Have you heard of permaculture? This is a system of agriculture where instead of fighting nature all the time (weeding, hoeing, digging etc) you work with it so it naturally produces high yields with minimal effort. It’s not just in my garden that I am attempting to apply this principle.

Once I became hooked on blogs and books related to productivity, organisation and getting things done I became convinced that I needed to be and could be the type of person who leapt out of bed at six, throw on some running shoes and pausing only to down a pint of water headed out the door for a run. On my return I’d whip through my cleaning routine, jump in the shower, down a smoothie and be at my desk by eight. News flash, I can’t be that person. I’ve tried every version of the above scenario and it has never come even close to working. Likewise I can’t substitute toast and marmite in the morning for porridge or a smoothie, I really don’t want a life without meat and the thought of never having a glass of wine or a cold beer again just fills with me horror. Quite frankly I’m fed up with fighting against a lifetime of ingrained behaviours and habits.

Instead of forcing myself to be someone I’m not I’ve learnt to listen to myself more and make small changes here and there based on what I know will work for me. I don’t like exercising for the sake of exercising. That means any sort of solitary fitness, gym sessions or runs fist thing in the morning are never going to work. Taekwondo classes in the evening on the other hand are perfect for me. They are high intensity, provide the accountability that I need, the belts mean they are progressive and I enjoy the social element too. My fitness is now taken care of without a constant fight.

I have observed in myself over the past few years that although I don’t mind cleaning, I am unable to stick to a schedule and I don’t like doing more than about ten minutes at a time. No more forcing myself into doing 30 minutes a day in the vain hope that a habit will form. This works against me and results in the cleaning not getting done. Now I do little, and often and I embrace the art of multitasking. Before I put the washing on I wipe over the machine. Before I switch the television on I give it a dust (and the table it sits on). After I’ve put my computer away I give the table a wipe. While I wait for the kettle to boil I sweep the kitchen floor. While I brush my teeth I wipe down the sink and taps. I could go on and on but you probably get the idea. This system might not be perfect and it might not work for everyone, but for me it just ensures the cleaning gets taken care of without a constant battle.

Trying to get up at 6am was a serious struggle for me. I became trapped in a vicious circle where for a few days I’d manage it only to turn my alarm off on day 5 and go back to sleep until 10am. Then I’d feel guilty and lazy and berate myself for the rest of the day. This cycle would then start all over again on monday. No more. Now I set my alarm for 6.45 and I make sure I start the day with something I enjoy, something that actually entices me to get up. On occasion I will reset my alarm for 8am and go back to sleep. If I do this all I have missed is my early morning blogging session, not my whole morning routine. That means there are no feelings of guilt or that the whole day has been ruined. It’s simple and most importantly it’s peaceful.

There are hundreds of small ways that I have stopped fighting with myself and my life has definitely improved as a result. I highly recommend you give it a go. Start by highlighting any area that causes a constant internal battle. Then observe your behaviours in relation to it. Ask yourself (or research on the internet) if there are any alternative ways you could approach the task or problem that would prevent the fighting.

What causes you to fight against yourself?

If you want help identifying and eliminating ways you fight against yourself and start achieving more then contact me.

By now we are all well aware of the benefits of SEO and online marketing but it can so easily the one thing that is continually ignored on the to do list. Because SEO might not necessarily bring immediate benefits to your business it tends to get bumped for the day to day tasks. Start the New Year with a resolution to carry out just 10 minutes per day of SEO and marketing – you will truly be amazed at the results. Contrary to popular belief 10 minutes a day of SEO is enough to have considerable effect on your visitor traffic and visibility in the search engines.

So for all those who have only the capability or desire to spend just 10 minutes a day on SEO tasks (and I know there are plenty out there!) here is a list of 10 minute tasks you can do that will have you reaping the benefits for months and even years to come.

Write a short blog post and post it to your blog. The post could be an industry update rewritten from another source or a simple post with links to interesting articles related to your blog or website.

Create a list of blogs relevant to your niche and find a new one each day to add to it. Ultimately you want to be very active within this blogging community but at first just preparing a list and keeping an eye on the movers and shakers within it is enough.

Leave a comment on a blog post that is relevant to your niche. By getting involved in the blogosphere you will build up your reputation as a thought leader in your industry and attract more visitors to your own site or blog.

Submit a link to dmoz- You never know, it might get accepted.

Post a link to a blog post you have commented on to facebook and/or linkedin and/or twitter.

