Are you just beginning your career as a freelance web developer? If so, then there are some essential tools that you need to get familiar with as soon as you can to make your job a lot easier.
Since you’re operating entirely on your own, you’ll need tools for:
- Receiving payment and invoicing clients
- Designing webpages
- Communicating with clients
- Organizing your projects
- Where to advertise your services and find work
That’s why we’re here to provide our picks for the top 5 must have tools for freelance web developers. So if you’re a newbie web developer eager to get started freelancing, you’ve come to the right place. Read on to learn more about the tools you should start using right away.
#1: PayPal
The first tool you need to get familiar with is PayPal. It’s the king of online payment processing tools, especially for freelancers. With an account, you can get paid from anyone anywhere in the world. PayPal works with 25 unique currencies, allowing you to choose how you want to get paid.
As a freelancer, securing payment is something that you have to do by yourself. As a result, you’ll need a tool to create invoices.
The good news is that PayPayl makes creating invoices straightforward and fast.
In a few minutes, you can set up an online invoice and mail it to your client. PayPal allows you to give a full itemized breakdown of your products or services.
Another perk is the ability to link anyone to your PayPal URL. It’s fully customizable, allowing you to personalize it for your brand. As long as your client has your PayPayl URL, they can pay you at any time.
Another reason why the tool is so popular is because of how secure it is. It’s the safest way to send and receive money online, thanks to its elite security measures.
PayPal is also one of the fastest ways to receive your money. If you set up a debit card on the platform, you can receive your money within a few minutes. Check out Paypal at this link here.
#2: Fiverr
Another responsibility you have as a freelancer is finding new clients. That’s where Fiverr comes into the picture. It’s a gigantic online marketplace for freelancers and the clients that need them. As a freelance web developer, you can set up a profile showing off your work.
You can include past projects, a bio on yourself, testimonials, and more. The idea is to make your page as attractive as possible for potential clients.
That way, if someone needs to hire a web developer, they can see your page and decide to hire you. Fiverr lets you set your desired rate for your services. The platform features meager fees, which is excellent for both freelancers and clients.
You should use more than one strategy to attract clients, but Fiverr is a must-have for anyone. Even if you’re attracting many big jobs, having a Fiverr page will help you fill in the gaps between clients.
In addition, you can use Fiverr to outsource some of your work as a developer. Let’s say that you’re working on a new website but need some custom images created. Well, you can quickly find a graphic designer by using Fiverr. You can also shop around to find the most talented freelancer for the most affordable rate. To visit Fiverr follow this link.
#3: Adobe UI/UX Tools
As a web developer, you need the best software and design strategies. UI/UX design is one of the most effective ways to approach creating a website. Adobe provides the absolute best software for this type of design. In particular, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe XD are the essential tools that you’ll need.
Adobe Photoshop for UI
UI design stands for the user interface. It refers to all the functional aspects of your website. That includes the images, buttons, color scheme, font, layout, and more.
Adobe Photoshop is an incredible UI design tool. With it, you can fully customize each aspect of your user interface. You can drag each icon, button, image, and font into Photoshop for editing. You can also create these design components from scratch.
The ability to work with layers makes Photoshop the ideal tool to use for your UI design. You can create mockups to test out different configurations too.
Adobe XD for UX
UX design stands for your user experience. Instead of the visual and functional elements, it refers to how your customers feel when using your site. Do they feel happy, sad, confused, or stressed? It will take some research to discover this, which is a big part of UX design.
Adobe XD is a tool designed specifically for UX design. You can quickly sketch wireframes and mockups. That makes it invaluable for trying out new looks for your website. From there, you can test it with users to see how they like the layout. Check Adobe’s collection of amazing software at this link.
#4: Slack App
As a freelancer, communicating with your clients is critical. You’ll need to have a reliable way to contact your clients during the design process. That’s why we chose the Slack app as our preferred tool for communicating. Why? Because it can effectively replace emails, texting, and phone calls.
Instead, you can keep all your communications in one space, the Slack app. It’s a chat service that works on any device. You can attach documents, files, images, and videos to your messages. It’s also valuable for keeping sensitive information out of your clients’ email inboxes. Check out Slack at this link here.
#5: Trello
Last up in our top 5 must have tools for freelance web developers is Trello. What is it? It’s an app for organizing projects and boosting productivity. A Trello board uses lists, cards, and automation to manage your projects.
If you don’t stay organized as a freelance web developer, you won’t make it far. Trello can help you manage everything from designing a website to your daily chores. You can add labels, color coordinate, and much more using Trello. It’s the ultimate organizational tool for any freelancer. Check out Trello at this link.
5 Must Have Tools for Freelance Web Developers ( quick video )
Coding Courses on CodingPhase
For learning how to code we recommend trying out CodingPhase. This is the best website to learn all aspects of programming and making side income. For only $20 dollars a month you can learn HTML, CSS, Javascript, React, and much more. If you sign up for the diamond plan you get access to courses on Shopify development and making money online. To get access to a ton of courses follow this link to go to the Codingphase website.
Concluding Thoughts
Those are our choices for the top 5 must have tools for freelance web developers. With the help of these programs, you can get paid, find work, design web pages, and stay organized. So if you currently aren’t taking advantage of these tools, it’s time to try them out!
To get more Shopify developer tips see our developer posts here. Check out our article on how to get more clients as a freelancer at this link here.
