Automation is nothing more than using a tool to automatically complete tasks that can be done without your direct interaction. Several areas of your business can be automated; you just need to find the right software and balance the cost versus the cost to you in time of doing those tasks manually.

Below are ten of the most commonly automated tasks in the Information Marketing industry.

1. Opt-in list building

Using an online service or your own software program, it’s very easy to allow visitors to your website to sign up for your mailing list and then follow up with them through e-mail. There are also services that allow you to follow up with them through print and via telephone contact. To accomplish it, you set it up in the software, and it automatically handles the contact.

2. Newsletter publication

In addition to your online newsletter that you can send via email, there are many services available that allow you to upload an electronic copy of your print newsletter, and they print and mail it out to your subscribers. This is an incredible time-saver for you.

3. Website sales

Your entire website sales process should be automate so that the visitor can find the sales page, read it, click the order button, complete payment, and then either have access to the product they purchased or information about how they will receive their product. This process should require no interaction from you.

4. Product fulfillment

Once the sales process is complete, your delivery of the material to your client should be automatic. Whether they simply go to a webpage to download or something is shipped to them, your process should be set up for this to happen without you having to package and send each product that’s purchased.

5. Tracking visitors’ interaction with your website

As an Information Marketer, it’s important that you know what visitors are doing on your website so that you can improve your marketing efforts. Think about how powerful it would be to know that 90% of the people who read one particular article place an order. You might want to highlight that article and spread it all over the internet. Find a tool that allows you to view this information in a single location so that you can quickly and easily adjust your marketing.

6. Tracking the effectiveness of you advertising dollars

In addition to being aware of what your website visitors are doing, it’s absolutely essential that you know how much income is being generated by your advertising. If you’re paying for a certain ad to be published, and it’s not generating any sales, you know you need to change or remove that ad.

7. Affiliate management

You must have a tool that keeps track of everyone who signs up for your affiliate program, follows up with them, and credits them correctly for any sign ups or sales they produce.

8. Customer management

In addition to recording your customers’ contact information, your customer management solution should give you the ability to quickly segment your customer list based on buying habits, demographics, psychographics, and main area of interest. Ideally, it will allow you to contact those customers to deliver surveys, additional marketing messages, and gifts. Your customer management software should also automate the operation of your help desk.

9. Website management

Website management tools include things like backing up your sites for disaster recovery purposes, monitoring your site status to notify you if the site goes down, web page creation, content management, and the like. Managing your website should take you the least amount of time of all of your business efforts.

10. Article submission

Article submission software is wonderful, but it takes a long time to set up if your submit to every article directory available. The best way to automate your article submission is to pay someone to do it for you. Short of that, set up the software to submit to the top 3 article directories and get started. Then you can add other directories as time goes on.

Automation can save you days of work each week in completing repeatable tasks that can be handled by software. The trick is finding and implementing the best tools for your business.