If you've been online for any period of time and have been trying to do everything on your web site all by yourself I'm sure at one time or another that you've reached a point of exhaustion just trying to keep up. Just how do those other companies keep up? The regular amount of email alone can threaten to bury you alive every single day - not to mention take away your important time to do all those other important internet "chores" that you need to do.

People expect prompt replies to their email inquiries from your internet business. This can pose a major problem for you. Unless you can hire plenty of people to constantly monitor and manage your incoming emails or have figured out how to work continual twenty-four hour shifts (with no sleep) things don't look good.

Email is an essential part of your business. That can't be disputed. Email is an excellent marketing tool - it is inexpensive and it is fast. It can also be a major time waster. If you spend all your working hours answering that mountain of email, when will you have the time to complete your other business activities?

So, is there a way to overcome this huge time waster of basic email maintenance? I do have one major suggestion for you - how about the use of autoresponders responding to your emails? Basically, autoresponders are programs that automatically respond to your emails without you having to do anything (once they've been set up). Autoresponders are often inexpensive, and sometimes free. What these programs do is automatically respond to incoming emails as soon as they are received by the system.

Autoresponders can do so much more than just answer your email. They can also send information about your services, products and price lists to your customers. You could also set up an autoresponder to do more than simply send out standardized messages - such as an unlimited number of follow-up messages sent at predetermined intervals of time.

There are many different companies that offer autoresponder services free of charge. One idea, go to Google, look up autoresponders, and you will find a long list of companies offering autoresponder services for you to choose from. Autoresponders are very versatile programs that do a lot of work in no time at all. Below I'll list a few ideas that will teach you to use your autoresponders and to transform a casual visitor into a profitable customer.

1. Create various mailing lists. Tip: Inform subscribers about your new articles when you've written them.

2. Write your own reviews. You could review software, books, music, e-books or movies and put each review in an individual autoresponder. Tip: You could also review your own affiliate program if you have one.

3. Publish your own newsletter. Many autoresponders can manage your subscriptions and follow-up with interested prospects. Tip: Your newsletter can keep your visitors informed about your services or products and build your reputation as an expert in your particular field.

4. Publish an affiliates only newsletter. Inform them of current sales, promotional materials, etc. Tip: Include advice or techniques that they could use to successfully promote your business.

5. Distribute your own valuable articles. Tip: Writing and distributing your own targeted articles is a very powerful tool to build your business online credibility, increase your sales potential and bring a lot more traffic to your site.

6. Distribute your own free reports. Tip: This could give your visitor an idea of the type of information you provide as well as the quality of your products and services.

7. Distribute your own email course. Tip: Each day your autoresponder could send out another new lesson, full of quality content - not just a sales pitch.

8. Once a visitor has finished your own email course, automate a reminder about your other products and services. Tip: You could also use these reminders to promote new products or services.

9. Automate your own sales process. Tip: Create an ad filled with numerous marketing materials which will increase the chances of converting visitors into customers.

10. Distribute your own advertising to future clients. Tip: If you sell advertising on your website, newsletter or e-zine, set your autoresponder to send the advertising rates (and how to place an ad) automatically to all your prospects' email addresses.

11. Create your own contest or trivia quizzes. Tip: Place all of the answers and confirmation of their contest entry in an autoresponder.

12. Offer a free sample version of your own products. Tip: Give your customers a sample of your own ebooks, courses, software, etc.

Autoresponser allow you to automate many parts of your marketing campaign. Autoresponders are potentially a very powerful marketing tool and allow you to make contact with thousands of potential customers with no work on your end - past the initial autoresponder setup.

This could be an invaluable asset considering how many potential customers you usually have contact with BEFORE you make an actual sale. Now that you have a few new ideas about autoresponders, see if you can come up with some brilliant and creative autoresponder methods of your own!

Copyright 2007 ? Debbie Ray. All Rights Reserved