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How to Optimize Your Blog for Search Engines in 7 Simple Steps

You’ve just started a blog and are wondering how to optimize your blog for search engines. You’re in luck because this post covers some of the most important strategies you can use to optimize your blog for search engines.

Optimize your blog for search engines using these simple steps

1. Keyword Research

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of making your website more visible and accessible to search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Search engine optimization techniques are ways to improve your website’s ranking in search results so that more people can find your site. Keyword research is a part of SEO and allows you to identify what people search for on Google, Yahoo, etc.

You can then use this information to help optimize your web pages to rank higher in searches. Keyword research is important because it gives you insight into what people are looking for and how you can make your content more relevant to their interests.

Keyword research starts with analyzing the keyword landscape that surrounds your industry. For example, if you are a blogger who writes about business and marketing topics, you would want to see what words and phrases other popular blogs in the same space use in their titles and URLs.

You would then want to see if it makes sense for your blog’s title or URL to be different from the norm or if it makes sense for you to include something that is commonly used by your competitors. Once you have completed this step, it is time to actually conduct some keyword research.

Searching for a good tool to do keyword research? Check out Google Ads keyword planner or Answer the Public.

2. Ask Readers for Feedback

One of the best ways to improve your blog is to ask readers for feedback. You can do this in a variety of ways. The most common method is to ask them directly at the end of each post. Simply write something like “Do you have any comments or questions?” and ask people to leave their thoughts in the comments section. (So yeah, go for it here!)

You should also consider setting up a form on your website where readers can contact you directly. This could be as simple as a contact page with an email address, or something more complex like a comprehensive contact form that lets users select different categories based on why they’re contacting you.

Consider creating a survey for readers to fill out as well. This is particularly useful if you want to know whether or not your blog is meeting people’s needs, or if there are certain topics that people would like to see covered.

document on top of stationery
Photo by Lukas on Pexels.com

3. Avoid Duplication

It’s important to avoid duplicate content, not only because you’re breaking search engine rules and could face sanctions from Google, but also because duplicate content isn’t as useful to your readers as unique content. However, if you are posting on different sites, make sure to note the original source in your settings. For example, I also post my content on Medium.

When you publish the same article on multiple pages of your site, you’re wasting the time of anyone who clicks through—they’ve already read this information on one of the other pages. If the articles are about the same topic, it can be even more confusing for your visitors to be bounced around, especially if they don’t see a clear distinction between what’s in one article and what’s in another.

I usually recommend that people write a single article containing all the relevant information they want to share, but with different subheadings or tags to indicate when they’re moving onto a new subtopic. It doesn’t matter if there are some overlaps in the writing from one section to another—that’ll happen naturally when you’re just writing about one thing anyway.

The important thing is that your reader has an easy way to tell when you’re talking about something new, so they don’t have to go back and reread an entire paragraph just because it wasn’t clear which part was a continuation of where they left off. This is helpful when trying to optimize your blog for search engines.

4. Use Internal Links

Internal links are hyperlinks that connect one page on your site to another page on the same site. Since search engine algorithms favor websites with more internal links, you will increase the value of your blog by strategically including links from all relevant pages to each other.

The quality of your content will also be improved if you include more links within the content itself because they will help guide readers through the rest of the article. For example, if you’re writing a post about how to develop your cooking skills, you could include a brief overview of common cooking methods at the beginning and end of the article, linking back to full articles on those methods elsewhere on your blog.

5. Edit Your Permalinks

The first step to optimize your blog for search engines is to check its permalink structure. This refers to the way the permalinks are set up on your site — how they look and how they affect search engine optimization.

Most blogs run on a WordPress platform, which is why we’ll focus on how to edit your permalink structure in WordPress.

By default, your permalink structure might look something like this: http://mywebsite.com/p=123. The p=123 part of the URL means that the page you’re looking at is the 123rd post on the site.