Post a link to a blog post you have commented on to Digg and/or Delicious and/or any other social bookmarking site.

Follow 10 people on twitter who are involved in your niche.

Send emails to the top bloggers in your industry asking if you can guest post – ok so this one might be a long shot but it’s worth mentioning. Sometimes bloggers love the idea of getting free posts. Generally though you need to already be an established voice within your industry for your offer to be accepted.

Gaining links is still the best way to gain traffic and visibility in the search engines. The way to gain these links has changed somewhat however over the years – link directories are out and social media is in. Social media is also a very efficient way of gaining links because one article or tweet can keep bringing in the traffic for years. When you have only 10 minutes a day to dedicate to online marketing and SEO, these bite sized tasks are the most effective way to spend it.

If you want to go even further with your online marketing efforts but aren’t sure on where to start then contact me for some no nonsense advice.

I am in no doubt that developing a good morning routine sets your whole day off on the right foot. There are a few rules however that need to be adhered to if your own morning routine is going to provide a genuinely useful start to your day and also likely to stick. The rules are very simple and are as follows:

Have a reason to get up

I have written about this in more detail here. If you want to be able to get up early then you need to have an enjoyable reason to do so. Thoughts of a cup of coffee and blogging session work for me.

The routine must not be taxing

I have tried routines that have involved dog walking, cleaning, yoga, reading, regular exercise….none of them lasted. They were just too much for me to handle first thing in the morning. I know that some people can get up at 4.30 for exercise, work, showers etc but I have come to accept that I am not one of them. A cup of coffee and a sit down in front of my computer are as far as I can go.

The routine must not be long

Another mistake is to make the morning routine one that lasts hours and hours. My actual morning routine (aside from the blogging I begin the day with) lasts just 40 minutes. This is the part where I prepare myself and my surroundings for the day ahead.

Get ready for the day ahead

The morning is not the time for washing up last night’s dinner or preparing for something in two weeks time. It is simply the time for getting yourself, your family and your house prepared for the day ahead. This is plenty to do without having to deal with last night’s dried on saucepans or next week’s plans.

Prepare your house for the day

Walking into a very untidy house after a busy day can be a serious energy drain. The morning is the time to make sure this doesn’t happen. Include a quick pick up in your morning routine and you will feel much more relaxed when you arrive home later on.

Multi-Task

I don’t believe in multi-tasking when it comes to doing the big rocks of the day (the most important tasks) but for minor domestic chores it really helps move things along. While the kettle is boiling put any clean dishes away or straighten the sofa cushions. When you are waiting for your toast to toast have a quick pick up or empty the bin.

My own morning routine looks like this:

• Make coffee while putting clean dishes away
• Blogging
• Put washing on
• Get dressed (outfit picked out night before) etc
• Quick pick up in sitting room / kitchen while waiting for breakfast to be ready
• Pack up computer and things for day while eating breakfast
• Wipe down table and chairs, wash up breakfast dishes
• Hang washing out to dry
• Leave for work

None of these tasks (aside from blogging) take longer than a couple of minutes. I have come to the conclusion that most domestic chores don’t – there are just so many that it can feel like a mountain sometimes.

This routine is not too long, not too taxing and ensures that my day gets off to the best start possible.

What does your morning routine look like?

If you want help creating and implementing a new kick ass morning routine then contact me today!

The way search engines rank sites is ever changing. What may have once worked like a charm in terms of SEO may now cost you dearly. Hiding keywords in the page, duplicating content or keyword stuffing have always been frowned upon by search engines but today are banned practices that could cause a dramatic drop in your quality score of even see your site fall into the abyss entirely. SEO is no longer about link exchanges and link directories, now it is a sophisticated art form. Here are the top 5 deadly SEO mistakes that will do more harm than good………

Ignoring URLs

The URL is a crucial part of SEO. The root domain should be as short as possible and be easily remembered by visitors. The URLs on every page of the a site or blog should be search engine friendly and ideally contain the main keyword of the page. For example a page about seo copywriting would ideally have the URL “domain.com/seo-copywriting. A keyword in the URL is far more effective than a keyword in the text in terms of SEO.

Keyword Stuffing Meta Tags

As we saw in the last blog post, meta information is important to onsite SEO, but it needs to be used wisely. Keyword stuffing will get you nowhere, in fact it will turn off potential visitors and annoy the search engines. Make sure the meta tags are optimised but don’t overstuff them.

