Hey! It’s Easter.

Happy Easter to you in whatever way is meaningful for you.

Given you most likely have a little time on your hands around now then it’s a good time to do a bit of reflection on your business.

Let’s take a look at your schedule. Schedule? “What schedule?” I hear you ask. Ahh then listen up!

If you really want to make solid progress in your online marketing efforts then a schedule is what you need to have. It’s one of those basic building block of business. Keeping everything you have to do in your head is a recipe for failure.

What’s the benefit of having one? It will stop you fluffing around. Being busy and not getting anything done or at least published or sold. You’ll be more productive, get more traffic to your online buy buttons and increase the chance of you profiting.

1. It’s super easy. Well kind of. It will take a tad of effort to get it up and going but after that you’re on a roll.  Basically we’re talking a super specific to-do list that you can action. List out what needs to happen to move forward – make them actionable items eg ‘read about affiliate marketing is passive but learn three tweaks I can make to my affiliate marketing efforts is way more actionable.  Rate them in order of priority  that could be most important or quickest to get completed. Grab your diary, mark out time periods in say one or two hour lots. For each slot, write down an action task that needs to be done to progress eg write and article for your blog, create buy buttons and upload products for sale, create a video to promote an affiliate product etc. Get used to using systems – that makes life much easier and you get better results. TIP:  Ideally you have a marketing calendar with key events on it that you aim to work towards eg seasons, events, launches.
2. Make it work for you. However you want to record this system is up to you – an excel spreadsheet, on paper next to your computer, set it up by task , by project , by date , by frequency (daily, monthly tasks). A word of warning – there are any number of options out there – apps, programs, online systems, techniques – just pick one, work it for three months. Too many people keep switching methods trying to find the perfect system for keeping their marketing schedule – don’t. Anything will work if you work it!
3. Use your schedule as your Drill Sergeant – keep it next to you and work to it.  Any time you find yourself being distracted or drawn off course eg getting sucked into the social media vortex, grab your Schedule and check back into what you need to be doing next.
4. Get you motivation from your Schedule. Working solo makes it hard to stay motivated. Your schedule helps. Supplement it with a time device and set times to get things done. (I use a kitchen egg timer!). As you get used to using your schedule you’ll get clearer on what tasks are more important and how long they will take. That way you’ll be motivated to get tough stuff done early or bundle actions together that are similar.
5. Include an ideas section in your schedule. That way as you are researching or working and an idea comes to mind you can trap it into your schedule document and come back to it later to decide if it’s worthy of being included in your business and scheduling. You can’t apply every tactic or method into your business but by noting it down as it comes past you maybe can extend your business that way or discount it as not core business.

What Does an Internet Marketing Schedule look like?

Here’s an example from http://kikolani.com/time-management-the-internet-marketing-copy-and-paste-schedule.html …

• 9:00am – 1 hour – Create New Content
• 10:00am – 30mins – Potential Client Prospecting via Skype
• 10:30AM – 30mins – Manage Social Media Platforms
• 11:00am – 1 hour – Manage Daily Tasks
• 12:00pm – 30mins – Lunch Break
• 12:30pm – 1 hour – Resume Daily Task
• 1:30pm – 1 hour – Manage Another of Your Tasks
• 2:30pm – 1 hour – Forum Marketing
• 3:30pm – 1 hour – Work on Something New
• 4:30pm -30mins – Finish Up a Task
• 5:00pm – STOP

Alternatively, your schedule might look like this …

Mondays – create 10 blog posts and schedule them

Tuesday – promote blog posts

Wednesday – record 5×1-minute videos and post

Thursday – research and outline ebook, do cover

Friday – first draft of ebook

Saturday – review draft and edit, do sales page

Sunday – publish, add buy buttons and promote

Work out a schedule format and set of tasks that suit you and your business- then stick to them! Then step back and look at how much more productive (and profitable) you’ve become.

Final Tip

Make sure your schedule is doable – avoid taking on too much. Better to set an achievable target and hit it then give yourself a bonus task to do.

Extra Reading:

http://www.billmcintosh.com/tips-to-properly-schedule-your-online-marketing-efforts/

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-internet-marketing-discussion-forum/86738-what-your-daily-traffic-generation-routine.html#/post814974

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-internet-marketing-discussion-forum/86806-do-you-have-internet-marketing-schedule.html

http://www.betternetworker.com/blogs/view/malpha/heres-my-internet-marketing-daily-schedule-eat-frog

http://mp3today.online/my-daily-internet-marketing-lifestyle-schedule-is.html