Docracy (Free)
The web’s only open collection of legal contracts that offers a free and quick means to customize downloadable agreements.
Sunday, December 6, 2015
Flywheel WordPress Hosting Introduces New Organizations Feature
Earlier this month Flywheel, a WordPress hosting and management platform, launched the private beta version of Organizations; a new feature that was created as a way for agencies and designers to streamline their workflow.
How To Use WordPress In New Ways (Webinar Video)
The WordPress REST API (aka JSON REST API) is a powerful feature that opens up new possibilities in WordPress development. With this technology, WordPress has the power to become a content management system for any application in virtually any programming language.
WP Engine’s Operations Engineer Anthony Burchell and CalderaWP’s Owner and Developer Josh Pollock, author of our Ultimate Guide to the WordPress REST API ebook, recently joined us for a live webinar digging deeper into WordPress REST API. If you missed it, don’t fret–you can watch a video replay of the full webinar here.
Watch our webinar video to learn more about this powerful technology and how the WordPress REST API can take your WordPress site to greater heights.
Want to learn more about the WordPress REST API? Check out our Untechnical Guide For Non-Developers and Ebook: The Ultimate Guide to REST API to gain additional knowledge about this powerful technology.
The post How To Use WordPress In New Ways (Webinar Video) appeared first on WP Engine.
How to Make WordPress and the Internet of Things Work Together
After several false starts, the “Internet of Things” is beginning to deliver on its revolutionary promise.
The technology is finally here to make it happen and the world is increasingly awash with connected devices. In this article, we’ll examine what this trend could mean in the context of WordPress (hint: cool stuff) and the role the REST API (which will be included in version 4.4, due out next week) will play in making WordPress able to talk to devices.
What Is the Internet of Things?
Unless you’ve been beavering away at the cutting edge of modern digital device manufacturing for the last decade or so, the term Internet of Things (we’ll refer to it as IoT from here on) might be something of a new idea for you. Let’s get the basics out of the way early:
The concept of IoT is blindingly simple – it’s about connecting devices worldwide via the internet. Rather than the internet being limited to humans communicating via desktop or mobile machines, the idea is that a huge range of new internet-enabled devices will be merrily chatting away to each other in the very near future.
“The broad idea… is that a whole constellation of inanimate objects is being designed with built-in wireless connectivity, so that they can be monitored, controlled and linked over the Internet via a mobile app.” - Walt Mossberg, Re/code.
What sort of devices are we talking about here? The short answer is every type of freakin’ device.
Can anyone say ‘Skynet’?
The archetypal example has traditionally been a household device such as a toaster or fridge that would be hooked up to the internet and capable of sending messages about, for example, whether a part was about to burn out or whether you were running low on particular supplies.
You could be talking about anything from self-aware devices with their own operating systems (fridges, cars, and so on), to completely dumb physical objects that have been equipped with sensors, all the way up to biological “devices” such as RFID-chipped livestock.
This new world of potentially smart devices then needs to be able to communicate with the world at large via some sort of wireless means. As Bonnie Cha points out in her IoT piece on Re/code, there are all manner of existing standards available that devices can make use of. Wi-fi, low-energy Bluetooth, NFC, and RFID are just some of the more obvious traditional ones.
Newer standards such as ZigBee, the Google-backed Thread, and AllJoyn are all jostling for position and attempting to position themselves as de facto standards going forward.
Where We Can Expect to See IoT Make Huge Inroads
The scale of opportunity coming down the pipeline with IoT is such that it’s no exaggeration to say this will eventually effect pretty much every industry on earth in a substantial way. It’s simply a matter of time.
The standard set of figures that are trotted out is that we can expect to see 50 billion connected devices by 2020 contributing to an overall market opportunity of $19 trillion. Pretty much every single major tech company on earth is already devoting serious resources to this area – giants such as Cisco have formed entire new divisions to target the opportunity.
The good folks over at Information Is Beautiful have put together a killer overview of IoT in general that makes an excellent case for breaking out potential applications into eight separate areas:
Connected home: Nest has been in the spotlight here with their recent $3.2 billion purchase by Google, but the field is enormous. Companies such as Ring, LIFX, Icontrol and Vivint are connecting all aspects of our domestic lives on a device level.
