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While walking through the pharmacy I passed the aisle filled with red heart-shaped boxes filled with chocolates and remembered Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching. Even though I was surrounded by so many representations of love, it reminded me of one thing that I actually despise – web content updates! Graphic design schools teach many, many wonderful things about the trade of web design – the use of color and its effects on feelings and emotion, the difference between graphic and web design, logical design layouts, search engine optimization, navigation, etc… But, what they often cannot teach is how to manage the potential volumes of daily updates that clients may have.

Throughout the busy workday, your email box may flicker with requests from clients to change or update content on their sites. These seemingly simple assignments can be distracting and quickly accumulate into a time-devouring pile if not managed effectively. Following are a few suggestions to help you stay organized and focused.

• Set boundaries. Dedicate a certain day of the week for making content updates for your clients and stick to the plan. Unless there is an urgent piece of information that needs to be uploaded or removed, scheduling this time will relieve you of the expectation for an immediate response.
• Request that clients put the term “site update” in the subject line of all emails related to non-urgent content revisions. This will allow you to quickly determine if an email requires an immediate response without taking time to read through the message.
• Mute the sound on your computer if you do not need it for the project you are working on. When you are designing the alert of an incoming email can be distracting and stress-inducing.

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