Autoresponders are an extremely powerful way to streamline your business. By automating your business, you will decrease your work load while increasing the impact of your marketing campaign.
I cant stress enough how important this is to do from the very beginning! It can be overwhelming to suddenly have dozens of prospects needing answers immediately. The good news is that most prospects will ask the same questions and an effective autoresponder can easily respond to them.
So, what exactly is an autoresponder
An Autoresponder is simply an email address that automatically answers requests with a message that you create.
Your visitor gets the information he or she wants right away there is no waiting for you to answer your email. This is very important on the internet because people expect immediate results.
There are many Autoresponders floating around the internet. Many are offered for free. Obviously these are a popular choice but the vast majority of them have one big drawback. Theyre offered free because other advertisers pay to have their own message added to each message YOU send out. That means in addition to seeing YOUR sales message, the recipient also sees an advertisement for someone elses product or service.
So, what should you look for in an autoresponder Some key features are:
QUICK RESPONSE
Your autoresponder should reply to a request within a few minutes. Be careful with this one. Many autoresponders *claim* to answer emails within minutes, but few actually do.
INSTANT ACCESS TO YOUR MESSAGE
You want personal control over your autoresponder documents You need to be able to change your autoresponder message at any time, and have it take effect immediately. You also want a user friendly system for both you and your prospects.
ABILITY TO SEND UNLIMITED FOLLOW-UP MESSAGES
It usually takes 7 or more exposures to a message before you can close a sale. You need to make sure you have the ability to stay in front of your prospect for at least that long.
NO LIMIT ON THE NUMBER OF REQUESTS
You dont want to be limited to the number of people you can reach with your autoresponder. This will substantially inhibit the growth of your business.
NO CHARGE FOR CHANGES TO YOUR MESSAGE
Success on the Internet depends in large part on experimentation, testing, and more testing. That means youll be continuously trying to improve your autoresponder message; and you dont want to have to pay for it.
ABILITY FOR PEOPLE TO OPT-OUT
This gives the recipient the option of removing him or herself from your mailing list. If you dont do this, you could be accused of spamming and end up in a whole lot of trouble!
ABILITY TO PERSONALIZE YOUR MESSAGE
Addressing your prospect by name is a very powerful rapport builder. You want your prospects to feel like you are talking directly to them. Make sure your auto responder has this capability.
Take the time to carefully choose the right autoresponder. Keep in mind the most important features YOU need and make sure your autoresponder has that capability. For instance, the autoresponder I use now Aweber gives me unlimited message size, unlimited number of autoresponders, and excellent response time. Of course it has a lot more than that ... but those are the ones I was most concerned with.
If you dont have an autoresponder, Id suggest getting one now. The right one can save you time ... and increase your sales!
By: Anne Ahira
Editor The BEST Affiliate Newsletter
Email is very powerful and many people are constantly asking how to get their advertisement to a lot of people without spamming. How do you use email to reach people that have not opted in to your newsletter without spamming
The answer is... Advertise in other peoples newsletters.
You can buy ad space in other peoples newsletters inexpensively. One of the best online advertising methods is ezine advertising. It lets you reach new targeted customers inexpensively.
You have a choice between placing ads or articles. Ads are less expensive but articles are more powerful and lend credibility to your company and your offer.
A good plan is to choose a few newsletters and buy three consecutive ads. Run the ads and check the results. Then, as long as at least one newsletter had good results, go for an article. You have an audience primed by your ads for your article.
It is possible, if you write a great article, to get it included free. You need to know the newsletters audience and submit an article that is well written and very relevant. If it is worth the editors time, you may get a free inclusion. Your article will go out to the whole list for free. You cant beat that.
When placing newsletter ads, ask the editor if the newsletter is archived on the editors website. An archived html version of the newsletter will give you some good back links to your site from a site that is relevant. These are the quality links Google and other search engines look for. Some newsletters are inexpensive enough to make them worthwhile just for the back links.
On another point, never run just an ad. Always run three ads or more. Sales will usually build over time for awhile. If you find a few good ezines, you can probably run six to ten advertisements before your sales begin to fall. In a great newsletter you may find that they fall a bit but level out and produce consistent sales making regular inclusions worthwhile. You can always negotiate great rates for regular inclusions for six months to a year.
Also, you may have a great opportunity to barter, even if your list is not that big. Astute newsletter editors can trade ads even steven even though their newsletters may have up to 10X the number of subscribers your list has. Why is this good business for them Well, if you grew your list carefully, you have a valuable asset. These are new potential customers and subscribers for the big list editor. They do not have an opportunity to reach new lists as often as you may think. And, the reality is that the number of subscribers is not the issue, return on investment is. It costs very little to swap ads.
A good newsletter ad campaign can be worth gold. It gives you a lot of control and it will give you some of the best return on investment of any online marketing method.
Here is a great place to find newsletter editors looking for advertisers and contributors. Say Hi! to Merle...
The Ezine Ad Auction Website
Good Luck with your Marketing Ventures!
To read JDs blog, go to:
A Blog About Online Retail, with an emphasis on Internet Marketing and Online Advertising.