In this episode, we're going to talk all about those must have website design tools.

Welcome to Websites Made Simple. I'm your host, Holly Christie.

Scroll for the link to my courses as mentioned in the episode

There are some crucial tools that every website designer should have to efficiently run their business.

As a seasoned website designer and mentor, I wanted to share with you some of the more essential platforms and software that not only streamline processes but also enhance client relationships.

Some of these are free.

From file-sharing solutions to design apps and project management, I'm covering it all.

Whether you're a novice or an experienced designer, I'm hoping this episode will help you elevate your website design business by simplifying the administrative and creative elements of website creation.

Next steps to take with me

• My courses - courses.thisdemandinglife.com
• My LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hollycchristie/

Tools mentioned in this episode:

• wetransfer.com
• canva.com
• trello.com
• vimeo.com
• tidycal.com
• zoom.us
• freeagent.com
• gocardless.com
• stripe.com
• screamingfrog.co.uk
• thisdemandinglife.com
• linkedin.com/in/hollychristie

In this episode, we're going to talk all about those must have website design tools.

Hello, and welcome back to Websites Made simple with Holly Christie.

I'm Holly.

I'm a website designer.

I am a mentor to website designers, and I am the founder of this demanding life and sympathy sites.

And I am here with this podcast to help you to have not only a successful website design business, but but to have a business that you really, really love showing up to, working with clients who you have a great vibe with, and creating websites that you are really proud of.

Today we are going to be talking about the best tools to run your web design business with.

And there will be a little variation on some of them because some of you will think, oh, I've already got something like Dubzado Set up or Moxie or Honeybook or any of those things that these are the real ones that I find come up over and over again.

I use them in my business myself.

But I have also polled some other web designers.

Thank you very much, LinkedIn.

Thank you very much to the Facebook groups.

And I've said to people, what could you not run your business without?

And I then thought I would create this podcast episode for you so that you could see where maybe you had some of the gaps when, where they needed filling in, where it would really help you with your process and to really get that information through from clients.

Because usually we're all great at building websites and we're all going to have different ways in which we build the websites.

And so I didn't want to create a podcast or a resource telling you how to do that because you may love working in elementor or divi might be your jam, or you might be coding everything from the ground up, or you might be a wix web designer.

Whatever method tools that you use, you're welcome here.

Because it's not about how we're building.

In most cases, it's about how we're running our businesses.

And that's usually where website designers fall down a little bit.

They think I'm really great at building the websites.

I love building the websites, but I'm not getting enough clients or I'm feeling frustrated at the processes or the clients aren't sending me the content or, you know, it's one thing after another after another.

And these things are the things that can chip away at us and make us really wonder about whether it's the business for us.

And I can tell you it took me a long time to get to the stage where I was mentoring other website designers.

And developers.

And I had my own team of mentors and stuff who were mentoring me.

And when I was having a really bad day and when I was thinking, I'm going to jack it all in and just become a copywriter, which always feels like the path of the failed web designer, and they said, no, no, Holly, just, you know, stick with the process, trust with the process.

We learned to tighten up my systems, work with people who are really aligned with me.

And that is what I want for you.

And one of the ways that we can do that.

You're going to hear me talk about processes on this podcast over and over and over.

There's a really good reason for this.

The better your processes are, the more you will enjoy working with your clients, the more boundaries you'll hold with clients and the better your projects will be because of it.

And the better your projects are and the better the experience that people are having, then the more that you will be able to charge for the websites, the more you will enjoy your work because you'll feel that you're being really fairly paid for it.

And as is essential with all of us, the more that you have your processes and your structures in place, the more creative you get to be because you don't have to worry about, has this invoice been generated or has that person paid for that?

Has this or that been set up?

It just goes.

It's great.

So let's get started with the nine essential tools to run your web design business.

I'm going to put it straight out there and say wetransfer.

And if you haven't come across Wetransfer, it is a website where you can send and transfer large files.

And the free one goes up to 2 gigabytes and you can add files, folders, media, whatever you like on there.

You can send it to a person and it will either email that person or you can send that person a link, gets held on their server for like a week.

