you’re a freelance or self-employed web designer or developer you know all too well about the ups and downs of cash flow.  You’ll also know that the concept of passive income in our field is not one that many of us web workers entertain or know much about.  So here’s what I can share with you on the subject of creating and profiting from a passive income as a web geek … and hopefully give you an insight into how you can smooth out the peaks and valleys of your cash flow in a way that can truly change your life.

Passive model income for webs designer and developers

Next time you get a web design and development project consider this.  Instead of charging $X for the project, doing the work, getting paid and that being the end of the deal, you can try this approach which I use frequently:  Rather than your regular fee of $X, charge a discounted fee of $Y for the design and development of the site. Then charge $Z per month for the following:

• High speed hosting
• X number of email accounts
• Spam filtering
• Database backup (if WordPress or Joomla etc. powered site)
• HTML/CSS backup (site backup)
• Security update (if WordPress or Joomla etc. powered site)
• One hour phone training (if WordPress or Joomla etc. powered site)

See where I’m going with this?  Your clients want all the above, immediately the high speed hosting and email (because every site owner needs this) and they also want to feel like they have everything being taken care of with the security updates and data backup.

Why this approach rocks

• Your client gets the site (or blog) they want
• They get their site or blog at a discounted rate (“Normally $X, get this package for $Y”)
• You get $Z every month to keep the site live, backed up and updated (WordPress and other platforms update regularly with core upgrades and security fixes). I charge a minimum of $47 a month for this.
• If you hate hosting (like I do) then team up with a hosting provider who can do the hosting and provide hosting support. This is important to me because if I had to reset a password or answer another “I how do I set up my Outlook?” I would lose my shit. I’d rather pay $7 to $9 a month and get a hosting company to deal with it since that’s their core bizzo anyways.

Risk reversal

Clients love this model because they get into a great looking site for less (you are discounting the upfront design and development fee remember?) and you should love this because you will recoup that discount (and more) in the long run with the monthly fee.  The lower upfront cost is a great risk reversal and means more clients will take you up on the offer.  Just make sure you make it clear that they must host the site with you (or your chosen hosting partner) in order to take advantage of this offer.

Be aware of new businesses

You can safely offer this kind of package to an established business.  Reason being that anyone who been in business for four plus years is probably going to be around for years to come. However, given the failure rate of new businesses, you might want to consider traditional pricing and fee models with these clients. New businesses are by default just riskier to deal with.

Quick math

As stated, I charge a minimum of $47 a month and up to $135 per month for these kinds of packages with the pricing depending on the client.  For small, local business they get the $47 package.  $9 goes to hosting, the rest is for me and is (mostly) passive income.  It’s still a great deal for them and for me. Multiply that $47 by 20 sites and you’ve got a good recurring income predominantly on auto-pilot and a ton of happy clients who have killer sites, email and the knowledge that their site and database is being backed up and safe should hard drives crash, fires break out or hackers mess with their site.  Total win win equation.

Give more value and get more passive dollars

For more passive income, you can learn (or outsource) some basic SEO and bolt on a simple SEO package to the above.  Most local small businesses operate in markets that are easy to snipe for the keywords they want. It really isn’t all that hard to get a site to rank #1 for “carpet cleaning  [suburb] [city]” or “[city] [suburb] electrician” etc.  I do entry level SEO packages f0r $447 setup and $57 a month recurring.  And again, clients love them because they get their sites to the top of the search engines and actually start hearing their phone ring more often with calls of “I found you on Google, do you guys …  [clean carpets, deliver Chinese food, unplug drains or whatever]?” If you really want the business, you can naturally offer discounts on whatever your standard rates are to close more deals.

Summed up

OK so admittedly these aren’t totally passive models if you are doing the WordPress and plugin updates yourself (you can outsource that too) but they are pretty darn close.  The time is takes to update WordPress and a handful plugins for a client every now and then is minimal. And again, you are giving your clients great value with a discounted fee on design and development and chances are you will have them as a long term client who will be with you – and paying you every month – for years to come.

Given the interest in this subject I am writing a thorough guide on this subject which I will be adding to the Elite Freelancing Method in the next few months.  Hopefully this will help some of you struggling to take your businesses to the next level with some steady cash flow.

