Autoresponders
Building your own email list is easy!
An autoresponder is simply an automated method for managing an ongoing relationship with people who visit your website. Once you’ve got their email address you can contact them regularly with offers and information.
It’s called an autoresponder because they are automatically sent a reply when they enter their email in a box on your landing page – no one has to be sitting by their computer waiting for the incoming email alert to go ‘ting!’
The ‘out of office’ message in MS Outlook is a very basic autoresponder.
You can also set up an autoresponder to send out a series of messages at timed intervals – say one email every three days for six months from the moment the person first submits their email address. This message sequence can start at any time too. So one person can be finishing their course, while another is just starting theirs.
The money is in the list!!!!
As a rule of thumb, each person on your list will generate $1 a month in revenue for you – so it pays to build a list! It’s a very good source of long-term income.
Setting up an autoresponder is very easy, especially since companies like Aweber (who we use) and GetResponse do all the hard work for you.
Here’s how it works:
1. You create an ‘opt in’ box or popup box that appear on the landing page of your website, offering the visitor something of value. Usually, this is something simple and very cheap to create like a newsletter or mini e-course. You’ll probably have noticed that’s exactly what we do – in fact we do both, a mini-course followed by our newsletter.
You can use Aweber itself to create the opt in box, and simply insert the code it provides into your website. Or, if you’re using a website building program like XsitePro you can use their autoresponder wizard feature.
2. The visitor to your website enters their e-mail address and their first name.
3. The autoresponder then sends a message to the email address they’ve given asking for confirmation that they really do want to sign up – this is called ‘double opt-in ‘and it’s a legal requirement in many countries. After they confirm, they will get the first of the messages you’ve arranged to send them.
Again the autoresponder company does it all for you – you just supply the content and tell them at what interval you want your messages sent.
You can use your list to promote anything, but just make sure you stay relevant and give them good value for their time or you’ll be ruthlessly unsubscribed!
How To Setup Your autoresponder.
We recommend you use either Aweber or GetResponse, since they have high delivery rates – you don’t want your messages ending up in spam folders.
These companies also have a very easy step by step process for setting up your autoresponder campaigns. And you can manage several lists from one account. It really is a no brainer.
Here’s how to get up and running…
1. Set up your opt-in box to appear when people arrive at your site. Then use articles you’ll find in the article section to create your autoresponder course.
Tell the autoresponder to send out messages every 5-7 days. You don’t want to spam people with too much stuff, they don’t like it!
2. Never forget that your autoresponder campaign is for selling things.
They need to be interesting, persuasive and have a point – making a sale.
Don’t forget to ask for the order!
3. Each message should lead to a request to purchase the product you’re promoting by clicking on your affliate hoplink link, which you’ll have included in the email.
It is OK to have more than one product per email if they are related or complimentary in some clear way, but generally you’ll get a better conversion rate if you stick to just one.
4. You can also send out brandable .pdfs, MP3’s etc to add value and make you look generous and helpful.
People prefer to buy from people they like!
5. And don’t stop. As long as you don’t bombard people with crappy emails, they are likely to stay subscribed to you for a long time.
6. We’ll do our best to give you plenty of fresh material, but there’s nothing to stop you from looking around and creating your own content. Places like Ezine articles and Articles base are excellent sources of material that you can edit slightly and send out to you list – but don’t forget to make it relevant to the product that you’re promoting and ASK FOR THE ORDER!
People will not buy unless you tell them to!