You can choose like your time limit with it and they can download at the other end.

And the great thing with Wetransfer is it also emails you and tells you when they have downloaded it and if they don't download it within a set amount of time, it will also send them an email reminder saying, hey, you know this Wetransfer is going to expire, we need you there.

And if you've listened to my other episodes and you will know part of the process is getting all of the content from the client in one go.

We do not do drip fed content and the reason that we do don't do that is one, when you're creating a website, you need to know that you've got everything up front so that you can actually map the website, do the architecture of it.

It's not just about creating a homepage and then duplicating it and whacking a load of other content in there.

We really want these websites to be aligned with our clients.

And the way that we can do that is to get all of the content up front from them so that we can see what we're working with.

We want to make sure that we've got all of the images.

We'll know what the Vibe is from those images or from those videos or if they're using lottie files or GIFs or whatever.

We need to know that we want to see the style of writing and you know, work out what fonts are in the brand kit and you know what vibe it's going to have from that.

We need everything up front so that we can put those pieces of the puzzle together.

And so for that reason I say to people, I don't really want to use Dropbox and I don't want to use Google Drive.

I need this from Wetransfer.

Just put everything in Wetransfer if the files are so big and I'd be surprised if someone's sending you over 2 gig of data for a website.

But if the files are too big, send a couple of Wetransfer links.

I'll download them.

Once I've gone through everything, I'll start to be able to map the website.

So with Wetransfer, if you're regularly sending large files, then you can have the paid for plan.

But you will get just as much value out of the free plan.

So do go and check it out.

It's called wetrage transfer.com the second on my list, which is one of my absolute, if not my most used tool in the industry, is Canva.

And Canva is just fantastic.

Obviously some of you will be working even in Photoshop.

That's also great.

Canva, you can use the free version of it.

You can go quite far with it.

I do have the paid for version which gives me access to kind of more tools and stuff like that.

And one of the great things is with Canva is that most of your clients, particularly if your clients like mine, are small business owners, most of them are going to have a Canva account, whether they've got a free account or they've got a paid for account.

And it means that you can transfer assets to them when you built the website.

So often when I'm building a website, I will want to have icons to represent the services and I don't necessarily just want to use the font awesome or the icon moon or whatever else.

And I don't generally use enough icons that I want to go in and buy a whole icon kit for a particular website.

And this is where Canva comes in.

I can go into Canva and I can search for any type of graphic that I want.

I'll often want it to be a graphic so that I can change the color of it so it matches the color palette of the website and I can do all of that there.

And those tools are the free tools as well.

So if I then create a load of those for a client's website, I can then transfer those set of graphics over to the client so that they can continue to seamlessly merge this into their newsletters, their PDF downloads, their socials, that sort of thing.

If you have a pro account with Canva, you can also use their images and videos within the websites and for stock stuff.

So it's really, really good.

I also use Canva a lot for really slickening up my social posts as well.

If I want to put graphics on top of an image, for example, offering a service and putting the like a little star and saying this is how long this is available for the podcast artwork, we do all of that in Canva as well.

And I would definitely say if you do not have a Canva account, go and check it out.

Check out the free account.

It is a great one for using with your business.

I also use it for advertising my websites as well.

When I'm kind of putting the screenshot of the website into the computer frame for creating my social stuff.

My website user manuals were all created using Canva because it's so much quicker and easier than going into like a PowerPoint or a keynote or wherever you're going to do it.

And of course we can just duplicate them from there as well.

I also use it for styling out contracts and sometimes I use it for recording the webinars and the courses videos as well.

And I will often create the courses all have a webinar.

If you haven't seen my courses, go to courses thisdemandinglife and you will have a whole wealth of courses for web designers and web developers like you to help you to run and have a brilliant business.

And I will create the presentations in Canva because it's not about reinventing the Wheel here.

I mean all my websites, they're custom built, they're done from the ground up, they are there to represent the client absolutely perfectly.

But when it comes to things like courses and stuff, Canva has such a huge range of presentations that you can go in and drop your content in and even, you know, it's just giving you a framework to work with as well and you can present and record from there as well.

So it's definitely.

