There are a million and one way to start the morning.
Most people believe that the morning is an important time of day and how you start it can often tell you what kind of day you are going to have.
To have a great day, you must start the day on the right footing. And what better way to learn how to start your day than to learn from the experts.
So I asked 14 experts to share the way they start their morning. In this post, you have the morning routine of the most successful SEOs’
Julie Joyce
Twitter:@JulieJoyce
Website: SEO Chicks
I do best with gradual ease into the morning. I wake up at 6:45 and the first thing I do is glance over email to make sure there’s nothing major that needs my attention immediately.
One of my employees starts working much earlier than that and I have clients in other time zones so I can’t concentrate on anything until I know there are no fires to put out. The next thing I do is make a latte, then there’s the time spent getting kids up, helping them get ready, and doing the school drop-offs before I start work around 9 am. I go through email and reply to anything that seems easy, as bad as that sounds.
If it looks like it will require something more complicated than a quick answer, I save it for about 30 minutes later after I’ve done other things. I work from home a lot and my employees do as well, and most of my client communication is done through email so I’m pretty much glued to my inbox all day long.
See Also: Expert Interview With Julie on Link Building, Google Algorithm Changes and More
Peter Attia
Twitter:@PeterAttia
Website:www.cumbernebula.com
I feel like my morning routine is pretty basic. I’m admittedly not much of a morning person, so I tend to try to get organized and ramped up in the morning.
9:30am: Wake up (don’t judge me). While still in bed and hating that I can’t sleep for 37 more hours, I check my phone for any important notifications. I also take a quick glance at all my emails to see if anything needs immediate attention.
9:40am: Frantically take a shower so that I can try to make it to the office before 10.
10:15am: Arrive at work late and get my first cup of coffee. I take a glance at analytics and reporting to make sure there are no irregularities.
10:20am: I pull up my list of things I want to do for the day. I have a running list that I always prioritize in order of importance. I make a point to try and complete at least 6 items every day. 4 items are from the top of my priority list, 1 item at random, and 1 item from the very bottom of the list.
10:30am: I look at my calendar and assign time to see which items I should work on between which meetings. I want to make sure I have enough time to get an item done from start to finish in one sitting, so that I don’t lose my train of thought or get distracted from other tasks I’ll get from meetings. If I’m completely booked with meetings for the entire day, I’ll block out time slots for the next couple days to make sure no one books my time. This allows me to catch back up from a day full of meetings.
10:50am: Get inbox 0. I get about 180 emails a day in my 5 primary email accounts. This includes everything from internal work emails to newsletters that are just marketing digests. I read anything that’s marketing/growth related that seems interesting and new. Any emails that are important, I put into my to do list.
11:20am: Go through my company’s chat, as well as my marketing Slack groups to see if anything is important or interesting.
11:30am: Knock out the first item on my list, whatever that may be.
12:30pm: Get lunch and read news about science, biology, and technology. Check my stocks.
1:30pm and after: Complete my ever growing to do list.
Neil Patel
Twitter: @neilpatel
Website: www.quicksprout.com
My morning routine is to just reach on the side of my bed and grab my phone. First thing I do is check my emails. Then I go to the gym, get ready and then eat breakfast.
As I am at the gym, I usually respond to emails in between workouts.
Tim Bourquin
Twitter:@TimBourquin
Website: www.afterOffers.com
The first 30 minutes of my day is always spent planning the rest of the day. For me, If it doesn’t get scheduled it doesn’t get done! So scheduling every hour of my work day is critical to staying focused and productive. Even “free time” to pursue side interests is put on the calendar.
From about 8:00 am to 10:00 I usually dedicate to doing demos of our software to potential advertisers and website owners. 10:00 am to 12Noon is spent replying to emails and following with by email with information to those people I did demos to earlier in the morning.
I also work out at the end of the day (weird, I know) but for me, it’s just part of my routine. Time management is all about accomplishing specific tasks each day, and the only way I know how to accomplish goals is to break them down into very small projects that I can achieve on a daily basis. Every day on my calendar gets one small piece of the larger goal and when I accomplish that I’m done for the day.
I also schedule a specific time of the day to work on things. If I don’t schedule that time and block it out on my calendar, it doesn’t happen. Each step should take no longer than one hour per day to accomplish. If I find it’s going to take longer than an hour to do that step, I haven’t broken it down enough.
Even if I finish that’s days steps early, I keep myself from doing the next step. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but doing so keeps me from getting burned out and I’m more motivated for the next day’s hour of work. This strategy also keeps me from getting a step “half done” which doesn’t feel as good as getting everything done that was planned for that day.
