Marketers and business owners are integrating social media as a new component in their marketing strategy every day. Are you making any of the following social media strategy faux pas? No worries if you are. Just don’t do it again.

How to Screw Up Your Social Media Strategy

1. Set up your profile, and ignore it forever. I won’t call anyone out specifically, but unfortunately, I see this a lot. (And I mean, a lot.) I applaud businesses that take the first big leap in creating a Facebook Page or LinkedIn group, giving their customers and fans a new home to communicate with their business. But frankly, if you don’t listen, check in, and say hello every once in a while — it’s not very valuable!
2. Ignore customers and followers in need. Now that’s just mean! However, I’m sure your business wouldn’t outright ignore a person. (Right?) More likely, you simply didn’t see that person’s request. That’s why it is so important to develop solid social media monitoring habits so you always catch notice of these calls for support. Because even if you simply didn’t notice a tweet or Facebook post, that person might just assume you don’t care to help.
3. Discourage non-marketing employees from representing your company. Only marketing people can successfully represent your company, right? Wrong! By allowing all employees to tweet company content, discuss what they’re working on, or announce special news, your business’ reach just tripled… quadrupled. (You count your employees and do the math.) That’s very valuable, especially when you’re all-hands-on-deck regarding a specific announcement.
4. Have management review all social media posts and responses before publishing. [At HubSpot], our social media policy is pretty simple: “Use Common Sense.” And we encourage others to adopt that same attitude. When you’re interacting through social media channels, the name of the game is fast and nimble. Unless you have a person dedicated to reviewing social media content who also has the response time of a tennis player, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. Create a list of the type of content you want published, and trust your employees from there. You’ll be glad you did.
5. Never encourage discussion. No way you’d ever want to hear others’ opinions, would you? There are two valuable benefits that come from posting content that encourages a response: 1) healthy debate or discussion, and 2) the natural ‘viral effect’ that develops from heavily commented and shared content on Facebook and Twitter. Sure, it’s much easier to post a link, and leave it at that. But the value of that post increases significantly if you say, “Here’s a resource. What do you think?”
6. Give up after three weeks. “I’m not getting social media results right now, so clearly it’s useless.” Whoa, there! Did you even give it a solid chance? When you go to a networking event, do you expect to develop strong business relationships with all 50 attendees that very evening? I imagine you understand it will take multiple weeks, perhaps months of meetups before you develop solid relationships with every person. Similarly, it takes lots of commitment and nurturing to develop a successful community through any social network, too.

So what do you think? Are you guilty of making any of these mistakes? How have you improved? What other social media mistakes should businesses avoid?

This post was written by Rebecca Corliss and originally appeared on the HubSpot Blog.

LinkedIn is a very powerful social networking site that is often under-utilized and overshadowed by Twitter and Facebook. However, out of the top 3 social networking sites – Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn – LinkedIn is the place to be to build and grow your business.

I recently read an article titled, “Top 5 Ways to Market Your Business With LinkedIn“, and was very impressed with the simple, easy to follow information. I would like to pass these strategies along to you so that you can utilize them and begin to see results.

Enjoy!

#1: Use LinkedIn Groups & Receive Tons of New Leads Daily

How would you feel if you had a sales funnel that brought in roughly 50 to 100 fresh, highly targeted leads every day? You’d feel pretty confident about putting food on the table next week, right?

Well, creating a LinkedIn group gives you the ability to generate an amazing number of leads from high-end decision makers.

Here are some great groups to closely examine:

Sports Industry Network
Inbound Marketers – For marketing professionals
Social Media Marketing
Tweeple
On Startups – A community for entrepreneurs

Here’s how to maximize your LinkedIn group:

1. Add keywords in the description of your group to increase your search rankings on LinkedIn’s search section.
2. Add keywords in the title of the group to be found on Google.
3. Add your company website or blog to the group to drive traffic to your site.
4. Add your blog RSS feed to the group so every new article is automatically posted to the home page of every group member.
5. Send a weekly message that adds value for group members and drives traffic back to your site.
6. Connect people in the group by making introductions to those who could potentially do business with one another.

