Loxley

Yoast is pretty good, but I'd recommend doing some reading on SEO first because Google changed its algorithms but the plugin never updated to reflect this... it seems to champion keyword cramming, which Google doesn't like. I just use it to change my title / description, etc to work how I want it to

Hey Alex, thanks for giving PF Meet a shout out (I organise it). Got to meet Ashley last night thanks to your recommendation! (Hi Ashley!) Please do pop along, we're a friendly bunch, chilled atmo, geeks and beers

Hello Personally I would give up on the mass emails - whenever I receive them they are usually a. impersonal, b. spammy, or c. just annoying. If you're going to email companies, make sure you do some research first and ALWAYS make sure you find the right person to contact so you can address a real person rather than 'Dear Sir/Madam'. I personally delete 99% of emails that start with this. Alternatively, the best way you can find freelance work is to collaborate with other freelancers, and to do this you need to attend networking events. When I was looking for people to work with were no networking events in my area so I started one. Seriously, it really is the best way to get your name out there Don't just turn up once and hand out a business card, go regularly, get to know people, make friends. Hope this helps

Yep this has happened to me. I used to be a freelancer before I started up an agency and I was hired several times by large agencies (one company with 20 employees and another with over 300) to take on overflow work. Sometimes it was in house, sometimes I worked from home or my office. It really depends. Now I run a small agency I work with both freelancers and other agencies.

This is a code I use a lot for displaying a number of blog / news posts on the home page. Firstly, go into your functions.php file and add this: function string_limit_words($string, $word_limit) { $words = explode(' ', $string, ($word_limit + 1)); if(count($words) > $word_limit) array_pop($words); return implode(' ', $words); } Then, just go to your home page template, and add this Loop code wherever you want the blog posts to appear. I've put mine inside an unordered list: <ul> <?php query_posts('showposts=2'); ?> <?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?> <li> <h3><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h3> <p><?php $excerpt = get_the_excerpt(); echo string_limit_words($excerpt,25); ?> <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" title="Read More">Read More »</a></p> </li> <?php endwhile;?> </ul> Where it says showposts=2 you can change that number to show as many posts as you like. And where it says $excerpt, 25 - you can change the 25 to show as many word as you want.

Failing that and saving you some time - have you tried installing the Maintenance Mode plugin?

I'm not sure what your level of expertise is for WordPress and coding but this is what I would do: Try making sure the images are sat next to each other in your post (when you are editing). Then apply the left align to both images. This should add a class of .align-left to each image. Then you need to add a class to the CSS: .align-left { float:left; } Hopefully this will work as you need

I've been doing a lot of reading up on SEO in the past few weeks since the Penguin update, and I know that that quality over quantity is the keyword when it comes to backlinks. But, I can't seem to come to a conclusion regarding how, if at all, you should link to your portfolio from a client site? Obviously, the client has to agree, but if they do, do you nofollow? Do you nofollow on all pages except the home page? Should it only be a branded anchor text, or should you include a keyword? It all depends on whether the search engine sees it as a quality backlink, which some might argue it's not because the link has little relevance to the content, but then I do get traffic through to my site from client sites so it kind of is relevant. Anyway.... is there a definitive answer to this question? Can't seem to find one... yet.

No probs! It was the tutorial I kept coming back to and taught me the basics in Wordpress back in the day

This is the best WP tutorial I've found, it's what first got me started http://www.wpdesigner.com/2007/02/19/so-you-want-to-create-wordpress-themes-huh/

Hello! I've been kind of lurking, I haven't had much time to post in the last few months but want to get involved again.

Hello! Welcome back... although I've probably been dormant on here as long as you have! I've done a similar thing, focusing more on CSS, Wordpress themes etc than designing signs, really love it! I've found that coding other peoples PSD's has really taught me a lot about design and inspired me even more.

Do you mean a brief that you would send to a web design company (for them to provide a quote), or do you mean a brief aka specification, which is describing to the client what you're providing?

I'm thinking of going... looks great Will let you know

I'm interested in a London one definitely Also I'm organising a regular meet-up in the Portsmouth area if anyone from here is interested, give me a pm

I'd be interested, definitely

Yeah I always get an invoice from them, I just wanted to double check I was putting it through the books correctly Thanks guys

Hi Guys, Have a question regarding tax return. If I do a job for someone, say it's £500, and I need another freelancer to do a bit of coding the site, out of that £500 they get paid £150. How would that work on a tax return... do I put the £150 as an expense, or do I not put it through at all and just put £350 as my amount earnt. As it's technically not me getting paid that money.. (I'm just passing it on). Not sure how it works? Any clarification much appreciated!

I'd be interested to hear more about using Facebook for marketing charliesaidthat, I'm more of a twitterer / forum poster, not really use Facebook for business. Can you post a few pointers?

Oh that's a shame - I found it far more compelling that GTA, much more to do.

Ah fair enough. I really enjoy the online multiplayer. The main storyline of the game is brilliant, I think it's the first time I've actually enjoyed the cut scenes. I completed it far too early though (not the games fault, I just sped through cos I wanted to find out what happened!) should have done more side missions first!

Anyone else totally hooked? I got it on pre-order and have been immersed in the world of cowboys ever since... best PS3 game ever, ticks every box for me anyway

Firefox, mainly because I can't live without Firebug now, it's such an awesome addon. Secondly I choose Safari. IE is terrible, it causes more problems than it's worth I wish they would sort it out.

Ooh I haven't opened mine yet I'll have a look I'm about 5 issues behind they are piling up on my desk - will be catching up on holiday next week I second .Net, fab magazine

It can reduce the amount of tax you pay yes, but spending £100 won't take £100 of tax off, I'm not 100% sure what the ratio is, maybe someone else here will know?