One of the nice things about running an online business is that so much of it can be automated. Think of all the tasks you have to do each day. Many are repetitive and tedious, wasting your time and energy. When you automate, those tasks take care of themselves and you can focus on more important things.

The Benefits of Automation

The main benefit of automation is that it speeds up and streamlines your work. When you get rid of time-draining tasks, you can focus on more important things. I ask myself throughout the day, “Can I streamline this? If so, how?” There are both routine tasks and ‘thinking’ tasks that require more concentration and critical analysis on your part. When you can put some of the routine tasks on autopilot, you can spend more time on the value-added tasks.

Automation eliminates human error. You’ve probably been up at the wee hours finishing tasks that need to be done and only half awake doing them. When tasks are completed by software programs and online services, these mistakes disappear.

Finally, automation is important because it allows you to scale your business. If you have an ecommerce store and you have to take each order manually, a sudden increase in business can overwhelm you. An automated sales system allows you to keep up.

Tasks You Can Automate

There are tools that allow you to automate nearly every aspect of your business. Once you start using them, you’ll be amazed at how easy it is and you’ll wonder how you ever got along without them. Common tasks that can be automated include:

• Website Creation. Automation allows you to set up websites quickly using templates and content management systems.
• SEO. A great deal of the everyday work of search engine optimization can be done through automation.
• Content Creation. Although content can’t be created solely through automation, there are tools to help you cut corners. You’ll get some suggestions in the separate list of Popular Tools for Business Automation.
• Sales Funnel Management. Your sales funnel can be maintained and monitored through automation so that you can focus on analyzing and improving it.
• Email Marketing. Profitable email marketing isn’t possible without automation to manage your email lists and send out broadcast messages.
• Social Media. Dashboard tools and other programs help you easily manage multiple social media accounts.
• Analytics and Testing. Websites and marketing campaigns can be split tested and analyzed using various tools.
• Website Maintenance. Tools and programs help you update your websites when they need it.
• Finance. Automation allows you to take payments and manage financial tasks so you don’t have to do it all manually. (including paying yourself)

What Can’t Be Automated

There are some things that should never be automated. The main one is your marketing strategy. You need to be in charge of your long-term goals and the measures you take to achieve them. It all needs to be thought out by you.

Relationship building also can’t be done by machines. With social media and other online marketing channels, it’s as important as ever to be real with your customers. Automated responses and replies can work, but you need to be clever so that you don’t end up back peddling later.

Fundamentally, content creation should not be automated. It needs to be fresh and original. The same goes for content curation. There are software programs that find content for you but you should always look at the content yourself before sharing with your readers to make sure it’s relevant to them.

Of course, automated systems aren’t perfect. You need to learn how to use each tool for automation and this takes a bit of time upfront. However, the time you save in the long run makes it well worthwhile.

For example:

I started creating simple wordpress websites for people last summer. And I noticed I was doing a lot of the very same things during the website setup process. Adding the same plugins, making the same modifications to the way themes were set up. Adding widgets to the exact same area of the website.  So, I went in search of a way to shortcut the time sequence and found a premium plugin that would ultimately “copy & paste” my standard website.

I took the time to document the steps I took (my system) and made small improvements each time. And what used to take upwards of 4 hours now is done in about 55 minutes. That’s a huge time savings for me.  If I build one of these per week for the entire year, I save 156 hours (3 hours saved x 52 weeks).  That’s a full month’s work! (Phew… I deserve a vacation, don’t you think?)

A good part of it was done by streamlining & a bigger chunk of it done through automation.

Can you see now why I want you to invest the time in looking at your own systems?

Creating websites on autopilot – automation for website creation

Creating new website for your online business is a time-consuming task, but there are tools to help you automate the process so that you can set them up quickly. This frees you up to focus on more important things, like your marketing strategy, building relationships through social media, and creating content your readers will enjoy.

Content Management Systems

Content management systems (CMS) allow you to set up websites without creating them from scratch. You don’t need any knowledge of HTML. When you use a CMS, you simply plug in your content and you can create sites almost instantly. They give you templates and wizards to make it quick and easy.

