You’ve probably seen email capture forms similar to that shown in the graphic here to the right at least a million times.

When someone enters their name and email address, it triggers an autoresponder.

The autoresponder automatically responds (ergo, the name ‘autoresponder’) by sending a preprogrammed / prewritten message to the email address entered in the form.

Autoresponders are sometimes used by individuals to notify those who send them emails that they are away on vacation, i.e. an ‘out of office‘ reply is sent.

Autoresponder services are more commonly used by online businesses to build client mailing lists and to provide their web site visitors with followup and new information about their products and services.

Autoresponder service features most often include the ability to preprogram an unlimited number of prewritten followup responses that are sent at predetermined intervals. For example, the first message is sent immediately after a person subscribers, the second message is sent 2 days later and message number 3 is sent three days after the second message… and so on and so forth. This is known as an ‘autoresponder series’.

Autoresponder service clients may also send out broadcast messages to their subscribers on an ad-hoc basis.

In recent years, autoresponder services have added a feed to email feature that allows webmasters to send published posts from their blogs (and other feeds) to their mailing list subscribers.

Although there are many autoresponder services available, I personally recommend Aweber – a service that I’ve been using without complaint since starting my online business in 1998. Aweber is without a doubt, the world’s leading autoresponder service in terms of features and customer service.

Once upon a time, I made a HUGE mistake with one of my subscriber lists.

You’d think after half a decade (at that time) as an Internet marketer that I would have known the email marketing formula like the back of my hand.

Tried-and-True Email Marketing Formula

Here’s the tried-and-true formula for email marketing success:

An Autoresponder Series
+
a Weekly, Bi-Weekly or Monthly Newsletter
=
Repeat Visits to Site and MORE Sales

It’s a Win-Win situation all round. Subscribers receive valuable offers of interest to them and the list owner generates income from purchases through their own, or affiliate links.

The formula is perfect. It works like a charm each and every time – but only when you use it, and use it regularly.

That last point is key and I’ll tell you why.

I started my ‘Singles eScene’ [SeS] newsletter for my dating service review site in 1998. At the time of my serious email marketing mistake, the [SeS] had 103,000 subscribers.

One day, I sent my subscribers an offer to attend a free John Gray teleminar. John Gray, Ph.D., is the author of 15 best-selling books, including ‘Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus‘ and is a relationships expert.

Relationships – something singles are interested in, right?

Then why did more than 14,000 people unsubscribe from the [SeS] within a few days of receiving that message?

There’s only one good explanation.

Too Much Time Between Mailings

I had let more than 7 months elapse between mailings! Most of those subscribers were probably wondering, ‘What the heck is the Singles eScene?’ and/or ‘I didn’t signup for this!’

So, they got busy clicking those unsubscribe links.

OK, there is a bit of a bright side to ‘culling‘ your list. My autoresponder service, Aweber, charges 9.95 per month for each additional 10,000 subscribers. So, by losing 14,000 subscribers, I saved $120 over the coming year.

But the truth of the matter is that my laziness cost probably me much more than $120.

I know that on average, two of every 100 [SeS] subscribers buys an annual dating service membership for $70.00, and four more purchase recurring monthly $24.95 memberships that they keep for an average of 6 months. With a 50% commission rate… I just tossed $4440 down the drain over the next twelve months.

The lesson therefore is simple.

People buy from people they know, like and trust.

So, build your list with your autoresponder series AND regular newsletter broadcasts… and let them get to know, like and trust you!

Get just TWO items and you can be in business online.

One thing I love best about Internet marketing is that the financial barrier to entry is low. In other words, it doesn’t cost much at all, meaning that anyone with a little bit of money can start a business.

Assuming that you already have a computer that is connected to the Internet, here are the TWO basic services that you’ll need along with their estimated costs:

1. A domain name

   You can register your domain name at GoDaddy for as little as $9.99 for a .com name, or get it included when you set up your web hosting service (see next item).

