Now that the beginning of the New Year has befallen us, many of us take a step back and reflect on the activities of the past when forming our plans for the future. One area I identified to alter and help increase my overall effectiveness while building my web presence is time management; an important consideration for any home business owner.

Over the past several months, my daily activity schedule provided flexibility in the time I could devote to learning Internet marketing applications for home businesses. Realizing previous commitments meant less flexibility during the first few months of 2009, a little self-evaluation ensued. Since I do not want to lose any of the momentum gained thorough my efforts of the last half year, I decided a more focused effort on time management will be key to maintaining that momentum during the first part of 2009.

After evaluating how time was spent during the recent past, I devised an updated time management strategy. A few of the time management techniques included in the revised plan are:

• Blocking out time periods each day to be devoted to your business and sub-dividing the blocks into defined task areas (content preparation; follow-up calls; emails; social media marketing; book-keeping, etc.). Being diligent in conducting the appropriate task during the designated period then move on to the next task when the period ends;
• Using a timer system more consistently. Some people actually use a kitchen timer to keep them on track. I typically use the "Event Task" in Mozilla's Thunderbird (mail client and pseudo contact manager) as my timer. Normally I set for halfway through my allotted time-frame then I use the "Snooze" function to nudge me along at five minute increments until time to move on to the next task;
• Social media sites (Facebook, MySpace, etc.) can be great places to find friends (also potential leads) and build relationships but they can also consume large blocks of time if we are not careful. Setting one of the block sub-divisions to visit the social media sites, effectively use the time for posts, friend additions, etc. and then move onto the next task as designated by your time sub-divisions;
• Focusing social marketing efforts to a limited number of sites so I don't spread my efforts too thin. Getting involved with too many social sites will likely result in marketing efforts being marginally effective;
• Setting specific time blocks (sub-divisions) for content preparation and posting. Remember, getting content out on the "Web" is a key factor to set and maintain an Internet marketing presence. Be persistent with this effort but limit it to an hour per day and use the timer method to remain focused;
• Using a calendar (either desk planner or calendar program like Mozilla Thunderbird - I use both) to physically mark-out the main time block and sub-divisions with task areas designated in each sub-division time period. I also use a journal (not my blog) for recording my progress in a fair amount of detail and make notes on future content and marketing ideas;
• Using programs that link status updates to multiple social media sites with one click of the "Enter" button! I use Ping FM to post my status updates simultaneously to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. anytime I want to send any quick message. The messages include a few general comments intermixed with announcements of newly posted or published articles;
• Recycling content development efforts. I am always devising ways to turn shorter blog posts into longer, more detailed Ezine articles, Squidoo Lenses and Hub Pages or combining short posts with similar themes into a new expanded piece to publish elsewhere. This again fits with the "Content is Key" concept and greatly assists with expanding my web presence;
• Determining where efforts are working and where they are less than desired. In other words, track your results! Many of the sites where I post content (WordPress, Hub Pages, Squidoo, etc.) include built-in tracking features that generate basic stats such as the number of visitors, sources, links accessed, and so forth. I check these results daily and evaluate where myr efforts are yielding results and those places that are less productive. Each time I post a new blog entry, publish an Ezine or Hub, or when my video becomes "live", I use Ping FM to update my status on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn with a link to the newly-posted content piece. The next day I check the stats and determine where traffic originated as well as any links and other articles they may have accessed. If certain sites are not producing traffic, I then either make changes to try and increase the response or re-focus my efforts on those sites that are producing results.

These are a few of the time management methods I use to help increase both my marketing efficiency and effectiveness as I continue to increase my web presence.