Auto Responders 101

  An auto responder is the best way to build your list. For just a few dollars a month, you can send out a welcome note to new subscribers, keep them updated every time you make a change to your website, and send weekly or even daily articles and tips . . . all automatically!

  There are free auto responders available, which usually put banners at the top of each email you send out. Do you really want other people advertising for free in YOUR emails? I didnīt think so. Itīs worth paying $20 or so get ad-free (unless you put them there) emails.

  Paid auto responders also offer you more options than free ones. Most have unlimited follow-up emails and you can easily access your entire list of subscribers.

  When you first set up your auto responder, you decide what the first follow-up message will be. If your auto responder offers double opt-in (which it should) you will want to customize the opt-in message. It should look something like this:

  Dear <name>,

 You recently asked to receive a weekly newsletter from www.yoursite.com. If this was not a mistake and you would like to receive your first newsletter immediately, please clink the link below to confirm.

  You would of course include the confirmation link for your subscriber to click on. The reason the auto responder asks for confirmation is to avoid being accused of spamming. Spam has become such a huge problem that it is necessary to take all precautions against being accused of it. If someone reports you as having spammed them, you could lose your ISP, website, and even your affiliate links. Itīs just not worth it, so go with a double opt-in auto responder.

  Once you have your confirmation email set up, you need to write a brief welcome letter that will be sent as soon as the subscriber has confirmed his or her email. This could just be a quick "thanks for joining" or you might even include a bonus for signing up. If you offered a "bribe" (ebook, report, etc.) for free in order to get people to sign up, you should include the download link in this email.

  After this, itīs up to you to decide how many follow up emails you want to add. If you are planning to send out a newsletter, you donīt need any, just send each newsletter out to your subscribers each week or month. A good example of follow up messages is an e-course.

  For an ecourse, you simply write each lesson and load it into your auto responder. Specify when you want each email to go out (every day, every two days, weekly, etc.) and thatīs it! You just need to promote, your ecourse will run itself automatically, collecting email addresses as it goes.

  When you are building your opt-in list, an auto responder is invaluable. If you canīt afford $20 a month, then find a free one to use until you have some extra cash. Donīt be without one.