All of these points will help you generate more leads for your business. If your sales funnel is set up correctly, you will have more than enough prospects to grow your business.

Make sure you create a group that fills a need for the audience you’re targeting in your business field. This will ensure that every person who joins the group is a qualified lead.

#2: Ask Questions & Build Your Credibility

I’ve asked a number of questions using LinkedIn Answers because it’s a great way to get the answers you need from some of the top experts in the world.

One question I’ve asked was, “How often are you answering questions for others on LinkedIn?” I received about 20 responses, but one answer stood out from the rest.

I had an individual share that he spent about an hour a week answering questions and he was getting three to five new clients a month bringing in roughly $3,000 to $5,000 extra in monthly revenue. Not bad for answering a few questions, huh?

Here are some tips for answering questions:

First, set up the “Answers Application” on the bottom right-hand side of your home page for the subjects you know best.

Then, when you see a question pop up that you know the answer to, follow these steps:

1. Research the person who asked the question, and find a way to tie in a personal response with something from their LinkedIn profile.
2. Be as helpful and resourceful as possible when answering the question. Give tips, website links with additional information, or even recommend someone who is the best expert on that topic.
3. Leave the answer with an open invitation for more communication by asking them to contact you privately if they need any extra help.

All of these tips will help you gain the most out of answering questions, and will help you build powerful relationships that will grow your business.

#3: Create Powerful Events

Hosting an event is a great way to build your business (see events under the ‘More…’ news in the LinkedIn navigation bar). LinkedIn has an events platform that allows you to target thousands of professionals for free.

Due to the viral nature of LinkedIn, once someone RSVPs to your event, it shows up on the home profile of everyone that person is connected to, spreading the message for you.

Creating an event on LinkedIn is simple. Answer a few questions and start promoting your event. Send an invitation to the people who would be interested in the event based on region or niche. You will notice a wealth of opportunities from hosting your own event.

#4: Run an Advanced Search in Your Target Market

It’s so easy to generate leads from LinkedIn. The advanced search function helps you get in touch with the exact people you’re going after.

Simply click on “advanced” on the top right side of your home page next to the search box. This will take you to a clean page where you can input anything you need to find the exact lead you are seeking. You can search by industry, keywords, company and title, to mention a few.

#5: Send Personal Messages

Once you find leads, you want to send them personalized messages. The best way to drop any walls—and give yourself the best chance of making a sale—is to connect with someone on as many personal levels as possible. Look at their profile, find out which companies they’ve worked for in the past, which school they attended, what groups they’re in, listed hobbies and who your mutual connections are. Then, write a personal message like this one:

Hi Tom,

I noticed that we’re both connected to Mary, Jeff and Bob; we both played basketball back in college; and we’re both in Toastmasters International speaking club.

I would love to connect with you to learn more about your experiences at XyzCompany. I believe there are a number of ways we could help one another. Would you be free for a brief chat in the near future?

Looking forward to connecting soon and I’ll be sure to tell Mary I contacted you. I’m sure she would love to know I reached out to say ‘hi.’

Thanks,
Lewis

Personal messages seal the deal and give you a greater chance of future opportunities.

Now Go Grow Your Business With LinkedIn!

If you follow these tips, you’ll begin to understand why LinkedIn is the best social networking site for building your business. There are number of ways to attract leads, connect with powerful decision makers and market your business. LinkedIn’s niche-specific filters and search features can help you reach the right people in your field.

Make a point of staying active on LinkedIn. Continue to update your profile and add new contacts. The more you put into it, the more the entire network will work for you.

This post was written by Lewis Howes and originally appeared on Social Media Examiner.

There is no requirement to spread your digital self thin, but many of us are still juggling more than one online profile (I’m currently balancing at least five). Each of these profiles offers us a chance to connect with new communities in different ways, but each network needs to be managed and updated. With so many online profiles, questions are bound to arise. Is your bio page the same across all platforms? Should it be?