2. A web hosting service

   My favorite web hosting service to recommend to new webmasters is BlueHost which is as little as 6.95 per month (when you buy a 2-year hosting package) and includes your domain name registration. I also list a number of other recommended web hosts here.

Of course, in time you’ll probably want to add other services such as an autoresponder and maybe buy some content for your site if you don’t like to write.

But just getting a web site started doesn’t require anything beyond having a domain name and web hosting.

Total cost?

About $7.00 a month – or $27.00 per month with the autoresponder.

Research has shown that the average person needs to be exposed to an ad at least 7 times (and often many more) before they will buy a product. You therefore need to remind visitors to come BACK to your site, making an autoresponder service essential for your online business.

Below I’ve listed those autoresponder services that I and other Internet marketing professionals have used and trusted for years.

TOP PICK: Aweber Communications

Having used their service since 1998, Aweber’s autoresponder service is my TOP pick and the one I most highly recommend. Just some of Aweber’s features include detailed email web analytics, activity based segmentation, geo-targeting, broadcast split-testing and an easy-to-use email setup wizard. Try Aweber risk-free for a month to get
more email subscribers, enhance your subscriber relationships, and increase your sales.

Visit Aweber | Read my Aweber Review

Constant Contact

Constant Contact’s service includes customizable website visitor sign up form; Over 100 professional HTML email templates (newsletters, promos, invites and more); List management and hosting (including unsubscribe and bounce mgmt); Automatic delivery in the correct format, HTML or text; Real-time reporting (including opens, who clicked on which links and more); You can try it free for 60 days. Every free trial includes a subscription to their email marketing best practices newsletter and email campaign coaching tips.

Visit Constant Contact

Get Response

Get Response is the email marketing / autoresponder of choice by such top-notch Internet marketers as Michel Fortin, Marlon Sanders and Yanik Silver; and has been used by over 500,000 internet marketers since 1998. With GetResponse, your email marketing campaigns are protected by their Delivery Guard™ technology that monitors your mailings 24/7. Support service is also 24/7.

Visit Get Response

“… still the best autoresponder service available – bar none.”

If you’ve been searching for a service that will let you build a list of subscribers, deliver auto-response messages and send broadcast news to those subscribers, then you already know that there are many different options from which to choose.

You may be finding it difficult to choose, so… I’m going to make your choice simple.

Get an Aweber autoresponder.

I have been using Aweber’s autoresponder service since 1998. For comparison purposes only, I’ve tested many of the other autoresponder services available and have ultimately cancelled all but Aweber’s service.

With Aweber, you get everything you need to build your email marketing campaign at a reasonable price.

Unlimited Autoresponders, Broadcast & Followup Messages

These are the most basic benefits of having an Aweber autoresponder account:

• Unlimited autoresponders so you can set build a different for list for each of your sites or pay per click campaigns.
• Unlimited follow up messages. You can have something as short as a 5-part autoresponder series or build one that delivers a message to your subscriber every week for a year… or longer. It’s up to you.
• Unlimited braodcast messages lets you share news with your subscribers on an ad-hoc basis.
• Unlimited message length. There are some services that restrict the amount of text you can send.

In addition to support, the Aweber guys frequently blog and write articles about email marketing topics such as “Just Because We Publish, Doesn’t Mean You Read” and “Confirmed Opt-in Myths Exposed“.

Personalization, Shopping Cart Integration and more…

The features that you get with Aweber’s service is too extensive to list in this article, but here are few:

• Your messages can be personalized to include your subscriber’s name.
• Send your messages using text, HTML or both — and you can choose from a number of pre-designed HTML templates.
• A WYSIWYG editor is available for the HTML challenged.
• Click-through and open rates are tracked automatically.
• You can send attachments such as ebooks or PDF’s along with your messages.
• Aweber is easily integrated with Paypal and other third-party shopping carts.
• Free customer support via phone, live chat or ticket submission. This is one of the few autoresponder services that has support available on the weekends – and their support is fabulous — they actually answer the question that you asked!

