Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:06] Hi there. I'm Wendy Hill. Welcome back to the Confessions from the Home Office podcast. You know that feeling when you open your laptop, you stare at your desktop, and you realize it's basically a digital junk drawer? Yes, that happens to me, too, sometimes.
[00:00:21] So we're heading into the end of the year, and before you start all your next year planning and your big goals, and I know some of you have planners already shipped and sitting on your desk you're excited about, I want to talk to you about something that doesn't get enough attention, and that's cleaning up your digital house.
[00:00:38] So just like a real home, your business space online collects clutter. You end up with outdated bios, you end up with broken links, old graphics projects that you ended up not finishing, random screenshots you took on webinars, things you downloaded.
[00:00:55] Just all that digital dust starts to pile up, and before you know it, it starts to slow you down.
[00:01:02] Makes you feel un. Makes you feel unorganized, disorganized. And honestly, it keeps you from seeing what's really working.
[00:01:10] So when you've been running your business for a while, and you know how it is when you run a business, you don't really stop. You might go on vacation, but you just shut the laptop. Or you might just walk away from the computer for part of the weekend, and then you're back. Your online presence just becomes a reflection of your past. What you used to offer, what you used to be, even who you used to serve. You never really get a break to clean it up and get it caught up to where you are right now. But the truth is, you have evolved this year, whether you've realized it or not. Even if you've been working on the same thing over and over and working with the same clients over and over, things change. You learn new things. You realize there's certain things you don't want to do anymore.
[00:01:52] Maybe your ideal client that you want in the future, that's shifted. Maybe your offers are starting to look different than they used to. Or maybe you've just gotten better at what you do. You're more confident, you're more focused, and your old copy and your graphics don't really represent that.
[00:02:08] So cleaning up your digital house is about alignment. It's making sure that what people see when they Google you or click your link in bio actually matches who you are right now.
[00:02:19] Your digital footprint can be outdated or messy, and when it is, it starts to send mixed signals. I want you to think about it. Think about it. If someone visits your website and See services that you don't even offer anymore, or your last recent project is from maybe 2022, they might assume you're not active. Maybe you're really not in business anymore, you're just paying to keep your site up.
[00:02:42] And that's not the impression you want to give going into the new year.
[00:02:46] So let's start where people look the most. When they look you up, your website, I want you to take a few minutes to read through your homepage like a potential client. Does it still speak to the kind of work you want to be doing? Is your messaging clear?
[00:02:58] Is it current?
[00:03:00] Is it confident?
[00:03:02] If you've shifted focus, maybe you're offering more consulting than done for you work now, or the opposite?
[00:03:08] Make sure your website reflects that. I want you to look at your about page too. Does it sound like you from today or a version of you from three years ago who is still figuring things out? I want you to update your photo, your bio, your contact information.
[00:03:23] Make sure everything's current. And while you're at it, I want you to click through all the links and the buttons to make sure they still work.
[00:03:29] You'd be surprised how many of those start to break over time and you never really know it until you go check it.
[00:03:36] This is a great moment to add in anything new that you're doing. Maybe it's or it's a testimonial you've received, a project you've completed. Maybe it's media mention you're proud of. Maybe it's an article you were included in. You don't have to rewrite everything. Sometimes just polishing the edges makes a world of difference.
[00:03:56] Once you're done with your website, I want you to go over to your social media profiles.
[00:04:00] This is the first thing people see before they even knock on your door.
[00:04:04] Take a look at your profile photo and your banner. Are they current? Do they fit your branding?
[00:04:10] And you'd be amazed how much energy just a small refresh on things can bring. I want you to look at the bios. Those little blurbs are sometimes things that you wrote a while ago and now they're outdated. I want you to rewrite them so they attract the kind of people you want to work with. Now, use language that speaks to your direction, not where you've been.
[00:04:30] And so while you're scrolling, I want you to take a quick pass through all your content. If you have a post that reflects what you're most proud of, pin that. Or if it's something you're promoting right now, pin that any Promos you, you're not doing anymore. Archive those.
[00:04:48] Anything that feels off brand, you can hide them. You don't need to pretend your past didn't happen, but cleaning up a little bit helps your feed feel more current and alive.
