Tips & Tricks for More Efficiency

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!

About the Author

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 mailto:subscribe@myownezine.com or visit
http://www.myownezine.com for lots more info.