Spamming Backlinks

Quality is far more effective than quantity when it comes to backlinks. If your site suddenly receives hundreds of low quality backlinks (perhaps from link directories) in a short space of time, your site could be dropped from the rankings. The search engines do not like this practice and will punish you severely for doing it.

Spamming Blogs and Forums

This follows on from the point above. Spamming blogs and forums is very bad practice indeed. It severely annoys other members of the forums and those genuine readers of blogs. Blog and forum commenting is a useful social media marketing strategy however the comments must be relevant and must contribute to the conversation. Any “great post, thanks” comments are just not on, mkay?

Ignoring the Page Title

Time and time again I see websites where the page title has not a single keyword in it. The page title is probably the most important part of onsite SEO. Don’t make the mistake of overstuffing it but adding one or two main keywords is an absolute must. If you ignore this your site hasn’t much of a chance against the competition.

If you would like to receive  a free onsite SEO review or would like to start reaping the benefits of your own onsite SEO then contact me.

Although there are plenty of adventure holiday companies offering everything from trekking through the jungle to camel riding across the Sahara, you need very deep pockets in order to participate.

To me adventure means doing something something new, travelling into the unknown or experiencing something unique. To that end I don’t believe adventure has to come with a hefty price tag. I have discovered a few ways to see the world without spending a fortune and come up with some unique holiday and activity ideas too. If you crave adventure and travel but don’t have a huge budget then this list is for you.

Learn Kung Fu in China

http://www.shaolinskungfu.com/

Let’s kick off with martial arts. There are a number of kung fu schools in China (like the one linked above) offering stays of one week to three years or even longer. If you want to experience a foreign land while learning something pretty darn cool then this is for you. The tuition is incredible value for money, there are discounts available on longer stays and accommodation is all organised for you. You will also learn about Chinese culture in general and even pick up some of the language.

Homestays

http://www.homestaybooking.com/

Homestays are a wonderful way to immerse yourself fully in another culture. There are homestays available all over the world. It is not totally free, but is a very cost effective to enjoy another part of the world. Often there are language lessons available at an additional cost too.

Couch Surfing

http://www.couchsurfing.org/

Couch surfing is completely free. It is a website of members who offer their spare rooms / sofa beds or even just sofas to each other. With participants from all over the world you get to stay in all sorts of wonderful places completely free.

Houseswap

http://www.homeexchange.com/

Another great way to visit a foreign country on a budget is to participate in a home swap. You don’t have to own a stunning beach front apartment or country manor either. Any type of home from anywhere in the world can make the ideal house swap for someone.

Wild Camping

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2007/mar/31/saturday.camping.green

http://www.outdooraccess-scotland.com/

Wherever you live there are likely to be opportunities for wild camping. The links above are useful if you live in the UK. “Roughing it” for a few days can be a great way to have an adventure and something the whole family will enjoy. You could fish for your food, cook over an open flame and have plenty of time for sing songs around the campfire.

Geocaching

http://www.geocaching.com/

This is an activity that is carried out all over the world so you can take part when you are at home or abroad. Members hide “caches” anywhere they want and place the coordinates of the location on the website. Others can then go and hunt for the cache. Geocaching is about as close to treasure hunting as you are likely to get and is completely free.

Street Wars

http://www.streetwars.net/

Street Wars is a watergun assassination tournament. You can unleash your inner James Bond or other kick ass assassin of your choice. It lasts three weeks. Participants receive the name, address and phone number of their target at the start and have to carry out the “assassination” by any means possible. Check out the website for information about an upcoming event.

WWOOF – World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms

http://www.wwoof.org/

You can volunteer to work on an organic farm anywhere in the world and in return you receive accommodation, food and education about living an organic and sustainable lifestyle.

If anyone has any other suggestions for adventures on a budget please leave a comment.

If you want to experience your own adventure on a budget then I can organise it for you. Contact me to find out more.

I have come to a realisation that one of the biggest time wasters is setting and putting effort into reaching arbitrary goals. The hours I have spent trying to learn the native tongue of countries I rarely visit or reading turgid books simply because I set them up as a goal. It is so easy to get sucked into an endless stream of arbitrary goal setting, but what’s the point? Will it really matter if I have never seen the top 100 films of all time? Who will judge me if I read only 40 books in a year instead of 52. Do I really need to be a great cook? I believe it is far more useful to set yourself one life changing goal at a time and put all your efforts into reaching it. The payoff is far greater.