[00:05:00] And lastly, if you've automatically signed in to all your social media accounts, figure out your logins and your passwords and put those in a safe place.
[00:05:07] That way, if you hire someone to help you down the road, you won't have to hurry and figure that out later.
[00:05:14] Now, now that we've gone past and sorry, everything's dinging on this end over here, I thought I had it turned off. Now that we've been through website and we've been through social media, now let's go over to your email list. Open up your platform. I don't know if you use high level mailchimp, constant contact, any of those.
[00:05:32] Open up your platform and I want you to take a look at your stats. If there are subscribers who haven't opened anything in months, you might want to clean them out.
[00:05:39] I know that kind of feels scary because your subscriber number will go down like you're losing people.
[00:05:44] But don't worry about it. Trimming your list can actually improve your deliverability and your engagement.
[00:05:50] So while you're in there, I want you to read through your sequence, your welcome sequence. Does it still make sense? Is it applicable to what you do?
[00:05:58] Does it really introduce who you are today? If it feels a little stale or it feels overly formal, I want you to rewrite it.
[00:06:05] And I don't want you to forget your email signature. I want you to add any updated links you have, any offers that you have.
[00:06:12] And if you've started a podcast or you were on a podcast and you want to include that, just those small touches can help drive traffic and visibility all year long.
[00:06:23] So here we go. Now this is the messiest part. This is where we start going through your files and this is where a lot of the digital clutter really lives.
[00:06:32] My desktop can be a nightmare. I have to really like once a month go through and clean out and delete so many things. I will be on a webinar.
[00:06:41] I have a business coach, she's always putting up slides and I'll mute and I'll do screenshots so she can't hear that I'm taking all these screenshots, screenshots of things. And then what do I do with them? Nothing, because I already read them, I've already processed it.
[00:06:55] Sometimes you'll find duplicates of things and you'll find all kinds of files and you'll see things that are labeled. You don't even know what they are.
[00:07:03] Open them up. If you don't need them, get rid of them. But we've all been there.
[00:07:07] I would say don't spend a whole day doing this. That gets frustrating. And then you're. You get mad at yourself because you didn't get anything else done.
[00:07:16] Put a half an hour on your calendar, or if you know you're going to be waiting somewhere this week before a meeting, work on it. Then delete what you don't need. Rename, create some folders, one for clients, one for content, that type of thing. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be something that works for you and that you can remember. Because nothing kills momentum faster than losing time going through all your digital files, trying to find something.
[00:07:45] So the magic part of all this whole process, when you clean up the whole digital space, you'll see your business differently.
[00:07:51] So I've been doing this. Most people are starting to think about planning for next year and what are their big goals, and I'm not there yet. A couple weeks ago, I talked about how I'm documenting all the sops for my business. I'm still doing that. I'm over halfway done.
[00:08:07] I have an early December deadline.
[00:08:10] But I've been going through and cleaning up all the digital things too, in my business. And it's helped me notice patterns, it helped me remember things that I forgot about, things that I wanted to pursue.
[00:08:21] And I'm starting to feel more in control, like this is helping me think of things. So when I do start my planning, I feel like I'm already ahead a little bit. So I'm not about not saying all this so you can chase perfection or have this clean slate for next year. It's just getting the clutter out of the way.
[00:08:40] And when you can see everything, it's easier to plan, to market, and to grow.
[00:08:45] So here's my challenge for you this week. I want you to pick one room of your digital house, whether that's your website, your social media, your digital files, and do a quick cleanup with it.
[00:08:56] And even if you don't have a lot of time, maybe you just pick LinkedIn and work on that, or maybe it's a canva folder that's full of projects. I've been guilty of that. So whatever it is, I want you to clean it up just a little.
[00:09:08] And the clearer your digital spaces, the easier it is it will be to see your next move.
[00:09:15] So I have a checklist that can help you step by step, and I've put it together, and it's just called the Clean up your Digital House checklist. I will put a link to that in the show notes, or you can send me a message and I'll send it over to you. So, thanks for hanging out with me today. I'll see you next week for another short episode of Confessions in the Home Office.
[00:09:40] And until next time, happy cleaning and get ready for a fresh start for next year.