As a web designer, I would say it's one of the essential tools for your business.

And I think with Canva as well, unlike Photoshop is when you go onto the Canva website it will give you ideas.

So if you're feeling a little bit stuck, you can see what's trending and that sort of thing.

It's.

Yeah, it's a really good one there.

Trello.

Now I appreciate you are going to have your own project management software and I have tried a lot of them.

I moved from a free version of Trello to a paid for version of ClickUp and then I moved back to Trello because ClickUp is great if you are running quite a big team.

Team?

I don't run a big team.

I have a team of four, sometimes five of us and ClickUp just felt convoluted really and there were a couple of things that I found didn't work for me but it was a good bit of Kit Brello is great for me because I like that you can keep things in list.

I like that you can drag and drop the lists around.

There's lots of options within the cards with each list so I can put checklists in in there.

I can have whole boards dedicated to step by step process for website setup or website pack down or for creating user manuals.

I also run an admin board from Trello for the team as well and each cheap member has a colored label so we color their work with, you know which one we want for them and stuff and it works really well for us.

And with Trello you can keep on track with all of your projects just using the free versions.

So if you feel like you're running everything off an Excel sheet or a notepad or something like that, then do have a look at Trello and they have some kind of boards and power ups on there as well.

You can use that can just help you maintain things and be a bit more efficient with everything as well.

And as I say, it doesn't need to be paid for but it can be a really good one there.

They've got lots and lots of resources on there as well.

And just to say as well, if you're not sure about Trello or you've used Trello and you've not liked it or something like that, go and check out things like Monday, Asana Notion, all that sort of thing as well.

They're all a variation of a theme and you just run with the one that really works for you.

So next on my list is Vimeo.

And when I first set up I had the choice, did I want to use Vimeo, did I want to use YouTube?

And the reason that I went with Vimeo is that you can have complete control within that.

They don't show adverts on the platform.

So it means when you are sending a video to a client or you're embedding something, it will maybe loop the video or when the video stops it will just go to your brand, it won't go to other videos, it won't put adverts in there, it won't do anything like that.

So I really liked how much control it gave you.

I've been using it for 10 years now.

I would say it's like one of the best values software that I use.

You can have a completely free version I think think that used to give you about 2 gig of data upload a week to Vimeo.

They may have changed the plan now so that it's like amount of data overall.

But the next step plan is something like £70 a year in UK money and it really does unlock a whole new level of settings.

You can really put presets onto your videos, you can share the screen as well.

So every week I give my clients an update of where their website build is at and I literally walk them around the website build as we're doing it, the front end of it because they're not going to use the backend very easily at that stage.

And I do that using Vimeo and I can just click record, record the screen and they get that real personal touch.

They're not just being sent screenshots or anything like that.

It gives them a real feel for their website in real time.

It also means over that screen share I can talk out my reasoning why I've put something where I've put it and that really helps clients to get on board with stuff as well.

So it is a really, really good one, I would say.

And I also use Vimeo for embedding videos in websites and you can make it look quite native, especially if you have a paid for plan because you can really dig down on those settings there as well.

If I wanted something that the client can download or a download that goes into a website or an email or something like that, I can record it in there as well as recording my screen, I can record me.

So I can record camera of me talking, I can record audio, that sort of thing.

I also use Vimeos for my website user manuals and for tutorials as well.

So it feels like a really good value bit of kit as well.

So do check it out.

Lots and lots of people use Loom as well.

I only used Loom once and I felt like every time I was on it it was just taking over my whole computer and stuff and I just didn't like it as much as Vimeo, so.

But as a web designer, I think when we can show our work and we can talk through our reasoning, it really helps us build that relationship with the clients.

And when we do that, it has a really, really good experience for both the designer and the client as well.

So I would really encourage you, whether you go with Vimeo, whether you go with Loom, I'd really encourage you to use that there.

Tidy Cal.

And the reason I say Tidy Cal rather than Calendarly is I did use Calendly and it was great and I paid something like £180 a year for it and.

And tidycal does the exact same thing and you can get a lifetime license of it for $39.

Calendarly could be good if you want to add team members and you're all sharing different diaries and stuff like that.

