Many newcomers to the Internet marketing arena are not aware that there is a vast difference between an autoresponder program and an autoresponder service. Not knowing the difference, they often purchase the wrong type of autoresponder, and find out too late that they have wasted money on a program that is useless to them.



An autoresponder program is a program that is set up on your web server. This is usually a free autoresponder that comes with your web hosting account. Many people don’t like to use autoresponder services; so instead, they use an autoresponder program that they have more control over. Some of those people don’t like the autoresponder programs that come with their hosting accounts either and purchase autoresponder programs or scripts that must be installed on their web server.

Other people are quite happy with using an autoresponder service. This is a service that is usually paid for on a monthly or yearly basis. The fees are ongoing, and everything is browser based. In other words, you can set up your autoresponder messages and manage your opt-in list through your web browser; just as you can with an autoresponder program that is installed through your web hosting account. The difference is that the service runs on the autoresponder service’s web server ; not yours or your web hosts.

Beginners are usually better off using an autoresponder service. These services are very easy to understand and to use, and no technical knowledge is needed to set things up. As a newcomer to the field, however, you might be concerned about the costs of an autoresponder service. If this is the case, you have the option of signing up with a free autoresponder service.

Free services make their money by placing advertisements in each autoresponder message that you send out. Sometimes these ads appear at the top of your messages, and sometimes they appear at the bottom. Some of the free services are simply an enticement to purchase the professional version, and have many of the more advanced features, such as tracking, disabled.

More advanced users often choose to use autoresponder programs, simply because they have more control over the autoresponder, and they don’t have to follow some of the stiffer rules imposed by autoresponder services, such as sending confirmation to each and every person who is entered into the autoresponders list.

The autoresponder that you choose is strictly up to you, but in most cases, an autoresponder service should suit your needs. If you are unsure, look for a service that offers free signups, with the option of upgrading to the professional paid version at a later date.

Tracking Autoresponder Responses

As an Internet marketer, it is vitally important to know how well your advertising campaigns are doing.

Advertising campaigns cost a lot of time and money, and campaigns that are not doing well need to either be changed or scraped. When using autoresponders for purposes of Internet marketing, you will be able to tell how well your autoresponder messages are doing by using response tracking.

Autoresponder response tracking is usually easily set up with the higher quality paid autoresponder services. Using the tracking set up tool, you simply enter the web site address that you want your readers to visit, and the software generates a brand new URL. This URL is used track the number of clicks that you have from the autoresponder message to the website that you are promoting.

When a person clicks on that special URL, the click is captured, and they are automatically redirected to the website that you intended them to arrive at. The visitor does not know that they have been redirected in most cases. You can monitor the results through the control panel of your autoresponder service account. The control panel will tell you how many messages were delivered, and how many clicks were received. Most quality autoresponders will even include a feature that allows you to track how many of the emails were opened. This is a great marketing research tool for mass email marketing.

Not all autoresponder services offer tracking abilities such as this. If tracking is important to you, you need to make sure that this is one of the features of the autoresponder service before you sign up. This feature gives you the ability to know whether the message you are sending out is effective, or if changes need to be made. It also allows you to see if the sales copy on your website is effective, in a “round-about" way. For instance, if you are getting thousands of clicks from the autoresponder message, but very few clicks from the sales page to the order page, you know that the autoresponder message is working, but the sales copy is failing.

If you have never tracked your autoresponder responses before, you should definitely consider it. Again, this information allows you to find out what is working, and what is not working. It will essentially make your autoresponder marketing much more effective and profitable. You will most likely be very surprised at the results of the tracking!

Using Your Autoresponder to Generate Leads

Autoresponders are one of the most important marketing tools that you can have if you are doing business online. In fact, the only thing more important that the autoresponder is your opt-in list! But all autoresponders start out without a list; the list doesn’t exist until your autoresponder mailing list starts filling up with names and email addresses!

The easiest and fastest way to build up an email list is to give things away for free. Some marketers will tell you that this is a waste of time; and if you already have a list of one hundred thousand people that you can market to, then it probably is. But for those who do not already have a list, this is the way that it gets built! You simply pay for advertisement to promote your freebie.

