Tasks to Complete in the Off-Season

Most businesses have a slow season. As a photographer in Minnesota, my off season ranges from about November through April. Then, I pack almost all of my shoots into a span of six months! The rest of the year, I work through business tasks to grow my business, prepare for the next busy season, and (admittedly) play catch-up on what I didn’t achieve during busy season. If you’re looking to propel your business forward in your slow season, here are tasks to achieve during your off season to add to your to-do list!

Small Business To-Do List for Off-Season

Update your website with new pictures and content

This is a simple task that often gets pushed to the wayside during busier seasons. As a photographer, I always have new images I could be using on my website’s portfolio. I’ve taken this time to update the images on my homepage, add new photos to my portfolio, and update my bio on my About page.

Update your Google My Business Profile

Google is a powerful tool for your business, so don’t neglect it! Take time to update your profile according to my Google My Business guide to ensure potential clients are seeing accurate information!

Set up Google Analytics on your website

Many creative entrepreneurs are intimidated by the “tech” side of things. In reality Google Analytics really isn’t as intimidating as it may sound! Most website platforms like ShowIt or Squarespace make it easy to add your tracking code to your site. Once your tracking code is working, Google will do the rest! I’ve loved having the tracking data to see which of my blog posts are performing best, how many visitors are coming to my site, and what times of year are “peak” for visiting my site.

Check your website’s load times to improve SEO

Okay, one more thing about Google… PageSpeed Insights is a free tool that analyzes your site’s load time. Faster load times means more people stay on your site, and when more people stay on your site, you make more sales! Also, did you know your site’s load time affects your SEO? Search engines see fast-loading sites as more “trustworthy,” thus making your site show up higher in search results. On PageSpeed Insights, just enter your site’s URL and it will return an overall score. Ideally, you get your site in the 90-100 range. Small changes like changing image sizes or using different formats can make a big impact!

Draft 2 blog posts per week

Did you know having a blog can significantly improve your SEO? Plus, pushing out content to customers consistently builds trust, improves brand recognition, and creates a relationship with followers. I find blogging to be time-consuming and tedious at times, so this slow season is a great time to catch up! I have made it a goal to draft at least two blog posts per week during quarantine so I have a backlog of posts I can promote throughout the rest of the year once things pick up again. You can even schedule posts to publish in the future, so you could plan your posts out to still publish during your peak seasons!

Ask past clients for reviews

Research shows that millennials rely more heavily on word-of-mouth and reviews than any generation before them. Positive reviews from past buyers/clients can go a long way to help with bookings once things pick back up again. Use this time to reach out to past clients and ask them to leave a review for you. As an added bonus, you’ll be surprised at how great a good review will make you feel in these hard times. The best place to collect your reviews for SEO is through Google.

Enroll/participate in education

I don’t know about you, but I’m a sucker for a good online course. Sometimes I purchase them and take 75% of it, but I rarely complete all the content. Many online educators or communities are offering great deals on online courses right now.

Increase your Prices

Off season is a great time to change your prices if you think it’s time. Let me be the first to tell you, you can probably charge more! I like updating my pricing in off season, around the change of the calendar year, to make things simple. Also, along with changing your prices often means updates to your:

• Website
• Pricing guide
• Contracts
• Email templates
• ….and more!

Therefore, doing so in off-season makes it easier to keep yourself organized.

Update your contracts

Have you changed or fine tuned any parts of your process this year? Then you might need to update your contracts as well! Read through your existing contracts and consult legal counsel if you think you need any updates!

Build a freebie to grow your email list

You may have heard a lot about the importance of growing email lists as an entrepreneur, but if you’re anything like me, you hate the idea of inundating everyone’s inboxes. However, having an email list is a really important fallback in case of emergency. (Anyone else have nightmare about their Instagram getting hacked, or is that just me?) It’s also great to start building it over time so you have an audience to pitch to when you have something to sell. The best way to grow your list is to offer a freebie of some kind to your target audience. Create one or two freebies in the off-season that you can pitch throughout the year to grow that list and add value for your followers! I can also help you build your email list if needed!

Did I miss anything? What’s on your off-season to-do list this year? Tell me in the comments!