Industrial internet: Whether it’s optimizing building energy sources, creating smart factories, or leveraging the power of drones, the next generation of industry is going to have IoT at its core.
In-store retail: In-store analytics and customer behavior analysis are being taken to whole new levels thanks to a range of innovative IoT devices and associated software.
Transport: Solutions such as Zubie and Inrix make transport safer and cheaper on the consumer level, while public transport as a whole is undergoing revolutionary changes worldwide thanks to IoT technology.
Healthcare: The healthcare potential of IoT is staggering. The early health benefits of aware devices such as the Apple Watch are garnering positive headlines, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Innovations such as Intel’s smart band, the Sonamba medical alert system, and AliveCor show IoT technology already revolutionizing healthcare and actively saving lives.
Platforms: The race is on to be the platform that dominates device use on both the consumer and business side of the equation. IFTTT, mCube, Jasper, and littleBits are just some of the contenders in the running.
Wearables: Companies such as Pebble, Jawbone, and Fitbit made much of the early running here, but the arrival of Apple and Samsung shows that the larger players are catching up fast. The future of wearables is likely to move far beyond the wrist sooner rather than later.
Global players: As the areas above make clear, there are huge markets to be aimed at here, and it’s no surprise that a full range of existing tech giants are queuing up to take a bite out of the cherry. Google, Cisco, Samsung and Intel are just some of the major companies devoting significant resources to IoT.
The Potential Risks of IoT
We’ve concentrated on the good news so far but, as with any new technological wave there are potential downsides to consider.
Looking beyond the terrifying Skynet-style scenario of “summoning the demon” that a fully connected world invokes, thanks to Terminator, two major obvious risks stand out:
- Security: The most obvious potential hiccup that IoT brings into play is security. When you consider the range of disastrous security implications that even smart phones have conjured up, the idea of having your entire house or means of transport hacked is pretty worrying.
- Privacy: If IoT arrives at anything approaching the scale of even cautious forecasts of its adoption, it’s a fair bet that we can kiss the concept of privacy as we currently know it goodbye. Concerns over concepts like cookie usage are going to look positively quaint when our entire immediate physical environment is busily reporting on our every move.
The Role of the REST API in Making WordPress Able to Talk to Devices
When you start to consider the implications of a globally connected world on the device level, it quickly becomes obvious that the WordPress REST API is arriving into core at just the right time (it has been merged into WordPress 4.4, which is due out on December 8).
With billions of devices out in the wild chatting away to each other, the future of the web is obviously going to be heavily dependent on having clear protocols and open APIs available to facilitate that communication – which is exactly what the REST API is designed to do.
The standard range of endpoints it enables gives you access to pretty much everything in WordPress core. You’ve also got the option of defining your own endpoints for custom use cases. If you’re brand new to this area, Daniel Pataki put together a great overview of getting up and running with the REST API here on the blog recently that’s well worth a read.
Having a fully-fledged API defined for WordPress means there is an established route available for external devices to communicate directly with WordPress and vice versa. The potential range of applications here is dazzling, but all of them rest on this clear data in/data out pathway being available for use.
Let’s take two hypothetical examples:
- Push notifications: The owner of a WooCommerce-enabled store wants to boost morale every time a sale is made. A little tinkering with the WooCommerce API and littleBits enables him to ring a real-world sales bell in the office every time a sale is made. Check out Scott Evans’ lightning talk at WordCamp London and his Sparky plugin for tips on how you could mock this up.
- Data aggregation and display: A health-conscious blogger is reveling in using his new Apple Watch to track various exercise movement metrics. He rigs up WordPress to talk directly with Apple’s Healthkit and he’s able to seamlessly integrate his own personal health data into any aspect of his WordPress environment.
Our two hypothetical examples are limited in scope but, as the possibilities of the REST API begin to be truly explored by WordPress developers, the potential for integration with IoT devices is likely to be bound only by our imaginations down the line.
For an excellent current snapshot of how WordPress is positioned to benefit from the possibilities IoT opens up, check out Thomas Puig’s WordPress and the Internet of Things presentation below.