Managing my time means planning it in advance. The last 30 minutes of my day is always set aside to schedule the following work day.It takes discipline, but it’s the only way I know to be productive.
Kelsey Reaves
Twitter: @KelsReaves
Website: https://modernize.com/
“I wake up at 6:00 am and then either go for a 30-minute run or attend a bootcamp workout class 3 days out of the week. After my morning workout, I head home, shower and then take 10 minutes to meditate. I use a guided meditation app called Calm that I absolutely love and would recommend. After meditating, I fill out an entry within The 5 Minute Journal. In each entry, I write about 3 things I’m grateful for, 3 things that would make today great, and a daily affirmation.
After taking time to meditate and journal, I’ll make breakfast, change and get ready for the day. I head to the bus at 8:50 am and get into the office around 9:15 am. Once in the office, I’ll make a list of tasks that need to be completed and prioritize emails that need to be answered right away and ones that I can come back to later.
After working through my to-do list, I’ll take 10-15 minutes before I head to lunch to read through articles on my favorite marketing blogs and bookmark anything I find interesting.”
Venchito Tampon
Twitter: @venchito14
Website: www.sharprocket.com.ph
I don’t usually have a strict routine in the morning, but here are the activities that I usually do (arrangement of these don’t matter to me):
- Take a prayer and medication for 15 to 30 minutes.
- Answer interview questions from bloggers/journalists via email.
- Arrange daily tasks each day (5 minutes).
- Attend to client meetings (if there are scheduled Skype calls before 12nn).
- Write a blog post (1000-word content) for SharpRocket link building blog or for other SEO blogs (guest posts)
- Send campaign updates to existing clients.
Brian Jackson
Twitter: @brianleejackson
Website: www.brianjackson.io
One thing that I love about marketing is that there are so many different aspects to it. My regular morning routine usually looks like this:
- Wake up and do a quick check on Tweetdeck and emails to make sure there isn’t anything important. Note: I don’t always answer emails right away, but do a quick check.
- If there was a post ready to publish, I get that out and then start sharing it around on social networks and 3rd party sites. Publishing posts in the morning almost always do better.
- Launch buzzstream to start outreach to other marketers and bloggers to acquire backlinks.
- Check social mentions and new backlinks with tools such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, Mention, twazzup.
- Spend time in Trello organizing upcoming blog post calendar, ideas, and also looking over tasks I need to work on.
- If I have a big blog post coming up I spend some time gathering ideas, doing keyword research, and putting together some notes.
Justin HerHring
Twitter:@ justincherring
Website: www.yeah-local.com
My morning routine usually begins like this:
Up at 5:30 am.
5:30 – 6:15am – Even though some people say not to start with email I do. I go through and respond to emails that need attention immediately and schedule others as “To Do” or “Watiing On” with Active Inbox for Gmail.
6:15 – 7:15 am – Work on any proposals or new business opportunities doing keyword and online presence research.
7:15 – 8am – Complete any outstanding client tasks that are behind and get them done first thing in the morning.
From 5:30 – 8am is the most productive time of my day and I get about 70% of my work done before the day begins and time because precious.
Fervilvon Tripoli
Twitter:
Website: www.fervilvon.com
“Well TBH, most of the time before I get to sleep, I fix up my tasks for the following day/s. Occasionally, I compile advance work plan for 2-3 days time. To give you a glimpse about my schedule, it’d be something like this:
- 12:00am: read some SEO news/updates or digital marketing blog posts from my influencers or watch some motivational videos of Gary Vee.
- 1:00am– compile task done for the day, create tasks that will be focused for later.
- Past1:00 am – zzZ (sleep)
- 9:00am– wake up, do my own morning rituals in the balcony (smell the air, take an overlooking view of the place where I reside, play some good music to set the mood, morning coffee, puff some cancer sticks), take a bath, sing in the bathroom
- 9:40amonwards – Hustle, hustle and hustle!
