Facebook Page QR Code

They are appearing everywhere, on buildings, in magazines, on buses and trains. QR Codes are a growing phenomena. They can bridge the gap between off-line and online, enhancing user experience.

There are not the best looking marketing devices, but the alternatives NFC – Near Field Communication, are technical to implement and limited to a few mobile handsets. Digimarc, another alternate, uses information hidden in an image and was originally invented as a digital watermark. The issue with Digimarc, how to easily tell people they should scan the image.

QR Codes on the other hand are supported by many free applications available on most smartphones. People are starting to recognise them and know what to do when they see them, QR Codes are also easy to create, best of all they are free.

We have been starting to use QR Codes more readily now, they allow for an improved customer experience. One of the most popular uses has been on the back of products linking to video tasting notes. You could also us QR Codes as an easy, off-line way, to take users to your Facebook page or to Twitter, just make sure there is enough reward for the effort.

Here is a video tutorial showing how you can create your own QR Codes for free and even get statistics so you can track their usage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg__XOrWaZ4

Conway Stewart Fountain Pen

I am a big advocate of “doing the work”, tools and applications are secondary. Having the latest gadget or using the hottest application in Social Media are not as important as engaging in the conversation or sharing valuable content.

Unless that is, they improve performance, effectiveness or efficiency.

My priority is always effectiveness over efficiency. Some may see this as pure semantics, but it really matters. It can be efficient to have a tool that automatically sends Tweets all day long, but this is not necessarily effective, if it is not implemented in the right way for the right purpose.

After this comes focus, a tool that allows me to better focus on the work at hand will improve my performance in that task many times over. If I am not distracted by issues with the tool my output increases.

So what follows are the Tools and Applications that have served me well in 2011.

Mac OSX

What I was going to put here was the device I use, my MacBook, but that wouldn’t have been wholly true. It’s the operating system that has made a difference not the hardware. Yes the hardware is really good looking, but good looks don’t get you everything in life! I’ve been a hardcore Windows user for years, seeing Macs as a toy for designers, if you wanted to do any “real” work you needed a PC. Aside from that, a comparative Windows based computer costs a lot less.

When I was convinced to give Mac’s a go I couldn’t believe what I had been missing, and not in terms of functionality. I must have made that price difference up in saved computer start up time alone. This is without the time saved through better work-flow, easier program installation, task switching and numerous other efficiencies that come with Mac OSX. Yes it takes some getting used to, but I kick myself for holding out so long and those wasted hours on locked up programs, slow to load software, virus avoidance tactics just to name a few.

The bonus is that if you really need Windows for testing or compatability issues, then you can run it on the Mac using a simple program called VMWare Fusion. This allows you to run multiple operating systems at the same time on the same machine, you can even share files between them. Whenever I have to do some testing in Windows, I fire up the virtual operating system and I get a reminder of why I made the switch.

iPad

“Apple Fan Boy Alert!” I hear you cry, but no please bear with me. This device has allows me to work from virtually anywhere, it’s ultra-portable and instant on. In my work there is hardly a function I cannot perform using the iPad. It is the perfect note taking, presentation and reading tool.

Even if there are programs I cannot run on the iPad itself, if it is really urgent I can alwasy access my desktop with Citrix’s GoToMyPC.

In meetings tasks are set, notes centralised and follow-ups added to my calendar before the meeting is over. I have the world at my finger tips, should I require some data and I can share information without needing to print reams of A4. I can carry all my reference books with me and make use of downtime whilst waiting for appointments or commuting. With every update the operating system improves, adding even more functionality based around ease of use and improved work-flow.

Yes, there are alternates in the market place, as yet none have got close to the iPads usability.

Hootsuite

I use Twitter a lot! For personal use and business. In all I have overall responsibility for around 14 Twitter accounts and 10 Facebook pages, along with assisting all the individuals that need to manage these individual accounts. Frankly this would not be possible without a tool like Hootsuite. For me it is the ultimate Social Media client application as it gives a company complete control. None of the employees need to have direct access to the platforms, access can be granted or rescinded centrally directly through Hootsuite.

