When I started doing freelance side work I managed my time through an excel spread sheet.  I had to know when I started, know when I finished, and after a project was done I’d add up the time, and send the client an invoice which I had to create.  I’ve since moved on to a more software based approach, and here is the software I use to help me make the most of my time.

CurdBee  http://curdbee.com/

CurdBee, for lack of better words, is awesome.  It generates, and tracks, invoices you’ve created for clients.  It also has integration with PayPal and Google Checkout.  Very customizable, giving you the ability to change the look of your invoices, from the color to the logo to what currency you’re billing in.  The only downside to CurdBee, is you still have to manage your time, and input it into the system.

Klok  http://klok.mcgraphix.com/klok/index.htm

Which is where Klok comes in to play.  From their site:

“Your time is your product. Every minute you spend working that goes unaccounted for is like giving away your product for free. Tracking your time accurately is essential to staying profitable.

In addition, knowing how much time you spend on past projects, can allow you to better estimate future projects. Do you know how much time you spend in meetings? On the phone? Promoting yourself? Making sales calls?

Keep track of anything with Klok’s simple work timer and visual display of how your days “fill up”.”

I combine Klox and CurdBee to do my invoicing.  Klox keeps track of the hours I’m working on a project, which I transfer over to CurdBee to track my invoices.  Klox does have the option to export the time to an Excel spreadsheet, but you’re still left managing it afterward.   Combined they are a huge time saver and will keep you from working for free, allowing you to bill for all the time you worked on a project.

1.  Maintenance Mode

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/maintenance-mode/

Once activated, this plug-in allows you to set up a custom splash screen that will be displayed to anyone not logged in to your WordPress as an administrator.  Very useful for a “Coming Soon” site or just when you need to take your site down for 5 minutes.

2. Contact Form 7

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/contact-form-7/

Hate making contact forms?  Me to.  This plug-in makes it really easy, all you do is build your form with their GUI and paste some code wherever you want the form to show up.  A  huge time saver!

3. Exec-PHP

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/exec-php/

The most useful plug-in you will ever install.  Allows you to run PHP code directly from a post or page.

4.  Customize Your Community (CYC)

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/customize-your-community/

If you’ve ever wanted to customize the look of your WordPress log in then you need this plug-in.  “The Customize Your Community (CYC) Plugin for WordPress … will help you theme your backend WordPress pages using your existing WordPress theme and will not show obvious traces and branding of Wordpress on the registration, lost password, login and logout pages to all users.

5. Register Plus

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/register-plus/

Register Plus also allows you to customize your registration, but differs in that it allows you to add custom registration fields, allows the user to set their own password, and provides Captcha validation, among other things.  When used with CYC you can have a fully customized experience for users of your site, without them knowing you are running WordPress.

6. Store Locator

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/store-locator/

An amazing plug-in that allows you to create mappings of a clients stores, with built in functionality to allow end users to search for a store near them.  Uses the Google Maps API, so most users will be familiar with it.  Does require a Google Maps API key, which are free.

7. Sociable

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/sociable/

This plug-in will automatically add links to your favorite social networking sites on your posts, pages, rss feeds, etc.  Very customizable and almost 100 different sites to chose from.

8. Google AJAX Translation

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-ajax-translation/

Adds a translate button to your pages, posts, or comments that when clicked lets the user quickly translate the page into another language via Google’s translator.

9. Akismet

http://codex.wordpress.org/Plugins/Akismet

Akismet checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam or not and lets you review the spam it catches under your blog’s “Comments” admin screen.  It also comes pre-installed with WordPress.

10. WP-DB-Backup

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-db-backup/

Allows you to easily backup your WordPress database.  Very useful for making sure you don’t lose your entire web site when your host goes down.

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