Andrew Shotland
Twitter: @localseoguide
Website: www.localseoguide.com
My Morning SEO Checklist:
- Coffee
- Coffee
- Coffee
- Check Client Google Analytics & Google Search Console
- Coffee
- Back to Twitter
- Coffee
- Send $ to Bulgarian link builders via PayPal
- Coffee
- Blog post regurgitating something some other SEO, preferably Rand Fishkin or Gianluca Fiorelli said or else totally contradicting them
- Coffee
- Get into fake argument with either Rae Hoffman or Alan Bleiweiss on Twitter
- Oatmeal
- Send $ to content team in Manila along with target keywords. Don’t forget words of encouragement (“nice job”, etc.) so they don’t lose all hope that this is what their lives have become
- Coffee
- Cash client checks & send thank-you notes
- Hit the head (too much coffee)
- Back to sleep for a few hours (check Twitter first)
Jonathan Nuñez
Twitter: @JohnNunez2905
Website: http://johnimsecrets.com/
My morning routine isn’t really out of this world. However, it changes a lot depending on my goals for the month.
This is my current schedule:
7:00 – 8:00 Exercise
8:00 – 8:20 Take a shower
8:20 – 9:00 Prepare and eat breakfast
9:00 – 10:00 Start prospecting for email outreach
10:00 – 13:00 Start email outreach (content marketing or link building)
13:00 – 14:00 Have lunch
14:00 – 15:00 Instagram outreach
15:00 – 16:00 Pinterest outreach
16:00 – 18:00 Check and reply to emails
As you can see, from 14:00 to 16:00 hrs, I’m currently promoting my social networking profiles. I’m diversifying my content distribution channels and I need to grow a following.
Still, these couple of hours I usually spend writing blog posts, guest blogging or doing content marketing. It really depends on my monthly goals.
See Also- Expert Interview with Jonathan Nunez
David James
Twitter: @BGD_Marketingdavidsmjames
Website: www.businessgrowthdigitalmarketing.com
Firstly, I’ll check the rankings and traffic to see if there’s been any changes as a result of the SEO activities that have been implemented. If so, I’ll make a note of what worked and see how to replicate it.
Secondly, I’ll focus on developing creative content. I find it easier to brainstorm link and content bait ideas in the morning. Once that is done, I will usually spend the next few hours creating valuable content. Once the written content is complete, I’ll look at ways to publish the content. Whether it will be in the form of a blog, video, white paper or podcast.
Thirdly, the morning will also consist of how the content activities will fit into my link building or outreach strategy. I usually do outreach in the afternoon or evening.
My approach to SEO stems from a content driven strategy. Typically, I will focus on creating content that will allow me to earn shares and links from my outreach and link building activities.
Tor Refsland
Twitter:@torrefsland
Website:http://www.timemanagementchef.com/
“A regular morning routine is crucial in order to stay very productive and skyrocket your business.
Here is my morning routine before noon:
7.30 am: Wake up and go to the bathroom to prepare for the day
7.40 am – 8:30: Eat breakfast and spend time with my future wife and baby daughter
8:30-8:45: Start working – checking if I have gotten some important emails and adjust my schedule accordingly. Then mentally prepare for my day.
8:45-11:30: Work on my most income generating tasks for the day
11:30-noon: Lunch
You should use the 80/20 rule to identify the most important tasks in your business, and ONLY do those tasks before noon.
How often?
Every single day.
By doing this you can literally 10x your output.
This is what I did when I was getting PR for myself and brand. I did the most out of my morning routine and used blogger outreach to get featured on 158 top blogs in 14 months.”
Robbie Richard
Twitter: @RobbieRichMktg
Website:http://www.robbierichards.com/
My morning routine has improved a lot in recent months. As a father, husband, blogger and business owner, I have to manage my time. One thing I’ve started doing is getting up at 5am and writing for two hours every morning before my son gets up. This has proven to be very productive for me. Around 7:30 I’ll wake up the little fella, make his lunch (Mom is already at work) and get him to the bus by 8:20. Then, I head into the office around 8:30. From 9-9:15 I have a quick daily planning meeting with my team. We’ll go over project status, set priorities and assign tasks. I always try to tackle the toughest task first thing in the morning.
Adegboye Adeniyi
Twitter: @legendcrest
Website: VTNS Solutions
My day beings exactly by 5am. I wake up to meditate for about 30 minutes and then spend the next 30 minutes exercising. After that, I get ready for the day as I have to commute to work. I leave my house around 6.30am and spend the next 1Hr on the road. During this period, I revisit my to-do-list and check my emails. I response to the most pressing one and leave others for later in the day.
7.30: At the office where I start my day with the most important task for the day. It ranges from learning new stuff to checking my analytics.
9am: I start the other task for the day as listed in my to-do-list.
Recommended articles: SEO Guide for Dummies
Conclusion:
There is no right or wrong way to start your day but you can learn from this expert and use them as an inspiration to create your own.
Want to share your morning routine? Feel free to do so in the comment, I love to hear how you start your day!
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