Employees have their own Hootsuite accounts and can be invited to join and manage the social platforms pertaining to their area of responsibility. Usage can be tracked, tasks assigned and messages scheduled alongside all of the in-depth reporting and research that Hootsuite is able to provide.

As a bonus Hootsuite provide free mobile applications that work across multiple devices, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and Android, allowing total flexibility.

Google Reader

Google Reader is my central repository for everything pertaining to subjects that I need to monitor or have an interest in. I have written in the past about how I use Googel Reader so I won’t go into depth here. Suffice to say that I save hours scouring the web for information by having it all delivered to me as it is published. From Google Reader I can reshare or use that information, using a number of other tools listed below. Google Reader is one of the ways I manage to stay in touch with the fast moving online industry and hopefully stay one foot ahead of the competition.

Reeder for iPad

Where Google Reader is my repository the Reeder App is my reading application. Reeder presents all of the content in Google Reader to me is an easy to digest format, I can skim through hundreds of articles in a matter of minutes on my iPad. I will read and share pertinent ones, saving longer articles for later. Reeder integrates with many other useful applications like Instapaper, but I use the email functionality most, sending articles to BufferApp, Twitter or Evernote.

BufferApp

This would win my nomination for Social Media Tool of 2011. See my previous articles for an indepth view of how I use BufferApp, but the ease of use it offers and the ability to schedule Tweets means I can send updates at optimum times. I am no longer forced to think about timings or concerned about flooding other peoples time-lines. I do ensure I read everything I send to the BufferApp and that it will appeal to the people that follow me, in some way, so that it doesn’t become an automated stream of articles. In addition to interacting throughout the day, this puts my content curation into a time slot during my work day giving it focus and making it more effective.

Evernote

Evernote is my note taking tool of choice, I am writing the draft version of this post in Evernote right now. It centralises my notes, bookmarks and article clippings. It’s accessible from anywhere and works across multiple devices, including the iPad and iPhone. Currently I have 1500 notes in Evernote, including audio and images, all of which are only a search away. Yes I do use a notebook and pen from time to time but these notes will then be photographed and uploaded to Evernote to be accessed from anywhere.

Instapaper

I use Instapaper as a “to read later” tool, rather than permannent storage. Again it is multi-platform, including mobile, and it allows me to carry around articles of interest that I didn’t have time to read when I first found them. It stores tha articles in The Cloud but they synchronise with your devise for offline reading, perfect for a time filler in between meetings or when waiting in a queue.

Dropbox

If it doesn’t fit anywhere else I can always rely on Dropbox, it’s like my second hard drive. Presentations, videos, PDF’s, spreadsheets, whatever it is you might need when you are not at your desk, storing it in Dropbox allows instant access when you’re out of the office. One cool feature is that you can “favourite” documents before you leave the office, this means you don’t need an Internet connection to access the files. I do this as force of habit now, ensuring that all the possible documents I might need in a meeting are available on my iPad.

Kindle

I love books, read my book picks of 2011 to see a selection of what I have been reading this year. Amazon’s Kindle App has meant I never need to choose what books to take with me on a trip, now that I have every reference book I may need to hand anytime. Over the course of the year more and more books are being made available in Kindle format at the same time they are released in paper form and many back catalogue ones are catching up.

The Stand by Stephen King as an example has now finally made it to Kindle, even Ray Bradbury who is openly anti-technology is allowing his Fahrenheit 451 to be available electronically shortly.

The only downside to the free Kindle App, is the amount of money it has cost me. Buying a book is no longer a decision, but an impulse; please can I ask for a “do you really need this right now?” prompt after I’ve hit the 1-click to buy button?

There are many more applications and tools I use from my 1935 Conway Stewart fountain pen to tChess pro for iPad, but the ones above have saved me time and made some of the more monotonous tasks a pleasure.