This doesn’t help you in search engine optimization because it doesn’t offer any information about what your post actually is about or what keywords might be contained within it.

Instead, you can have a permalink structure like this: http://mywebsite.com/how-to-build-a-trellis-for-your-garden/ which would help with search engine optimization, as it shows that all content contained in that article is related to building a trellis for your garden.

Make sure to update your permalink structure to take out the date! I didn’t do that at first and had to add a bunch of redirects to my old pages.

photo of man using laptop, optimize your blog for search engines
Photo by Canva Studio on Pexels.com

6. Update Your Old Posts

Whenever you have a new blog post, make sure you get it out there and promote it. But don’t forget about your old posts. Search engines are always crawling the internet for content. If Google finds a related blog to yours, it will bring that blog onto your results page. So it’s important to update to continue to optimize your blog for search engines.

It’s important that you update your old content to keep it relevant and current. By doing so, every time Google crawls through your website, it will find something new to add to the search results page. This is also how you can show potential readers that they can trust the content on your blog because it’s current and up-to-date.

When updating your old content, make sure you don’t change the URL or permalink of the post. If you do change anything, Google will classify it as a duplicate page instead of an updated version of the same page. In order to avoid this problem, select all of your old posts and check them individually to see what needs updating. When updating these posts, be sure to:

  • Add new links (other blogs and websites)
  • Add new images with alt tags (that contain keywords)
  • Do a double-check for any typos or grammatical errors

7. Optimize Your Images

One of the best ways to optimize your blog for search engine rankings is with optimized images. Search engines have a hard time reading the images themselves, but they do read the data surrounding it. Here are some things you should do for image optimization:

Use keywords in the filename of your images, such as “Atlanta-dog-trainer.jpg” instead of “IMG_01234.jpg”

Always fill out the alt tag when adding an image to your blog post. This is important for accessibility for blind people and for image searches by defaulting to the alt tag text if it cannot find anything else that matches the image search query.

Takeaway: SEO is a great way for you to increase traffic to your blog so take some time to learn the basics!

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4 Important Reasons Why You Need Financial Literacy Now

Your net worth is your financial health

You need financial literacy. One of the most important things to do in order to grow financially is to know where you are now so that you can chart a course for where you want to go. You need to be aware of your financial health, and one of the ways you can check on it is by calculating your net worth.

Net worth is the value of everything you have, minus any debt. It includes money in your bank accounts, retirement accounts, investments, real estate holdings, personal property like cars and jewelry, and anything else that could be sold for cash. Determining your net worth helps you evaluate how well you’re doing financially by giving a snapshot of your current situation. It shows whether or not you’re getting closer to achieving your goals and allows you to calculate the rate at which you’re moving toward those goals.

This number is an important tool for financial health awareness because it can help guide your financial decisions when it comes time to make a big purchase like buying a house or getting married. You’ll know if your savings will be able to cover the costs or if they need some extra padding beforehand.

You make spending decisions every day

Every day you make financial decisions, even if you don’t realize it. You decide what you want to buy and how much money you want to spend on it, whether it’s a $5 cup of coffee or a $300 new pair of running shoes. You decide what things you need and how much they’re worth to you. And this is why you need financial literacy.

But the most important part of financial literacy isn’t just understanding how money works—it’s learning why what we do with money matters. When we understand the importance of our financial decisions in the context of their larger impact on our lives, we can grow our savings and get out of debt, we can avoid problems with credit and taxes, we can plan for retirement and investment vehicles, and we can be responsible for our own financial futures—no matter what age we are.

The more we know about the way money works, the better equipped we are to be responsible for our own success and help others who may not have had the same advantages.

you need financial literacy
Photo by Alexander Mils on Pexels.com

Everyone will need to manage money at some point in their life

Everyone will need to manage money at some point in their life so you need financial literacy. Whether it’s paying a bill, buying a house, or saving for retirement, managing your finances is an essential life skill that means you need financial literacy.

