5 Steps To Reclaim Your Inbox And Stop The Information Overload Madness!

 

You sit down at your desk, power on your computer and open your email program. Beware, because this is where the Information Overload begins…

Four hours later you are still processing emails, having accomplished nothing on your task list and managing to add 17 new things to it at the same time.

Most people end up having a love/hate relationship with their Inbox. Email is necessary in an online business, of course. And while you would love to spend those morning hours doing something more productive… you know there are opportunities and time sensitive messages that need your attention in that sea of email.

What can you do about it? Everyone has the same problem, it’s just a side effect of running an online business. Right? Wrong – it’s your inbox, and it’s time to regain control…

Step 1: Mind Shift – Put Yourself Back In The Power Position

It’s easy to become a slave to email, convincing yourself that each of those messages are absolutely necessary to your success. Not true. There are ways to keep an eye on things without letting it dictate your schedule.

Stop processing information as it arrives, and realize that you have a choice. A choice as to when and how you process information. Otherwise you will end up with Information Overload, and on the wrong end of the process. Your priority should be putting out content… not absorbing it.

Step 2: Unsubscribe From Distractions

You dont need to know that Dell is having a sale on their laptops, unless you are in the market for a laptop. You dont need to know that Staples is clearing out certain office supplies, unless you need office supplies. And you dont need to know the latest CPA offers from your favorite pay-per-lead network, unless you are ready to sit down and set up a new PPL campaign.

Unsubscribe from all updates and notifications that you can easily check online when you need them. When you are ready to buy a new laptop, you can check out the current specials at Dell.com. Period.

Choose when you are going to make purchases and take actions, instead of letting your emails distract you and encourage you to make impulse buys.

Step 3: Email Management – Filter, Automate & Organize

First, if you still have Spam in your Inbox… get rid of it. I use a program called SpamBully that works beautifully. Unlike a service that charges a monthly or recurring fee, this is a program that you pay for once (30 bucks) and then you are done with Spam forever.

Once you have the junk mail filtered out, its time to work on organizing and filtering the rest of your email. Analyze what is currently in your Inbox and determine which messages require your attention, and how you can best organize your groups of email.

If your online sales are automated, then sales messages can be filtered into their own folder and checked at a glance. Notifications from new subscribers to your autoresponder or email list can also be filtered into their own folder, keeping them neatly organized and easy to check.

You might also create a folder in your email program for ‘Notifications’ and filter all forum replies, blog comments and similar notices into that folder. I find this to be a great help in keeping my Inbox uncluttered, and also helping me to focus on those things when I am ready to sit down and do my networking.

Step 4: More Efficient Alternatives For Managing Information

Now that your Inbox is free from the clutter of spam and email notifications, most Internet Marketers are left with two things: email messages from real people and newsletters you subscribe to. Depending on the type of online business you manage, this could still equal a mountain of messages to deal with.

First, if you get a lot of questions regarding your business via email, then you’ll want to set up an FAQ on your website that addresses these questions for your visitors. Look at ways that you can automate things you are currently managing via email.

Second, unsubscribe from the newsletters you dont read or the newsletters that dont give you information you rely on in your business.

Now you are left with the subscriptions that deliver timely information and keep you ‘in the know’ about your industry. You can easily move the majority of these to their own folder in your email program as well, or you can look at more efficient alternatives for scanning these sources.

If you are not already using RSS to receive information, now is the time to do that. And if you are, its time to get it organized and make it the efficient means of scanning information that it was meant to be.

For more on RSS or ‘feeds’, see RSS Marketing and What The Heck Is RSS?

I use an RSS Reader called FeedDemon which is a program that allows me to subscribe to and organize feeds. The goal is to organize your subscriptions the same way you do your emails: so that you can get information at a glance, when you need it.

I have folders for blogs that I read, forums I browse, A-List bloggers, Internet Marketers and niche blogs/feeds that relate to specific sites I manage.

If you are subscribed to a lot of Internet Marketing newsletters or lists, this can be a huge time saver for you. Most Internet Marketers publish the same information to their blogs. Those that dont may have their newsletter published in RSS – especially if they use Aweber or GetResponse to manage their list.

My own list is managed through Aweber, and the feed address for that list is: http://www.aweber.com/z/rss/?sswt . If your favorite publishers dont offer an RSS Feed address, ask them if they have one or if they would consider providing one. Its as easy as clicking a button in their mailing list programs to offer this option to their readers.

Step 5: Getting Back To The Basics

Set up ‘Rules’ or filters for anything that doesnt require your immediate attention, so that your Inbox once again becomes the communication tool it was intended to be. The first step is in realizing that your email is dictating how you spend your time online, and realizing that you have a choice about how you receive and process information that you need.

Take steps to automate and organize your information, and then use your Inbox for EMAIL. This will free up endless hours of your time, and allow you to offer a better response time to messages that do require a response.

Best,

Tags: email, inbox, spam, information overload, time management

Category: Internet Marketing · Work at Home