The following sentence will be left out of this article: Automating your online business is one of the most important steps you can take to insure your success on the internet. You're probably saying to yourself "Thank goodness he left that out. I've been on the Internet for a while, and if I know anything, it's that there are just too many tasks to do each day to be really efficient and productive with them all."

Learning to delegate and automate some of the routine activities of Web maintenance is one way to insure your site's success and to give you much more time in the day for the most important task which is that of the promotion and marketing of your site.

HERE ARE 5 SIMPLE WAYS TO AUTOMATE TODAY:

1) USE AUTO-RESPONDERS:
Probably one of the best-known and most popular ways to handle routine messages to inquirers is the use of auto-responders. It is simple and easy to set up your messages which usually involve several follow-up messages to remind your visitors what you are offering and how to find your site again.
Here are some free ones:
http://www.freeautobot.com/ -- http://www.getresponse.com/ http://www.sendfree.com/ -- http://www.sendthisfree.com/

2) MAILING LIST MANAGEMENT:
If you are trying to run your own newsletter, handling the process by yourself can eat up a lot of valuable time.  In the beginning this may be possible, but as your list grows and the tasks involved keep multiplying, your time demands will increase also. There are lots of ways to manage a mailing list including installing your own scripts and purchasing your own software.
Weigh the pros and cons, but be sure and check out the possibility of *outsourcing* the responsibility to a mailing list service.
Here are some to consider:
http://www.mail-list.com/ -- http://www.zinester.com/
http://groups.yahoo.com/ -- http://www.topica.com/

3) USE SOFTWARE:
There are many software options available depending upon your work online. Here are some possible software applications available. Just do a search online.

4) PAYMENT SYSTEMS:
Well, this is just a no-brainer. It is just too simple not to do this one. Having an automated payment system that allows you to accept credit card payments for your products or services and is something that everyone has to have to be successful online.
Here are a couple of third-party resources we recommend:
http://www.ClickBank.com/  -- http://www.PayPal.com/

5) AD TRACKING SYSTEM:
If you are going to advertise your products and/or services online, then it is critical that you track your results.  Knowing how many hits you got to your site is nice, but it won't take care of your questions like, "Where did my traffic and sales come from?"

Implementing these five time-saving helpers is a very important benchmark in moving your business into a phase that will free up some time to insure your success online. Best Web wishes for your promotional efforts.