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Designing Your Online Workflow

anticloud by anticloud
Last updated: 08/09/2011

Now is the Time

Do you find yourself overwhelmed by all of the tasks required to keep your online presence going? Whether you are a writer, blogger, artist, graphic designer, stock photographer or illustrator or a combination of all of the above - an effective work-flow is absolutely necessary to make sure that no part of your operation suffers. It takes a lot of effort to get your name out there and to get your product to the virtual public.

Between social networking, blogging, keeping up with your website, building links, writing articles, designing layouts, and/or whatever else goes into your online work - who has the time? You do! Here I will cover the steps you need to take to design the best schedule and the perfect set-up to go along with it.

It is possible to have your cake and eat it too. I promise. Read on.

Define Your Goals

That's right. This simple task may seem a bit trivial, but it is absolutely necessary. Sit down, open a blank document, and make a list. Want to have 1,000 friends on Facebook? Write that down. Want to make more of a passive income? Write that down too.

Every possible goal you have for your online identity, making money online, and just being successful - include it all. Everything you have ever thought of, whether it is something you wanted to learn or something you want to accomplish - it is all important. Now hold onto that list, because you will need it for the next step.

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How to Meet Your Goals

Yes, yes. You will need to figure out how to accomplish those goals. This is not as difficult as it sounds. Figure out something that you feel that you could easily do each day or every week to bring you closer to your goal. If you want 1,000 Facebook friends, you could easily "friend" 20 friends a day - couldn't you?

If you want to make a certain amount of money, figure out how you could do that. If you write articles for a flat rate, figure out how many you would need to write to meet your goal. If you are a stock photographer, figure out how many photos you will need to have in your portfolio to make a better income. Set up mini tasks that you can do each day to reach those goals. Make a list under your goals list and then move on to the next step.

Unconventional Guides

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Daily Tasks

Okay. Now you have a list of goals and a list of tasks to accomplish those goals. Look at your tasks and decide which ones are the most important. Type a asterisk next to them or define them in whatever way appeals to you.

Now sit down and figure out how long it will take you to do each task. If it is something simple like befriending people on Facebook, time each task to get a basic idea of how long it will take you to complete it. It may not be something that you can accurately time. In that case, just decide to spend a certain amount time on the task each session.

Grow Your Business Without Killing Yourself

To-do Apps

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Set a Schedule

The first thing you will need to do before you can set a schedule is decide how much time you have. If you have a job outside of your online pursuits, obviously you may only have an hour or two in the evening. But an hour or two an evening can equate to 7-14 hours a week. That is a lot of time to accomplish your goals!

Take the most important tasks and schedule those above anything else. The other tasks can fit in when you have the time. Plan a time and/or create a to-do list on the days that you plan to work on things. Microsoft's Outlook calendar is a perfect tool for this, but obviously there are many other tools available online.

The most important thing is to stick to your tasks. No matter how boring or mundane they are - make time to do them. Every little piece is necessary to make the whole.

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This UpMarket page written by

anticloud

I am a graphic designer and freelance writer living in the humid south with my adorable son, quirky husband and crazy dog.

I have a horrible fetish... more »

Deluxe. Remarkable. Creative. Unusual. Successful. Upmarket businesses push the envelope -- does yours?

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