Feel free to add your picks below.

Market Domination Starts Here

When Amazon first started selling online it was in the price game, but it had a strategy.

You’re probably well aware, but if price is your only USP then your business is going to be short lived.

As competition pushes prices down, margins are squeezed, until profit is squashed, and you go out of business.

In For The Long Haul

Where price can work is short-term, where there is minimal competion. You avoid price wars long enough to build a customer base. At the same time you invest heavily in the customer experience to ensure that as many of those hard won customers remain loyal. You diversify your product range, expanding rapidly to encompass as much of the your sector as you can online, before your offline competition has time to react.

Amazon employed this strategy, flawlessly in the early on. I always remember the day that Amazon posted it’s first profit in January 2002. The naysayers chant to Amazons rise was always that “they weren’t profitable”. But this is just the short-term business mind; Amazon were, and still are, in for the long haul. Short-term profit was never the goal, market domination is!

What Do You Do When The Tables Are Turned?

Whilst you have been busy expanding your retail base, protecting all corners of “traditional” online commerce and satisfying the hell out of customers. Until it even gets to the point where they pay for free delivey and the pleasure of being even more loyal, Amazon Prime. Along come the “tech boys” selling their digital assets, non-physical stock, that doesn’t require a distribution network and warehousing the size of a small town.

If You’re Amazon You Look For A Way To Own It

This time they are playing catch-up.

Instead of trying to compete head on, they go for precision targeting. Amazon are not interested in buidling an iPad killer. No, they are plenty happy enough for the iPad to dominate it’s market as long as people are reading products bought from their store on it. iBooks didn’t stand a chance. Apple had all the opportunity they were going to get, but Amazon made the Kindle application so accesible that Apple couldn’t hide from it. Now there is even a web based version, to get over any restrictions impose on the installed iPad application.

Market Domination!

So now you have millions of people with libraries of Kindle e-books they have purchased. A commitment any book lover knows, you never want to part with your library, even if you never open that favourite book again. You up the game producing ever chepaer e-readers, now consumers can afford to own an iPad and a Kindle, afterall the Kindle device is the better reading experience.

For those that want a bit more you produce a colour version cheap enough to appeal to the many, but it will also play video and audio. These are two growing digital delivery products that Amazon hasn’t been as fast to conquer. Kindle Fire changes that; they provie you a cheap enough tablet that its an easy buy. In return you silenty agree to buy from Amazon for the foreseable future.

Hang on, isn’t that the same agreement you signed up for with Amazon Prime for physical products?

Amazon Have Made The Perfect Play

This isn’t to do with devices, this is about market ownership.

Amazon is a Bengal Tiger marking it’s territory; defining it’s space to ensure that Apple doesn’t encroach too far. But not so much that it puts at risk valuable revenue; no, it wants to let Apple have the hardware space.

Amazon’s interest lies in being the number one supplier of digital assets as well as physical ones online.

How hard can it be?

Short-termism in Business really frustrates me. I have been quite used to the fact that many wrongly see that what I do for a living as cheap and simple. Well, so is riding a bike, but did you take part in the Tour de France this year?

Online gets such bad PR inside Business because we all know a nephew out of college who can put a web site together. Or that guy in the warehouse that has a really cool Facebook page.

And, e-commerce, isn’t that IT’s responsibility? Not only that, Business, like a toddler, wants it all now!

Online is Part of your Business

Online is no different to any other part of your business, it should be part of your overall plan, your long term strategy. You didn’t go into business to make a quick profit, I hope! You went into business because you had a dream, with a long term aim of solving a problem, providing a solution. Where you, and your customers were both winners.

Social Media should also be part of that long term view. Not a quick fix, tick box job.

Effective Social Media

When implemented effectively Social Media can provide a fantastic experience for staff and customers. It can lead to interactions that were just not cost effective before. Just don’t expect instant results.