There are few hard and fast rules when navigating social media; a lot comes down to preference. For those starting out or just looking to make sense of their profiles, we’ve culled advice from five social media experts in a range of backgrounds. Mashable’s given you ways to create your brand, face the challenges, track your reputation, and corral your profiles on the social web. Now, here are five ways to manage, consolidate, and clean up your online identity.

1. Keep it Consistent

One of the best things you can do is to make sure your profiles are consistent. This includes your bio page, your profile pic, and your tone of voice. “Consistency is important,” said Dan Schawbel, managing partner of Millennial Branding, “If you’re “Matt” on one site, you better be “Matt” on every other site.” That similarity can help viewers keep track of you across different platforms. Start by scooping up vanity URLs on sites like Facebook (facebook.com/ClarkKent) and Twitter (twitter.com/ClarkKent), and buying your domain name (www.ClarkKent.com). Similar fonts and font sizes can also help create a congruous online identity.

But what about your updates — how do you keep those consistent? “Using the same tone of voice will help keep the cohesion,” said Amber Naslund, Director of Community at Radian6. “It doesn’t have to be verbatim but there needs to be a certain level of consistency,” Naslund said. “You’re assuming that [one particular social site] might be the only place they get that [information].”

Keep in mind that consistency doesn’t mean repetition. Customize your profiles and updates to align with the values and uses of each social platform, but maintain a common theme throughout.

2. Find Your Brand

Put some forethought into what your want your digital reputation to be and build towards that. Joshua Benton, Director of Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab, highlights the importance of viewership. “You don’t want to have carbon copies because you’re talking to different audiences. Your paragraph bio on LinkedIn isn’t going to make sense on your Twitter page and neither of those is going to make sense on your Facebook page.” Benton recommends making a basic bio that can be tailored for each network. “Think about how the image you want to present sits in with the audience.”

Different networks are better for different things — it helps to cater your posts based on the audience. “Part of that is baked into the form,” Benton said. “It’s sort of hard to have a wild and crazy LinkedIn profile, whereas you can on something like MySpace.”

Whether you want to be known by your real name (recommended) or a cute buzzword, it’s important to come up with something memorable and representative of you. This advice applies to people and brands. “When you type Digsby, we are the first result,” said Steve Shapiro, CEO of Digsby. “It is important to pick a unique product name but also one that people can spell when they hear it, or they’ll never find you on Google.”

Once you’ve decided your online name and brand, try to stick with it. It’s hard to build a reputation if you keep changing. “The problem with changing your specialty every six months is that people can see what you did six month’s prior,” explained Barry Hurd, CEO and founder of 123SocialMedia. That kind of indecision can make it difficult for your audience to get a grasp on your identity.

3. Own Your Name

One of the best ways to track your progress is a simple Google search. “I’m conscious that I’m writing about the things I’d liked to be found for,” Naslund said. “If I’m going to post a tweet about a drunken bender with my sister from last night, it might pop up on Google.” Make sure you’re updating your social networks on news and events that you want to be known for. Part of managing your online identity is understanding your professional profiles (like LinkedIn) can very well get mixed up with personal profiles (like Facebook). “You can’t keep the peas from touching the mashed potatoes,” Naslund added. “The Internet doesn’t distinguish between profiles. That’s a human distinction, not a technical one. It all gets lumped into the same basket.”

An easy, free way to manage your name’s SEO is by getting onto popular social media sites. “Twitter accounts often pop up on the first page even if you’ve only posted three tweets,” Benton explained. “Chances are you’d rather have that and a link to your bio page than something you don’t have control over. Get on networks with good page rankings.”

Another tip for optimizing SEO is by proactively setting up inbound links between your profiles. Include links to your social profiles, such as Foursquare, Twitter, LinkedIn and Quora, on your blog. On your Twitter profile, include a link to your blog. And on Foursquare, make sure you include your Twitter profile link. If you already use multiple networks, this practice is an easy way to increase the amount of inbound links for each site. It’s a circle of links that will help optimize your Google search rankings.