Do you have the knowledge and skills needed to make informed decisions about money and manage your finances? Many adults do not strive for this goal. Instead, they turn to friends and family or rely on their partner’s knowledge of the subject.

Some people are uncomfortable with the idea of financial education because they feel intimidated by math, they’re embarrassed by their level of financial literacy, or they simply don’t know where to start. But financial literacy is vital for everyone regardless of age or income level.

Financial education is not just about learning how to manage your money – it’s also about understanding how to use it as a tool to help you meet your life goals.

There’s a lot of financial literacy you can learn on your own

You need financial literacy and there’s a lot you can learn on your own. In fact, if you’re interested in learning about money and finance, there are plenty of resources available to help you get started.

The Federal Reserve offers some great basic advice on managing your personal finances with the goal of creating and maintaining a positive credit history. There are also plenty of great books out there that will introduce you to basic economic concepts, like how interest rates work and the importance of budgeting for saving.

One book I found particularly helpful was Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kyosaki:

And don’t forget about the wealth of free material online, including on YouTube. For example, one site that is particularly helpful is LearnVest, which helps users understand concepts related to investments, savings, and debt reduction. Many of these resources may be able to answer all the questions you have about money management—you just have to take advantage of them!

pexels-photo.jpg. why you need financial literacy
Photo by freestocks.org on Pexels.com

Learn With Friends: If you’re interested in learning more about personal finance, consider getting together with some friends who share similar goals for their future and have similar levels of experience with money management. You can set up a Facebook group or grab a few tables at your favorite coffee shop—it doesn’t matter where or how; just meeting regularly can help motivate everyone to stick with the group through the ups and downs of learning new concepts. It’s helpful because you need financial literacy.

Takeaway: Learning about finances when you’re young can help you later in life, but it’s never too late to start!

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Helpful Resources for Learning a New Language Online

Are you interested in learning a new language?

We live in an ever more connected global society. This means learning a new language is a huge asset. Learning a new skill is a great way to keep our minds sharp and utilize our time effectively.

I learned Spanish in school and then had the fortune to speak it regularly while I was in college. However, my skills have faded over the last several years and I really need to freshen up. Currently, I live in Norway and I’m learning Norwegian while I’m here.

black and white book business close up. learning a new language
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Resources for Learning a New Language

Before I moved here, one resource a friend shared with me was Conversation Exchange. She has been using it for years to practice Italian while living in the United States. Her family is from Italy, and she dreams of living there someday.

Another resource I considered was Babbel. The really cool thing is that they have an app learning tool as well as live instruction. The prices for the app subscription are below. Ultimately, I did not want to pay this much, but they have amazing 5-star reviews. I’m really interested in the live instruction piece and might actually apply to be a freelance English teacher.

Another possible site to help you learn the language is italki. There are several ways to engage with this program. You can choose to have 1 on 1 lessons, participate in the free conversation community, prepare for exams, or help you grow your business skills.

If you’re interested in learning Spanish, then check out Spanish Synergy!


My Programs of Choice

I downloaded Duolingo to help me learn Norwegian faster at my own pace. The owl has become quite the TikTok sensation, so I decided to also keep practicing my Spanish.

Currently, I have the annual plan for Duolingo Plus. It works well for me because I don’t have to watch the ads. I can also fit learning in on the train or bus when I’m traveling. I am on an 80-day streak of learning right now! In that time, I’ve mastered about 40% of the Norwegian course.

Other ways to explore learning a language online are to seek out local language or literacy centers or to contact universities or schools for programs.

If you’re looking for more resources, why not check out your local library? Libraries are great places to find reading and audio materials to support your language learning journey. In fact, a homeschool group of students did their own research and shared this resource from Library Science with me that discusses all the ways Libraries can be used as Language Learning Centers. Check it out here!