An investment is required in time. Time to find which platforms work best for your company. In how to use them efficiently and there is a cost in monitoring what is going on.

You may not need a custom Facebook application or a heavy duty tool such as Radian6. Using Twitter via mobile does not mean your whole company needs to be equipped with iPhones. Just as videos for YouTube don’t require a film crew. But even using the most straight forward of equipment takes time to learn to use it well.

People Need Training

Invest in staff training, at least find an internal champion, one who can ideally mentor as well. Just because staff can use Facebook it doesn’t mean they are ready to represent your company online. If you do want to speed things up, hire an experienced consultant to help plan your strategy and get training programs in place.

Engagement has it’s Rewards

The engagement and conversation will still take time to mature, whatever your companies size and whoever you hire. In fact the larger your company the more difficult it can be to get started. As once you start engaging online the flood gates are open and you’ll be expected to respond.

But respond well and the returns will show; not obvious at first, usually seen as an increased reach in your monitoring tools. Engage effectively and you will start to see monetary returns if your are selling a product or service. You may even see reduced costs and increased customer satisfaction by providing customer support through Social Media.

One of the most noticeable benefits can be increased staff interaction with customers, leading to a more satisfied workforce.

Give the online side of your business the time it deserves to succeed, especially Social Media. Don’t treat it as a stand alone function, but as an asset, and you’ll be glad you invested in it.

Amazon Warehouse

In today’s online world it’s all about being personal and getting social. This means one to one interaction with your customers, clients and prospects.

Time and again we have seen businesses that really care, like Zappos for example, win through with unlikely e-commerce models because of their ability to engage with customers.

The original online business dream was of a Virtual Business Lifestyle; a fully automated business that took care of itself whilst you relaxed on the beach. If these two ideals clash, and social interaction is the one that produces a more sustainable long-term business, why do businesses large and small think they can still automate it all?

It’s all down to the data

To some extent you can automate large parts of your online business. If your data collection is rich enough and your algorithms robust enough, presenting logical offers and information to visitors can, technically, be easy.

When you have the business intelligence of someone like Amazon making offers at the right time, to the right people it can be very effective. No wonder that Tesco are looking to copy this model using their loyalty program, “Clubcard”, as the basis for it.

They are likely to produce an amazingly intelligent web site. With years worth of learning’s to be gleaned from Amazon and other e-commerce giants.

Could they go one better though?

Keeping it personal

It’s okay to automate in this way, and it can be of tremendous value to the end consumer, but personal interaction is still required.

In my view before Tesco runs off and starts marketing to customers it thinks it knows, it could gain a bigger advantage by engaging with them. As I highlighted in an earlier post, Tesco seem to be very reluctant to engage in the Social Space, yet have an enormous resource, in terms of local staff, that would make them a star in this arena.

They could easily become the Zappos of the UK. Certainly their in-store customer service is excellent; extend this online and they could be the first offline Brand to seriously trouble Amazon.

All they need to do is get social.

Google getting into Social Media was an obvious step for them. So the birth of Google+ was no surprise.

They were never going to let Facebook have it all.

Whilst Google has spent much of it’s effort focussed around search, and search related innovations, it has to make a shift to access the rich data that Social offers. Google is then able to use this knowledge to enhance search results elsewhere.

Therefore when we see Google launch a Hotel Finder it is the use of this data that has helped them make the business decision to drive into this niche. Using the business intelligence gained from it’s advertisers it can position itself in strategically strong channels. Learning from the strengths and weaknesses of it’s own customers to take the channel and monetise it.

The application has made excellent use of Google Places to enhance the search so that you can look for hotels based on tourist attractions you wish to visit. Combine this with Google’s version of Groupon discounts and you have a very strong contender in the travel sector. With plenty of room for expansion and diversification.

Directory based sites such as this have been abundant; they are the typical, inexperienced web start-up business idea, that rarely succeeds. With a lack of original content they are unable to attract traffic and therefore advertisers.

