Autoresponders are a handy tool for your online internet business. An autoresponder is a program that automatically sends out pre-written messages at the pre-selected times. These messages are sent out to anyone who requests information from a certain email address, fills out a form on your website, etc.

They can be used for ecourses, tutorials, articles, (with follow-ups) newsletters, mailing lists, free reports, general information or questions, and more. Autoresponders can help automate your online business so you have more time to spend helping customers, etc. One word of caution - do not lose the personal touch. Autoresponders are very helpful, but do not rely on them to run your whole business. You need to maintain personal contact with your customers.

If you have an email address on your site where people can email for more info or a free report; try spicing it up with an autoresponder. The autoresponder will send out the information/report immediately. You can then add several follow-ups to the existing info and they will all be delivered automatically! This frees up your time and also gives the customer the requested info instantly.

NOTE: Be sure and give the customer the option to opt out or refuse the follow-ups if they so choose. You do not want to be reported for spam. This can also be set up with the autoresponder.

You might want to set it up something like this:

A person responds to an email on your site for more information on a particular service or product. Your first autoresponder message goes out immediately thanking them for their inter rest and giving them all the basic info as requested. Maybe add some testimonials. Personalize the message with their name, if possible.

A couple of days later message #2 goes out telling about your experience, credentials and more testimonials. Then message #3 a few days later could be a free report with information pertaining to your products. If you sell home decor items, offer some decorating tips with your products being the subject.

After that come s message #4 with any specials or sales you may have coming up. Message #5 could be a final grab for the sale and you could also let them know about your ezine, if you have one or other free resources/services you provide.

I have also used autoresponders for my articles and ecourses. I put each article on an autoresponder with a couple follow-ups and then I also have a master list of all my articles. I promote the address of the master list from which people can automatically receive the individual articles and follow-ups.

An autorepsonder also works very well for ecourses and tutorials. Put each lesson separately and have them sent out a couple days apart to keep you in the customers mind.

Don't wait too long in between or people will forget about you and the tutorial. At the end of the ecourse, you can add a couple of follow-ups or maybe a survey on how they like the ecourse with a free report or ebook as a thank you.

Use your imagination and marketing talents. The possibilities are endless with autoresponders.

Simply do a search for autoresponders and you will have plenty to choose from. I have always used GetResponse. There are free ones as well, but the features will be limited. But depending on what you are using them for, free might work for you.

Once you set up your autoresponders, they can be marketing your products/services for you 24/7, which could increase your sales and income substantially!