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You Need to Add Legal Pages to Your Blog

If you haven’t added legal pages to your blog, this is your sign to consider adding them today. I started my blog in February 2021 with no experience and no guidance. I found all of my resources through free sources on YouTube or just Google searching for things I needed to know.

Going into 2022, I’m ready to buckle down and figure out how to make this a business that makes money. Little did I know that not having legal pages was something that had the potential to ruin my new business before it even started.

Back on Track

But now, I’m on track by purchasing The Legal Bundle from Amiri at A Self Guru. The bundle contained a template for the privacy policy, disclaimer, and terms and conditions.

Reason 1: Protection

Well, the first and biggest reason is that it protects you from potential lawsuits. By letting people know that you are simply sharing information or that you are an affiliate, it creates transparency about what you do as a blogger.

The internet is a wonderful place to find information and connect with others. Unfortunately, it’s also a place where lawsuits can be filed.

You may have heard about the legal issues surrounding bloggers and the law. Whether you’re just starting out or have been blogging for years, you need to know how to avoid getting sued.

One of the best ways to protect yourself is by adding legal pages (affiliate link) to your blog’s website. This way, if someone goes after you for any reason, they will see that you’re serious about protecting yourself legally.

Reason 2: Law

Secondly, privacy pages are required by law in many countries around the world. So if you are planning to turn this blog into a business, then you need to add that in. You can create a page for each of the important legal pages and link to them in a toolbar, header, or footer.

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to inform your users about what information you collect and how you use it. You should also inform them about the cookies or other tracking technologies that are used on your website. This way, your visitors know what information about them may be collected and how it will be used.

Reason 3: Trust

And third, having legal pages creates a sense of trust for your readers. You know that feeling when you’re on a blog or website and you see a page titled “About,” “Legal,” or “Privacy Policy?” It’s a good feeling. You trust the site more because you know that they care about their users.

It means that you take what you do seriously and so should they. And of course, I want that! This might have started as a hobby blog or a way for me to express thoughts. But, I now wish to utilize this platform to continue sharing knowledge with others.

Create that feeling

You can create the same feeling for your users by adding legal pages to your blog. Not only will it make your blog feel more professional, but it will also help protect you from liability if anyone ever sues you.

white ceramic mug between apple magic keyboard and two flat screen computer monitors - legal pages to your blog
Photo by Picography on Pexels.com

When you decide to add legal pages to your blog, you could spend hours, days, or weeks, researching free opportunities online and creating your own. But then, you run the risk of leaving out important details or overlooking something because you don’t have the expertise.

Not to mention all of the time wasted that could have been spent developing posts or adding affiliate links to make money on your blog.

Or, you could spend thousands of dollars hiring a lawyer or expert to write everything for you. Personally, I don’t have thousands of dollars lying around right now to spend on this purpose. I will though someday!

Recommendation

I decided that I wanted to go with a trusted source, someone who is a blogger and a lawyer. So I purchased the legal bundle from Amiri at A Self Guru. And now, as I think about incorporating my blog into a business, I’ll likely purchase the LLC template next.

The price was fair and reasonable, and I look forward now to figuring out how to start managing my business expenses in 2022. So what are you waiting for? Add legal pages to your blog now!

Get the Legal Bundle from Amiri at A Self Guru!

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It’s Almost a New Year! Time to Clean Up Your Email Inbox

I write this post on December 28th, 2021 reflecting on the past year and gearing up for the next. And it’s time to clean up your email inbox. I love the fact that January 1st provides a set date to start over, but the truth is, you can do this at any time. So, if you’re reading this at a different point throughout the year, the advice and tips still apply.

If you’re anything like me, your email and phone notifications and inboxes are just filled to the brim. Now, I do my best to maintain a zero inbox and minimize any notifications that will disrupt my thought process. However, things sneak up over time and it’s important to do a reboot of your process if necessary. For me, it’s time to get my email back in order.