Aweber makes it easy for you to start using their system as well, with free training videos that show you how to do everything on a step-by-step basis.

Creating your opt-in form is as simple as navigating to the “Web Form” section, filling in 4 form blanks and selecting one radio button. All you have to do then is copy and paste the code where you want it on your site.

Pricing

You will have no trouble covering the cost of the service as your list grows.

As a matter of fact, I’m thrilled each time my bill increases, because I know that I now have MORE subscribers and am therefore making much MORE money!

So, as I’ve been telling new Internet marketers and webmasters for years — with more features and lower prices, Aweber is still the best autoresponder service available – bar none.

Visit the Aweber site now to learn more…

“These are services that I wouldn’t be without as an Internet marketer…”

Here is a list of basic services that I wouldn’t be without as an Internet marketer.

Please note that the services I use and recommend are listed in alphabetical order – not in order of importance. If you are just starting out, the “must-haves” are marked with ***, although in time you will likely discover that they are all “must-haves”.

1. Advertising Services ***
2. Autoresponder ***
3. ClipArt & Web Site Template Subscription Services
4. Web Hosting Service ***
5. Keyword & Niche Market Research
6. Meeting & Webinar Services
7. Outsourcing Services (Find Programmers, Designers and Writers)

1. Advertising Services ***

Don’t waste days trying to optimize each of your articles for keyword density only to show up on the 30th page of Google search results after a month.

Write the article, then drive traffic to it today with pay-per-click advertising. Sure, it costs money to advertise your site, but in many cases it will cost only pennies per click and the return on your investment should be many, many times greater.

To learn more about how effective PPC (pay-per-click) advertising will be for your online business, please check out the articles in our PPC marketing section and be sure to see the “Get FREE Traffic from the Pay Per Click Search Engines” for the latest PPC deals and discounts.

2. Autoresponder Service ***

If you don’t build a list, you’re not building a business — pure and simple. Your list will become your most important business asset.

And don’t even consider building that list without the services of a third-party autoresponder service. My autoresponder of choice is Aweber — no holds barred. I’ve been doing business with them for almost 10 years (at the time of writing) and they’ve never lost a lead and their service is fabulous. And yes, I have sampled a number of the other services, but always came back to Aweber. Sign up for Aweber Autoresponder now or read my review. More autoresponder service options are listed here.

3. ClipArt Subscription Services & Web Site Template / Theme Suppliers

You can add visual interest to your blog posts as well as give your readers clues about content by adding clipart and graphics. Don’t be tempted however to copy and use any image that you find online. Most images often are copyright protected, and you need permission before you can use them on your site, and many webmasters will not give you permission to use their images.

So, rather than spend time emailing other webmasters and then waiting for permission, I highly recommend using BigStockPhoto where you can pick up images for as little as $1 a piece.

You can also get a Professional WordPress theme for your blog. This blog uses Lifestyle by StudioPress – as do most of my other blogs.

BoxedArt is another graphics subscription service that I like. My old dating site blog is currently sporting a modified BoxedArt template. Their service currently lists the following graphics and templates available by subscription:

• 3D Animations
• Abstract Backgrounds
• Banner Packs
• Brochure Templates
• CD Covers & Labels
• Corporate ID
• Dapper Dudes
• Delightful Darlings
• E Book Covers
• Flash Intros
• Flash Templates
• Flash-Buttons
• Flyer Templates
• Full Flash Sites
• Interfaces
• Logo Templates
• Mascots
• Mascots v2
• MP3 Music and Sound Library
• Newsletter Templates
• Photos
• PHP Nuke Templates
• Postcard Templates
• PowerPoint Templates
• Print Menu Templates
• Print Newsletter Templates
• Product Boxes
• Promotional Products
• SEO Adsense Templates with RSS Content
• Total Identity Kits
• Valid CSS Templates
• Vector Icons
• Website Buttons
• Website Templates
• Word Templates

4. Web Hosting Service ***

You’ve taken the plunge and decided to get your own website. Excellent!!! Find out which hosting services I currently recommend for having top-notch features and services.