The ultimate goal is to optimize your SEO so that someone should be able to search for your name and get a good idea within the first 10 results of who you are or who you’d like to be.

4. Get a Little Help

The good news is that you don’t have to monitor all these sites by yourself. There are a bunch of web tools that can help you track or update your entire online presence. Try using a multi-platform dashboards like Ping.fm, Tweetdeck, or Hootsuite to update your social media identity all from a central hub.

As a secondary step, if you’re interested in seeing which sites are benefiting you the most from a PR point of view, set up Google Alerts on each of your profiles. Alerts will help you keep a pulse on buzz around your name. To see which sites are most referenced, try adding small marks to your profile pics for manual tracking. Hurd suggested adding a small Facebook logo to your Facebook profile pic, for example, so you can see when your Facebook profile (along with a pic) is linked to.

5. Human Afterall

Out of all these tips, perhaps the most important lesson is to just be yourself. It may sound simple, but ultimately people are connecting with you because of who you are. “How people perceive you is through those interactions with your audience, not just a neat and tidy persona,” Naslund said. “People want to see the person behind the persona.”

Schawbel recommended being selective with your networks and genuinely connecting: “If your Twitter handle or Facebook page is your name, it has to come from you.”

That same sense of honesty can also be a great way to find customers. “These platforms are a huge opportunity to interact with users one-on-one,” Shapiro said. Connecting in an honest way can bring in new supporters for your product or brand.

Final Words of Advice

We asked our experts for a golden rule to managing your online identity. While there may not be one ruling maxim, here are some choice words of wisdom for cleaning up your social identity.

“Commitment is really the key word,” Schawbel said. “Everyone keeps talking about passion, but commitment takes [it] into account. If you’re committed to this, you’ll succeed. Or, at least you’ll get something out of it.”

“Be consistent with the tone and approach for all those social networks,” Naslund said. “Through all those profiles, it will feel like you. And that’s what people use social media for, to connect with a real person. Develop an identity you’re not only proud of, but can stand behind.”

“I think you have to go into these sort of things acknowledging that compartmentalization is impossible. [It's] the same way in real life. We act one way around our parents, and one way around our boss, and one way around our friends, even if we’re still the same person,” Benton said. “Think about the image you want to present… and don’t be afraid to be human.”

Since most would-be readers use search engines to find blog posts, you need to make sure that Google ranks your site highly when those readers search for terms related to your business and the content you’re writing.

You could spend thousands of dollars to have a search marketing firm optimize your business’s blog for search engines, but chances are that you can learn a lot of the fundamentals yourself, saving yourself a lot of money as long as you have the interest and the time. Here’s a basic primer on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your company’s blog.

1.  Always Include Search Terms in Your Post’s Title

When Google reads a website to index it, it reads the code directly, not the snazzy presentation that humans see. The way most blogging platforms are built, the headline or title of your blog post is among the first things Google sees, and Google generally assumes the words that appear earliest are the most important. That’s why the title is the most important part of your blog post when it comes to SEO.

Think about who you want to reach with this blog post, and what that person might be searching for when looking for your business’s goods or services, then include critical words from that hypothetical search in the title. The most important terms should appear as quickly as you can reasonably fit them in. Just be careful not to make the title unreadable or awkward to human readers — that SEO effort will have been for naught if the reader is immediately turned off by the content once he or she finds it.

Here’s a pro tip: You’re not likely to win strong ranking for more than one or two search terms at once, so minimalism is a virtue here. Don’t get over-ambitious. Focus on one potential search term, then if you want to rank for a second term, write a separate and unique post specifically with it in mind.

2.  Link Important Words to Earlier Blog Posts

Search engines generally assume that a blog post that has been linked to has more authority than one that has not. They also consider exactly what word or phrase linked to the post; a blog post about the iPhone is going to be more likely to show up in Google searches on the subject if another page links the word “iPhone” to the post.