Hopefully the scale of the opportunity potentially on offer here is starting to become clear by now.
Let’s move on to a quick look at existing external APIs, products and services that you can use to communicate directly with internet-enabled devices from within WordPress.
Integrating WordPress with Third-Party Devices
It’s still relatively early days in IoT, so there is as yet no universally implementable way of connecting to any and all devices. Direct IoT integration with WordPress to date has been somewhat limited with early projects such as the Nike+ plugin and Google Glass plugin withering on the digital vine.
Expect all of that to change soon, however, as the number of solid third-party systems you can easily use to integrate with either existing or brand new IoT devices continues to grow. Here’s a quick list of three likely candidates for your own projects.
IFTTT
IFTTT (short for If This, Then That) is centered around two basic concepts: DO recipes and IF recipes. The idea is that you can cause outcomes to happen (the DO part) in response to certain events (the IF part).
IFTTT recipes can be run against particular services (or Channels as they are defined in IFTTT) and WordPress is one of the existing options (be sure to check out our previous WordPress and IFTTT post for more details).
In the context of IoT, you’re free to make use of either triggers (events that take place inside WordPress) or actions (actions that can be made to take place inside WordPress) to integrate with external applications. Available triggers are Any new post and New post with tag or category. Available actions are Create a post and Create a photo post.
A range of external devices can already by connected via IFTTT including Fitbit, ScoutAlarm and many others, but it’s the recently added Maker Channel that will really give you room to play with connecting WordPress to a custom piece of hardware of your choosing in any way you see fit.
littleBits
If you’re going down the maker route in terms of creating your own IoT devices, littleBits is going to be a particularly interesting option to explore. It’s a platform of easy-to-use electronic building blocks that enable you to create your own devices from scratch and connect them to the wider world via the littleBits API or through IFTTT.
A littleBits WordPress plugin is also available to make connecting WordPress and littleBits even simpler. It’s the brainchild of RC Lations, whose WordPress.tv talks are also worth consulting on the topic of IoT and WordPress.
Particle
Formerly known as Spark, Particle is a prototype-to-production platform for developing an IoT product. If you’re looking to get down and dirty with building your own electronics – and have one eye on a possible real-world product path – Particle is well worth investigating.
Development kits give you a quick way of putting together a workable prototype and detailed prototype to production guides are available to walk you through every aspect of making a finished product. A custom IDE is available to make developers’ lives easier and Particle also provide their own cellular platform and device management options.
When it comes to WordPress integration, you can keep things simple using the Spark Channel on IFTTT or dive right into the Particle REST API. Demo plugins such as Scott Evans’ Sparky plugin should also help point you in the right direction.
Wrapping Up
The Internet of Things is an idea whose time has come. We’re currently at the very beginning of a rush towards a future where the vast majority of devices we interact with are internet-enabled.
As an open source platform that’s not beholden to any particular device manufacturer or special interest, WordPress is a natural choice for displaying much of the data this explosion of devices will produce in user-friendly ways. And thanks to the imminent arrival of the REST API, WordPress should also be a simple choice for developers to use when it comes to hooking up with individual devices and solutions such as littleBits, Particle and IFTTT.
We’d love to get your thoughts on the matter. Are you already planning for an IoT world and trying to work out where WordPress fits in? Or is this still the stuff of far off futures? Let us know in the comments section below.
Image Credits: BagoGames.
Host28 Review on Pricing, Features, Performance & Support
Having been in the industry for more than 10 years, Host28 is highly recommended as one of the best Linux web hosting service providers by numerous webmasters. However, many people still have no idea about this company and don't know whether its service is worth using.
WordPress Plugins: The Ultimate Guide (Free Ebook)
One of the amazing things about WordPress is its flexibility. And WordPress plugins help make it even more powerful. They let you add a little extra oomph to your WordPress site through new functionality.
DOWNLOAD THE FREE EBOOK, THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO WORDPRESS PLUGINS, NOW
There are more than 40,000 free WordPress plugins, which have been downloaded more than a billion times, available in the WordPress directory. And there are even more paid and premium plugins available as well.