Why I’m Feeling This Way

Now, I only have a few emails in my inbox at the moment so you might think that I’m doing a great job at managing emails. However, over the past year, I have joined different newsletters and applied to various jobs. That means that the volume of emails I’m receiving is still pretty high. So even though I’m wading through them, it takes more time than I would prefer.

It’s also a reflective time of year that makes me evaluate all my systems as I think about the goals I want to achieve for the upcoming year. And one of my continuous life goals is to be more reflectively productive. Not just productive for productive’s sake, but being truthful with myself about what’s working, what’s not working, and what causes extra unnecessary tasks.

So, before you jump into overhauling your email inbox, make sure it’s a priority that will help you. I listened to Ali Abdaal’s recent YouTube video on how much money he spent and he made a point about the money he spends ordering takeout. Cooking is not a priority so time isn’t invested in doing it or learning how to do it better. Make sure to invest time in the things that are a priority for you.

time to clean up your inbox
Photo by Torsten Dettlaff on Pexels.com

Time to clean up your email inbox: Strategies to help you

  • Review any emails that come through a subscription
    • I often sign up for new things not realizing how many times per day or week the organization will email me.
    • Sometimes I change the settings to once a week
    • Other times I just decide not to get that newsletter anymore because it’s no longer helpful. Use the auto unsubscribe feature in GMAIL or go through the organization’s system.
  • Create filters
    • Not every email has to clog up the inbox upon arrival. You can create filters to send emails to folders. Or, have it enter with a label based on a specific sender.
    • Filters help create visual clues about important emails upon arrival. For example, you may have a client or boss that demands immediate responses. Create a filter so it stands out when you are glancing at your emails throughout the day.
    • You can also set up notifications so that it only interrupts your workflow if it is from certain people.
  • Archive old emails
    • If you want to get started with an inbox zero, then archiving everything is a way to start. If you are not sure how to get started, then follow this guide.
    • My personal email account had tens of thousands of emails before I started doing this. I signed up for it in 2005 and since it is my name, I have kept it ever since.
    • No one has the time to review thousands of emails so simply archive all of them and start doing inbox zero moving forward. They will still be accessible through search so nothing is actually deleted.
  • Set boundaries
    • Decide how often you plan to check your email.
    • Decide what devices you will keep your email on.
    • Decide if you will get notifications via a sound alert or banner.
    • Set personal time aside where you will not check your emails at all – perhaps even for a day or two.

Now, these are all suggestions I have incorporated into my own routines over the last few years. As with life, my process and systems ebb and flow to match my current endeavors and productivity needs.

Comment below with any helpful email tips to start the new year!

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10 Items to Spruce up Your Home Office: Amazing Amazon Finds

I’m always on the lookout for good Amazon finds.

It seems like the work from home options are here to stay long-term. Even before the pandemic, remote work was gaining popularity from both employers and employees. With streamlined communication and proper procedures, it can be a great way for companies to allow workers more flexibility in managing their time.

In this post, I wanted to share some of the products that I find to be helpful in my home office. These are in no particular order and I’m happy to share more if this list is helpful!

white bluetooth speaker on silver laptop computer. Amazon finds
Photo by Jessica Lewis Creative on Pexels.com

10 Home Office Amazon Finds

  1. 1. Waterproof desk mat

2. Atomic Habits by James Clear

3. Electric cup warmer

4. Ergonomic mouse pad

5. Power strip with USB port

6. Mini vacuum for keyboard and crumbs

7. Motivational desk plants

8. Monitor message board and phone holder

9. Desk organizer for stationary

10. Alexa as a virtual assistant


Best Sellers in Office Products
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4 Reasons Why I Love Using Procreate on my iPad

I enjoy using Procreate on my iPad. It can be used to design so many things and get you in touch with your creative side. For example, I use Procreate to make some of the icons and symbols that go on my digital notebooks and to-do lists that I sell.

Also, check out my digital product freebies here!

