Automate your online business

 

One of the greatest benefits of owning an internet marketing business is the power to automate your online business!

Last week I took my family on a winter vacation to Egypt for some winter fun in the sun. I love getting away from it all just after Christmas to a hot country to relax and get away from the cold weather. The big UK winter freeze really gets me down, so a well earned break is always received well.

The problem with most business is they don’t run themselves. My own internet business doesn’t run itself, but it can be automated for long periods of time with very little interaction. This is what I want to talk about today.

Being proactive

To automate your business for a period of time you must have a plan of what you are going to automate for the time you are way from your business. It’s no good simply packing up, going on vacation or leaving your business for a week or two without prior planning. You must have a schedule in place to work for you when you are not. This means setting priorities.

What I did before I shut down for a week was to plan ahead any blog posts or promotions I had in mind for that particular week and set them up on auto responder. This allows me to automate everything without any interaction. So, rule number 1 – Plan ahead and take a proactive approach to automating your online business when you are not there.

Automation

One of the most important tools of any online marketer is a way to automate and deliver content. This means you can send content at any time to anyone or any part of your mailing list or blog without actually being there to ‘hit the button’ yourself. This automated hands off approach allows you to be anywhere rather than at work. It works, trust me I do it a lot.

The two main tools for automation in my business are:

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  1. An auto responder and email delivery service such as Aweber
  2. The schedule post function within the WordPress dashboard

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The WordPress scheduling tool is free within the WordPress dashboard, the Aweber tools are not free, but are quite reasonably priced considering the power it provides and the freedom it gives you to provide content whenever you like.

“Auto responder services are essential tool for any online business to build subscribers and provide content”

The WordPress scheduling feature is self explanatory. Simple click the scheduling calendar and schedule your post accordingly. I usually schedule my post a few hours before I send my email informing of a new post to ensure it’s live. You can find below a short video on how to schedule a post.

Aweber is a little more feature packed and something which I rely on, on a near daily basis. It’s not just a vacation automation tool, it’s a business powerhouse!

As you can see from the video, aweber is highly feature packed and something which I could not do without. Below you can find a list of auto responder services, which are without a doubt one of the most important aspects of any online business which distributes content.

    • Aweber (Recommended)
    • Get Response
    • MailChimp
    • iContact
    • Constant Contact

Remember without an auto responder service you can’t do any of the following:

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  1. Build a legitimate mailing list (spam filters prevent direct mailing)
  2. Broadcast information
  3. Broadcast offers

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Without an auto responder service you remove the most important stream of communication from your business. You can use social media services such as Facebook, G+ and Twitter. However direct email is still one of the most efficient forms of communication you can use within your online business. Try it today and don’t discount it from your business.

Discussion

Do you automate?
Do you pay for a service? If so which one and how much value does it have?

Please comment below, your opinions matter!

 

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