I have been getting interested in SEO lately, but I found it difficult to know where to start. Here’s a list of decent to brilliant guides to SEO based on who you are, what you do or what software you’re using. I hope it is helpful to someone!

Who Are You?

Designer? SEO Guide for Designers

Developer? The Web Developer’s SEO Cheat Sheet

Beginner? Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization

Blogger? The Blogger’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization

What Are You Using?

Joomla? The Complete Introduction to Joomla SEO

Drupal? Drupal SEO

Wordpress? SEO for Wordpress

Topics: seo | Give Your Two Cents »

1. Define goals

What are you trying to accomplish? Want to get out of debt? Lost weight? Start a business? Clean the house?  It’s very important to define your end goals before starting anything so you have something concrete to strive towards.

2. Define outcome

Not only should you define your goals, but decide what you would like the final product to look like. Otherwise, how will you know you succeeded? Want to be 10 pounds lighter? Want your finance spreadsheet to be clear of debt?

3. Decide how to track progress

Viewing progress can be a great motivator.  You can list out your goals or track items in a spreadsheet.  It can be online or in a notebook.  Just pick one or several ways to track your progress and take a look at it and update it before and after spending time working toward your goal.

4. Educate yourself.

Do you know everything there is to know about what you want to start?  Probably not, and learning as you go is a big part of the fun.  But before you start, consider reading up on the topic just to get an idea for what you’re in for, or how to go about starting.  For example, if you want to lose 10 pounds, read up on some diets and exercises.

5. Check for shortcuts

Don’t reinvent the wheel if there is no need.  Check to see if what you’re doing has been done before.  There may be an easy way to accomplish your goal that you may have never considered.

6. Talk to people

Talk to your friends, your significant other, business people, call your Mom; just talk to someone about your goals.  They may have some advice that you can choose to ignore.  They may just create a little bit of accountability that helps push you through.  If you need help, your network of friends and family should be the first place you turn.

7. Plot out a To-Do list

What are the steps you need to take to accomplish your goal?  Write them down!  They may change a hundred times before you’ve accomplished what you have set out to, but it’s important to break everything up into smaller chunks.  It will make the whole project seem less intimidating.

8. Set aside a block of time to get started

Time management is essential.  Making sure you have the time required to do something will make it much easier than cramming it into your already busy life.  Make an appointment with yourself to get started.

AND THEN START!

Did I leave out anything?  Let me know in the comments.

Topics: Starting | 1 Comment »

Taking the plunge for anything can be a scary proposition. It doesn’t have to be though.

J.D. at Get Rich Slowly posted a great article today, “If I Can Do It Anyone Can” where he advises: “I believe if you focus on the tasks immediately at hand, your long-term goals will be easy to reach.”

It’s not always easy to know which immediate tasks to focus on, though. Sure, if you’re running a marathon, the immediate task is to put one foot in front of the other. But, I have been in the situation many times where I have laid out all the steps needed to accomplish a goal only to be frustrated at picking which one to start first.

I have found that picking the easiest, quickest task first will provide just enough momentum to really get me going on the whole list. Sometimes I break up tasks into the absolute smallest they can be, just so I have no excuse but to get started. Once I’ve completed the first thing, I physically mark it off of a list or check it off of a to-do box. I then move on to the next easiest or smallest item on the list and mark it off.

Once I start seeing all those crossed out items, I start getting excited! That tiny amount of feedback really starts building momentum for me and I can’t help but keep going.

Topics: Goals | Give Your Two Cents »

Here are my initial goals for this blog. I’m only setting goals for the first month so that I can easily regroup if I don’t meet some of them. Today is 4/22/08, so by 5/22/08, I would like to accomplish the following:

1. At least 15 posts written, which works out to one every other day.
2. 100 RSS subscribers.
3. Ranked on Alexa, under 1 million (even though I know Alexa matters little, it’s still a metric)
4. An appearance on the front page or top sites on a social media site. (reddit, digg, stumbleupon, etc)
5. 10 people in the comments saying that one of my posts helped them
6. Design a new Wordpress template for the blog.

At the end of the month, I’ll report on how the blog is doing and set new goals.

Topics: Goals | Give Your Two Cents »

Hi.

My name is Jason. I love starting new projects. Not only do I love starting new projects, but I really love starting new things in general. Websites, new goals, moving new places; it’s almost an addiction.

My problem became that if I don’t jump in to something new with both feet, after a while, the project stagnates and I give up on it. But when I plan ahead and gather knowledge, this snowball of success starts and cannot be stopped. All I really need to do to guarantee success is to Start Huge.

So here is StartHuge.com, hopefully helping you get started on something great. The topics will vary wildly but the theme will remain the same. Let’s get started!

Topics: About | Give Your Two Cents »