If you’re still debating whether or not you actually need a web site, please consult the section on Site Building which answers questions such as “Do I Really Need My Own Web Site?” and includes cautions against using some site builder packages.

5. Keyword & Niche Market Research

Which keyword phrase is more popular? “Dog training collar” or the more generic “dog obedience training“? Don’t know? Knowing which keyword phrase gets the most searches is very important if you want to reach the largest possible audience and hence, increase your sales.

I use and recommend a service called Wordtracker, which lets you optimize your website content by finding the most popular keywords. You can also use Wordtracker to generate thousands of relevant keywords to improve your organic and PPC search campaigns. Last but not least, most marketers use Wordtracker to research online markets and find niche opportunities before they spend valuable time and money building a site around a niche market that may be too small to be worthwhile, or worse not even exist.

Wordtracker offers a FREE trial service, which for starters, may be all you need.

6. Meeting & Webinar Software

Have you ever wished that you could see what someone else was doing on their computer, rather than try to figure out their explanation of the process?

My partners and I have been using GoToMeeting for exactly that purpose for a few years now — and it has proven to be another huge time-saving tool.

You can perform live demos in real-time to multiple customers, collaborate on projects with your colleagues and host meetings on-the-fly with sales prospects. You can also have up to 10 attendees per meeting. We also use GotoWebinar to hold online seminars and demonstrations – with up to 1,000 people at once.

Both services offer a Free Trial.

7. Outsourcing Work to Programmers, Designers and Writers

Having trouble getting that plugin work? Do you want to tweak your Amember membership software but don’t know where to begin – or are scared that you might break something?

Every so often there will probably be something you want to accomplish with your site that you just don’t know how to do — or don’t have time for. For example, although I like to do basic design changes to my own websites, I will not even attempt to design an ebook or report cover. For that work, I prefer to use professionals such as Vaughan Davidson of Killer Covers Design Service.

If the company that sold you the script offers only installation services but leaves ‘tweaking’ up to the individual webmaster, it’s time to hire a professional programmer. I’ve had good luck hiring programmers and other freelancers through Elance, Rentacoder and particularly Scriptlance. Here are a few of the categories under which you can post jobs for freelancers Scriptlance:

• CSS
• Data Entry
• Graphic Design
• Handheld
• Links
• Marketing
• Multimedia Script Installation
• SEO
• Security
• System Admin
• Translation
• Website Design
• Writing

As you can see, the freelancers’ skills aren’t limited to programming. So, for example, if you wanted to have 25 articles ghost-written for one of your sites, you can post jobs for that type of work as well.

If you don’t have a list, you’re not in business. Simple as that.

That’s why I’m always astonished to see affiliate sites without newsletter or ezine signup forms.

Like HOW do they get their visitors to REMEMBER their sites, let alone come back if they don’t get their names and numbers?

Think of it like this. You’re single and out of the blue you meet a nice-looking, seemingly sane ‘prospect’. So, do you let them walk away and ‘hope’ you’ll run into each other again, or do you trade names and numbers?

Well, if you don’t get his or her details, chances are darned good that you’ll NEVER see them again.

Don’t let that happen to your potential customers.

Sign ‘em up to your list with an offer of an 7-day ecourse, special report or discount coupons.

Then BUILD that relationship by staying in touch with a regular newsletter.

You’re developing content for your site anyway, so either write more for your newsletter, or keep some of your private label rights articles aside to rework for your newsletter.

Let your subscribers get to know, like and trust you by regularly sending out good information on topics relevant to their interests.

Build that trust and they’ll feel comfortable buying from you.

Make GREAT product recommendations and they’ll remain your customers for a long time to come.

Fortunately, marketing via email is basically the least expensive way to market your site.

Aweber Autoresponder