Remember writing term papers in high school? Two days before it was due, you panicked. You had done absolutely nothing on the project. As your deadline loomed, you pictured yourself as the first high school flunk-out in your family. So you started researching and pulling together any pertinent information as best you could. You slapped it all together and prayed your teacher wouldn’t notice.

When you have any sort of project that requires research, thinking, and writing, it is so easy to procrastinate. And that’s certainly the case with writing web content.

But, hey, you passed high school and got your diploma. That last-minute term paper was good enough. So why isn’t slapped together web content good enough for that sales landing page you need to put up on your website?

Strictly speaking, you could write your web content last minute and it will be good enough. But only because it’s better than not writing it at all.

That’s a pretty low bar.

Competition these days is super stiff. So, in business. you should strive to put your best foot forward. Always.

The cool thing is that it doesn’t have to take a lot of extra time. And it will actually involve less energy. Here’s how.

The key is to “panic early.” If you panic early you simply get started as if the darn thing is due tomorrow when it really isn’t due for a couple of weeks. You begin by pulling together your research and jotting down your ideas.

Because the project isn’t due for two weeks, you can then put it aside and take a walk with your dog. You have put some breathing space into your project so there is time for the ideas to percolate. That’s the “thinking” part that doesn’t really occur when you “panic late.”

While you walk the dog or work out at the gym, an idea pops into your mind that improves your project. And later on, another and another idea pops up.

Because these ideas are occurring during downtime and you’re simply incorporating them as you find time to work, the project really isn’t taking any more time, and it’s certainly not burning more energy. Energy is burned when you’re racking your brain for ideas before a crushing deadline. Don’t do that.

Easy Web Tip #239: If you wait until the last minute to start your web content writing project, you’ll miss all those ah-hah moments … and maybe the next great idea.