This morning’s sessions were a mixed bag with Twitter tips from self-described Twitter expert Mark Shaw, making the most of mobile from Blackberry employee Dan Sloshberg, improving your visibility online from The Good Web Guide’s Arabella Dymoke, and lastly 7 social media tips from social media marketer Warren Knight. The afternoon was considerably more informative with Chieu Cao from start up business Huddlebuy showing real insights into how they have leveraged social media to grow, Chris Dodson from Concept Cupboard with an insight into some great social media tools, and lastly, Ural Cebeci from Skype highlighting some of the business features of both paid and free Skype accounts (look out for a post next week on this – I learnt there is more to Skype than chatting to Dad in Ireland!).

So live off the presses, here are some ideas and insights that got me scribbling:

Getting your house in order

Arabella talked abut the importance of getting your website sorted out before you send anyone your way. This is crucial. So often we forget to check our own website to ensure that it is giving visitors a great first impression.

Have you checked your website in a range of browsers? Does it work in older versions of Internet Explorer as well as the latest version of Chrome? How does it look on an iPad or a Blackberry? Are the links working on your site? Are your social media icons prominent and obvious for new visitors or are they hidden in the footer of your site? What are the top 5 things you want people to do when they visit your site? Write them down and test it out with new users.

Making the most of content

We all know content is king (or is it queen?) but are you making the most of it on the web?

You may have a blog but do you make it easy for people to find your great posts? Have a review of the titles of your posts – do you have the key words that the article is about right there in the title? Is your website so old that your permalink structure (the URL of your posts) are impossible to change? It might be time to build a new WordPress website.

Are you making the most of video? With YouTube being the second biggest search engine in the world after you know who, video can be a great way of driving traffic to your site.

Like to talk? Use iTunes and your podcast show to become know as an expert in your field. Have a look at the Smart Passive Income blog to see how Pat has used this strategy effectively.

Have great presentations? Upload them onto Slideshare and display them on your LinkedIn profile.

Get active on social media

Warren Knight confirmed the million dollar question: do Google take tweets and Facebook shares into account in their search signals. And the answer is yes. Being active on social media can help with your searchability and help your web profile.

Warren had some great advice about Facebook – post once a day to your Business Page – something with an image or video and a comment. Don’t be tempted to post multiple times a day – this is not Twitter! And do not autopost your tweets onto Facebook – use the longer text capabilites of Facebook to your advantage.

If you can, tweet around 5 times a day (use TweetDeck or Hootsuite to schedule your tweets to go out throughout the day). But don’t stress if you can’t get on Twitter during the day or even for a few days. Don’t add to the noise if you have nothing to say.

Think of social media platforms as dating

Chieu used a good analogy of comparing the holy trinity of social media platforms to dating avenues. Think of Twitter as speed dating. Short and sweet. Fast and furious. Be interesting and make an impression. Facebook is proper dating. You start to get to know someone and find out more about them. You want to engage more and increase interaction but still keep it light. LinkedIn is a marriage arranging service. It’s formal, professional and to the point. (Ok, so the last idea was mine, but I like the dating analogy!).

Understanding tradeoffs

Every speaker at the event talked about time. How much time to spend on social media and where to put your time.

Chieu made an interesting point that growing a business is about a balance between getting better at what is working and spending time exploring new things. This is a great point. How often do we chase new customers, brainstorm new products and services, or jump on new networks. We need to know what is working in our online activity (which is where measurement and metrics come in) and balance this with spending some time experimenting with new ideas. Chieu used the analogy of gambling – once you get back your initial bet, go play with the rest, but make sure you don’t lose your shirt.

That’s it. Thanks to StartUp Britain for an interesting day.

What does the word conjure up in your mind? Best invention in the world? Overflowing inbox? 24/7 connectivity? Great way to communicate? Creator of stress?

At a recent talk I gave about working better (video link), the topic of email overload reared its head and totally divided the audience. There were those that felt that their inbox was out of control. Those that didn’t care. And those that happily processed work email on the couch in the evening.

There is no question that email is a significant issue for many knowledge workers. Research shows that the average worker receives 126 emails per day and spends more than 41% of their time managing e-mail. The amount of email also rises 10-20% each year so this is not a problem that is going to go away.

Ray Tomlinson is the chap responsible for all this. In 1971, he developed the code that enabled him to send an e-mail between two computers for the first time. He says about his invention:

“I do feel proud of this accomplishment. In some sense it was such a simple thing to do at the time, but it has had ramifications through many people’s lives. What I didn’t anticipate is how fast it would grow once it started growing.”

Professor Cary Cooper, Professor of Organisational Psychology and Health at Lancaster University advises the government on stress in the workplace. He believes e-mail is a major source of employee stress:

“E-mail inboxes are causing employees concern, because of the number of e-mails and the poorly written e-mails. They really want to find some sort of solutions for these problems. We are 24/7, we are interfaced by the mobile phone, by Blackberrys, by e-mails, by a whole range of technologies, so that we are almost on call all the time. For me, e-mail is one of the most pernicious stressors of our time.”

What is Inbox Zero?

Inbox Zero is a term that describes an empty email inbox. Merlin Mann of productivity site 43 Folders (named incidentally after part of David Allen’s GTD system) was the first to coin the phrase. The system views every email as something to be ‘processed’ rather than left festering in your inbox. Emails are deleted, delegated, replied to (if they take under 2 minutes), read and archived, or send to an Action folder (which then gets processed). The idea is to see your inbox as a waiting room for email rather than a final resting place.

Sounds great until you actually try to implement the system which I did a few years ago when I first started learning about and practicing productivity methods. Like GTD (which I have also written about on this blog), I think that Inbox Zero focuses too much time and energy on the system rather than the outcome. Email is a constantly flowing river that we have, to an extent, a limited amount of control over. I like to think of email as being a set of other people’s priorities being pushed towards us when we open our inbox. Clearing your inbox on a Friday might make you feel good but by Monday it’s just going to be full again.

What we can change is our relationship to email. We can examine our use of email and see if it’s really serving us or if we are a slave to its ebbs and flows.

Becoming an Email Ninja

An Email Ninja recognises the distracting power of email and uses mindfulness and awareness to avoid wasting time on email busywork.

An Email Ninja uses tools, applications and hacks to process her inbox fast so she can get back to her Important Work.

An Email Ninja knows the power of well crafted emails and subject lines to get her message across.

An Email Ninja has a relaxed and Zen attitude towards her inbox as she knows all the important emails have been dealt with.

An Email Ninja takes advantage of the convenience of mobile email without getting caught up in a 24/7 working culture.

If you want to become an Email Ninja, join me for a practical three hour workshop in London on Wednesday 20 July. We will be looking at:

• How a mindful approach to email can give you a new perspective on your email.
• Knowledge of tools and applications that will help you supercharge your email and your productivity.
• Ways to reduce the amount of incoming emails without reducing your effectiveness.
• Strategies, hacks and tips for processing your inbox fast.

So you can have another busy, unproductive … and stressful year.

Or join me and get Mindful.