That's brilliant.

Tidycal is for the individual.

So you have one plan, you have one person's diary on there.

But assuming that you are most likely just working one to one on your diary, then tidycal is probably going to be a great option for you.

It integrates with Stripe and other payment gateways and it integrates with Zoom and other scheduling software.

So I use tidycal for people to book calls with me because I find that generally I don't tend to sign people up to website builds over email.

We'll usually talk first, we'll usually do this over Zoom because it means that I can then screen share.

So as they're talking to me, we can start to look at what kind of way websites that they want, what they like, what design things and that sort of thing.

And we do that over Zoom.

And so I get them booked in over tidycal because I can't stand the waste of time going back and forth across email and messages to find a time that works can you do this date?

Can you do that date?

No.

And that sort of thing.

I really like how much tidycal takes all of that kind of faffing away from stuff.

So people book in with my diary or they book in for a paid for service like my website clinic or a website refresh.

And the first I know about it is that it drops into my calendar in my inbox and it says, hey, you have a meeting at this date and this time.

And I haven't had to do anything to make that happen.

I absolutely love that.

And obviously I set my diary times, my calendar times, so that it's times when I actually want to see and speak to people as well.

But it is a really brilliant tool for that.

And you know, often when people, they go on your website or you advertise something on social and you say, book a call with me, come and find me.

People want to be able to do that instantaneous thing.

So they don't want to get on email and go back and forth, back and forth.

They want to just get it put into the diary.

So it's a really, really good way to do it as well.

I just mentioned the same.

I spend a lot of my week on calls for a web designer.

I spend a lot of my week on calls, but that's because I do a lot of mentoring calls for people like you, lovely people who are looking to improve their website business.

I also meet my potential clients sometimes, as I say, we do the recorded website updates.

Sometimes a client might want to talk that through or we just need to get the website over the line.

And I feel like it would be really beneficial to do that over Zoom so that I can make some live changes on the website.

My website clinic, which is like a power hour service, we meet on Zoom for that.

I'm trying to think what else I use it for.

We literally, Zoom is open almost all day for me.

I find it very, very easy.

I don't run Microsoft, so I know some people use Microsoft Teams and stuff like that.

I don't.

I also know that when I've tried using Google Meets with other people, that sometimes the links don't work and stuff like that.

There's a real solidity and stuff about Zoom that I really like.

And you can use the free version.

I have the paid for vers and that means that I can spend as long on Zoom as I like because some of my mentoring sessions are 75 minutes and the paid for version allows that, whereas I think the free version only gives you 40 minutes.

So.

But if you are looking to set up on a budget, then I would definitely say look at Zoom, look at the free version and maybe just offer half an hour, 30 minute calls with someone so that you know that you're inside of that time limit as well.

So now we're going to look at the invoicing side of things because before I got this all automated and set up, this was where I really fell down.

I would get so kind of wrapped up in design and so caught up in it that I wouldn't actually get my invoices out on time.

And I think, oh God, I don't want to have to create all of these invoices.

And then I set up a bank account that used Free Agent.

I have used Free Agent in the past.

I have also used Xero and QuickBooks in the past.

I particularly went back to Free Agent because it came free with my bank account.

And this episode is all about having the most cost effective tools for you.

So I set up with Free Agent a few years ago.

It's absolutely brilliant.

You set up a new client in there, a new contact in there.

You can create the invoices very easily.

You can always see where your money's at, what your bank's doing, what your turnover is for the last kind of 12 months, nine months, six, six or three months.

It's a really easy to use bit of kit.

And I have to say, as a website designer, you will be finding it very easy and intuitive to use as well.

And you can even connect FreeAgent to your bank account and it has something that kind of calls a radar and it just automatically files everything in the right places.

You can also set up direct debits through Free Agent as well.

And again, if you are using Xero or you're using QuickBooks, or you're using anything like that, then you will be able to do the same through that as well.

I set up direct debits and this is the second bit of software that I have.

I use GoCardless for this as well.

GoCardless seems to be the tool of the website designer and I love it.

I have the monthly recurring plans for people who have my website hosting and maintenance contracts.