With plugins, the possibilities are endless. Want to display local weather on your site? There are plugins for that. Want to improve your site’s security? There are plugins for that, too. Want to use shortcodes or live chat on your site? Perform backups or add charts and graphs? Embed a slideshow or audio file? Or launch an ecommerce store? There are plugins that help you do all of that!
To help you decide which plugins to consider for your WordPress site, Torque and WP Engine have teamed up to present a free ebook, The Ultimate Guide To WordPress Plugins. This book provides an overview of some of the best and most useful WordPress plugins in a variety of categories based on personal experiences, research, stats, and overall popularity.
Download our free WordPress plugins ebook now and learn which plugins you should consider to extend and expand the functionality of your WordPress site.
If you’re headed to WordCamp US 2015 in Philadelphia this weekend, be sure to swing by the WP Engine booth and visit the Torque team. We’ll have a limited number of free physical copies of The Ultimate Guide To WordPress Plugins available for WordCamp US attendees.
The post WordPress Plugins: The Ultimate Guide (Free Ebook) appeared first on WP Engine.
Quiz: Are You a WordPress Developer or Implementer?
There’s been a lot of debate this year about developers. What makes a WordPress developer, really? Is it someone who is able to understand and use code? Is it someone who can create a child theme and make customizations? Or is it someone who can simply implement a theme?
Well, there’s definitely a strong dividing line between developers and implementers, no question. But where that line falls in terms of skill sets can be a bit blurry. To help us all grapple with the answer, we’ve cooked up this quiz to help you finally flesh out your bio: “Joe Schmoe, WordPress Developer” or “Joe Schmoe, WordPress Implementer.”
So, Are You a WordPress Developer or Implementer?
Let’s put the confusion to rest for once and for all. Take the following multiple-choice quiz and learn where your skills fall on the developer vs. implementor scale.
Now that you know your score, let’s first spend some time talking about what makes an implementer, what makes a developer, and why the distinction has been a problem for some.
What is a WordPress Developer?
While there might be some debate about it, a WordPress developer is someone who can build something on top of WordPress that’s either wholly new or extends the function and/or look or something that exists already like a theme or a plugin. A developer goes beyond the front-end of WordPress and knows how it functions, how to modify it, and what techniques to use to achieve specific desired effects. A developer may not always build sites from the ground up but could if they needed to.
Wait, I think I need to repeat that last bit for those in the back:
WordPress developers may not always build sites from the ground up but could if they needed to.
What is a WordPress Implementer?
A WordPress implementer, on the other hand, is basically someone who uses WordPress really well. Tom McFarlin calls implementors “power users,” and I really like that because it’s an apt description of what’s going on here. Implementors are expert WordPress users who have mastered the ins and outs of installing WordPress, setting it up, installing and customizing a theme, and installing plugins. They can do backups, updates, and a whole host of other front-end stuff.
Implementors can be awesome but developers they are not.
Knowing This is Important, Because…?
At first glance, it might seem the distinction between a developer and implementer is straightforward. Beyond that, it might seem unimportant. But the problem is when someone goes to hire a developer to build a site for them. Knowing who they’re hiring, what skills that person possesses, and why it’s so important to choose an actual developer (if that’s what you need) plays a major role in the outcome of a project.
If you’re looking to launch a new site and you don’t know the difference between a developer and an implementor, you run the risk of:
- Shelling out too much money for tasks you could likely complete yourself.
- Winding up with a site that uses a non-customized theme that looks like a bunch of other sites.
- Hiring someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing and bails mid-project.
- Having to hire someone else to redo a project because it was done incorrectly the first time around.
- Owning a site that has massive security flaws due to improper setup and installation techniques.
And that’s just scratching the surface of potential problems. Implementors certainly have their place and can be good at what they do. But you don’t want to hire someone who calls himself a developer when he really is an implementor.
Likewise, you don’t want to label yourself as a developer when your skill set falls in line with that of an implementor. Even if it’s unintentional, misrepresentation is a bad thing.
Special thanks to our very own Daniel Pataki for the code-based questions in the quiz.