Some of the best free WordPress themes will take the design of your blog or website to a whole new level  … if you can find them. How to locate a great  WordPress theme is like panning for gold. Every now and then, your patience is rewarded and you find a free theme that just shines head and shoulders above the rest; a rare nugget that feels like it could almost be a premium theme if the author wanted it to be.

This crop of WordPress themes moves the “free line” closer to Premium than ever before. Regular readers will know that late last year I featured “413 Best Free WordPress Themes” which although cool, felt like overload. I mean, sifting through 413 WordPress themes is no small task. So with this round up, I’ve saved you some time and handpicked what I feel are some of the best free WordPress themes currently available.

So lets get this show on the road! Let me start with a free theme that I liked immediately.

Irresistible

Preview Theme | Download

Irresistable pushes all the right buttons.  It’s a moody WordPress theme with texture, depth and class.

Viewport

Preview Theme | Download

Viewport is hands down one of my top WordPress themes on this list.  Yes, it’s not the most versatile theme. However it’s one of the most unique and well executed minimalist free WordPress themes I’ve seen in a long time (if not ever).

Definitely check out the preview on this one and tag it for later consumption.

Studio Rachna

Preview Theme | Download

Studio Rachna won a place in this best free WordPress theme roundup for bold originality.  I loved everything from the colors to the happy fantasy imagery used in header and footer.

Okinawa

Preview Theme | Download

Okinaway Sky is a clean WordPress theme with dark blue color palette with modern typography that will get the job done.

Composito

Preview Theme | Download

The first thing I loved about this WordPress theme is the pastel color palette.  The background, typography and grid all work well and won it a spot on the list based on those strengths.

Typebased

Preview Theme | Download

Another modern WordPress theme from the prolific template creators over at WooThemes.  Everything about this theme is clean and modern.

Openair

Preview Theme | Download

Openair is a WordPress theme that is sure to fit many occasions. Light, breezy, clean.

Imprezz

Preview Theme | Download

Imprezz is might be one of the older themes featured on the list however this is one WordPress theme that deserves a second look for all the right reasons.

Magaling

Preview Theme | Download

I thought Magaling would make a great WordPress theme for a Gamer site.  It’s got a heavier presence and clean lines that work well together.

Maasahan

Preview Theme | Download

Maashan I must admit barely made the cut.  I don’t find it an appealing theme but when I took a second look it’s inclusion on the list was secured for being different yet still clean.

Elegant Grunge

Preview Theme | Download

Elegant Grunge won me over pretty much right away. Just look at it! Is this a theme that lives up to it’s name or what?  I dig it.

FREEmium

Preview Theme | Download

Top WordPress theme FREEmium has been getting a lot of exposure recently and for good reason. This is one solid theme in every regard and yet another theme that lives up to it’s name in spades.

Robust enough to handle virtually any occasion, FREEmium is another must tag for your list of assets … make sure you take this one for a test drive.

Magazeen

Preview Theme | Download

Magazeen probably needs little introduction.  This clean WordPress theme is a strong contender and almost (sooo close) got my pick for an Editors Choice.

Deskspace

Preview Theme | Download

Creative and artistic.  The low contrast typography isn’t really doing it for me but aside from that, this theme is tight and would be a great fit for the right project.

Alivapress

Preview Theme | Download

Another potential WordPress theme for a game site.  Alivapress looks to have the makings of a top game site theme right out of the box.

CorporateMag

Preview Theme | Download

Nothing to write home about but a worthy and solid corporate WordPress theme without a doubt.

Blues

Preview Theme | Download

I didn’t get Blues when I first saw it … and I’m not sure I do now.  The design choices mess with my head and for that reason, I like it.

Malawak

Preview Theme | Download

Malawak!

Shades of Blue

Preview Theme | Download

Simple without trying to be.  Shades of Blue got on our list for being unpretentious and clean.

Snapshot

Preview Theme | Download

Photo voting has come up a lot in my life lately.  I gravited to Snapshot pretty much straight away when I saw it.  Not sure if some custom plugins would be needed to power the voting or what.  Worth a look if you need a votable gallery of some kind.

Vintage

Preview Theme | Download

How could I go past Vintage?  I couldn’t of course, so here she be!

NewsTheme

Preview Theme | Download

Newstheme reminds me of The Office.  If Dunder Mifflen (sp) had a WordPress powered site, they’d be running Newstheme.