Arbitrary goals simply get in the way of working towards the things that matter or the things that bring true happiness. It is easy to ignore a mountain of debt or an unhealthy lifestyle by focusing on smaller, less important goals. Instead I believe in grabbing life by the scruff of the neck and going after the one thing you really want. When you’ve got it, go onto the next.

In my experience the best goals are those where both the journey and the end result have a positive impact on the rest of your life. Taming your finances for example could lead you towards starting your own blog or website, becoming an ebay / amazon seller, decluttering your home, learning to grow your own food and developing a host of other valuable life skills. The end result of a life free from debt and more financial security is not bad either. Getting fit is another goal worth fighting for. While striving for this you could find yourself enjoying new activities, taking up a sport, meeting new people, giving up smoking, losing weight and gaining a shed load of confidence along the way. The end result of being fit and healthy is pretty amazing too.

Try it and see. Unclutter your brain and your to do list with endless goals, tasks and projects that lead you to things that have a limited long term impact. Instead focus on the one goal that you know will change your life forever from the the minute you start striving towards it. Will it be relocating? Will it be starting your own business? Will it be retraining for a new career? Be honest with yourself and then take the first step towards making it happen.

Need help identifying your bad ass goal? I can make sure you reach it too. Contact me today and let’s get started.

The important of onsite SEO should never be overlooked. Onsite SEO means a lot more than simply some text with a couple of keywords scattered here and there. Here is an onsite SEO checklist that will help you ensure your website has everything it needs to rank well in the search engines.

Effective Keywords

You should always start with keywords, but they must be effective keywords. Nothing too vague, nothing too broad and not too many either. An ideal number of keywords to target per website page is three – one primary keyword and two secondary. If you would like to learn how to do effective keyword research make sure you check out my previous post on the subject.

Optimised Content

All content on a website must be optimised. To write good SEO content you need to aim for a keyword density of 2.7%. You should also make sure the keywords are used throughout the text rather than bunched together in one place. If possible use the keywords at the start of sentences rather than at the end. Content should be easy to read too. That means the font should be a reasonable size with plenty of spaces between paragraphs.

Optimised Page Title

This is a crucial part of onsite SEO. The page title is the title that appears in the tab at the top of the website. It also appears as the title on search engines results. This title must contain your keywords for the page.

Optimised Meta Description

The meta description goes behind the scenes. It appears in the results page of the search engines. It should be quite salesy in order to capture attention and should contain the relevant keywords.

Optimised Main Heading (H1)

Website text should always be broken down with headings and sub headings both to make it easier for visitors to read and also for the search engines. A big, bold heading that contains your keywords will cause the search engine spiders to rank your site more highly for those terms.

Optimised Secondary Headings (H2)

Your keywords should be used in headings throughout the website text for the same reasons as those stated above.

Optimised URL

The main keyword or key phrase of your page should be included in the URL to further improve your SEO efforts.

Meta Keywords

The meta keywords aren’t actually hugely influential in terms of SEO, but it can’t hurt to add them so go for it. These sit behind the scenes are can only be seen by viewing the source code.

If you make sure that each of these items is included on every page of your website you will have ensured the site has a solid SEO basis.

Need help with your onsite SEO? Contact me to discuss the affordable SEO packages I have available.

Part 3: The Negatives of Living Abroad

Welcome to my series “Expat Life: Warts and All”. If you are just joining up you might want to check out the earlier parts in the series. In Part 1 I have provided some background about my own experiences as an expat. In part 2 I have provide a list of some of the main ways I have benefited from this type of lifestyle over the past few years.

If you are up to speed then let’s move on with Part 3, the negatives. Obviously there are huge negatives such as saying goodbye to family, but I wanted to create a list of the little things that would not necessarily be considered. Again I should mention that these are just my experiences and I’m sure there are loads of expats who disagree.

1 Miss out on important events “back home”

I doubt there is an expat in the land who hasn’t teared up when talking to a friend or family member celebrating an important event where they are not present. Most of the time it is absolutely fine being away from friends and family, but sometimes it can be a real strain.

2 Have to answer the same set of questions over and over!

This might not sound too bad but when you are being asked for the hundredth time why you left (insert country) or why you have moved to (insert place) and my personal favourite “what do you do there” it can get pretty old.

3 Often asked to explain your financial situation

I was brought up to believe you never talked about money. As an expat however you have to be prepared to explain your financial situation to anyone that asks. Usually the question is phrased “how do you live here?” and is often third on the list after “where are you from” and “how long have you lived here”. You will also be asked constantly how much something you have bought cost, even your house!

