When running an
online business, there are so many
important details to remember to take care of.
Between the website maintenance, answering emails,
writing articles, organizing ad swaps, searching for
ezine content, etc., etc., we tend to get a little
overwhelmed sometimes.
I would like to share some of my timesaving tips
&
tricks that I use to help me get things done more
efficiently.
*Ezine Publishing
Save each issue of your ezine and just change
what
is
necessary for each issue. When you come across a
resource you would like to share with your readers,
you can then just open up the template and slap the
resource in place.
Print out all your ad swaps and write the date that
each ad will run as you finalize each swap. Keep
them
all in their own file folder, so each week (or when
your ezine is published) when you go through them,
the dates will be easily seen and the ads will
be organized. I find that this way of organizing
my swaps is much easier than searching through email
folders and floppies for the correct ads to run for
each issue. I also use this method with my ad sales.
Keep all your past issues on floppy or CD, so when
you
reuse some of your ads or promotions you can just
copy
and paste into the current issue.
*Writing & Submitting Articles
You definitely want to have an idea notebook.
Each
time you get an idea for an article, write it down
in the notebook. I usually get my ideas as I am
getting Web Success ready to send out, but when I
do get an idea between issues, I will write it down.
As you are writing the article, think to
yourself,
what
information did I need and/or want to know about
this
subject when I was first starting. Just start
writing
as if you were telling a friend or family member
about
it. For me, it flows more naturally that way.
Have all your editor emails and article list
addresses
saved in their own email file. Also, save your
"Dear
Editor" email. When you finish each article,
paste
it into the saved email, copy and paste your editor
addresses into the Bcc line and click send. Next
open your saved article list email, paste the
current
article into it, paste the list addresses into the
Bcc line and click send. What could take an hour or
more now takes about 10 minutes.
*Answering Emails
If you are in affiliate programs, write and save
a
welcome email for each program. As you are notified
of new members, go to your saved welcome messages,
change the name and email address and click send.
This is much more efficient than writing a new
message for each new member.
Have email folders for organizing your emails. If
they do not require an answer you can then just put
each one into it's proper folder. If they do require
an answer, then drag them over to their folder after
you answer each one. Of course, you want to save
them
to floppy or CD before distributing in folders. I
have
folders, for ad swaps, ad sales, subscribers, new
affiliate members, affiliate sales, contacts,
feedback,
resources, sales made from my website, etc., etc.
Each of these folders also has a floppy or CD
backup.
*Website Additions
If your webpages are uniform, it is easy to make
a
new
page. I just go to an existing page, copy the whole
page, paste it into the new page, change the wording
that needs to be changed and the page is finished.
I also use this method with sections of pages
that I
need. Copy the part of the code that you need and
just
paste it into place. This saves countless minutes of
typing!!
These are just a few of the things that work for
me.
I realize that they might not work for everyone.
If you have your own method that works for you,
that is great! One method definitely does not work
for all, but if you are looking for ways to get your
business organized, these ideas might work for
you!
*********************
Terri Seymour owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com
MyOwnEzine.com is a website, ezine and service which
provides the
resources, tools, guidance and more to help you start,
publish and
promote your own ezine. You can contact Terri at mailto:ter02@newnorth.net
Subscribe
at subscribe@myownezine.com
or visit
http://www.myownezine.com
for lots more info.
*************************