And you can set up the direct debit directly through Free Agent and then you can set recurring invoices and it triggers for the payment to get taken through GoCardless.

The fees are quite low.

It's about 1% with GoCardless and it really just automates absolutely everything for you.

And it takes all the headaches away.

It takes minutes to set up and it is absolutely worth its weight in gold.

So I would definitely say get your account set.

The amount of people who say to me, oh, my website designer never asked for the final payment, I'm looking to switch website design because the project's just not going ahead.

I haven't had an update for ages.

I paid an invoice ages ago, but I don't know where I'm at.

And usually it's just that website designers have got really overwhelmed with running that side of their business.

And automating and scheduling payments just helps make everything go on track.

And it also means that sometimes if we feel we're not being paid on time or we're not being paid properly or something like that, we can become quite resentful of the project we're working on.

And I find that this really takes all of that away from it because if the project goes outside of scope, you can run up an invoice, obviously, tell them first create an invoice trigger for it to pay if that's in your terms of service.

And you just know the payment's there, you do the work, it gets the process done.

So it's really worth looking at that as well.

So as well as the free agent and go cardless, I also have Stripe.

And Stripe is like a bank in itself, but it connects with payment gateways to the websites with things like WooCommerce.

You can also set up products within Stripe.

So if you're selling a one off product, for example, or like my website clinic hours, which are like power hours, I can set that up as a product in Stripe.

And people can just go and book it through my tidycal.

They just book the time in my calendar.

And it all integrates with everything as well.

And strike fees are very low and they are an Internet bank for people who are making money from the Internet.

So I absolutely recommend that.

The last of the free tools that I'm going to talk to you about is one called Screaming Frog.

If you're up on your SEO, you'll know about this one.

But don't worry if you haven't heard of it.

When we build a new website and there's been an existing website in place, there can be an issue around redirecting the old URLs.

And even just knowing that you need to redirect the old URLs is just really a web designer experience level sort of thing.

You know, so many of us went for years, you know, just binning off the old websites, replacing it with a new website and not thinking anything about the redirection.

But it really makes a difference, particularly if you build a website and then someone gets an SEO expert on board to really tighten things up and get things going and the first thing they're going to notice is that there are a whole load of old URLs floating around the Internet, not attached to anything.

And particularly if you've used the same domain, that's not going to look good and it's going to redirect to a 404 page.

And whilst we do really nice 404 pages and I always build them, so it redirects the user to something quite meaningful, we don't want to use 404 pages where possible.

We would rather redirect someone to the content.

So, for example, I had a free resources page that I tried for a while where I did free web design resources and when I took that down, I have redirected that URL to the blog page because that's the next best thing for the offer there.

And if not, sometimes we just redirect people to the homepage or get into touch page or something.

So Screaming Frog.

It's free to download, it runs as an app and you put in a website URL and it will throw up all of the results of all of the unattached URLs on the Internet according to that domain, and then you can systematically just copy and paste them into a 301 redirect plugin and off you go.

So there we have it.

A bit of a longer episode than usual, but hopefully really, really helpful for you as well.

So do take the time to have a think about which tools can really support you in leveling up your website design business.

That can take some of the burden and the stress of the admin of being a web designer away from you.

And that can also help you have a better experience with your clients.

So just running through them again, we talked about WeTransfer.com, we talked about Canva, we looked at Trello and other project management software.

I am a big advocate for Vimeo.

Tidycal is a great one.

Instead of calendly Zoom for all of those video calls.

But you can also do chargeable website power hours and mentoring through them as well.

Free Agent or Xero or quickbook or whatever accountancy software works for you.

Go Cardless and Stripe.

They're both brilliant, particularly if you're in the uk.

If you have issues with either of those, then you can look at things like PayPal and finally screaming Frog.

If you have anything you would like to add to this list, you can get in touch with me.

You can find me at Holly H O double L Y at this demanding life dot com.

I would love to hear from you.

So do drop me an email or you can find me on LinkedIn as Holly C.

Christie.

So that's all for today.

Until next time, have a successful happy web design business and most importantly, web design experience.