For example, for your site design, many systems have a multitude of templates to choose from. There are also template directories that offer ready-made website designs either for free or at a premium. You can use a template permanently or as a basic foundation to which you add your own design later.

Plugins

Plugins are small programs that automate various website tasks. Plugins help you do things like remove spam comments, manage blog comments, automatically tag posts, add social media and social bookmarking options, and so on. For the sites you create, you can have a set of chosen plugins that you automatically add to
each.

However, plugins should be chosen carefully. Too many unnecessary plugins can slow down a site and may not “play well” with other plugins. They also must be maintained over time when updates are released, so this is something else to keep in mind, especially when you update your WordPress software. Not all plugins work with all versions.

Why You Shouldn’t Automate Content Creation

Content is one area of your business that can’t be automated. There are several reasons why this is so. First, duplicate content (content that was published somewhere else before, such as on a directory), won’t help your site’s SEO. If it has been published elsewhere, the search engines have already indexed it. They most likely won’t index it again on your site.

One shortcut site owner’s use for content is article spinning. This means taking an already published article and rearranging its wording so that it’s ‘unique.’ This is done through software programs called “spinners”. The problem with this method is that it often produces articles with awkward wordings that are obviously fake. The search engines look down on this practice and your readers can tell the difference between real and “spun” content.

Content Curation

Another shortcut method for creating content is called curation. This is where you pull together content from various sources and present it to your readers, adding your own opinion, ideas or information. Adding to the curated content is important because it tailors the unique combination to your audience and adds value to it.

There are software programs that find relevant content for you based on keywords and other indications given by you. However, you can’t run these programs on autopilot. You need to act as editor and review all of the content the program gives you. Make sure that it’s relevant to your readers and you can add value to it.

System Tip:

Building Sites from Scratch

When it comes to website creation, automation provides an easy shortcut that allows you to get sites up and running fast. But it is good to learn site to build a basic site. Learning how to create a site from scratch helps you build sites exactly how you want them. You can customize your site to meet your specific goals, and while the energy is flowing from a new business idea.

• Focus on what you do the best, and automate the rest
• Introduction
• Why you need to Automate Your Biz
• Creating websites on autopilot – automation for website creation
• Automating Your Website’s Search Engine Optimization
• The sales funnel – automating your sales process
• Automating Your Daily Email Tasks
• How to automate your social media marketing
• Automating Your Marketing – Analytics & Testing
• Website Maintenance on Autopilot – How Automation Helps
• Managing Your Online Business’s Finances Through Automation
• Day to Day Tasks
• The 5 Biggest Automation Mistakes
• Conclusion

Managing Your Comments

Comments boost your site’s relevance in the eyes of the search engines. They show that your site is an active community and worth sending searches to. There are tools that make it easier for readers to leave comments, and the more comments you have, the better your SEO.

Replying to blog comments shouldn’t be automated. You need to give your readers real replies that show there’s a human being behind the site. However, automation tools can make this easier. There are dashboard tools that allow you to manage blogs and reply to comments easily. Automated notifications let you know immediately when there’s a new comment so that you can moderate and reply.

Automated Backlinking

The most important off-site SEO factor that determines your site’s ranking in the SERPs is backlinks. When links lead back to your site from other relevant, high-traffic sites, this tells the search engines that you’re offering something of value.

Searching for backlink opportunities is a time-consuming task but there are programs that can do it for you. Query generators are programs that use search terms to find sites, blogs, directories and so on that are good for backlinks for your site. Link prospecting tools take it to the next level. They work like query generators but give you more detailed information about sites so you can decide whether or not to link to them.

Finding backlink opportunities can be easily automated but you should always check out sites before you get links from them. Backlinks from link farms and other suspicious sites will actually hurt your site’s SEO.

Updating SEO Automation Tools

SEO automation tools can become outdated. There are some that Google and other search engines don’t like because they consider their operations spammy. When considering an SEO tool, do your due diligence and make sure it’s not going
to get your site penalized. Make sure that you update the tools you choose to use.

When considering an SEO tool, do your due diligence and make sure it’s not going
to get your site penalized. Make sure that you update the tools you choose to use.