Automation
I've been in Austin at a conference for the past couple of days.
You have NO idea how it's been because I don't have access to a computer... I haven't been on one since last week!
I don't own a laptop... I spend too much time in front of a computer as it is, why would I want to bring one with me? Plus, I travel light... just one bag to avoid baggage claim. And there is all that fuss with airport security where they have to inspect the laptop separately.
How the heck am I talking to you then? Automation. I wrote this blog entry before I even got on a plane. I scheduled it to post sometime during my trip.
I scheduled a timed mailing to my opt-in list. It said to check out this blog post, so it could get traffic, comments, and sales of some of my products.
When I get a product ready for launch, I'll write the sales copy before it's even finished so I can post a WSO and get it approved... then I'll pay when it's ready to launch.
I recently launched a video series called Head First PHP. I bought up rights to an existing product and made it my own by recording daily videos.
Instead of recording long 20 to 30 minute videos, I recorded them 5 minutes of video at a time. This allowed me to space these out into "daily" videos.
The secret is... I'm not actually recording just one of these a day. I recorded them all at once, uploaded them all at once, wrote some quick autoresponder follow-ups for each day saying, "Hey... check out today's video" ... with a link to the video.
I put in an afternoon of work... and the effect is that it APPEARS I'm diligently providing updates every single day. That's pretty cool, right?
This and last month, I've been documenting my work using Camtasia videos and have been able to split up all my work into 10 minute tasks.
I'm ALMOST at the point where I can do all the work I need to do ONE day of the week (after I get home from my day job) and the everything is automated for the rest of the week.
When I first started out, I did a lot of freelance consulting and product launches. I focused very little on list building and automation. The result was that I would make $2000 one month and $200 the next. My income was very unreliable.
Now that I am writing follow-ups and blog posts weeks in advance... now that I'm following up with prospects and customers every single day automatically... I've noticed that I measure my income on a daily basis, not a monthly one. It's reliable enough that I could quit my day job if I wanted to.
Comment below and tell me: Do you have automation in your business? Timed follow-ups? Scheduled mailings? Business systems?
Filed in: Product Launches
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Hi, Robert,
Brilliant post!
I know all that you speak of in theory. One of my sites, http://www.ipodnytt.com, is automated – I use a script to post RSS-feeds to it using cronjobs.
On syk.net, though, I will do just what you say. I will post in advance, and set the date of publication. I will also start using my own videos, and post them in small pieces.
Thank you very much – not only do you make great products (I believe I’ve got two or three?) but your free info is very good value too.
Best regards,
Haakon
I’ve pretty much automated blog posts and some of the autoresponder messages. It’s a bit time saver and makes my work effective as well….
Marian
Robert,
Glad you have become less of a slave to your business and have it serving you instead. The cool thing is, while you’ve been doing this, many of the things I’ve picked from your various books I’ve purchased have helped me automate my business further.
That’s a true win-win, eh?
In fact, I didn’t even write this comment…I emailed my assistant and they posted it while I was at church 😉
Bob
Couldn’t agree more. I actually bought a macro creation software so I could try to automate some of the tasks that I can’t find a piece of software for. It’s all a matter of dulpicating yourself.
Robert, I own some of your software but I haven’t gotten around to going through it yet, so forgive me if this has been covered already, do you specifically address how to automate as many functions as possible with php, etc?
I enjoy your products and always read your newsletter.
Cheers,
Mike
All webmasters, bloggers and internet marketers need to work efficiently and regain some of their life (time) back. Anything to relieve stress and regain valuable time is something we can all use. Thanks.
Robert,
Being a 70 year old newbie, it is difficult to comment without showing my ignorance.
I do enjoy reading your newsletter and appreciate the effort and thought that you put into it.
Keep up the good work.
Victor
Hi Robert,
I haven’t automated enough and I’m paying for it! The daily grind of posting, emails, refining conversions etc. is frazzling me.
More tips on this would be very appreciated. I have a number of your products and they have proven very useful.
Thanks,
Mark
Automation seems to be reasonably straightforward for blogs and autoresponders, but I find it difficult to find any reasonably proficient software or system for updating a website (or several). Also the list building and follow up systems for keeping clients and potential clients updated with the latest information without needing to rewrite the autoresponder series every few weeks is a problem. Posting to a blog is OK but I would really like the personal touch that you can get with autoresponders. Is there anything out there that can do this?
Best regards
Michel
p.s. What is a WSO and why does it need to be approved?
Robert, you wrote:
>>now that I’m following up with prospects and customers every single day automatically…
What if your prospects or customers don’t want to be contacted “every single day”?
You may want to think about a flexible schedule. Otherwise they may want to leave your list because it is too annoying.
Good luck,
Mike
It is very important to be able to manage your time efficiently.
This is a brilliant example of everything that we try to teach.
Robert,
Thanks again for another great post. I do believe that technology can and should be used to help in our businesses. But I do believe it comes down to managing our time wisely and effectively.
Using autoresponders is one of those technologies that we can use to eliminate having to sit down and write out an article every day. I’m working on doing this for my comic book site over at http://www.comicbookcollecting.net and hope to have some things in place over the next couple of weeks.
Keep those posts coming.
Patrick
Win a high-grade #1 comic book by making a post
at http://www.comicbookcollecting.net
Hi Robert,
This is as good a place as any to put this comment. One of your main strengths is offering functional augmentation (sorry) for marketing and sales sites.
I am now losing track of what is where. PLEASE publish a “functional index” that identifies which function is in which product.
I often recall your functions when talking with fellow IM people in a MasterMind here in London who might need them, but I need to search all over to find the link they need … so I don’t any more. If the index were there, I could point at that!
Surely I am not alone in this folks!
Regards,
Gren.