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Every day this week I plan on updating you on my work routine. I’m the head SEO at my company – actually the only SEO – and so I have a lot of responsibilities. I am responsible for client communication, management, web strategy, and implementing the results. When you are dealing with 10-15 clients, things can become overwhelming. What’s the best way to stay on top of everything to keep your clients and your boss happy? This week I’ll go through my day-to-day routine which has helped me stay as efficient as possible (when not suffering from SEO A.D.D.).
Mondays
I spend every Monday preparing for the week. When you have so many responsibilities and so much on your plate, you need to have a plan in order for things to work out. Having a plan will help keep you on task and make you more efficient.
Email & RSS
The very first thing I do Monday mornings is go through my email and my RSS reader. Both of these can be overwhelming, so try to limit the amount of time you spend on each. You should also consider simplifying your RSS reader so you aren’t overwhelmed by the hundreds of blog posts you need to catch up on. As you go through your RSS reader today, take note of any new techniques that you might be able to use for your clients. Keep track of these because you’ll want to use them later this week.
Review Your Accounts By Yourself
Now that you’ve done some housekeeping and caught up on industry events, go through each of your accounts and takes notes as to where you are with your web strategy. Ask yourself:
- What did we accomplish last week?
- Are there any changes that are ready for implementation?
- What are we waiting for the client on?
- What are we waiting for [person’s name] on?
- When did you last communicate with the client?
- What are our goals for this month?
- What do we need to get done this week in order to meet those goals?
Take notes on all of these and get ready for the next step.
Review Your Accounts With Others
Assuming there is someone else working on the same account as you are (even if it is for a different service), get together with them and review where everyone is with their project. Don’t think it is a waste of time to plan by yourself and with others, it is important to communicate with your team. This will make your web strategy more effective, and it will improve communication with the client. Figure out any outstanding to-dos, and decide who is going to take care of any outstanding issues.
At my company, we write down any to-dos we have for a client on a white board and erase them as they are completed. It gives us a sense of accomplishment when we erase things from the board, and it keeps everyone informed throughout the week. We also assign each person a specific color so we know who is responsible for each objective.
Nag Notices
Look through your notes and see who you need to send a friendly reminder to that you are waiting on them. Nags can be awkward, and you need to be careful with them. There are a couple of useful tactics you can use when sending these nags out:
- When you send someone an email asking them to do something, they generally respond saying something like “I’ll take a look and get back to you” or “I’ll have it done by Friday.” Now is the time to take advantage of those without sounding rude. Simply reply to them saying “Thanks” as if you just saw their email. They’ll instantly be reminded that you are waiting on them, and you won’t come off as a nag.
- Ask them a simple question and end the email with “Don’t forget to look over that new article I sent you.”
Don’t nag too often unless it is really important, and if you are having trouble getting in touch with someone, try a different means of communication (phone, IM, singing telegram, etc.)
Niche Time
The rest of the day should be spent doing these three things:
Developing your skills. Start figuring out how you are going to be able to implement the new strategies you learned today, and brainstorm your own theories. Brainstorming is critical in this industry, so you should be planning your next social media success story.
Making a dent in that big pile of work you have to do. You now have a large amount of work on your plate, so get moving on it so you can have it all completed by the end of the week.
Miscellaneous business tasks (scheduling meetings, answering emails, etc.) Unfortunately, these tedious tasks are very important and very time consuming, but they need to get done.
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