You’ll get the most value from external links from sites that Google or other search engines already consider to be an authority of the subject (if the top blog about iPhones links the word to your post, you’ll get a huge boost), but all incoming links will still pass rank to your page, even those from elsewhere on your site.

So be sure and link important keywords to other pages or previous posts on your blog to gain some credibility and search rank. It will make a big difference. Just don’t overdo it; not only do human readers hate reading blogs so filled with links that they might accidentally click on something, Google may penalize you if you go overboard, too.

© 2010 Ali International, LLC

Self-made millionaire entrepreneur and Inc. 500-ranked CEO Ali Brown teaches women around the world how to start and grow profitable businesses that make a positive impact. Get her FREE weekly articles and advice at www.AliBrown.com.

Social media can be a scary prospect for small businesses; unlike traditional marketing methods, it puts part of the message in the hands of the customers. But while it’s easy to be concerned that the message will go the wrong way, the benefits can outweigh the risks if you use the available services wisely.

The most obvious benefits are increased customer loyalty and engagement. Less obvious but just as important: Your business will gain exposure not through your own advertisements, but through folks who’ve already been patrons. We’re more likely to trust a Facebook update or Yelp review from a friend than from the business itself.

We spoke with small business owners and social media managers around the world who have successfully used social media to increase business performance, and we asked them for their stories and their tips. Here’s what we learned.

It’s About Relationships, Not Pitches

The most common advice we received from businesses successfully using social media: Use it to engage your customers in a conversation, not just sell your services. Ideally, social media helps any business become the corner barbershop or bookstore where the owner knows each regular’s name and preferences.

Reid Travis is the social media manager at quick-serve Mexican restaurant chain Panchero’s, which while not exactly a small business, is decidedly the little guy when stacked up to the larger, multi-national fast-food chains against which it competes. “We’re not focused on marketing to our followers, fans and readers,” he says. “Our primary goal is to connect with them.” He says engagement and transparent communication are important assets.

“I feel like companies that practice one-way conversation (the talking-only kind) are pretty much missing the entire point of social media … The best advice I can give from my adventures in the social realm is to listen more than you talk and don’t be scared to let go of the reigns. You’re definitely not going to be able to control the entire message out there; be okay with that.”

Blatz Market & Liquor’s Joe Woelfle employs a similar strategy. He says: “Social media has been pivotal in growing my business. A good portion of my tweets are conversational just to stay in front of my followers as much as possible. However I also use it to gauge interest about new products, run specials, and get the word out about events.”

Woelfle says his January 2010 was up 25% over the same month in 2009 after his first year of social media use. His chief slice of advice? “I would tell other SMB’s to be themselves but be sure to actively engage your followers.”

Social Media Exposure: Better Than Ads and Cheaper, Too

Businesses use social media to gain exposure for their products, services and brands. The alternative is traditional advertising, but social media is uniquely valuable to small businesses for two reasons. First, it’s cheaper. But it also ensures that people are hearing about your business from a source they trust more than an advertisement: friends and family.

Jim Glaub’s Art Meets Commerce does Internet and social media marketing for Broadway and off-Broadway shows with limited marketing budgets. Word of mouth is already essential to these productions’ successes — social media is an extension of that.

Glaub says, “People leave the show and jump onto Twitter to tell their friends how much they liked the show. It’s been especially helpful when people with large followings tweet about it, increasing our followers and exposing the show to people that may not have heard of it.”

He also reports that celebrities will attend the shows and tweet about them, providing even more exposure. Having an active Twitter presence encourages these theater fans to spread the word and encourage their own followers to start tracking the show.

For small business owners, it is important to remember that some people will tweet about you or review you on Yelp whether you have a presence there or not, and what they say might not be positive. You need to be on the ground, ready to deal constructively with any negative exposure. As stated previously, you should be participating in and guiding a two-way conversation.