Google will face neither issue. It has done it’s research, carefully choosing a rich seam from which to extract revenue. In typical Google fashion the first offering is lightweight, but functional. You can be sure it will expand quickly should it prove profitable.

This is a great lesson for many fledgling businesses that often fail to do the background research. They try to launch with too complex an offering, or even worse take a guess that there may be a market for what they are offering with no real idea whether one exists. There is no excuse for not using data for business intelligence these days.

Market research is no more than a Google Ad and web form away.

What other sectors is Google likely to mine in the hunt for profitable niches?

Opening Soon

Traditional retailers are having a tough time on the high streets currently.

With consumer spending down, both in the US & UK due to the continued economic downturn.

In testament to this decline, and rather ironically, Rackspace occupies what was a shopping mall in San Antonio, Texas; hosting the websites of many online retailers who are seeing their businesses grow.

Don’t Call Me a TWiT

Om Malik was lambasted by his co-presenters on last weeks TWiT, hosted by Leo Laporte, with Robert Scoble, and Justin Robert Young for suggesting Amazon would open a physical store.

He couldn’t get them to understand where he was coming from, but I saw what he was getting at.

Others on the show continued to think from a traditional perspective, of Amazon selling product. With comparisons to Best Buy and Apple, demonstrating their closeted view. Leo saying that ordering online, was likely to see the end of all but the most undeliverable of goods in stores. Whilst, in fact Om had hit on something quite fundamental.

Birds of a Feather

By nature humans are social animals, tribal even, however much time we like to spend online, we still like to meet face to face. This can be highlighted by the popularity of TweetUps, Social Media Clubs, LinkedIn Meet Ups and location based apps such as Foursquare.

For all of our online networking some of the best networking we do is face to face. Seth Godin actively encourages Linchpin types to meet up a couple of times a year. The Start Up Weekend organisation gets like minded individuals together for a whole weekend to start brand new companies.

So, if getting together is so popular and part of our nature, doesn’t it make sense that we would go to a physical Amazon store to meet others like us? Now this store may not sell product, or it may have limited lines.

The Apple store is all about the “Apple experience”. Full of young adults and kids getting in the habit of using Apples latest technology with no intention to purchase, even if they had the money. No, these future business owners, programmers, web designers, artists, musicians, and physicians are being schooled in the joys of the Apple brand.

When it comes time for them to suggest what equipment the company should buy or what tablet device to get their kids, Apple already has it’s foot in the door.

The Social Shop

If Apple can do this, why not Amazon? If they can find a way to indoctrinate the youth of today whilst supporting the existing loyal Amazon customer, through a physical social store, their future is all but certain. Maybe a place for book club meet ups, musician jamming sessions, easy returns of large goods or technical support. A place to present up coming products or try out a Kindle.

I am sure minds better than mine can come up with hundreds of ways Amazon could use a physical store to enhance the “Amazon Experience”. So I think Om Malik was right, Amazon are very likely to open a high street store, it’s just not going to look or feel like stores as we know them today.

Do you think Amazon should open a physical store?

National Express Train

As a business offering WiFi has many advantages, it can attract people to your outlet, you may even be able to make revenue from it.

It offers people an easy way to check-in on Foursquare or Facebook Places and promote your business for you. From these check-ins you are able to offer loyalty schemes, increase customer retention or just glean deeper understanding of your customers.

But if the WiFi you offer let’s your customers down be sure to have the right level of support and a back-up plan or your offer of connectivity could work against you and effect your brand as in this example with National Express.

I usually commute to work by car, a lovely journey of the country lanes from Diss to Southwold. I fill my time productively by listening to podcasts on a variety of topics related to online and tech or maybe the occasional audio book. From time to time I do make the journey to London for conferences, meetings etc. For this commute it’s the train.

