There are many advantages to running a business online rather than in the offline world. One of those advantages is the ability to automate our systems in ways that are not possible in the "brick and mortar" world.

1. Autoresponders

The first way we can automate is by using autoresponders. An autoresponder is an email program that automates your online communications so that you can actually be totally removed from the process once you have it set up.

There are two ways that an autoresponder is generally used. One way is with pre-written follow-up messages that go out to every new subscriber or customer at a pre-determined time. So if somebody opts in to your email list, they will receive a message that you programmed to go out after a specific time frame -- for instance, on day 30 -- exactly that many days after they signed up.

Using the automated autoresponder sequence, you can pre-program follow-up messages once, and every subscriber you ever get will receive those messages at the designated time without you ever having to do anything again. If those emails are sales messages, that is automated money coming in to you that you only work for once.

The other way to use an autoresponder is to send an email broadcast, which means you send one email at the same time to everyone on your list. Broadcasts can also be pre-written and scheduled in advance, but will go to all your subscribers at the same time.

The important thing to remember with autoresponders is that someone must opt in to your email list, or subscribe willingly to your newsletter. Adding people to your system who have not requested your information would constitute spam, and often result in having your whole automation process shut down.

The best way to get someone to willingly subscribe is to put an opt-in form on your website, and offer them a free report, ebook or other incentive in exchange for signing up. Autoresponder companies such as aWeber and GetResponse make creating an opt-in form very easy and automated.

2. Tracking Tools

Another way to streamline your online business is to use tracking tools, which tell you where your traffic is coming from and how it's converting. This is important information to know in order to tweak your website copy, headlines or traffic sources, which in turn allows you to run a more profitable business.

Autoresponders also come with tracking tools that allow you to see how many people clicked a link in your email, for instance, or how many people unsubscribed on a certain message. This knowledge allows you to change what you've done so you get better results from it.

Ad trackers are also valuable tools that allow you to split test two pages against one another, test your sales conversion ratios, and track where traffic is coming from so you know where to spend your ad dollars. One of the best script-based ad trackers that you install on your website is AdTrackz, and one that is subscription based is HyperTracker.

3. Databases

Databases allow you to automate your customer sales and relations, and run many scripts that you can install on your website, such as customer help desks, membership sites, forums and more.

MySQL databases are the most popular, and they work with many available web scripts. These databases are automatically updated when a customer purchases from you, joins your membership site, cancels their membership, or any other number of things that your script is helping you do.

The power of automating your website model is that you often don't have to do a thing. Traffic comes to your website (which could be driven by any number of hands-off automatic traffic methods), and the visitor sees your opt in form. Once they enter their name or email address, they are automatically placed in your sequence and receive the emails you set up for them.

When they purchase, or sign up for a membership, your databases take care of the details. The customer is sent through your payment processor, which is also automated, and if it's a digital product they are sent to download it immediately; if it's a physical product, their information is sent for fulfillment.

All the time your tracking tools are automatically gathering information about where the visitor came from, how many visitors became subscribers or customers, and which sales page is converting the best.

All these automated tools mean that you can run a whole profitable business, once it's set up, without doing any more work except perhaps to check what your tools are telling you, and tweak your processes accordingly. These factors make online businesses potentially much more flexible, desirable and cost-effective than typical offline businesses.