Organizing Digital Resources

As someone who's been in the back end of hundreds of companies now, I wanted to share how I've set up a resource library for internal use at my business. You probably have a combination of stuff on hard drives, stuff in the cloud, folder systems, and maybe some naming convention strategies – but it's still hard for people to search and find resources they're looking for, let alone use them in a standardized way.

I think I've found a solution that's pretty simple. While I'm using Google, this should work similarly with Microsoft products. Let me walk you through my company's resource library and show you how I've created not just a standardized resource system, but a templatized model.

The Foundation: The Master Resource Library

It all starts with what I call the "mother lode" – our Hire a Writer resource library. The first crucial element is our naming convention, which is near and dear to my heart. I believe taxonomy is incredibly important for giving people clarity in their work, especially when dealing with lots of digital assets.

Our naming system has three key components:

1. Prefixes: Everything has a specific naming convention
2. Categories: We organize by function (SEO tools, content tools, social media tools, etc.)
3. Content Types: Spreadsheets, docs, slides, folders, and PDFs

This structure immediately makes finding things easier because it creates standardized language. If somebody knows they're looking for a content tool, it's going to be easier to search for because it has that prefix in the naming convention.

The Magic: Template System

Here's where it gets really cool. Instead of having people download files to their hard drives (which immediately means losing control and version issues), I've implemented a template system using Google Workspace.

The process is surprisingly simple:

1. Store your original document in Google Drive
2. Go to Google Docs/Sheets/Slides and submit it as a template
3. Associate it with the appropriate category (matching your naming conventions)
4. Create a special sharing link for making copies

The secret sauce is in the sharing link: Take the original template URL and replace the last part with the word "copy" (all lowercase). This creates a magical link that automatically prompts users to make their own copy of the template.

Putting It All Together

So now we have this comprehensive system where:

• People can search the library using our taxonomical structure
• They can quickly find resources by category and content type
• When they need to use a template (like a customer journey mapping tool), they just click the template link
• They instantly get their own copy, which they can rename for their specific needs

To make it even better, we've added a custom GPT model that accesses this spreadsheet. If someone prefers a chat format, they can just ask our chatbot (which I affectionately named "Don't Ask Me D" because I was tired of being asked about stuff) for something like "customer journey mapping template," and it'll provide the right link.

Why This Matters

This system has been particularly valuable in marketing and content creation, where we deal with so many templatized processes and repeated workflows. It's changed my life and made operations significantly more efficient.

There's no black box here – I'm sharing all our secrets because I want as many people as possible to be successful. If you need help implementing this, I even have an SOP we use in my company that I might be able to share to flatten the learning curve.

Remember, the goal is to make internal resources easily accessible and standardized while maintaining control over versions and usage. This system accomplishes that without being overly complicated or difficult to implement.