Don’t think of this as lost money, think of it as an investment in future earnings.

Give away an ezine, free reports, free ebooks, free access to private websites, or anything else that you can think of. The object is to get people to sign up to receive that freebie, and to agree to receive email from you in the future! It is a win-win situation for everyone, but you get more than anyone else in the deal. The person gets a freebie. You get their name and email address, and permission to email them in the future.

But if you do it right, you get even more than that. The freebie that you give away should also be used to promote your products or services. Even if it just has affiliate links for products or services that are related to the topic of the freebie, it is a way to generate extra revenue. Then, when you send email in the future, you can again promote your products or services. Just be sure to include valuable information in the email as well, or you will have people dropping off of your autoresponder mailing list like flies!

Using every opportunity that is presented to you in the world of Internet Marketing is vital to your success. You have the opportunity to earn money in the freebie that you create, you have the opportunity to earn money when you send the “thank you" email after a person has requested your freebie, and you have the opportunity to earn money every time an autoresponder message is sent out to that list in the future! Don’t waste those opportunities, and put it all in automatic mode with the use of an autoresponder.

Using an Autoresponder to Publish an Ezine

There are many uses for an autoresponder. One such use is the publishing and distribution of an ezine or newsletter. Since autoresponder services usually are set up to send automatic responses to the people on the list at certain intervals after they sign up, setting up an autoresponder to send out an ezine can be a little confusing.

Depending on the service or autoresponder that you are using, you will need a “broadcast" feature. The

broadcast feature works essentially the same as the autoresponse feature, with one big difference. The

messages are not sent out at intervals. The messages can, however, be scheduled to go out on a certain day, which has no bearing on when the subscriber was actually added to the mailing list. Broadcast messages are “one time" messages that are only sent to your current mailing list. People who sign up for your list after the broadcast has been sent do not receive it, unless the specifically request it with an autoresponder address, which you must set up.

Using the broadcast feature of most autoresponder services, you can simply go and either type your newsletter, or copy and paste it into the editor, then choose to send the broadcast to your entire mailing list. More advanced autoresponder services will usually have broadcasting features.

Using an autoresponder to maintain a mailing list and to distribute a newsletter is a wonderful idea. Your subscribers can easily opt-in, or opt-out, and all of the distribution is handled for you, based on the schedule that you set. List maintenance can become very difficult without the automation that autoresponders provide. You can write each issue of your ezine or newsletter well in advance, and have it delivered to your mailing list, no matter where you are or what you are doing. That is the beauty of automation!

Since all past broadcast and autoresponse messages are saved, you can easily refer back to old issues, or allow people to request past issues. You can also use the tracking feature throughout each issue of the newsletter to determine how many clicks you are getting for the various products or websites that you promote in your ezine.

If you have not yet purchased an autoresponder or signed up with any autoresponder service, make sure that you inquire about the broadcast feature first. Not all autoresponders or autoresponder services have this feature, and as your marketing progresses, you will find that this is one of the most useful features of the service or program.

Powerful Autoresponders; Does Yours Measure Up?

Autoresponders are very necessary when it comes to marketing or taking care of customers. But the power of an autoresponder, or the lack of power, can mean the difference between success and failure.

When you use an autoresponder service, you must make sure that the domain that the autoresponder uses isn’t blacklisted by the spam watch groups. If it is, your messages probably won’t make it past

the majority of spam filters, no matter how much you check it with spam checkers.

Also, not having the ability to track responses can cost you business. If you can’t track response rates,

you won’t have any way of knowing whether your messages are doing you any good. A good

autoresponder will provide the ability to track responses. If yours doesn’t, you might want to shop

for a new autoresponder.

The ability to add and remove names to your autoresponder manually is vital. Often, people will contact you without going through your autoresponder. These people need to be put on the autoresponders mailing list. If you are moving your list from one service to another, you need the ability to import names and addresses to your list. Again, if your autoresponder service isn’t powerful enough to allow this, look for a different one!

If you have any questions please contact us www.Amintas.com or mail@amintas.com.