Blogs are often a hodgepodge of topics. Mine included.

Although I cover and provide service for many different trades/skill sets, I know the importance and power of a single focus. In my early days of training, I would jump from SEO courses to PHP development. Yes, I learned a lot but the constant switch tasking in my brain caused many nuggets of learning to be lost along the way. I learned (literally) that I should focus on one topic and try to master it before moving on.

For the early adopters in my social media and website, you will get the same laser focus on topics. September was a free for all (on purpose), but October and thereafter will have a “focus of the month”.

Time Management

One of the more important courses I finished over the last few years was by Dave Crenshaw on Lynda.com. Over the course of several hours, he instructed me how to become better at time management. I always found myself to be a very structured and organized individual. He helped me to become a MASTER.

One thing he mentioned a lot was switch-tasking (also commonly called multitasking). I felt this applied to how I was learning. Moving from topic to topic made me well versed but I never put in enough time to master a field. Once I had his epiphany, I created course playlists and never went back.

Topics That Get the ‘Focus’

I’m not fooling anyone by saying that the majority of my web traffic is friends and family. The website is relatively young and we aren’t lighting Google on fire (yet). My core audience right now is:

• NOT business owners
• NOT marketing directors
• NOT content creators
• NOT webmasters

My current audience is probably someone I sat next to in Freshman Spanish. But, I’m going to write to the people I think I can help and hopefully, my old co-workers stick around.

Practice What I Preach

I’ve been pretty active on the website since launching in July. I’ve put a lot of effort into the content. I’m building out my portfolio (one client at a time) and super active with blogs. I know that it’s a long term game and just because people aren’t visiting now, they will arrive in the future. Because of this, I will not relent.

I always talk about creating a marketing plan and a content calendar. Just because you want to index on Google for “Disney World Vacation Planner” doesn’t mean it will happen because you blog once every three months about Bohemian cruises. If you want to show up, you need to write content about Walt Disney World and how to plan trips. It’s also unlikely that one blog will do the trick.

Besides helping out local businesses, I’m going to help myself. I will do the research, practicum, and analysis for the user. There is no better way to become an expert than forcing yourself to explain something to someone.

If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.

Albert Einstein

Focusing on one topic makes it far easier to see improvements for keywords. If I see tremendous movement, I know something is working. If I don’t move an inch, back to the drawing board. It’s also a great way to see what your audience is interested in.

What’s the Focus Schedule?

Although I have the right to change, I like to plan ahead. If you frequent the site, you might even be able to guess the focus (I tend to post early and share later). The rest of 2019 is mapped out.

• October: PPC and SEM
• November: Local SEO
• December: Podcasting

These topics are exciting and good fundamental tools to use when operating a business or creating content.

Many of these will be hands-on and we can work through the setup together. I’ve actually held off doing some of the basics for my business so I can show step by step examples.

Much like search engine optimization, the long term gain will prove to be valuable.