Best Way to Manage Clients (Web Design)

I didnt really need a way to manage clients before but its getting difficult gathering information… remembering what stage of a project im in and when payments should be made so I was thinking about setting up a members area on my website where clients can sign up for a user profile and give me information on their website… i was also going to use this profile to let them know when a payment was due… seems like a good idea, but im mainly just looking for a simple solution… what do other designers do? What other other ways can I gather information and show a client when payments r due?

Theres solutions like subernova .com, but im not sure how well that system works. So just curious what other designers/companies do to manage the work load… one important thing id like to be able to do would be to show clients what stage their website is in that way they know when they have to pay since i have the process on my site.

Thanks!

Most people I know rely on something like Basecamp, it’s probably the best solution for client management and collaboration I’ve seen. You could always give it a free trial and see if it’s what you were after. I personally manage my clients using an offline method (a really powerful to-do list product). :slight_smile:

You could also use billing systems such as WHCMS or Clientexec - these are aimed at web hosts but work just as well for web designers.

There are other scripts that cater for freelancer’s client management such as http://www.freelancesuite.com/