Frustrated Marketer
There is nothing as frustrating for a marketer as remembering viewing a site that had exactly the information you need right now – and forgetting where the site was. If you’re lucky you eventually find it again after thirty minutes of searching your browser history. An hour later you need a Private Label Rights (PLR) package you downloaded last week but have no idea where you filed it on your computer. Fifteen minutes later you find the PLR articles filed in the “stuff to use” folder.
Organize Information
To work effectively, organize the information you download, the sites you save, and the ebooks and reports you buy. Some lucky people seem to be organized by nature. Having a place for everything is in their genetic makeup. They know which drawer the scissors are in and which folder contains the article they wrote yesterday. For the rest of us who suffer from DS syndrome (disorganized slob) a serious effort is required to establish an organizational blueprint that works.
Setting up your computer and your business in a way that promotes efficiency requires a common sense approach. Don’t rush to the store and buy tons of supplies (though that’s often the first thing we disorganized folks think of). A much better approach to start with is to identify areas or subjects you will be working with and establish folders on your desktop and in your bookmarks for those subjects. If you are learning to work with blogs a simple folder system means opening one folder to find all of the information you have saved or purchased about how to blog, what plugins to use, how to ping your blog and in your bookmarks “blogs” folder you’ll have one set of sites with tutorials or examples that you’ve save as you’ve found them.
Folders
If you have multiple sites add a folder with a clear title such as “my sites” and create a sub-folder for each of your sites. The backup for that website, articles, new content to add, traffic stats saved and affiliate product links for that site would all be in that sub-folder. By keeping your method of filing and organizing simple you keep it easy to use.
From the headers, images and color codes used to the articles added to the site and the affiliate product codes used – everything goes in that one file labeled with the title of the website. In time what you have is one “sites” folder with all of the information about your websites and projects in subfolders. When you buy a product online such as an ebook or site templates you may choose to download the info product to a particular folder. For accurate records you also might save the sales page and any guarantee or contact information.
On-Going Organization
As your business becomes more complex you will be able to add to the basic setup you began with and do it in a logical way that suits your style. You may need a file for graphics to add any free graphic images or headers you purchase. How about a folder for PLR material and for products you have resale rights to?
Don’t forget the financial aspect of your business. Excel spreadsheets can be used to track spending and income and even to keep tracks multiple names and expiration dates. Download the information from paypal accounts monthly into your financial folder and you’ll have all the info you need at tax time.
Learning online marketing with you,
~ Julie
