Online Business Productivity Shortcut – Managing Email Distraction

Are you building an online business? Would you like to spend more of your valuable time taking action instead of getting stuck in distraction?

Then you simply must manage your email effectively.

There is a distinct difference between email that you want to receive and respond to daily, and email, ezines and such that you just want to have for later reference, such as for your your swipe files.

Hopefully you are subscribing to a variety of marketing campaigns by the leaders in your niche(s) in order to learn from their strategies and the progression of their sales messages.

But if you don’t manage these correctly, then your email box is full of gurus sending you weekly (or even daily) emails, urging you to buy their next course or must-have product. Distracting, to say the least.

Here’s the key question: Do all of these emails show up in your main email box?

Do you start each day by reviewing the convincing and well-written sales missives? Do you find yourself pulled to buy the products they are promoting and distracted by the strategies they suggest?

Instead of taking focused daily action on a well thought out plan for your business, each day’s email brings competing ideas that tempt and tantalize. “Use this amazing technique that earned a 106 year old widow 7 million dollars in just two weeks!” (Well, OK, that is a bit of an exaggeration. But you get the idea!)

Tempted to click to read more than the Subject line? Stop! Ask yourself if this is really the highest and best use of your next half hour. Probably not.

Sure, you could just unsubscribe from all of these email lists and newsletters. But you still need access to this information at times.

Balance Your Need for Information While Eliminating Its High Distraction Factor

It’s easy! Simply set up a separate email account to use when you optin to someone’s newsletter, ezine or updates.

Just go to your favorite web-based email provider (such as Google, Yahoo!, MSN, etc.) and set up a new email account for yourself. Create an email address that you can easily remember — maybe something like DebsIM for Deb’s Internet Marketing related email. Then use that email address when you sign up for email and newsletters you want to receive and have available for use on an as-needed basis.

The key is not to pull all of your email into your computer-based email client, such as Outlook, Eudora, Thunderbird, etc. Instead, let those emails that you want for later reference only stay on your web-based email account. Set aside a dedicated period of time to log in and quickly review them.

This way you won’t be distracted by new emails with attention-grabbing headlines flowing into your work space all day long. But you’ll still have the information if you need it.

Set Up Niche-Specific Email Accounts

This is a great system for those who are marketing within a number of niches. Simply create a separate email account for each of your business-related niches. That way when you want to check out the latest ideas, products or blogs for Niche A, it’s all there in one organized spot.

Want to see what’s new within Niche B? Or are you starting a new email campaign for Niche B and you want to see what your competition has been doing? Log in to that niche’s account and scan it quickly.