Time management tips for webmasters

[$5 submissions]

Just like any other webmaster, I used to always run out of time every day. There just didn't seem to be enough hours in a day to accomplish what you need to achieve.

Here's some time management tips geared towards webmasters that I and some friends have gleaned through trial and error.

If you have any tips and/or additions, please feel more than free to add on.

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Webmasters' Guide to Time and Goal Management

Here are some simple rules you can put into practice that will save precious time and assist you in achieving your goals more efficiently and effectively:

Create a Hierarchy of Goals daily.
The top portion of your goals hierarchy are daily goals that take you one step closer to your BIG GOAL. Whether its starting another paysite, creating a new design methodology, or a new business model, big goals are the goals that take your business to another level. Arrange you goals in such a way that the goals which take you closer to your big goal are higher in priority than "regular" goals.

Make a habit of breaking down your Daily Goals.
More often than not, goals are actually separate steps under one collective heading. In order for you not to get lost in your daily operations and "fail to see the forest from the trees" unpack each goal into easy to achieve steps.

Be realistic but be challenged.
Nothing kills enthusiasm more than setting your sights too high. However, you can also easily stagnate if you set your sights too low. You don't want to reduce your waking hours tilting against windmills (goal too high) nor would you want to waste it digging a trench (goal too low). Set your daily goals to a level that actually pushes you one step closer to your big Goal by setting up personal milestones for yourself. Examples: setting up a new task that requires you to investigate new sources of traffic or new design methodologies/business models that you've heard of but haven't fully analyzed.


Exploit your natural curiosity by aligning them with your goals.
Anyone who has tinkered with a new script or discovered a largely untapped traffic source would have a sense of excitement and discovery about what they have achieved. Use this emotional high to egg you forward and deeper in your daily goals. No one has seen all that there is to see. There are tons of things out there that have yet to be discovered and fully understood. Picture yourself as an explorer/researcher in pushing past daily obstacles and conventional wisdom to arrive at something fresh.


Discipline.
Discipline has a nasty connotation. It is often confused with punishment or something unpleasant that one has to muddle through. In actuality, discipline means the ability to stick to a plan. Be like an unshakeable rock and turn your daily goal completion into a HABIT. Make it a habit to succeed daily in taking steps closer to your big goal. Having the proper discipline allows us to get past the boredom and unpleasantness by making it our personal habit to complete our daily goals.

Never Give Up.
Just like in any game in life, the surest way to lose is to surrender.
Obstacles are there for a reason. Nobody became a hero because they took the easy path. Obstacles, burdens, and chance disappointments are part of life. Obstacles will always conspire to confuse, bore, or stupefy you. However, if you focus on your sense of adventure and discovery and you have strong personal discipline, you can go around the obstacles, underneath them, or on top of them. Be adaptable. The best moments in life are achieved not through ease and leisure but through perseverance, anticipation, and sustained effort.




(c) 2004 WebmasterLabor.Com http://www.webmasterlabor.com

This article is FREE! Feel Free to copy and distribute. Just make sure to copy in original and unedited form.

bookmarked just like the other one

you rock 5 dolla

PPL DO YOURSELVES A FAVOUR ---> WWW.WEBMASTERLABOR.COM

[SMG]

nice ... I SUCK at time management

[Lace]

Never Give Up.
Just like in any game in life, the surest way to lose is to surrender.
Obstacles are there for a reason. Nobody became a hero because they took the easy path. Obstacles, burdens, and chance disappointments are part of life. Obstacles will always conspire to confuse, bore, or stupefy you. However, if you focus on your sense of adventure and discovery and you have strong personal discipline, you can go around the obstacles, underneath them, or on top of them. Be adaptable. The best moments in life are achieved not through ease and leisure but through perseverance, anticipation, and sustained effort.




Nice...

[StickyGreen]

that was more of just a motivation boost than a time management lesson lol

[exspamr]

i just try to make a list of things i want to do the next day each night before i go to bed... i like to put them on an index card and carrying it around with me so that i can keep lookin at it when im feeling lazy... i used to like to use my digital voice recorder but it wasnt as effective, it was good for collecting ideas... until i lost it

[$5 submissions]

I think I'm gonna buy a digital voice recorder. Ideas hit me all the time. I just don't get to write them all down.

Originally posted by exspamr
i just try to make a list of things i want to do the next day each night before i go to bed... i like to put them on an index card and carrying it around with me so that i can keep lookin at it when im feeling lazy... i used to like to use my digital voice recorder but it wasnt as effective, it was good for collecting ideas... until i lost it

[sexsup]

Originally posted by $5 submissions
I think I'm gonna buy a digital voice recorder. Ideas hit me all the time. I just don't get to write them all down.

