What Is An Autoresponder?

An autoresponder is a computer program that automatically returns a prewritten message to anyone who submits email to a particular Internet address. it will automatically email you a notification email that your subscription has been received and even automates the unsubscribe process.
An autoresponder isn't used to answer all emails that require a custom response, i.e., a specific reply. They are used only when you want to send the SAME message to anyone submitting an email to a SPECIFIC EMAIL ADDRESS. Everyone subscribing to your newsletter can receive the same EXACT message. This automation will save you a great deal of time and increase your effectiveness, allowing you mailings to run on autopilot.
Sequential Autoresponders
The beauty of Autoresponders is automatic follow-up. Most sales are made after five or more contacts, or when a persons need arises. The repetition of follow-up messages greatly increases the effectiveness of your offering and can dramatically increase your sales, especially when buyers want immediate gratification, getting their purchase now. Sequential Autoresponders are also referred to as "Smart" or "Intelligent" Autoresponders (sometimes referred to as Autobots).
Creating a sense of urgency is another tool in the marketer's arsenal that often increases sales, and works well through timed Autoresponders. You can constantly change your urgency offer until you hit the buyers hot button. Making it "Time-Sensitive" with an additional incentive is an excellent tactic.
The modern version will permit you to send multiple messages at prescheduled times. For example, suppose an individual signs up on your website to receive a free Internet course consisting of ten separate lessons and you want them to receive one lesson a week for 10 weeks. You can now setup a scheduled automated Autoresponder program.
The subscriber only needs to subscribe the one time, but will receive all ten lessons over time. If they subscribe to your newsletter, you can instantly send out the first edition, and schedule the future editions to send automatically at a specific date and time. Everything is triggered AUTOMATICALLY when an individual subscribes on your website form by providing you with their name and email address. TOTAL AUTOMATION!
There are many features associated with autoresponders. When selecting one, it is important for you to be sure it has the features you want. Some important features are:
Autoresponder Features to Look For
Types of Autoresponders:
Services have monthly fees, but can be very easy to administrate and no complex setup required. Normally used when you need several for different emails and multiple products. May lack in features. We recommend staying away from free autoresponders because they can divert your clients away from your offer through their own offers and banner ads.
Own your own software - There are various levels of Pay Only Once & Own it for Life. We use a complete email marketing software program that totally automates our email marketing, newsletter mailing, and autoresponses. Once setup we can do the work of a dozen people through the automation. It works with our website and email software and its feature rich structure actually can replace the need for several different software programs.
Personally, we have not found a very low cost Autoresponder software that is easy to setup and use is that lives up to its claims. We purchased "Autoresponder Unlimited" software, spending 3 long days trying to get it to work. We finally did get it to work in part, but it was very limited in features, VERY difficult to setup, in spite of the many claims that it can be setup in 15 minutes by a beginner and is feature rich.
Reading their literature, it appeared to be comprehensive, but it just lacked in too many ways. This software sells for about $69 and we deleted it from our system, taking the loss. That was the case we found in other autoresponder software we reviewed. Almost without exception, we found the very cheap web development software packages to be lacking in major ways, including email software, mailing list management, website creation software, and etc. In general, you do get what you pay for.
Additionally, your autoresponders should at least:
The software should be easy to install or setup, even for a novice or have a strong tech support dept. to assist you until you have mastered it.
It should include complete easy-to-follow Installation or setup Instructions. You MUST allow for a reasonable learning curve, time to learn it. Almost all powerful software requires a little time to learn and effort on your part to become proficient.
Use on Unlimited Number of websites.
Affordable. Software for the large Internet companies can cost from $500 to $500,000 and even more. The small business person usually can only afford $400 to $2000 max.
We recommend using fully integrated email marketing software that includes the feature of creating Autoresponders. Everything is sure to work together and you don't have to learn several different programs, then experience the frustration of trying to make them work together. This can be a major problem, since tech support for one software generally blames the other software your integrating into your program.
Send Unlimited Number of Follow-up Emails using sequential Autoresponders.
Works on Unlimited number of subscribers. No limits.
Fully automated, will work for you 24 Hours a Day 7 Days a Week
Super fast email delivery
Can automatically wrap words at 65 characters per line.
Full Customization - can send emails with actual names of clients and email addresses.
Customized "Welcome" or "Confirmation" Page. You can set-up a thank you page after your client has subscribed.
All follow-up emails can have an attachment - you can attach any file type to your email messages up to 2MB
You can manually Unsubscribe any email addresses
Your subscribers can automatically Unsubscribe using a Link in every email message
Power Checking of Duplicate Email Addresses.
Very easy to use Administration Control Panel.
Super easy to Import and Export Email Addresses.
Works with any form creation or web creation software program like MS FrontPage.
You should receive a report every time a follow-up is sent to your subscribers.
Have the ability to completely manage your email marketing campaigns. Only more sophisticated software and services have these features.
Customizable. Has total flexibility to structure usage to your specific needs.
There are other features you may require, but this list can put you in the ball park as to what you will likely need.
A weekly support newsletter for the TV Show and online Radio show, "The Maverick Entrepreneur," Hosted by "Maverick" (aka Bob Dean Stanford), targeting home businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs.
It presents cutting edge, state of the art small business marketing tips, insider information, quality low cost solutions and resources. The newsletter is entertaining, educational, and uniquely informative presenting many "Tricks of the Trade."

