Getting your website up and running smoothly means that you get it going so that it works for you—even when you are not working. Some refer to this as having a “ghost shift.” In many businesses, the ghost shift is the overnight shift, often when many of the tasks of handling inventory, stocking shelves and dealing with repairs and customer issues get taken care of.
When it comes to your website, the ghost shift can be a series of automated tasks, ones that help get things done, even when you are not actively working on the site. Here are just a few examples of things that can be automated, giving your business a ghost shift:
- Sending emails: Automating your emails means that you can create and set up the email, ready to go, and have it automatically sent at the perfect time—whether or not you are even near your computer. Use this to hit your target audience at the ideal time and get the most exposure and the highest open rates.
- Building your email list: An automated opt in form on your site will allow visitors to join your email list at all hours of the day. You won’t have to manually add any names to your list or approve any requests to join, it just happens automatically.
- Selling products and services: Do you have an easy-to-use shopping cart on your site? Can customers make purchases at their convenience? It’s one thing if you are targeting a local market, but it is entirely different if you are trying to get exposure on a national or global level. Time zones matter, and people are online at all hours of the day. Make sure that they can give you their money easily, if you have products and services that they need.
- Attracting visitors: How is your search engine optimization? How is your social media campaign? These are today’s biggest strategies for attracting visitors to your site, so make sure that these components of your marketing campaign are intact and working well.
- Providing value to prospective clients and customers: When you have quality content for your visitors to enjoy, like videos, audio recordings, checklists, e-books, etc., you will be able to offer visitors value and ideally show them why they should work with you. When they arrive at your website, they should find plenty to look at, listen to or otherwise enjoy. The longer you can keep their attention, the more likely it is that you will make a sale.
- Setting up appointments: Use an automated appointment scheduling system to set up meetings, customer calls, and more. You will love not having to look at your own calendar constantly, the computer will keep you updated as new events pop up! Block out your personal time, and let the automated software do the rest!
- Creating content: Outsourcing your content creation means that you can have new content emailed right to you, and upload it when you are ready. Having someone working for you behind the scenes, while you are carrying out your other business tasks, can save you tons of time and effort!
Think about developing a ghost shift for your company and having your website work for you, even when you can’t work—or don’t feel like working! You’ll be amazed at how much you can get done, even when you are taking some time off.