How did you go? Share your score in the comments below.
How to Always Get Paid, Not Played, as a WordPress Freelancer
Working as a WordPress freelancer has a lot of perks, but trying to track down late payments from slow or unresponsive clients isn’t one of them.
To ensure that you always get paid on time, you need to have a tight plan in place before you decide to take on a new project, which is exactly what we’re going to cover in this article.
Before You Start Working with a Client
Believe it or not, the likeliness of you always receiving payment on time depends on more than just good communication with your clients. It all starts with your professional reputation even before you make first contact.
WordPress freelancers who’ve built and worked to maintain their great reputations prove to clients that they deserve respect. Clients who see that you have a great looking website, a portfolio of your best work, and testimonials that serve as proof of your professional experience will automatically get the impression that you’re the real deal.
Having said that, it’s not all about putting up a glamorous website or LinkedIn profile. You have to practice what you preach by making sure you always meet deadlines, respond quickly and courteously to emails, and deliver outstanding work.
Why should a client always try to pay you on time if you produce mediocre work past the deadline while falling to email them first to say that you need more time? Clients will return the favor of making your payment a priority when you can prove to them that you’re a serious professional.
Once you’ve made a serious commitment to acting professionally, you should do a bit of research on any client you plan on pitching or who reaches out to you about a project idea. Scope out their website (if they have one), try looking for any relevant LinkedIn profiles, and consider checking out the Better Business Bureau or any other review sites to educate yourself as to their reputation.
Take note of any red flags that come up during your research. Go with your gut if anything looks shady enough to make you hesitant about working with that particular client.
If the client you’re researching doesn’t turn up anything sketchy at all and you’re interested in working with them, go ahead and do what you need to do to determine your rates for the project. You’ll likely need to do some back-and-forth emailing or even schedule a call to find out more specific details and the client’s budget, too.
As an aside, you should know what you’re worth and how flexible you’re willing to be without coming across as too uncertain or desperate. Check out The 7 Reasons Why WordPress Developers Are Paid Peanuts if you’re struggling to find reasons to increase your rates.
Requesting a Deposit Up Front
After discussing, negotiating, and agreeing on payment with your client, you should ask for a portion of that payment to be paid to you up front. This shouldn’t be seen as an optional step for WordPress freelancers; it should be seen as an essential part of doing business.
Even if the client accepts your rate and you’re excited to get straight to work, you can still mess up your chances of getting paid what you deserve by failing to insist on getting a deposit before you start working. Check out point number four in 4 Freelancing Mistakes That Are Costing You Cash to get an idea of the real life horror stories that can happen when you decide to bill everything only after the work has been completed.
While you may assume you’ll come off as annoying (or even greedy) to ask the client to pay you before you’ve done any work for them, getting a deposit up front is becoming much more of a standard practice among freelancers of all kinds these days. It helps establish trust and reassures you that the client is serious about paying you for your work.
Depending on the project, most freelancers will bill anywhere from 20% to 50% up front, with shorter projects leaning toward larger percentages, even up to 100% in some cases. If you’re a freelancer who’s billing for time, you may want to consider billing 1–2 weeks worth of work up front to start.
Any client who tries to give you a hard time about paying you up front is a definite red flag. It’s a sign that the client isn’t all that serious about paying you, and you should be glad you caught it early rather than later so you still have the option to reject working with them.
You’ll also need to know if you’ll be paid by check or some other process when you should send your invoice, and how often payments are made. Again, look for any red flags that make you feel uncomfortable about going ahead with the work, and consider taking some time to think about it if you need to before getting back to the client.
Getting It in Writing
Once project expectations and payment terms have been agreed upon by both parties, then comes the fun part. That’s right – creating the contract!
Having a contract is critical, and failing to include one is a mistake that too many WordPress freelancers (and freelancers in general) make too often. Imagine putting a ton of time and effort into half a project – or worse, an entire project – then sending your invoice to be met with nothing but deafening silence.
That’s a worst-case scenario, but it does happen. While some freelancers think of contracts as sort of a hassle that they don’t want to bother their client with, remember that it’s just one more essential component of the project lifecycle that also proves your professionalism and communicates the message that you don’t work unless you know you’re getting paid.