I think you should publish a book

[$5 submissions]

Originally posted by sexsup
I think you should publish a book

Hmmmm not a bad idea

[goBigtime]

127.0.0.1 gofuckyourself.com
127.0.0.1 drudgereport.com
127.0.0.1 icq.com
127.0.0.1 aol.com


+ Set home page to bank login screen.



Productivity goes through the roof

(but as you can see, I don't take my own medicine)

[VeriSexy]

You ever going to start $5 gallery designs?

[Praguer]

Good stuff

[SomeCreep]

good post

[chemicaleyes]

Another great article from $5

[swedguy]

Another awsome post. Just keep it coming

You should have all your articles at webmasterlabor.com.... I don't wanna miss any of them


One thing that works well for me is kinda what exspamr does.

Every Sunday I go through my stats and see what has worked well. Then I make a schedule of what I should do the coming Monday - Saturday. I sort the content, decide what should go where and which domain, which keywords to go for on each site and so on and have all the info in one place. The site detail file looks like this:

URL:
Sponsor:
Content:
Content Specs:
Keywords:
Title:
Description:
Notes:

It's a lot easier to do all those boring details on one day instead of a little bit every single day of the week.

[savas]

good tips

[johnbosh]

dicipline is the word, and it helps if you see result

[Amputate Your Head]

good post

[eroswebmaster]

$5Submissions sells himself short...he should change his nick to "MillionDollarsPosts."

He always has good insightful posts

[Bigfuck]

Fucking good it is hard to stay focused and work work when there is so much pussy around

[Icy]

Great post, discipline is the key to be able to workd really hard and focused day by day, else you will get burned in the long term with tons of projects started and nothing finished.

[swedguy]

Deserves a bump for the PST sleepy heads

[$5 submissions]

Swedguy,

That's a great process you have there. By cross referencing your marketing/layout/content strategy against success statistics you are able to base your decisions on what works. This goes a long way towards evolving to an effective marketing/design campaign.

By making a habit of fine tuning your materials, you've established a system that takes many of guesswork out of webmaster work.

Originally posted by swedguy



One thing that works well for me is kinda what exspamr does.

Every Sunday I go through my stats and see what has worked well. Then I make a schedule of what I should do the coming Monday - Saturday. I sort the content, decide what should go where and which domain, which keywords to go for on each site and so on and have all the info in one place. The site detail file looks like this:

URL:
Sponsor:
Content:
Content Specs:
Keywords:
Title:
Description:
Notes:

It's a lot easier to do all those boring details on one day instead of a little bit every single day of the week.

[Garou]

but what's the best way to manage all the content? I need to make thumbs, check what set goes to this or that domain, etc...any ideas about that?

[Odin88]

Very nice post indeed!

Another nice one is to work on the project you are most enthusiastic about at the current time, rather than the one you feel you should work. I find that I get stuck trying to finish off something which I am quite sick of working on, and my time is very unproductive. If, however, I jump to another project for a day or two I am able to remain productive, whilst not loosing focus of the other tasks at hand. When I am revitalized, I return to my other project and finish it off also. Apparently Leonardo daVinci worked in this way also.

[SetTheWorldonFire]

Can we link to these at all?
I mean do you have the articles somewhere other than GFY?

[scoreman]

Invest in software solutions to increase productivity. A good example is Statsremote.

Try keeping status reports that show where the time has been spent. Just like in personal finance, where keeping track of your expenditures can help to tighten up on discretionary spending, time logs can also show you where your time is being consumed unnecessarily.

[$5 submissions]

Originally posted by SetTheWorldonFire
Can we link to these at all?
I mean do you have the articles somewhere other than GFY?

http://www.urlsx.com has an archive of my articles. I'll also put a section for articles/tutorials on http://www.webmasterlabor.com

[uvort]

very nice

[dirtysouth]

Awesome read Gene.

[Mr. Marks]

What I have to add is don't take yourself too seriously. The world won't end if things don't work out right. Just try harder...and most importantly, SMARTER, next time.

[BradM]

I have a horrid time managing my time. That's why I just end up working 18 hours a day.

[SoundMan]

I am the worst at time managment!

when i have time and feel good i get a lot done otherwise forget it.

[Mr. Marks]

Another approach is just give yourself a TON of time. So even if you are at 20% efficiency, you will still get a lot done.