Last week I wrote a post about the recent butt kickings I have received. My motivation to succeed is higher than ever right now due to these two recent events and for the past two weeks I have been working on a plan.
Of course this plan is totally subject to change and as usually happens there will be something that comes up that will drag me away from this plan. I know myself though and if I don’t have a plan it is way too easy to just sit here day after day and piddle away on some of my projects and never make any real progress.
I am guessing there are some other people in the same boat as me and while my plan might not work for you hopefully you will be able to take something from it.
1. Organization – When it comes to organization I am HORRIBLE! I have so many projects in various states of completion and disarray. I need to get all that stuff organized and come up with some sort of plan/schedule for either completing those projects, scrapping them, selling them, or something. I have well over 100 sites and I would guess much less than half of them are really worth anything at this point. So I need to:
List out my domains
- Designate each with either fix (rebuild, update, clean up, etc), sell, scrap, build, or hold.
- Start working down the list of the fix and build sites. Hopefully crank out at least two a week.
- If a domain is worth selling list it on some of the domain selling sites
- Scrap – Don’t waste money renewing the dang thing!
Develop a plan
- Create some sort of checklist for my sites. I am always forgetting some simple aspect of building the site as I go along. I need to be more organized in this to make sure I don’t forget to add Google Analytics or change the permalinks or something simple like that.
- List out potential merchants for the domains and apply for the programs. Too often I wait until I am building the site to get my merchants lined up and by the time I get approved I have moved on.
- Datafeed? Daily posts? Regular blog type site? What do I want to do with each of these sites?
- Anyone I can partner up with on these sites?
Get Cranking
Like I said in my previous post, I have been lazy and complacent. Part of the solution for me will just be to work harder and more efficient. I will probably have at least 50 sites I need to build and that will take time. Some of them might only take a couple hours but some might take a few days. I would like to think I can have most of them up and running by the middle of February sometime. But I do need to work harder on the stuff like this that can become mind-numbing after a few sites.
2. Stick to a Schedule – Working from home it becomes way to easy to get a late start to the day and an early finish. But I need to treat this more and more like a “real” job and try to keep somewhat of a consistent schedule going. It is way too easy to run upstairs to talk with my wife and see my baby, way to easy to schedule midday meetings that take a couple hours out of the day, and way too easy to use the work day to run errands. While I will never give up the flexibility to do those things I do need to get them more under control.
Along with that I want to have some sort of weekly schedule. I am still working through that but something like this:
Monday – Work on sports sites
Tuesday – Work on baby (or whatever second niche I pick) sites
Wednesday – Build/Update old sites (At least one site a week, preferably two or three)
Thursday AM – Testing/Trying – new plugins, new link building, new WP themes, maybe try to learn some programming, etc.
Thursday PM – Writing – Got a couple ideas for some ebooks that would fit well with a few of my sites
Friday – Tie up loose ends, strategize, research, etc.
That isn’t the final schedule I will be working off of but something like that. Once I do get it figured out I want to post it every Monday on this sites with some details and then follow up on Friday to see how I have done. I am sure some weeks will be encouraging and some will end up being disappointing. But even this little bit of accountability will be good for me.
3. Do What I Should Have Been Doing All Along – There are many, many things I should have been doing for the past 14 years since I started doing this stuff. We all have those “If only I had started doing X when I began in this business…” moments. And I have those daily. Here are a few things I want to start or start doing more:
Build lists – Not every site will be a candidate for this but I do have a few of them where a list will be invaluable. So I need to dust of my Aweber account and actually use it. I already have a few great ideas of how to effectively use it for some of the sites so I just need to make that part of my weekly routine.
Write – Once again, this won’t apply to all my sites but there are a few of them where a couple good ebooks would be great. I can either give them away for a newsletter signup or even sell them depending on how they turn out. But if I could get a topical, focused ebook of some sort written every month? Awesome.
I also need to just do more general writing for the sites. It can be so hard to crank out content day after day but if I were to even write three or four decent blog posts a week over my sites and write 10-15 custom descriptions for products I think it would end up making a big difference in the long run.
Another area I need to improve in is link building. Whether that involves paying someone to do it or just taking the time to do it myself I need to do a better job getting quality links to my sites.
Better utilize social media. There is just so much that goes into this it is hard to write up quickly here. But it is an area I need to put more effort into and build a better social following for my sites.
If I can get those four things under control in the next couple months I will be happy.
4. Focus – It is so dang easy to lose focus. Every day there are new merchants to look at, every day there are new ideas that pop into my head, every day there are new promotional methods to test. But they are not all necessary. I need to forget about many of those for a couple months while I get all my other stuff in order.
Yeah, visiting Facebook and Twitter take time but I feel like those are somewhat of a necessity for this business. It is good to stay connected to the affiliate marketing community and those are the best way to do it. But do I really need to check Facebook every 15 minutes? Did the world change that much while I went to the bathroom or got a snack?
Having a plan and schedule will also help me focus. Having a list of tasks to get done before the day is over will help me focus. Even cleaning my office up a bit will help me focus. There will be day I just need to put the blinders on and get cranking on some sites.
I think those four main areas will help me turn everything around. If not I will need to find four more things to work on. I am hoping within 3-6 months I can replace the income I lost and hopefully even exceed it. We will see.
But I could use your help!!!
1. Ask me how I am doing – Facebook, Skype, Twitter, etc. Get ahold of me and ask me what sites I am working on, what projects I am finishing up, what I have planned, etc. Help keep me accountable! Please!
2. Follow along with me – Like I mentioned earlier, I want to post every Monday what I will be working on that particular week and then post a recap on Friday of what I got accomplished.
3. Work with me??? – Maybe you will see some of my sites that are similar to yours and you want to trade links, swap guest posts, share methods, or whatever. Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you see something that can benefit us both. I really do want to help you as much as I can so let me know what I can do for you.
4. What works for you? – Are there any organizational tools or methods that have helped you? How do you keep track of all your projects? How do you stay focused and motivate yourself? Please let me know what works for you.
Thanks to all in advance. I will do my best to keep this site updated at least a couple times a week with my progress.
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