Using Procreate allows you to create high-quality pieces of art without the price tag of some other programs

It’s easy to use. Procreate has an intuitive interface that allows you to quickly learn how to use the app. This means you can spend less time figuring out how things work and more time creating your artwork.

It’s got a wide range of tools. You can choose between different brushes, pencils, shapes, textures and more depending on what type of effect you’re looking for. There’s even an eraser tool that lets you remove mistakes easily before they become permanent!

You don’t have to be an artist to enjoy it. Procreate was designed with everyone in mind — whether you’re creating drawings for fun or wanting to create high-quality artwork for sale online or at conventions, this program will help make your vision come alive!

Here is an example of something that I drew:

using Procreate flower drawing
using procreate notepad page

I then added the icon to the bottom of this note page to sell on Etsy.

I also used Procreate to design the binder ring that I used in my digital planner. This is another way of using Procreate to make products for your business.

When my friend was visiting with her 4 kids, her 10-year-old absolutely loved drawing on the iPad Procreate app and he was really good at it too. It was a great program to distract him from the video games and YouTube he usually likes to do. He even wanted to get it on his own iPad and was working toward that.

For my job, I needed to insert my signature into several documents. It was super easy for me to create a digital signature on Procreate and then use the Magic Eraser app to get rid of the background.

Another awesome feature of using Procreate is the ability to create layers on top of layers. It’s an easy way to add texture and color to different designs. For me, it is a helpful tool not to delete things that I like when I try to write over something.

It’s a versatile, easy-to-use tool that contains many of the great features of Photoshop

One of the best things about Procreate is how easy it is to use. You can pick up this app and start using it right away without any training or tutorials. Everything you need is right there on the screen in front of you, with no extra steps needed to adjust settings or change toolsets (which can be very confusing in other programs like Photoshop).

The main screen has three main windows: your canvas, color palette and toolbars (plus extras like layers). There are also two menus at the top: one for changing toolsets and another for accessing settings like brush size and opacity. You can also access these menus by tapping on their icons in the toolbar at any time during your work session.

It has a wide variety of brush options

It has a wide variety of brush options that let you create anything from fine lines to thick blobs of paint or pencil marks. You can change the size, angle and other properties of each brush to get exactly the look you want.

You can customize your brushes

Another great feature is the ability to customize your brushes by tweaking any number of settings. You can adjust things like opacity, size, wetness (how much paint is applied), blend mode (how colors interact), angle (how much the brush can be angled), spacing (how far apart individual strokes are), scatter (the amount of variation in each stroke) and more! There’s no limit on what you can do!

I love the brushes on Procreate and you can easily create your own or purchase sets from other artists.

Using procreate is really user-friendly and has great tutorials available online

Procreate has a very nice user interface, making it easy to use for even the most inexperienced artist. The tutorials are great and there are several videos on YouTube from Procreate themselves.

Overall, this affordable app is so much fun to use! Check it out!

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Dealing With Anxiety in the Workplace: Advice?

Do you struggle with anxiety in the workplace?

Well, I write this post almost three weeks into my new job. It’s full-time and something I have never done before. I enjoy talking to people and it’s very much customer service related, so I thought it wouldn’t be so bad.

However, what makes it challenging is the lack of staff and training to be successful at what we do. Everyone is truly doing their best, but we are still behind in tasks and not getting to serve people in the way that I wish we could all the time.

So, this blog post is more of a reflection on my part seeking advice from readers who may have experienced similar situations. I do struggle with anxiety and one of the benefits of working from home was that I could manage it much easier.

I could take a break or engage in mindfulness when I needed to rather than working on my feet for 8 hours in a high stress environment with low pay. I think that is part of it, too. My mindset is such that this is a means to an end so I just need to suck it up.

I am truly trying to see this as an opportunity for growth and learning because it is always humbling and helpful to be in new situations and experiences that you may never have had before. When I had previous bouts with anxiety in the workplace I sought the advice of mentors, took time away, and focused on my goals and priorities to help see me through.

