Internet Marketing for Wealth Creation

Lesson 6: Online Business Automation

Internet business is not like real life business, where the growth is slow. If you understand the business, apply the tactics and promote properly, you will start getting hundreds of visitors everyday, within a month. If your website is not completely automated, 24 hours per day will not be sufficient for you to check and reply the emails, leave alone the marketing part of it.

What is automation? To understand that you must understand the internet marketing system. The following are the steps involved in an online business:

• Create the product and the strategy to sell.
• Design a website with good sale letter to convert the visitors into customers
• Program a sequence of email messages to be automatically transmitted to the subscribers
• Advertise or use other methods to bring visitors to the website
• When the prospect visits the website, he/she may purchase the product
• If not, give an option for the visitors to subscribe to free newsletter
• The autoresponder will automatically contact the prospects at regular intervals
• If and when they decide to purchase, they will visit the website and place an order
• The website will automatically charge their credit card or they will pay via a service like 'Paypal'
• The amount is credited to seller's account from credit card company (or paypal)
• The seller then receives the payment and buyer's details through email
• If the product is digital, it is automatically delivered to the customer through email
• If the product is tangible, seller dispatches it physically

Once you automate your business, you just need to go through the statistics on a regular basis and adjust/fine-tune the marketing system accordingly. In addition, if your product is tangible, you may have to handle the dispatches. And of course, you have to check your bank balance occassionally!

Auto-Responders

These are e-mail utilities (software programs) that automatically reply to all the email messages that are received, with one or a set of prewritten response(s). If sales letter is considered as 'heart' of internet marketing system, then autoresponders can be considered as 'blood'. It is impossible to automate your business without autoresponders.

I have provided maximum possible information about this subject here. You will learn more about this later in a chapter that deals with Email Marketing Techniques.

Basic Auto-Responders

This utilitiy (I call it a 'basic autoresponders') automatically responds to all the emails received, with an appropriate reply.

This is by default provided by almost all the email service providers. This facility is generally used for out-of-office intimation. For example, to announce that the concerned person has gone on vacation and will not be replying until he/she returns to the office.

If you are creative, you can use the same service for marketing purposes. This utility may also be programed within your website and incorporated into your marketing system.

Advanced Auto-Responders

I would name this complex autoresponder as "Advanced Autoresponder". This is either a web-based program or a standalone program running on your website server or your local computer that enables you to collect & store email addresses of the people who visit your website and request information from you. (Please read the note below.)

The software program automatically sends the pre-programmed email messages. You can store a series of messages and program them to be sent at specified intervals. This is known as 'followup'. Occasionally you may also send messages (any special offers or announcement) to the stored email addresses. This is known as 'broadcast'.

When you avail the autoresponder facility, a special email address will be provided to you to accept members or subscribers. You need to host a 'web form' on your site. The visitors who are willing to subscribe would enter their name and email address through the form. The autoresponder will send a message to their email address asking them to confirm their willingness to subscribe. If they confirm within stipulated time (usually 7 days) their email addresses would be stored, otherwise the program will remove the email address from the database. Once the email is stored in the database, the auto-responder starts sending messages as you programmed earlier.

Note: When people visit your website, if they find your information useful, they may voluntarily subscribe to your newsletter. This is called 'Opt-in'. But some sellers (spammers) misuse this service by feeding in the email addresses themselves. To avoid such misuse, the autoresponders services use 'double opt-in' method. When a visitor enters the email address, a message will be sent asking him/her to confirm their subscription. The email address will be added to database only if he/she confirms the subscription. This system is now mandatory by law.

Web based Forms

This is a simple CGI or PHP program that is incorporated in your webpage, from where you collect information from your visitors at your website and on click of a button your website will email the information to one or more email addresses automatically. If you plan it properly, you can make it a powerful tool by combining it with the auto-responders.

Accepting Payments Online

This is not as difficult or as risky as you may feel. There are well-established and reputed companies around the world and few companies in India who have payment gateway facility for their members. You can register with any or some of them and they will accept credit cards on your behalf and remit the money into your account. Usually their charges are certain percentage of the transaction value and you will not incur any recurring cost.

Alternatively, you may apply for a merchant account with your local bank or approach some agents who can do the process and get the registration for you. I recommend that you must get your own merchant account only if the no. of transactions is high in your business. Because the company / bank will charge you on monthly basis, regardless of whether you transact or not.

Automatic Delivery of Products

If you are selling digital products, 100% automation of your business is possible. You can program your website to sell, collect money and deliver the goods by transmitting the product via email as attachment or to provide download instructions to your customers.

If your products are tangible then you need to dispatch the products manually on receiving the intimation from your website. You cannot afford to delay as you will loose the credibility with your customers. To solve the problem, you can tie-up with a company or a trusted individual or a courier company, where you can stock your goods and on receiving payment, your website will send the order details instantly to your stockiest and a copy to you. And without you getting involved, your dispatch agent can handle the delivery of the products.

If you are dealing with books, it is a good idea to send the software version of the book to your customer instantly on receiving the payment, as it will take more than 2 days for the book to reach.

Conclusion

You must plan every small activity of your business well in advance and automate your business before even you launch. If you don't plan now, at a later stage you will endup spending too much of your time and money to automate your business.

If you are not a computer programmer, your head must be spinning by now. You have probably decided that this business is not for you. But the truth is:

It is very easy to automate your business. The main purpose of automation is to make your life easier. So don't be afraid to work on it!

If you learn the basics of HTML (webdesign) and FTP (uploading files to website), you can manage it yourself. If you are unable to learn HTML, just plan the strategy and leave the rest to a programmer.

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Previous Chapters

Lesson 1: Introduction to Internet Marketing

Lesson 2: Online Business v/s Conventional Business

Lesson 3: Major ways of Earning Money On-line

Lesson 4: Understanding Legal Aspects and Scam
Lesson 4: (a) Usage of Credit Cards, Passwords and Misuse
Lesson 4: (b) Copyright, SPAM and Scam

Lesson 5: Online Business to "Sell Products"
Lesson 5: (a) Get an Idea to Create a Product
Lesson 5: (b) The sales process and planning the website
Lesson 5: (c) Link emotions to your product

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