Alan Lewis, director of special projects at Natural Grocers, has some advice on that front:

“Setting up an effective monitoring system and a couple of accounts on HootSuite will really help you understand perceptions and misconceptions about your organization or service, and give you a chance to respond conversationally — and with links or facts. What’s more, those people often become your best, newly educated advocates — they appreciate your accessibility and openness to answering their questions.”

Engaging the Local Community

Julee Mertz puts her passion for swing dancing and her business education to work running a vintage dance studio in Chicago called Big City Swing. She and her staff use Facebook and Yelp to attract students and people just looking for a good time to dance, classes and performances.

The staff primarily uses Facebook for its event features. They host a monthly dance and create a Facebook event well in advance. When someone RSVPs to an event, his or her attendance is by default shared with all of his or her friends. That gets the word out. Mertz says:

“We really enjoy the event invitation function. It’s a great way to keep our monthly dance on people’s weekend agenda. We can now project the attendance and plan accordingly based on the number of folks who’ve accepted the invite. It represents a fraction of the actual attendance, but we’re starting to see a helpful, predictable pattern.”

The studio doesn’t use Yelp to organize events — though it could. Rather, the staff uses it as a source of positive recommendations from other customers. “We love and slightly fear Yelp,” Mertz admits. “We pay attention to everything in our reviews. We reinforce with our staff the aspects of our business our clients enjoy and immediately work on issues they report need improvement.”

She believes that the risk of a poor review is outweighed by the power of a positive one. “We post client testimonials that our students e-mail us, but I believe Yelp adds credibility to reviews,” she says. The studio’s website hosts a badge widget boasting of the studio’s 20 five-star reviews. Visitors who click the badge are taken to Yelp where they can read those reviews hosted by a more convincing third-party.

Yelp has become a necessity for local businesses, so be sure to check out our list of tips for small businesses just getting started with the service.

Going the Extra Mile

The above tips cover just the basics. Some businesses go even further to reach the influential, tech-savvy crowd who spend their lives immersed in social media.

Arizona restaurant Liberty Market actually tweets regular customers asking them how the food was, for example. That’s the variety of attention folks expect to get from a small, mom and pop business. It’s a pleasant surprise that this culture can be amplified in an era of greater connection, not mitigated.

Some businesses will be able to clearly see online sales go up in proportion to Twitter followers. Some won’t. Sometimes it can be less about the monthly figures and more about creating a culture that customers will revisit and talk about with their friends. That’s harder to measure, but it’s long-established wisdom for small businesses trying to compete in a market controlled by big corporate chains.

Using social media, you can offer something to your customers that larger businesses can’t. Liberty Market’s Joe Johnston sums it up:

“People ask me if we have ‘made money’ with Twitter. Absolutely yes. But not how most business think. We have solidified loyalty and have our name out there, front of mind. Because of that, many social media meetups use our place. Patience! One has to believe that increased loyalty and awareness are a key to business growth.”

Put Together a KILLER Profile Page

Put together a profile page that will look attractive to your customers and business contacts.  Simple yet effective is best.  You should provide enough information to pique the interest of your target market–keep this goal in mind when creating your page.

Add Your Business Contacts

Many business owners, entrepreneurs and professionals already have a Facebook account.  Invite your business contacts and customers to add you as their “friend” and invite those who do not have an account yet to sign up for their own.  This will help you to build a Facebook community around your business.

Start a Fan Page

Another great way to create a Facebook network around your business or company is set up a Fan Page.  This will help you to reach and connect with your target market, and keep them up to date with relevant information, special events, news, etc.

Buy Ad Space

Buying ad space requires a small investment, but it is still a lot more affordable than traditional advertising methods.  Facebook provides you with the tools to create your ad and target it to a specific age group, gender and location. 

Post in Facebook Marketplace

You can promote and sell your products in the Facebook Marketplace for free.

Promote Your Blog

If you have a personal company or business blog, you can easily import it into your Facebook notes.  Each of your blog postings will then appear in your news feed and that of your contacts.  This is a fantastic way to keep your network up to date with your blog.

