Our internet went down last week which put our operations to a grinding halt. Ah, first world problems. Rarely does this happen because we have a neighbor with a WiFi we can borrow or tether to 4G but we had a huge outage in the area for several hours. This led me to come up with a plan of action for when this happens again. Here is what I came up with:
Write content
Although most research is done online, there is a lot of content that can be written offline. Some of the best content I’ve written has been offline. You can always cite your sources after you are done.
You can even break up into small groups and brainstorm top X lists and even titles.
If you have a weak about us or company page, you can take this time to rewrite some of that copy.
Call your clients and brainstorm
As an SEO one of the most challenging tasks is finding great content to promote. Use this downtime to talk to your clients about what to write about.
Even simple things like getting your clients to send you photos and videos can go a long way. Ask your clients to start sending you 10 photos every week of business related pictures. Let them know the more personal / funny / interesting the better. You don’t need professional photos for social media or a blog.
You can talk to them about newsletter ideas or “end of quarter” type of blog posts. You can even interview them!
Create videos
Even if you aren’t connected, you can still make great videos. Go with what you know. Pick a topic you are passionate and talk about it. Making videos can be very time consuming. There was a time I did a how-to video every week but it just got so time consuming. You can always edit it later.
Clean and organize your desktop and life
Messy bed, messy head. That has always been my philosophy.
Down time is a great time to organize photos on your desktop, Excel spreadsheets, and content. Take this time to go through the files you have in your “random” folder (we all have one) and get that in order.
You can also defrag your hard drive, uninstall bloatware and get your workspace in general in order. Clean and organize your physical workspace. When you are back online you will feel 1000% better!
Scan your computer for malware why you are at it and delete any temp files, and downloaded programs that are taking up space.
If you have a to-do list take a good hard look at it. Delete any completed items and merge items that can be done in 1 task. Why not even try to knock some of those to-do’s out?
Design images
There is no shortage of images that need to be designed in any brand. Think ahead for upcoming posts or features and per-design images. Have any shoddy images on your current website? Why not redesign them?
You can redesign your social media icons or even play around with logo concepts. If you have extra time why not brainstorm and try to develop a viral meme. If you don’t have a business card why not whip one up?
You can also learn some new design tricks while your internet is down. This leads me to my next suggestion. If you do a lot of Facebook or other display advertising you can make some ads.
Take photos
A lot of blogs use photos so why not stock up on them? If you have access to any studio equipment you can even take some stock images for later use. Taking an hour to take some “stock images” can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars in image licensing fees.
Photographs do great on social media so if you can come up with some fun or interesting photo ideas in your office it will go a long way. Even if you have a bunch already it is always a good idea to stockpile content of any type for later.
If you have employees you can snap some “about us” photos for your website. It is hard to get everyone in the same room at the same time so seize any opportunity to do so.
Learn something new
Take this time to learn something new. Here are some new things you can learn that will directly help your SEO game without needing to be online:
- learn design or video editing using Adobe products
- learn Linux command line tools
- learn about .htaccess files using a local Apache server
- play with Macros on Notepad++ or Excel
- learn Regex using Notepad++ or another program
- learn HTML and CSS by writing code and rendering it in a local browser like Firefox or Chrome
- learn Javascript or even PHP if you have a Linux machine laying around
Write email copy
Have an upcoming email campaign you are about to send you? Now is a great time to draft emails you are going to send out. This is typically a lengthy process since most email marketers write 2-3 or even more versions of an email during split testing.
If you can’t write your email copy without being online you can start brainstorming subject lines. This is an extremely daunting task that can make or break any marketing campaign.
Go outside
Go outside and breath some fresh air. If you are lucky enough to work at Elite Strategies you have a coffee place right next store you can walk to. Thanks 🙂
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