In this environment, the workplace dynamic is completely different. And it’s hard for me to take any time off because I just started and I need the incentive pay being offered at the moment. Furthermore, the schedule is always changing and I don’t have control over when I can take a break or step away. I do have nice coworkers who are patient with me and help by answering questions I have about the job or circumstance.

anxiety in the workplace
Photo by Yan Krukov on Pexels.com

At the same time, I’m not able to step away always when needed, so I have to develop other coping mechanisms for the moment. Breathing is helpful and getting outside for fresh air if possible. But I’m curious … what do you do? How do you take time for yourself in a busy workday to make sure you are properly taking care of yourself for the long run? How do you handle anxiety in the workplace?

I do know that when I take the time to complete my daily affirmations, my days go much smoother and my mind is more at ease. Share in the comments, any advice you have – it would be much appreciated by not just me, but many other readers!

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3 Helpful Communication Tips and Suggestions for Virtual and Remote Teams

Since the pandemic began in March 2020, many teams had to switch to a virtual work setting with little to no time to prepare. Helpful communication tips are a must. What have we learned since then? How can teams communicate effectively when they are not in the same place?

Truthfully, I believe that the future of work is hybrid with CHOICE. Some people work better in an office. Some work better at home. Some, like myself, need to mix it up. I enjoy being in the office for the socialization piece of getting to know my colleagues. However, I do enjoy the freedom and flexibility of working from home and getting to dictate my own schedule and work without interruptions I choose to do so.

As I’ve worked with several organizations over the last several years, here are my top 3 tips for positive communication within virtual teams:

Helpful Communication Tips:
Set clear guidelines and expectations

It is important to know how frequently you should hear back from a colleague and when it is necessary to send reminders. Sharing calendars can be a great way to know when others are free or busy. You don’t have to share all of the details of your calendar with colleagues. It is even helpful to block out specific quiet work time on your calendar and then others will see that you are busy.

If people take personal time, respect that. I think now more than ever, we are understanding the value of family and health taking priority over the work, work, work culture. However, also be sure to know when it is appropriate to email, phone, or text. Cell phones have become part of the workplace culture, but unless it belongs to the company, I try to keep mine primarily for personal use whenever possible.

Think about as a team the problems you may run into if someone doesn’t respond. How will you get a hold of them? How long should it take for a response? Can you set up away messages on Slack or email when you’ve stepped aside for some time? These are all things that your team can discuss and come to common expectations.

helpful communication tips
Photo by Jack Sparrow on Pexels.com

Helpful communication tips:
Leverage technology to automate and collaborate

Many organizations use virtual communication tools such as Slack or Microsoft Teams. It is an easy way to send messages and let people know when you are away from your computer. I work strange hours to get my stuff done, but I don’t always want people to know I’m working late at night.

So, I will often use the schedule send feature of Gmail to send emails out around 8:00 am in the morning. If someone sees I’m on and working at 9:00 pm, they may start to message me or expect a quick email response. I personally am trying to establish clear work and personal boundaries by automating what I can.

Other great ways to utilize technology would be to share project management systems like Trello or Monday.com. These platforms offer a space to visualize shared projects and create deadlines and notes.

Helpful communication tips:
Keep running meeting notes in Google Docs or Microsoft Sharepoint

One strategy that my team used this past year and a half was to keep running notes on a Google Doc for our weekly check-in meeting. We would go over the agenda items from the previous week, see what was new on our to-do list, and use the assign task feature to automate emails to the team on who was going to do what. We then had a recurring Google Calendar invite that included the Zoom link and Google Docs notes that we could all access.

It was clear and kept us all organized and on the same page as we prepared for events and programs.


Now, every team and group has its own dynamics and energy. It is important to listen to one another’s ideas, try new things, and be mindful of what just is not working. Perhaps the team leader can even put together an anonymous suggestion line where staff could come up with some solutions to communication issues that the team is having.

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