Internet Marketing Time Management

Posted on: 2005-11-05 18:26:59
Author: Amrou Sukhon

"Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money but youcannot get more time." - Jim Rohn

Earning an income on the internet is a process that in broadterms involves three stages:

1. Getting your product (acquisition)
2. Developing your product presentation
3. Promoting the product

In this article, "product" means any tangible product, digitalproducts (eBooks and software) and services such as membershipsites, web design and development, hosting, "print on demand" foreBooks, fulfilment for orders and so on.

By necessity you will spend time in each of these stages. Eachstage will involve a learning phase and an action phase. It'simportant to identify clearly what stage of development you arecurrently working on and to focus on completing that stage.

1. Getting your product (acquisition).

Choose between your own product and an affiliate product.

This will involve identifying a demand using for example surveysor the popularity of search terms.

Key Point: Once you have your product you can stop spending timelooking at other product possibilities for the time being.

2. Developing your product presentation.

Once you have chosen your product you will need to develop apresentation.

This will include your website primarily and can also includeautoresponder sequences and a newsletter.

Key Points: Once your website and presentation process iscompleted you can move on to the promotion. You can alwaysimprove the presentation but once your presentation is"presentable" you should move on to promotion. Don't get caughtup trying to make things perfect. Good, yes; perfect, no. Thereality is things can always be changes. It does not matter ifyou have the best product in your niche and the best presentationif nobody knows about it. Give your presentation your best shotand then start promoting.

3. Promoting the product.

No matter now good your product and presentation are, you mustget your presentation in front of your intended audience ornothing happens.

"We have to become better at promoting what we do than doing whatwe do."

This is where it is also important to be clear about what stageyou are in. Remember, time is limited, so if you have alreadychosen your product and developed your presentation it is notproductive to keep looking for products or spending a great dealof time "tweaking" your presentation.

Time can always be spent tweaking sales copy, images, layout, webpresentation, upgrading or trying new software, investigating newproduct opportunities (before the current one is complete),improving design skills, keeping up with the changing web"standards"... The list can seem endless.

Key Point: Time is better spent developing a clear promotionalstrategy and putting it into action. Only when you are seeingresults from your promotional activities should you consideraltering your presentation (such as modifying headlines and salescopy) to assess how that affects conversion of prospects tocustomers.

Here are some examples:

- Write two newsletters each month
- Run a solo ad each week
- Purchase 500 double-optin subscribers each month
- Conduct a Pay Per Click campaign with $x budget eachweek/month
- Make three new Blog entries each week
- Create ten new web pages each week

Here are a few tips to keep you on track:

1. Name your project

You may name your project as a final name of the product or youmay just give it a code name that means something to you.

2. Understand what part of the three-step process you are in: Acquisition, presentation or promotion.

Here is a simple question to ask yourself to check if you are ontrack with your time budget, "What is this activity designed todo?" or perhaps, "What is the outcome of this activity?"

This will help you to identify if you are spending time in thewrong area at the wrong time.

3. Set up checklists to make sure everything is covered. Focuson completion.

4. Promotion: Clearly define your action steps.

5. Track the results or your promotional campaign in terms oftraffic, click through rates, subscribers and purchasers. Includecosts of conducting your campaign and compare that to your salesto determine your return on investment. It is only by trackingthe results of the promotion that you will know how toeffectively change the presentation for further testing.

A spreadsheet is an invaluable tool as a template for specifyingyour promotional campaign and also for tracking results, costsand return on investment. Adding in columns for each day of theweek allows you to allocate your time so that all your promotionsare covered in a time effective manner. This becomes yourbusiness gauge by which you assess the effectiveness of yourpromotional campaign.

Understanding the three stages of the business process and thestage you are in, using checklists and tracking your resultsusing business gauges are the proven ways to maximize your time,your effectiveness and your profits.