How do you balance it all?

[Heather Hyde-Herndon]

Here lately I am feeling overwhelmed in trying to find a balance between working (the day job!), writing (my dream job!), social networking and bookmarking (including several groups such as this one, twittering, stumbleupon, etc.), blogging (my recent passion, although I don't seem to fall into any particular category, like mommy-bloggers, techie, etc) and the real world. Aaahhh!! Where does it all fit?

Lately I feel as if I need to devise a schedule for my time spent online:

Mondays: Stumbleupon and Twitter and blogging
Tuesdays: Social Networking and Twitter and blogging
Wednesdays: Read/Comment on other blogs and Twitter and blogging
Thursdays:

Well, you get the idea...

Is this reasonable? Am I over-thinking this? Because in spite of however organized I can get this (and I'm pretty good at organizational execution), I will still find myself overrun by email responsibilities, real life surprises, technical difficulties, etc. Right now I'm just winging it, and I kind of feel like I'm spinning my wheels.

I would really like to know how you manage your time online, in promotion of yourself and/or your business.

Are there any tricks you've learned that you could share, or any particular sites that have made all the difference in your own success?

[Bridget Ayers]

Since it is my job to be on all of these sites....ALL of the time, I maybe the wrong person to ask. But what I tell our clients to do is to time block, knowing that in the beginning you have to do it all yourself but then as you grow you can pay others to help you.

Technology is key for me, it helps me cut down the time it takes to accomplish tasks. Research is up there with technology I am always looking for the next tool, device, program, or application that is going to give me a high ROI.

Tech Stuff

Firefox browser (easier than Internet Explorer and has all the nifty social networking addons)
I can Reddit, Stumble, Digg, Tweet, Delicious, Mixx, Propeller, and share on facebook a post or website in about 2 minutes.

Windows Live Writer and Zemanta for blog posts, makes blog writing so much easier!

Twitter - check out the Twitter Talk group for time saving applications, Tweetdeck is one, Twitter addon for Firefox is another.

Digsby - is great for keeping up on all of the social chatter, it just runs in the background on your computer.

Time management

I can't hit every friend site every day I block out what sites I am going to on which days and how much time I will spend on each.

Don't focus on sites that do not benefit you, Mybloglog and Blogcatalog are great for search engine exposure. Blogcatalog is better for traffic, Mybloglog is just exposure. I spend very little time on these sites and more time on Digg, Reddit, Mixx, Propeller, Stumble, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. My ROI is higher with latter.

Research

For those that need to have a life just bookmark or reader the sites and networks that are constantly talking about the best social tools.

I hope this was helpful :D

[Heather Hyde-Herndon]

That is some fantastic information, Bridget.

I kind of suspected that the goal is to eventually be making enough so that you can delegate some of the more time consuming tasks. Is that what Virtual Assistants do? I'm starting to see more and more mention of them without really knowing their purpose.

And my "schedule" idea isn't too far off, from the sounds of it. Now that I've narrowed it all down to the few applications I think are going to help me the most in my own pursuits, it's all a matter of working each to their max potential.

Thanks for your input, Bridget!

[Bridget Ayers]

Heather - I am so glad that my answer was helpful. Virtual assistants are wonderful and there are quite a few websites and organizations that you can use to find them. Elance is one of the big ones, here is a great post in their blog 25 Projects You Can Outsource to a Virtual Assistant http://www.elance.com/p/node/2842. Elance.com is great because you bid out projects, which means you post the project you need, it is bid on, and then you can choose the best company or person based off their bid, profile, ratings from other clients, and their portfolio.

Dee Dee asked a few questions in the Reader Exchange Group that I want to answer here:

First question I have is how do you keep up with multiple blogs? I'd like to have a personal blog, Hannah's blog, and a Losing is Winning Blog for my weight loss coaching. I have a hard time keeping up with one! I am also very interested in a short simple synopsis of feedburner. Would I have to move my blog to another host? I hear alot about using wordpress as your primary blog if you are using feed burner. Help! :)

Managing multiple blogs is tuff, especially if you are going to have different content on each one. You will see in my first reply to this forum post I talked about Windows Live Writer and Zemanta - technology is what saves me. I also like google.com/reader and google alerts for content ideas.

Here is a video on Live Writer http://getsmartwomen.ning.com/video/2338156:Video:48. It works on multiple platforms.
Here is a post on Zemanta http://www.thegetsmartblog.com/2008/12/get-smart-blogging-with-zema... which is wonderful tool to put with Live Writer.

Here is a video on How to set up a blog, it is part two which covers getting content ideas and material http://getsmartwomen.ning.com/video/2338156:Video:40

Feedburner is not difficult to set up on Blogger here is a link that will explain how to do it.
http://www.google.com/support/feedburner/bin/answer.py?answer=78465...

Wordpress.com vs Blogger, if you are going to stay on the free platforms then I like Blogger better. If you are going to move to a hosted blog I like Wordpress.org. We build blogs and social profiles for business owners and individuals, I personally like building blogs on Wordpress.org because of everything that comes with Wordpress. I can create multiple blogs, websites, free standing pages and it is all on the same platform. Once you understand how to use Wordpress it is easy to use, so once I build it the client can do the day to day things without going to their webhost for every little change. Lastly you own your content, on Wordpress.com and Blogger you do not own your site it can be shut down for any reason at any time.

I know I said finally but I do recommend that you buy a custom URL and use that instead of the blogspot or wordpress URL. If you move your blog to a more expansive platform you do not want to lose all the SEO, SEM, and community you built into your site.

[Dee Dee]

Wow, I just thought I was overwhelmed before! I have custom URLs for my business, but need to set one up for Hannah's. Originally I was using my blog just as a personal outlet. Now I see that blogging is a great way to network.
I didn't realize the differences between wordpress and blogger. Thanks for the tips. The goal is *one day* to move into the realm of paid hosting, and professional web design. Over the past 5 years I have spent literally thousands of dollars trying to find the quick easy way to establish my business online. Partially because of the comany restrictions, and partially out of ignorance, I got nowhere fast... and it was an expensive trip. On the flip side, I know that getting exposure and building her business will be much harder without the bells and whistles. But, my preference is to teach her money management skills that go against the grain of the American Way. I'd prefer that she not go deeply into debt, but build little by little and reinvest as she goes... even if it takes longer. For me, as her unpaid (and uneducated) IT assistant, your advice and suggestions have hit right on the mark. Now to find the time to sort it all out, and set it all up.