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Is time management difficult for you? Most writers aren’t as productive as they could be; procrastination is a challenge. Task triage can help.

Let’s look at three tips which will help you to manage your time, so that not only do you have more time for your writing, you get more done.

Choose Your Goals and Commit

Your first step is to choose goals and commit to them.

Successful writers take their time in setting goals, but once they’ve set them, rarely change them. For these writers, setting a goal is a commitment to themselves.

Struggling writers set goals quickly, and forget about them just as quickly.

Therefore, take your time in choosing at least one goal. Then, tell yourself that barring serious injury or death, you will persist until you achieve the goal.

Triage Tasks: Only Do What You Can Do

Once you’ve set a goal, you need to chunk it down. For example, let’s say your goal is: “I have a Web site by ___________ (a date three weeks from now.)”

You need to chunk this down, because you can’t “do” a goal, you can only do tasks.

Just make a list of tasks: “buy a domain name, get hosting, write the content for four Web pages, create the site, get it online”.

Add each task to your calendar or diary, with an estimate of the time the task will take.

Certain tasks, such as “write the content for four Web pages” will need to be chunked down even further, so that each chunk takes less than half an hour. Efficient chunking, slicing up tasks, is the secret to eliminating procrastination.

But what’s triage? Triage means only doing what YOU can do, and outsourcing or delegating the rest. In our example, you could outsource everything except the writing.

Just Show up Every Day: Results Are Cumulative

“Time management” is exactly that; managing the time you have. Once you’ve set a goal, keep going until you achieve that goal.

If you do, then goal setting and achieving will become a habit, and your life will become easier for one reason: you’ve taken control of the only thing you can manage in your life — yourself.

Avoid second-guessing your goals once you’ve set them. You’ll find that if you just keep completing your tasks, that everything you do is cumulative. It’s like a snowball rolling down a hill. It starts small, and then gets bigger.

Just show up and complete your tasks.

Setting goals and task triage is the secret of successful time management for writers.

A visitor to a website will go back to it only if he gets something in return, this something could be a service, entertainment clip or information. This is why websites containing information and tips do rather well than those which do not.

Content has always been hailed as one of most important requisites for any website. This is why website content is so important. Content management is most important whenever you are creating your website, this helps proper search engine optimization right at the time of website creation, rather than having to do changes after the website has been floated.

Following are the ways website content can get you links:

1. Publishing content related to your website can get your website links, this can be done at the article directories.
2. Search engine crawlers do not just for Meta tags of your website, they also search similar or relevant keywords of your main keyword. If the crawlers find relevant keywords in the content, the possibility is the highest that your website PR will rise.
3. Link baiting, whereby other webmasters would like to include content of your website into their websites will earn you those extra clicks, but the pre-requisite here is that the content needs to be 100% original, informative and well written.
4. Social bookmarking can provide you with the important links, people will link your website and store it in their accounts as a bookmark your website ranking rises as many numbers of times, people have saved your website.
5. Overall for creation of a website which can create an impact you should try and create a content rich website, such websites tend to get better PR rankings than any other websites.

Where to find website content?

Website content is not really that difficult to find. There is the free content, however, it will not be unique because this content has been published by someone else at some other place too. Even then the content can bring your traffic when it is on your website. You can also earn brownie points for publishing links of the original author with the content.

You can write the content yourself. This is because no one but you know about your website and only you can express it in genuine words. However, if you are faced with writer’s block, you can try and get the content written from content management teams, which will readily provide you with original and authentic content for your website.

Creation of powerful software has also made it possible that the content can be created through software. All you require is the software and a list of keywords around which the website content should be built.

Website content needs to be written in simple and graceful language, it should be understood by wide range of people. Therefore, the content need not be in a basic language, neither should it be of the PhD level. Content should be colloquial with the ability to enter into dialogue with the reader.

As a marketing communications or public relations manager, you may work with freelance or agency copywriters. Some of these relationships are likely to be very smooth and synergistic, while others may be frustrating or challenging for both you and the writer. You want to know:

“How can I choose the best writer for a project?”

“How can I improve the working relationship with writers?”

And, “How can I get the best work from a copywriter, from first draft to final edit?”

Read on for guidelines that will help you choose the right freelance writer for your project and create a positive, collaborative, and fruitful working relationship.

Selecting a Freelance Writer

Before evaluating potential writers, identify what you want from a writer and what your projects need. For example, do you need someone to handle just the writing, or someone who is more of a communications strategist? Do you need a project manager who can handle all aspects from planning and writing to design and production? All of these roles involve very different skill sets.

If you have determined that you truly need a freelance copywriter, consider the style and content demands of your projects. Do they require a high level of creativity, such as a cutting-edge advertising campaign? Or do the projects involve more of a technical or formal corporate style? Different projects require a different mind-set of the writer, and not every writer can produce good work in every style. Indeed, many copywriters focus their work on certain types of projects, industries, or media.

As a manager, you probably won’t be able to find just one writer who can handle all projects. Instead, you will likely work with several writers: one who handles brochures and articles, another who writes presentation scripts and speeches, yet another who writes direct-mail materials. Although these multiple relationships require more time to develop and manage, you’ll benefit from the higher quality of work that specialist writers can deliver. And, when launching a new communications program, you’ll appreciate having multiple resources who can develop several projects simultaneously.

Factors to consider when selecting a freelance copywriter include the following:

Skill level and orientation. Does the project require a writer with extensive experience? Should the writer have an analytical or creative orientation? 

Knowledge. In-depth knowledge of the subject matter may be paramount for a project because it would require too much time and effort to train a new writer. For example, technology knowledge is especially important for projects that promote a high-tech product or service. In other cases, it may be important for the writer to be very familiar with the audience you’re trying to reach.

Strategy and planning skills. Project management or program planning skills may play a part in identifying the best resources for the project.

People skills. Consider a writer’s interpersonal skills, because it is very likely the writer will interact with customers or community members, journalists, executives, subject experts and of course, your marketing and PR colleagues.

Tools knowledge and skills. If the writer must work with particular software, content management systems, or other tools, specify your requirements.

Experience in particular media. The skills needed for Web content or electronic media projects are somewhat different than those required for print materials.

Reviewing Portfolios and Samples

When you have a candidate in mind, typically the next step is to conduct an in-person or telephone interview and review the candidate’s portfolio. The following factors will help you make a better assessment of the candidate’s writing skills when evaluating samples:

Are the materials similar to your projects? 

Are the style and tone in the samples similar to those of your projects?

Is the depth and complexity of content comparable to that in your projects?

Is the text well organized, readable, and free of errors? Even if you have no knowledge of the subject matter in the sample, you should be able to get a sense very quickly whether the writer can produce clear, interesting, and correct copy.

What was the writer’s actual involvement in the project?

Sustaining the Relationship

Once you have found the right freelance writer, you can benefit from cultivating a sustained relationship. First, consider freelancers not only for new projects that come up, but also recurring projects such as newsletters that always seem to be “lost in the shuffle” of more immediate tasks and deadlines.

Develop a writer’s subject focus—such as technologies, issues, audiences—and leverage that focus over multiple different projects.

Give the writer new types of projects as a way to maximize your investment in the writer’s knowledge. For example, a writer who has not previously written a video script, but who knows your products and company, may be a better choice that an experienced scriptwriter who lacks that knowledge.

When working with a freelance copywriter, remember to send samples of the published work. It’s both a courtesy and a way for the writer to learn from any changes that were made between the final draft and published document. Most of all, when you choose the right freelance copywriter, you can look forward to a long, positive collaboration and great materials!