I'll be honest with you - the exact tools you'll need really depend on what works for you.
This is a list of what is absolutely required to make scheduling a maintenance habit work for you.
WARNING: This is NOT a list of hard and fast software you need to use. This is also a list of psychological tools.
Tool: Automatic reminders.
This is important - you need something that will automagically remind you when you need to get something done.
How to make it work for you:
Spend a couple of hours up front getting everything set up.
Decide how often you're going to visit every aspect of your website, and plan it out on a weekly to monthly to yearly basis.
Example:
- Week 1: Monday - Review static pages for keyword accuracy.
- Week 2: Monday - Review static pages for consistent use of language and tone.
- Week 3: Monday - Review static pages for expected workflow and useful information.
Software you might try:
Any calendar software that offers repeating reminders will do!
I like to use Google Calendars and sync it to my iPhone.
Tool: Simplicity & Specificity.
This is another important one.
Assigning yourself a slot for "Website Maintenance" simply isn't going to do.
When you're setting up your automatic reminders, you want to keep things SIMPLE and SPECIFIC.
How to make it work for you:
Boil down the elements in your Website Success Blueprint down to the simplest elements. You can get an idea from what I wrote in the examples for Automatic Reminders.
Give yourself a short list of simple and specific tasks to get done on the scheduled maintenance days.
Example:
Instead of writing "Website Maintenance Day", write "Review analytics for the page with the highest bounce rate and spend 20 minutes optimizing that page".
Glossary: "Bounce rate" is the number of people who land on that page and leave immediately without looking at anything else on your website.
Software you might try:
This one doesn't take software. This one is more of a mental tool.
Read this post at Zen Habits about eliminating all but the most essential steps to get in the zone for simplifying your Success Blueprint.
That's it!
What, were you expecting more?
Scheduling is simple. Breaking things down isn't hard.
Once you've got an automated schedule in place designed to offer simple steps to keeping your website in tip-top shape, you're ready for success.
All you have to do is stop anticipating it.
Next time: Technical upkeep.
Thursday we're going to talk about how to get started with basic technical upkeep which is out of character for the types of posts I try to stick to.
I'll be compiling a list of really useful sites and tools that I use all the time to make sure things are staying in best shape on my own websites!