Archive for organization
Tips For Effective Time Management
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the greatest challenges many people face in business and in their personal lives is that there never seems to be enough time to accomplish everything they need to do, let alone finding time for things they want to do! They look with envy at those who are able to successfully fit work, family, personal, and other activities into their lives. The reality is that we all have the same 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 52 weeks per year – it’s how we choose to spend that time that makes all the difference.
In order to develop a time management system that will be effective for you, it’s helpful to start with some formal or informal assessments to help you compare the way you are currently living your life with the way you would like it to be. Identify the obstacles that are preventing you from managing your time effectively. Become aware of your biological rhythms to determine what type of activity you do best in the morning, afternoon, evening, and late at night. Explore your personality type preferences, and the way they affect the way you perceive and deal with time.
Depending on your specific challenges, some of the following strategies may help Read More→
Post-It Note-itise: How One Entrepreneur Deals with Her ADD
Posted by: | CommentsLast week I was watching a documentary about living with ADD. There was one scene where the hosts were standing next to a large wall entirely covered with Post-It Notes. I nearly fell off my chair laughing because as you can see, I completely relate to that particular symptom of ADD. 
Here’s how Post-It Note-itise works. Each time you have an idea for a project or a task, write it on a Post-It Note so you don’t forget it. Each time you have a deadline, write it on a Post-It Note. Break major projects into smaller steps and put each step on a Post-It Note.
If you are particularly anal in your madness, you can take five different colours of Post-It Notes – each colour representing a specific task or category of tasks – and use the corresponding colour whenever you write a new Post-It Note. And of course, you will need to create a legend to remind yourself which colour responds to which category – created out of Post-It Notes of course.
On the surface Post-It Notes seem like a perfect solution to the ADDer’s fear of forgetting something important. Once it’s written down, it’s not going to get lost in your brain. And there is a certain satisfaction in ripping a Post-It Note off the wall once you’ve completed the task.
However, there is a dark side to using Post-It Notes as an organizational system. Read More→
Back to school – a new beginning for the entrepreneur
Posted by: | CommentsAh … the first day of school. It doesn’t matter how long it’s been since I’ve headed off to class the day after Labour Day, September still feels like the true beginning of the year. Everything is possible.
And although I can relive the beginning of the school vicariously through my son, I also use this time to start fresh myself. The summer is mostly over; the mornings are cooler, the leaves are starting to turn and I feel less of the urge to take off for a day at the beach.
And even though I begin each January with a new vision, goals and action plan for my business, I often also use the beginning of September as a time to take stock of where I am. Am I still on track or am I falling short? Are my goals still valid or do they still need tweaking?
The beginning of September means there’s still a third of the year left to go. Summer vacation is over and if I put my nose to the grindstone I can still accomplish a lot by Christmas.
Although I have learned the hard way that my goals and vision are not something I can write down and forget, I still need some prompting to really take a hard look at what I’m doing. Read More→
Managing Your In-box During Vacations
Posted by: | CommentsHave you ever taken a day off work and come back to the nightmare of hundreds of emails in your in-box? Now what happens if you take a week or two of vacation? I know one day last week I took the afternoon off and woke up to 154 messages in my in-box. I was a little scared about my up-coming trip where internet access will be sporadic.
So I decided to analyze the situation. Read More→
Using 404 Errors To Build Relationships with Readers
Posted by: | CommentsFor many bloggers and website owners the 404 error page is probably the most overlooked section of the site. And yet, a well planned 404 error page can increase reader retention and improve your overall site.
What’s a 404 error page? It is where people are sent when they try to go to a page that doesn’t exist on your site. It could be the result of a typing error on their part or it may be you deleted or changed the name of the page.
Regardless of the reason for the 404 error, done correctly, your 404-error page is an opportunity to keep people on your site. If you leave the default error page in place, you’ll probably lose a certain percentage of people who land there. They just can’t be bothered to search for the correct page.
But by creating a custom 404 error page, you can grab their attention and make it easier to locate the page they are looking for. And that of course is your goal for any page of your site – making sure the reader wants to stick around for a bit.
When creating a 404 error page, you want to include some useful links: your home page plus a simplified version of your navigation can make it easier for the visitor to get to where they want to go easily and quickly.
Make sure your 404 error page has the same look and feel as the rest of your site so the visitor knows they’re close to the correct location.
Many people us humor on their 404 error page. Done correctly, a humorous error page diffuses any frustration at landing on the wrong page and makes the visitor want to stick around.
The funniest 404 error page I’ve come across is at Lookitsme.co.uk. It takes a few minutes to reach the end of the page, but it’s worth the wait. Seriously – I’ve kept the page open on my browser and keep hitting refresh whenever I need a giggle.
In addition to creating your own 404 error page, there’s a new service you really should look into. Errorlytics is a service that analyzes your error pages. More importantly, you can set up redirects for common 404 errors.
For example, maybe you have a post with incoming links from another site but you’ve changed the name of the page to make it more search engine friendly. The new name helps with Google but leaves your incoming links lost. No problem. Simply set up Errorlytics to automatically redirect anyone going to the old address to the new one.
If you only have one domain name and only five redirection rules, the service is free. Best of all, if you’re using Wordpress Errorlytics has a plugin so it’s easy to install.
Andrea J. Stenberg
Please check out my new 404 error page and let me know what you think. (just type in your browser www.thebabyboomerentrepreneur.com/ioeuw and see what you get). Better yet, if you have a great 404 page – or know someone who does – leave a comment with a link to their site.