The journey from Diss to London Liverpool Street is a straight forward one and as I only take it occasionally I rarely experience the mishaps more regular commuters face. In fact I actually enjoy the experience, I can sit relax, read or work on the journey to “The Smoke”.

Even before my journey begins the process of commuting by train has been simplified. I can buy my ticket with the Trainline iPhone App and book my parking with the RingGo App, saving valuable time and in the case of parking, hunting around for spare change.

Now one of the issues with working on a train comes when you require Internet access. Mobile access varies along the route and often a connection can drop and be lost completely in some areas. Frustrating at the best of times, when using an iPad, it can limit it’s usefulness.

So I was like a “Kid at Christmas” when National Express introduced WiFi on this route. The service is provided by Icomera, based in Sweden, who specialise in Internet solutions for trains. The thought of high speed Internet access for the 90 minute commute would mean my productivity would rocket. I could clear all of the days emails, missed whilst in meetings, on the way home and still have time to spare.

Last month I was travelling to London quite often so I subscribed for the whole month, £19 seemed quite reasonable to make use of what would otherwise of been downtime.

For my first few journeys all seemed to be working fine until one morning I couldn’t connect to the wireless router. With my journey proceeding at a steady rate I didn’t want to waste too much time fault finding so I rang the help desk provided by Icomera. Pleasant enough they couldn’t see the issue, saw that nobody at all had connected that morning, but would look into it and ring me back. A router restart was all that was required and I was connected 30 minutes or so of journey time lost, no big deal.

After a busy day in London my return journey was late, catching the 22:30 out of London, arriving in Diss after midnight. This was definitely the time I needed to catch up on work so I could go straight to bed when I got home.

As in the morning I was unable to connect to the router, not a problem I’ll ring the support line.

It rang a few times before the call was diverted and I got a strange ring tone, the type you get when you call abroad. I was then connected to a foreign voicemail, Swedish! I tried twice more in case I had mis-dialled but no, the same message. Now my Swedish is not good at the best of times and my patience was short at 23:00 at night. No support for a service I had paid for, my journey would be over in less than an hour and there was nothing I could do.

My email the next day outlined the issue and 3 days later I received a reply:

“I am sorry to hear about the problems that you have had with the service and apologise for any inconvenience that may have been caused. It is hard to say what was wrong with your trains without knowing the exact situation at the time, unfortunately the helpdesk closes at 22:00 so this is why you were unable to get an answer when you called. We are unable to offer partial refunds but I will be able to extend your pass for an extra week if you wish me to. Again I apologise for the inconvenience that has occurred.”

I was incredulous, polite enough, but how can you offer a service on trains that run until after midnight but not offer support after 10pm? This doesn’t make sense. It’s not like people can email for help, their journey is over by the time you reply. The offer of a free week missed the mark as I was not a regular commuter.

At the very least it should be made clear that there was no support after 22:00 when I signed up and that all calls after this time are directed to Sweden!

A service is only as good as the support behind it and in todays world of 24 hour connectivity offering something like a WiFi connection comes with a certain level of expectation. I am not naive enough to think that a service like this wouldn’t have issues but support should not be one of them.

Art is for Museums

I caught myself pondering a WordPress Theme change for my site today, what a time suck.

There went an unproductive half hour as I trawled the web for ideas, until I snapped out of the time wasting fixation realising I hadn’t written my blog post for the day. I can’t remember where I heard the saying but it’s one I’ll always remember, and have used before, “Art is for Museums“.

I’ve never been great at design and regularly take fashion advice form my teenage daughter. Most of the sites I am involved with will never win design awards either but one thing they always do well is convert.

We are so often attracted by the “Eye Candy” and forget to focus on content, functionality and conversion. Look at those ugly sales landing pages for example, do you think those ClickBank sellers would use that format if a pretty design worked better? That’s not to say good looks don’t matter, of course they do, they are a representation of your brand. All I am saying is just because it’s not pleasing to the eye doesn’t mean it’s broken.

