One of the least talked about, yet very important aspects
of running an online business is the organization and
actual operation of the business.

Any successful business, offline or online, needs to be
organized from the beginning. Even a one-man operation
like Red Lion Books needs to be organized. Here are a few
tips on staying organized and keeping your business
running smoothly.

Plan

Before you jump into any online venture, you should take
some time to plan it out. I know from knowledge, the
first draft of Redlionbooks.com looked totally different
than it does now. I used the remains of the first,
half-completed page as a plan for this site. It was like
a list of all the parts that were going to come together
to build this site. I recommend that you beginning by creating a
checklist of the essential parts of your future site.

Write It Down

When I first started out, I thought that everything could
be filed away on a spreadsheet in Excel. I had one
spreadsheet for article promotion, another one for ezine
promotion, and so on. Although this is only a personal
preference, I think that nice old paper and pen is workable
for organizing your promotional efforts.

I now have one notebook for the different types of
promotion, a notebook for bills, a notebook to jot down
random thoughts. I just have them in a neat pile with in
effortless reach. These are the most important aspects of my
business, and I feel more secure knowing that I have a
hard copy as well.

Email Folders

Making separate folders in your electronic mail program might also help
you get organized.Programs such as Eudora allow you to
download the messages off of the server so that they stay
on your computer.

Record Keeping

It is important that you have some way of keeping records.
Besides tax purposes, it is grand to have individual
reports for each advertisement campaign. This helps to sort out the
best sources for advertising.

More to come later, on the subject of organization.