Never feel bad about sending a contract to a client. If a client gives you a hard time about it, they’re not giving you the respect you deserve as a professional, and you should strong consider avoiding going ahead with their project.
Contracts are there to protect both the freelancer and the client, so if either one decides to go against the terms or completely disappear in the middle of the project, legal action can be pursued if the matter is serious enough. In addition to that, a contract also lays out all the requirements and expectations from each side in a clear and detailed manner, so everyone knows exactly what they need to do without any misunderstandings.
Lastly, all the details concerning payment are always included in the contract, which is also highly important. Once you have the client’s signature, you’ll have proof of your agreement should you ever need to use it to get paid.
In general, a typical contract between a WordPress freelance developer and a client might include sections for:
- Effective dates
- Retention of developer
- Description of services
- Payment of services
- Web hosting details
- Term/termination
- Relationship of parties
- Work Product relationship
- Laws affecting electronic commerce
- Confidentiality
- Employees
- Assignment
- Indemnification
- Severability
- Amendments
- Notices applicable
- Signatures
Not all freelancers can afford to hire a lawyer to create their contracts for them, but there are tons of tools and templates online that can help you quickly and efficiently draw up a contract with all the necessary details – many of which are free to use. Just googling “contract template” will give you tons of great options (although you shouldn’t necessarily trust them all!).
Tools to Help You With Contracts
ShakeLaw (Freemium)
Easily create different types of contracts with Shakelaw’s intuitive step-by-step process, and get them signed directly through the platform.
Quote Roller (14-day Free Trial)
A complete solution for the quote, proposal, and contract process.
LawTrades (Paid Legal Services)
If you have the budget for it, consider using this service to set you up with a top-rated lawyer and save money over going with a local law firm.
Using Professional Invoicing Software
Pulling together all the details of your contract and finalizing it with each party’s signatures is probably the biggest and most important thing you need to do as a freelancer to ensure you’ll get paid on time, but it certainly doesn’t stop there. If you want to maintain your reputation as a professional all the way throughout the course of the project timeline, you’ll want to be on top of your invoicing game, too.
Freelancers certainly can prepare their invoices manually using a simple Word doc or Excel spreadsheet, but those who are serious should consider investing in some solid invoicing software. There are lots of affordable options out there that only require a small monthly fee, and most give you the opportunity to choose a plan that matches the number of clients you work with and the types of features you want.
There are so many advantages to using professional invoicing software as opposed to taking the manual route. The software keeps everything organized in one place for you, automates certain tasks for repeated invoicing, and can even send out reminders to your clients in a set number of days after they received the invoice.
Here are a few reputable and popular invoicing software options to consider:
Freshbooks
Easy-to-use small business accounting software directed toward business owners who don’t have any real accounting skills.
Quickbooks
A complete accounting software option with tons of features for a variety of business owners (including professional accountants).
Zoho
Customizable invoicing software even with a free account (which allows you to add up to five clients).
Xero
Small business accounting software built with simplicity in mind and lots of great time-saving tools.
Stick to Schedule
Once you’ve signed up for your choice of invoicing software and gotten familiar with using it, make sure you set up a strict invoicing schedule and stick to it. For example, if you’re invoicing twice a month, you may want to schedule that task to be completed every 1st and 15th of the month.
Getting lazy with your invoicing sends the wrong message to the client and only prolongs the waiting period to get paid, so avoid falling into that bad habit. And since it can be an easy task to forget to do your invoicing when you’re busy with work, setting up some alerts on whichever calendar app or scheduling program you use will help remind you when it’s time to send your invoice.
On the invoice, you’ll want to itemize everything in a clear list that reflects all your work accurately while remembering to specify when you should be paid. It’s typically common to set the terms of payment to be received within 10, 15, or 30 days of receiving the invoice, although some freelancers even request to be paid as soon as the invoice is received.
Some clients don’t require freelancers to send them an invoice, but it’s still a good idea to do it anyway. It’s an effective reminder and signifies your professionalism.