4 Visits “back home” can be stressful

The problem is that when you go back to visit friends and family there are often several sets of people that want to see you and vice versa. This is lovely of course but be warned the onus will usually fall on you to “do the rounds”. This means that even once you arrive your travelling doesn’t end there. All the travelling between places can be particularly difficult when you are with young children.

5 Expat Life is Transient

This is especially true in parts of the world where living there is viable solely on a visa or a work permit. Good friends can leave at any moment. It can be very difficult when this happens and can leave you feeling isolated.

6 Expat Guilt

You ask any expat and nine out of ten will say they carried some degree of guilt about leaving. The action of moving abroad (when not attached to a job offer) can feel selfish and as though you are off to look for something better. The only advice I can give is to work doubly hard at maintaining relations and to say that eventually the guilt fades.

7 Expect to be talked about

I don’t mean to offend, but generally expats are quite nosy.  I know all sorts of really personal things about people that I have never met simply because others around me have been talking about them. Similarly I fully expect people I have never met to know exactly who I am, where I live, what I do for a living and what car I drive.

That concludes my list of the negatives of being an expat. If anyone agrees, disagrees or has anything to add then please do leave a comment.

Hmm, I just cannot believe that our bodies fail us in this one fundamental way that results in us having to douse ourselves with water continuously. Maybe it’s because I’ve tried and failed so many times to get the recommended eight glasses that I’m calling time on the mantra “drink more water.” There are not many things I hate more than trying to drink a glass of water when I am simply not thirsty. Then there is the constantly full bladder to contend with.

So anyway, I’ve had a look into it. No one seems to know where this “eight glasses” figure comes from. The body is largely made up of water and does lose approximately this amount each day through normal activity. This doesn’t mean however we need to deliberately replace the loss ourselves because the body is perfectly adapted to draw water from the food we eat and the other drinks we consume. It appears that the body will even retain water from tea, coffee and soft drinks. So you see we don’t need to spend our days looking for ways to take on more water. It’s all taken care for us by our extremely clever bodies.

I have discovered that my happy place when it comes to drinking water is to have a glass with lunch and a glass with my evening meal. I don’t want to turn my back on water altogether and of course it is a healthier choice than a fizzy drink or processed juice. I’m just not going to treat it like some never ending daily battle. My advice is to find your happy balance with water and free yourself with from the daily torment that you are not getting enough because the chances are, you are!

One of the reasons I was so confident about taking the plunge into self employment was because of the existence of freelancing websites like elance.com and freelancer.com. They surely remove half the battle of working for yourself – finding clients?

I did see some success with freelancing websites. I did win various jobs and some of them were reasonably lucrative. Elance was where I focused by attention and every day I would spend time going through the job boards and applying for projects that looked appealing. It was hard though. The competition was very tough and the whole process was incredibly time consuming. The sites themselves take a considerable project fee too.

I am certainly glad however that I had this experience. It was a fantastic way to cut my teeth on a few projects and it helped show me exactly what buyers / clients are looking for. It was because of freelancer websites that my SEO copywriting and other professional SEO services started to take shape.

Nowadays I use other methods to find new clients (a future post) however I do still believe freelancing websites are a good way if you are just starting out, or if you are considering the dive into self employment but feeling unsure. They are also a good way to generate some side income on top of a regular 9 – 5 job. I saw a lot of rejection at first on Elance and it wasn’t until I had a small epiphany that my luck started to change.

At first I was submitting proposals for projects without actually explaining how I would complete the project at hand. I’d provide my credentials, my previous experience and my skill set – all important information for the buyer of course, but that is where my proposal would end. I didn’t provide any deliverables and I didn’t provide a time frame for completion. In fact other than a cursory mention of the project to show I’d read the description, the project itself didn’t feature in my proposal at all.

Once I realised I needed a more direct approach and my proposals needed to be focused around the steps I would take to complete the work, things started to improve. To make the proposal process more streamlined and efficient I created a flexible proposal template and would delete / add information as appropriate. I have decided to attach it here so that others can benefit.

I hope you find this flexible proposal template useful. It can be adapted or altered as you see fit and of course it will need tailoring to each individual project you apply for. Don’t forget to add a summary of your previous experience, skill set and other relevant information as you why you’d be perfect for the role – but just don’t base the entire proposal around this information.

Let me know how you get on and contact me if you would like help applying for jobs.