Advertise an Event

Facebook has a free application called Facebook Events which allows you to promote meetings, conferences, events you  may be hosting, product launches and your company’s achievements.

These are some great tools to get you started.    As you familiarize yourself with Facebook, make sure to explore all of its applications and add-ons, so that you can get the most benefit out of the site for your business.  

In conclusion, using Facebook as part of your marketing plan for your business or company will open the door to a whole new set of possibilities and opportunities!

For all of you small business owners and entrepreneurs out there, I have included a “sanity checklist” for you to look over. I challenge you to circle the number of statements that are true and apply to you. If more than 5 statements are true, partnering with a virtual assistant may be the perfect solution.

• I am working long hours each day and still can’t get caught up.
• I am working mostly in my business instead of on my business.
• If I wasn’t here, the place would fall apart within a month.
• I want to delegate more so I have time to pursue new revenue streams.
• I am doing tasks that I do not like or am not very good at.
• Sometimes I wonder if I am spending too much money doing everything myself.
• Our customers aren’t getting quality service and we’re losing money as a result.
• I have family members helping in my business and they are unhappy about it.
• I want to take more time off with family without guilt or stress.
• I have ideas for growing the business but I just don’t have time to pursue them.
• Paperwork and organization often fall behind and costs money in penalties or fees.
• The joy of owning a business is eclipsed by the stress of running it.
• I can’t turn my business brain off and my sleep and health are suffering as a result.
• Profitablity isn’t where it could be.
• I miss or drop opportunities to partner with others to expand my business.
• The technology that could streamline my business overwhelms me so I tend to ignore it.
• The business lags behind in online marketing which I’m sure means lost business.
• I’m uncertain where my expenses are and if they can be streamlined to save money.
• I find myself missing or being late for appointments more than once a week.

Copyright 2009 Virtually Successful.com inspired by and based on the Entrepreneurs RealityCheck by the School of Small Business Coaching at Coachville.com.

“First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality.  The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.”

Napoleon Hill

1883-1970, American author

Here are some ideas to help you find the balance that’s best for you:

• Keep a log.  Track everything you do for one week.  Include work-related and non-work-related activities.  Decide what is necessary and what satisfies you the most.  Cut or delegate activities you don’t enjoy and don’t have time for. 
• Manage your time.  Organize household tasks effieciently.  Doing one or two loads of laundry every day, rather than saving it all for your day off and running errands in batches, are good places to begin.  A weekly family calendar of important dates and a daily list of to-do’s will help you avoid deadline panic. 
• Rethink your cleaning standards.  An unmade bed or sink of dirty dishes won’t impact the quality of your life.  Do what needs to be done and let the rest go. 
• Communicate clearly.  Limit time-consuming misunderstandings by communicating clearly and listening carefully.  Take notes if necessary.
• Nurture yourself.  Set aside time each day for an activity that you enjoy, such as walking, working out, listening to music, yoga or reading.  You deserve this precious time to yourself to help you unwind after a hectic workday.
• Set aside one night each week for recreation.  Take the phone off the hook, power down the computer and turn off the television.  Discover activities you can do with your partner, family or friends.  Making time for activities you enjoy will rejuvenate you.
• Protect your day off.  Try to schedule some of your routine chores on workdays so that your days off are more relaxing.
• Get enough sleep.  There is nothing as stressful as working when you are sleep deprived.  Getting the right amount of sleep will help keep your productivity high at work as well as keep you healthy. 
• Bolster your support system.  Give yourself the gift of a trusted friend to talk with during times of stress.  Having that “someone” to just listen to you can make all the difference in the world…don’t keep it bottled up inside.

Remember, striking a work-life balance isn’t a one shot deal.  Creating balance in your life is a continuous process.  Demands on your time change as your family, interests and work life change.  Assess your situation every few months to make sure you are keeping on track.  

Balance doesn’t mean doing everything.  Examine your priorities and set boundaries.  Be firm in what you can and cannot do.  Only you can restore harmony to your lifestyle.