Unfortunately, even the best and most trustworthy clients can let an invoice slip past its due date from time to time Rather than shooting them an awkward reminder about it, consider setting up automated late reminders through your invoicing software to notify your client by email that you’re still waiting for your payment.
Dealing With Common WordPress Freelancing Problems
Everything we’ve covered so far should be standard practice to be implemented with every new project you decide to take on. While it certainly will put you in a great position that maximizes your chances or getting paid on time, every time, the reality is that there can be all sorts of unexpected problems that can still pop up along the way.
Problem #1: Forgetting to get the nitty gritty details about payment processing
During your initial discussions, it’s important to get as much information as possible about how freelancer payments are handled by your client. If their accounting department has a history of being wildly slow with sending out payments or is currently in the middle of switching software platforms, you’ll want to know about it first.
Problem #2: Needing to be paid sooner than 10, 15, or 30 days after sending the invoice
The problem with sending out an invoice with payment terms set at NET 30 is that if you’re only invoicing once a month, you could be waiting up to two months to get your payment. A simple solution is to discuss this with clients (ideally in the initial phase before drafting the contract) and request invoices to be paid upon receipt.
Problem #3: Not receiving feedback from the client soon enough to move on (and get paid)
If you’re having a hard time getting any word from your client on the work you’ve done so far, it can put you in limbo for a while and even really drag out the entire project timeline. For long projects with several stages that require frequent feedback from clients in order to move forward, consider billing a larger amount up front (like 50%).
Problem #4: Sending the WordPress site live without getting paid first
Some WordPress developers make the mistake of sending their WordPress sites live first and then patiently waiting to be paid. At this point, the client has what they wanted and now they don’t have as much of a reason to pay you as promptly as you probably hoped. You shouldn’t blackmail the client into paying an invoice, but having a clear understanding upfront that the final product is only delivered when payment is made is a sound approach.
Problem #5: Changing parts of the project that delays or affects payment
When conditions change midway through the project timeline, as they often do for big ones, they can sometimes throw off everything else – including payment. Make sure that these changes are worked into an updated version of your contract so that you still get paid when you need to be paid.
What to Do If You Still Don’t Get Paid on Time
A freelancer can take every precaution imaginable to ensure he gets paid on time, and yet still, a client can cause problems or go quiet out of the blue. That’s the unfortunate reality of freelancing.
Here are some options you have if it ever gets to the point where you have to deal with this.
Option #1: Get the client on the phone
When it comes to WordPress freelancing, a lot of communication often takes place through email, Skype messaging, or some other similar platform. Sometimes, all you need to do is call your client on the phone and speak to them in person to get them to do the right thing.
Option #2: Contact someone else within the client’s business
Unless your client is running their business as a sole proprietorship, chances are you’ll be able to do some digging around to find the contact information for other partners or employees. Speaking to someone different in the organization, if possible, may help push along your payment.
Option #3: Make it easier for your clients to pay you
Doing everything you can to make it as convenient as possible for your client to pay you is worth a shot if they just keep forgetting to issue you a check and pop it in the mailbox. Consider accepting credit card payments or payment through PayPal if you think that could make everything run more smoothly (even if it does cost a little more in fees).
Option #4: Sign up for a service that helps with small business cash flow
Services like Fundbox and BlueVine help out business owners by offering them advances on their invoices so they can overcome those cash flow gaps that tend to occur from slow payments. If you’re going to use something like this, just be certain you know the fees associated with it.
Option #5: Ask your lawyer what to do next
If none of the above options help you get your payments faster and on time, the only option remaining is to decide whether the outstanding payment is significant enough to require legal action. It may be worth just taking the loss on a small project and learning your lesson rather than going to court. However, for bigger projects with more money at stake, things can be far more complicated than that.
Conclusion
When it comes to WordPress freelancing, you can’t just expect money to show up in your account or at your door on time without taking all the boring yet necessary steps outlined above. There’s nothing all that exciting about writing up contracts or staying on top of all those accounting tasks, but if you want your business to succeed and last, you’re going to need to do it.
Have you ever had to deal with a late payment from a client as a WordPress freelancer? If so, how did you handle it? Share your experiences with us in the comments section below!
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