All to often I have been asked to look at a site redesign because the “they” believed it was the answer to more sales and better conversion. Design is rarely the defining factor in click thru’s, functionality is more commonly the key. Design does not attract more visitors, quality content does.

Now I m not advocating a strict Jacob Nielsen approach when you think about your site. Just ensure you understand what users are trying to do when they are there and ensure they are able to do it easily.

Don’t agree?

Look at most successful e-commerce sites, Amazon, Play, Ebay. None of these are masters of design but they are leaders in functionality. I always used to wonder how Amazon got away with such a poor design but if you look at the site framework and the workflow through the order process, things make sense. Up sells are placed in the click path but don’t hinder progress, once you’re in the checkout process, you’re there for keeps. Notice the navigation disappears. Turn on “1-Click” ordering and this piece of functionality alone reduces the ordering process to the shortest e-commerce checkout process on the web.

Remember people come to your site for a purpose, ensure the sign posts to that purpose are clear and you’ll convert more often than not. Just don’t get caught spending endless hours in Photoshop or browsing WordPress Themes for that cool design. It probably won’t make much difference.

After all, they’ll be too caught up in that all that glorious content on your site to notice, won’t they?

Effortless

Finding time for Social Media and fitting it into your already busy day can be a challenge. We all want to do more with our day but time is an immovable object. There are only 24 hours in a day no matter who you are or how much money you have.

Some people seem to be able to magically output an enormous amount of work, how? It’s all about effort.

If you find it easier to write that blog post, grow your followers on Twitter or widen your network on LinkedIn. Then you’ll have more time to study, read or do the other things that matter. Writing is such a big part of Social Media it is important that we make it as effortless as possible.

So rather than worry about the time things take try to make things easier to do:

1. Have a Plan

If you know where you are going then you can do the things that are going to get you there and ignore those things that aren’t. A plan will keep you on track to your end goal, concentrate on the elements of the plan. For example reading a book rather than watching TV!

2. Make a Schedule

A schedule is different to a plan in that the schedule places the elements of a plan in an order throughout your day. If your schedule aligns with your plan you’ll be more productive, there will be less indecision and procrastination.

3. Focus Your Research

To produce content regularly you’ll need time to research, to read, to play, to create. You can only do this effectively by concentrating your research on certain topics or from certain sources. Create a list of blogs, books or other material from which to gather information on a regular basis. Google Reader is a great tool for curating blog posts and articles.

4. Spot Your Weaknesses

We can’t all be good at everything, highlight your weaknesses and work towards strengthening them. For example, being able to type faster will make you more efficient, better grammar will mean less re-writes, speed reading will mean faster research. Make self-improvement part of your schedule.

5. Get Enough Sleep

Sleep can be play a major part in your effectiveness when writing, reading and studying. Although it’s tempting to create more time by foregoing sleep it can be a fools paradise. You will be far more productive if you have had enough sleep, your work will be more accurate and require less re-work.

6. Delegate Where You Can

If you have staff, ensure you delegate where you are able to. If you don’t have staff consider your priorities. Is it more cost effective to pay someone to mow the lawn or wash your car? So you can write a blog post, read or research. I don’t advocate living beyond your means but you must know the value of your time.

7. Make Note Taking A Habit

Taking copious notes keeps your pot full of ideas. You’ll never run out of things to write about, even if you don’t use them directly they may spark inspiration for something else. With all of these ideas you’ll also be more efficient, not wasting time wondering what to write about.

8. Read Widely

Don’t just read about subjects in your area of interest, consider fiction or other market sectors. If you stretch yourself you will find you will become a more proficient writer. You will find writing easier and save time.

9. Fill In The Downtime

We all have parts of our day where we find we are doing quite literally nothing. Sometimes it is good to wind down but this should be part of your schedule. Listening to podcasts when commuting or reading whilst waiting at the dentist can be great ways to make use of this otherwise “dead time”.

Have you got any other tips for getting more done with less effort?