Related Information of Interest:

Article Marketing for Search Engine Traffic
There are sites on the net that serve tons of traffic everyday. Traffic you wish you had, right?
The web is made up of billions of links, much like a spiderï¿½s web but on a larger scale. Search engines spider the web looking for new content to add to their massive databases so they can rank how relevant it is to particular search phrases.
What are the search engines looking for?
New content! In order for any search engine to provide relevant results to their visitors (so their visitors will repeatedly use them) they must provide the best results possible for every search performed on their site.
The best search engine gets more traffic and more traffic means more advertising money for them - so search engines have to be up to date to stay competitive in their market.
The big sites on the net, people, who have page rankings of 5 upwards, obviously serve a ton of visitors per day, provide search engines with a mass of links to follow and index. Thatï¿½s why they go back to the big sites more often than the little ones.
High traffic, very popular sites are visited by the search engine robots more often than sites with little traffic. Some large sites are visited by search engines as much as 2-4 times per month.
How can article marketing increase your search engine traffic?
By submitting articles you can get links from these high traffic sites. Furthermore you can optimize your articles with your search terms to get high rankings for that particular page. This would otherwise take weeks on a new site as oppose to a well established one such as this.
Each of these sites will have its own resource area, at the end of the article, writers include a bit of Author information on where to find out more about them. Place your website link in here and bobï¿½s your uncle the search engines will find your site through that link.
The more articles you submit with your website link in them, the more pages on the net you have pointing to you from high traffic sites and the better your ranking and link popularity.
Many good article sites these days create RSS feeds for each category. This provides an additional opportunity to market your site and article to people who subscribe to the feeds.
Start submitting your articles today. You will be amazed at the results they yield.

Richard is the Publisher of Articleprobe a Free Article Distribution and Submisssion Service. Set up your account today and start submitting your articles to Articleprobe

7 Winning Tips For Article Marketers
1. Follow up with your readers.

For example, you could offer a subscription to your ezine or
you could offer a free email course in your resource box.

2. Use lots of white space.

Increase your article's white space by going over it for
sentences you can shorten and also paragraphs you could
break up into two or three shorter paragraphs.

3. Use numbered lists.

Use your numbered lists to convey points in your articles or
your steps in your "how to" article.

Numbered lists can also be used to create the content of
your article, like I did with this simple list article.

4. Use the word "you" a lot in your articles.

Make your writing feel more personal by using the word you a
lot within your article.

That way your readers will feel like you are talking
directly to them and you'll be able to better draw them into
your article's content.

5. Write to one person.

Choose a person such as a friend or spouse to write your
article to.

By doing this, you will naturally use the word you a lot
within your article, and your readers will feel like you are
talking to them one to one.

6. Offer an article announcement list.

Keep people up to date on your latest articles by publishing
an email list that announces your new articles.

You could also announce your new articles by RSS to
publishers and webmasters that like your writing.

7. Let your affiliates use your articles to earn
commissions.

Make your articles available to your affiliates to publish
on their sites or in their ezines with their affiliate links
in your resource box.

You'll be able to successfully raise your profits by turning
your articles into an effective promotional tool for your
affiliates.

Ken runs the Net Pro Marketer where you'll find informative articles on business, marketing, and ezine publishing. Browse through the articles or submit your own at: www.netpromarketer.com

Marketing a new business without a big budget
Anyone who has started a business without a lot of start-up capital has faced a vicious catch 22. You have to market your company in order to increase sales, but until sales have increased (and you've received payment) you can't afford to market your business. Fortunately, you've got more options than you realize, after all, more than a few other businesses have gotten past this hurdle. So can you.

First of all, don't advertise in the newspapers, on television or the radio because it can take considerable time to see results from these mediums and at this stage of your business, your budget will likely be gone long before you see them.

One powerful way that a business with a small marketing budget can gain exposure is by innovative marketing company that specializes in guerilla marketing techniques to help smaller companies compete with larger companies and win.