Green Design Studio

Preview Theme | Download

Green Design Studio just squeaked onto the list.  Maybe it’s the chick in the hat that got me.

Androida

Preview Theme | Download

Thinking of starting a tech blog? This is one clean WordPress theme that will serve your geeks for years to come.

Conservative American

Preview Theme | Download

Last but not least, Conservative American.  A huge header for branding purposed and dark color palette featued on one of the better political themes I’ve yet to see.

That’s about wraps it up for this batch of what I feel are the best free WordPress themes currently available.  Have I missed one of your favorite free WordPress themes?  Think you know of on that should be on this list? Let’s hear it in the comments!

Photo by hamed.

The right SEO plugins for WordPress get you Google love.

There you go, you’re on your way to being an SEO guru! OK seriously, there is a LOT to know about SEO however you can have Google give you a ton of love by doing some really fast and basic optimization. All you need are Brad’s words in your mind, and two plugins to let you optimize your WordPress content quickly and easily.

Before you publish

First up, do your keyword research with free keyword tool at Wordtracker (or similar tool). Find the keywords you are looking to optimize any given post or page for. When you’ve got that down, you can publish your post and optimize that post with the following two essential SEO plugins for WordPress.

Two Essential SEO plugins for WordPress

All In One SEO
The grand daddy of them all: All In One SEO.

Sitemap Generator
Dagon Design has been giving and getting a lot of love from the WordPress community. Here is their sitemap generator plugin.

Those are the two I can’t live without. What about you … got a favorite SEO plugin you just have to use?

The Video

First up let’s deal with the video itself. We’re going to assume you’ve got the video ready to go and simply need to get it online. By far the path of least resistance is to upload it to one of the many video sharing sites. Pick one and upload your video. YouTube and Viddler are two sites where you can park your video.

Getting The Embed Code

Now that you’ve uploaded your video, you’ll need to grab the embed code for the video. Select all then copy (Ctrl-C) the embed code. As examples, here’s where you’ll find the embed code for YouTube:

And for the video embed code for Viddler:

Put Your Video On WordPress

When you paste the embed code into WordPress, there’s one simple thing you need to do: remove the last OBJECT tag and you should be good to go.

Photo by gustty.

Wordpress baby themes

Personally, if you are looking for a WordPress baby theme here’s what I would do.

1. Search for any of type of WordPress theme you want. Don’t worry about the imagery for now. Here are 413 WordPress themes you can review to get you started.
2. Download a theme that has either the structure (layout) that you want – and/or – has the color scheme you desire.
3. Boogie over to one of many stock photo sites (iStock, Dreamstime, Shutterstock etc.)
4. Purchase a high quality baby image you can use in the header and presto!

You’ve got yourself a good solid baby theme that doesn’t have to rely on some makeshift template that just happens to have a baby photo in the header.

Photo by dotbenjamin.

"Free WordPress blog hosting makes me happeh!"

Automattic, the makers of the stand-alone WordPress publishing platform (found at WordPress.org) also run a service providing free hosting for WordPress blogs (at WordPress.com).  Although there are some limitations compared to hosting WordPress yourself, they do stack a ton of coolness for what is essentailly a totally free service.  This includes:

• Instant setup and activation of your blog
• Free hosting of your WordPress blog
• Integrated statistics for tracking blog traffic
• Spam filtering
• Loads of free themes
• Multiple blogs and members-only blogs
• Ability to export all your data should you choose to boogie and go elsewhere with your blog

This is just the start.  Automattic stacks a whole lot more into the deal … to the point it’s just silly how much you get for free. So if you or your clients don’t have the scratch for the project just yet; you’d be hard pressed to find a better place to start.

bbPress Theme – Beer Bongs

Preview Beer Bongs | Download Beer Bongs

This is just one of the 40 odd bbPress themes that you can run live previews on, and download for free at bbPressShowcase.org.

Check out 40 bbPress Themes at bbPressShowcase.org

If I were you, I’d tag or bookmark that link for future reference.  If you have any bbPress resources to share, let’s hear it!

If you are any type of creative such as a photographer, designer, model, artist or whatever … managing your portfolio should ideally just be about managing your content.  So, with that out of the way, meet Krop’s entry into the hosted portfolio niche: The Krop Creative Database.