If there was ever a prize for procrastination, well I’d put off dealing with it.

I’ve tried a number of systems to help me crack on with work rather than being.. oh yes, distracted.  One simple technique I can highly recommend when you are really stuck is Merlin Mann’s task blitz. All you need are some tasks, yourself and a timer.

Procrastination hack: ‘(10+2)*5′ | 43 Folders.

Following on the idea of the procrastination dash and Jeff’s progressive dash, I’ve been experimenting with a squirelly new system to pound through my procrastinated to-do list. Brace yourself, because it is a bit more byzantine than is Merlin 2005’s newly stripped-down habit. It’s called (10+2)*5, and today it will save your ass…..

By MARK BITTMAN

Published: May 15, 2009

Time: 10 minutes, plus 30 minutes’ chilling

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 pound silken tofu
• 8 ounces high-quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder, or more to taste
• Chocolate shavings optional.

1. In a small pot, combine sugar with 3/4 cup water; bring to a boil and cook until sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally. Cool slightly.

2. Put all ingredients except for chocolate shavings in a blender and purée until completely smooth, stopping machine to scrape down its sides if necessary. Divide among 4 to 6 ramekins and chill for at least 30 minutes. If you like, garnish with chocolate shavings before serving.Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

More http://outlandosmusic.com/2009/04/13/the-new-free/

Want money for free? Sophie Hobson finds out how you can get one of the 6,000 grants available to UK businesses

Every single online grant search database in the UK is powered by one of two parent search databases

Asking you whether you want a non-repayable cash injection of tens of thousands of pounds to help develop your business is, presumably, a no-brainer. But many small business owners don’t consider applying for a grant. They are, understandably, either put off by the work involved, or simply unaware of what’s out there.

via Taking finance for granted .

For that matter, try the national rail enquiries iPhone application which gives you live train status updates as well as the usual journey planning tools.

The (not so) Secret Rules to Building an Effective Website

There is nothing complicated about the rules for building an effective website. In fact the rules aren’t even that secret – most of them are common sense.

Rule 1 – Keep it simple

It should be obvious within first few seconds as to what your site is all about. Fancy graphics, mouse effects, drop-down menus and all the other bolt-ons may make a site look pretty but all they do is slow things down. It is possible to build a good looking site with just a few simple styles and one or two effective images.

Remember: you want your visitors to avail themselves of your services. So don’t do anything to distract or confuse them. Keep it simple.

via The Rules of Effective Web Design.

Here’s are the WordenGroup’s Top 10 Ways To Go Paperless:

1. “Send documents via e-mail or e-Fax.”

2. “Stop unwanted junk mail and catalog delivery with a service like Stopjunk.”

3. “Try not to print anything — but if you must, be sure to use 100% post-consumer recycled paper.”

4. “Spell-check before you print to eliminate document do-overs; and print only the page or passage you need out of a longer document.”

5. “Set your printer default for double-sided printing, and keep a box of “one-side-used” paper for writing notes or printing for in-house use.”

6. “Read an online newspaper.”

7. “Remember your coffee mug (no paper cups); and if you “brown bag” your lunch, replace that iconic paper sack with a reusable lunch bag.”

8. “Sign up for email bill delivery for online rather than paper statements, and pay your bills – and invoice clients – electronically.”

9. “Borrow books from the library or buy used books online.”

10. “Move office forms to electronic versions – Microsoft Office and Excel both have powerful form creation tools – or ask your computer support person to create a custom form.”

via Top 10 Ways To Go Paperless.

It also helped me see where some parts of Open Your Diary are broken. Trying to get people to do things my way rather than the way they want to do them – a bit of a sin in usability.

Seth’s Blog: This is broken.

As part of the sign up process it asks for an OpenId so I’ve created one of these using myopenID.com.

Advertsing

I’m currently trying a few different methods, advertising on google and facebook, tweeting on twitter and posting on a number of small business forums. 

Website reviews

As I’m pretty new to running my own business, I’ve been asking quite a few questions on the business forums and  I’ve also asked for a number of website reviews. While almost everyone liked the design of OpenYourDiary.com three main critisims came back:

1) Your business name does not reflect what you are offering

2) The homepage / landing page does not make it clear what you are offering

3) The sign up page is too long

These comments have been consistent across a few forums, so it would seem that I need to do something about it. 

So I’ve set about making three changes:

1) Test marketing a couple of new names

Domain names are cheap, just a few pounds each for the first year, so I’m going to try a little advertising with a couple of new names. As I’ve spent quite some time with OpenYourDiary I’m not about to drop straight off but I’m going to try a couple of others BrowseAndBook.com and BookingTakers.com with a holding site that redirects to the OpenYourDiary.com site. 

2) Changing the homepage

At the moment the homepage has a number of elements:

• a logo and mission statement
• primary navigation
• a search form and map to find businesses near you
• a featured business section
• example business case studies

While this provides a whole range of exciting things, it does not really focus on what I need the site to do, encourage businesses to sign up. To refocus the site I’m going to move the functionality focused on consumers and add content, marketing messages, designed to highlight the benefits of using our service for booking appointments.

3) A smaller, smarter sign up page

At the moment we try to get all the info to create a new business captured in one go on a single form. Although this is a pretty simple process, it can look rather daunting to the user so I’ve decided to split the page. A very simple (four fields) sign up form to capture people’s initial details and create an account, then a simple checklist to follow, at a later date, for setting up the business. 

With this new approach, it should be much simpler for people to sign up and we can send them a welcome email to start engaging with them.

I’ll let you know how we get on.

Alex