I'm feeling a little defeated.
At the end of last year, I wrote about our desire to maintain, and more importantly increase activity on our blog as well as other marketing efforts for the year. With regards to the blog, we had been doing pretty well with this endeavor with an average of 2 posts a month (I'd still like there to be more).
Unfortunately, we've fallen victim to not giving enough time to our own marketing efforts because of the time spent working on client projects and as a result, for the past two months blog posting and other website marketing efforts have gone by the wayside. This happens often in small businesses where the work being done for a client comes before your own needs because there is not one person in the company dedicated to marketing for that company; the person or people doing that often wear many hats.
Of course client projects always come first, but there is almost always room to carve out 15-20 minutes a day to devote to working on marketing your own website. You just need to make the time to do this.
So, what to do? Well, in thinking about ways I could get back to it, I developed a list of 5 tips for including website marketing in your daily activities.
5. Make a List
Tried and true – lists are great for managing multiple tasks. Make a listing of all the tasks that you need to accomplish for the day or week, depending on how you like to break them up. In that list, make sure to include a task or two directly related to the optimization and/or marketing of your website.
There are many ways to make task lists depending on your preference. Many mail clients offer the option for adding tasks, there are a number of mobile apps offering a list service or websites with desktop applications. Try different methods; do what's best for you. I often still use paper as it's quick, I can scribble notes, and it works well for me.
4. Make it a Priority
Make the work you do for yourself a priority. Especially when it comes to work, we are most often thinking about the things we need to do for others so we start with that. So and so needs a report; I need to talk with the accountant; I have to respond to all of my emails and voicemails; and the list goes on. This is the work that gets focused on first, and during the day you keep promising yourself that you'll get some of the work for your marketing done until it's time to go and there is no time.
Instead, before you even check a voicemail or open your email, take that 15-20 minutes to do some work for yourself. That way it's complete and you don't need to feel guilty that you didn't get to the work yet again.
3. Focus
During the 15-20 minutes, or even 5 minutes, limit distractions as much as possible. If you have an office, close the door, minimize your email and any social media applications you may have open, and turn your ringer(s) off. The lack of distractions will help you to focus and get the work completed more quickly and efficiently.
2. Time Yourself
There may be some days where you really don’t have an extra 15 minutes. If that's the case, then just do 5 – and time yourself. Most smart phones have a timer and if one's not available, you can access a free one online. Or, do it the old fashioned way and look at the clock.
I know you may be thinking – what can I even get done in 5 minutes? Well – lots. Check your Twitter feed and find one relevant article or news item to share. Share some of you own news on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Brainstorm ideas for your next blog post or some content that you can add to your website. Start on a blog post, article, or content for your website, even if it's just a couple of sentences or paragraph.
1. Just Do It!
Even if it's just for 5 minutes – in the words of Nike, you need to just do it. You can make all the lists you'd like and unless you actually do the task at hand, it's not going to get done.
So, join me if you will on this recommitment to a goal I made at the end of last year, and start carving out some time each day to focus on helping yourself and your business. And, if you're looking for ideas on what you can do to market your website, we have a lot!