Good websites and blogs are constantly evolving organisms. Content is added, links are established, features are added, layouts are changed, and the cycle continues in a neverending quest for improvement and perfection.
This is a good thing. If your website or blog isn’t changing and improving, why are you even bothering with it?
The problem is that you can be overwhelmed with the amount of different things that can be done to your site. I often look at a to-do list for one of my sites and gasp in horror. Here are five strategies for improving your blog or website efficiently:
- Plan Ahead – If you know you’re going to do some work on your blog or site, plan ahead of time exactly what you want to accomplish. It can be frustrating to sit down when it’s time to do the work and waste time figuring out what exactly to do.
- Prioritize Your Tasks – People naturally do the easiest or most fun task in front of them first. More often than not, this isn’t the task that will lead to the greatest returns. You’ve got long term goals for your site right? Figure out which tasks will help you accomplish those goals and have the greatest impact. Do those first.
- Group Similar Tasks Together – It’s a waste of time to jump around from different task types. If you sit down and write an article, then program some code, then open your graphics program, then submit your site to some directories, then answer some emails, you’ll waste a ton of time. The best idea is to handle all the similar tasks at once. If you want to write an article, write five of them while you’re in writing mode. If you need to make some graphics, do all your graphics tasks at once while you have your graphics program open. Grouping your tasks will make things quicker and easier.
- Outsouce – Whether it’s a task you don’t like doing, a task you aren’t good at, or you just have too much on your plate, figure out if there are any tasks that can be outsourced. You’d be amazed at how cheap some specialists are these days. You can hire a writer to write content, a designer to improve your site’s look, a search engine expert to help your search engine optimization, or anything else that might come up. We have a tendency to want to do things ourselves, but it’s not always the most efficient way to handle it.
- Focus – Possibly my biggest weakness, it really pays to focus on the tasks at hand and block out distractions. If you really want to get some work done on your blog or site, turn off your instant messenger, close down your email, turn off that podcast or TV, and focus on the tasks in front of you. The free time you’ll save can be used to do those other activities later.
That’s a quick start to getting you on the right track to making some positive changes to your site. Good luck.