Stay Ready So You Won't Have to Get Ready

A close friend of mine has this saying: "Stay ready so you won't have to get ready."

Over the past year I've taken this to heart, making sure I always look nice when I leave the house -- even if I'm going to the grocery store. You never know when or where you'll run into someone who could lead to your next big business deal. And it's important to look your best because, as this friend also says, "You are your brand."

But lately I've realized that the concept of staying ready applies to so much more than your appearance. As a writer, my blog and website must look their best, too. After all, you never know who's looking.

This morning I was featured on ABC 33/40's Talk of Alabama. I was discussing how I succeeded in exercising every day for 365 days. This segment came about not because I pitched the idea to the show. It happened because one of the show's producers read my blog post about my fitness challenge and she contacted me about coming on the show. What an honor! But this is an honor that wouldn't have happened had I not been updating my blog, had I not had current contact information posted on my site, and had I not checked my email.

Think about how you feel when your house is a mess and an unexpected guest drops by. The same thing can happen with your blog. In 2013 my blog was featured on Clutch Magazine. I had no idea this was about to happen and so my site wasn't really ready for guests. I got a TON of traffic from this article and, believe it or not, I still do. But I always wonder how many of the people who visited my blog from that article didn't stick around because my site wasn't at its best.

Here are five tips for how to keep your blog ready for guests:

1. Be sure your About page is interesting, informative, and up-to-date.

2. Be sure your Contact page includes an email address that you check regularly.

3. Be sure you have high quality content on your home page.

4. Be sure your blog doesn't look like a ghost town. Either update it regularly or remove the dates from your posts.

5. Be sure you have a way for people to subscribe to posts by email or to subscribe to your email newsletter.


What tips do you have on how to stay ready so you won't have to get ready.