Internet Users Choose Speed And Readability Over Appearance: Web Poll

ARTICLE: Internet Users Choose Speed And Readability Over Appearance: Web Poll
by Rick Sloboda


More than 93 per cent of Internet users indicated they favour speed and readability over appearance when visiting websites, according to a recent online poll conducted by Webcopyplus.

When Internet users were asked what's likely to drive them away from a website:

* 51.2 per cent indicated "slow load times"
* 42.2 per cent specified "weak web copy"
* 6.6 per cent noted "poor visual presentation"

A total of 258 users participated in the web writing service provider's online poll during a four-month period that ended in April of 2007.

The poll results clearly suggest functionality and clear messages top Internet users' desires and demands.


Speed

A total of 132 Internet users noted they are quick to hit the 'back button' when pages are slow to load, implying they expect websites to deliver information rapidly without exception.

The Web is fully capable of distributing communications at a staggering rate, but many web creators willfully hinder the technology. For the sake of visitors, you should optimize your images, streamline your HTML and stay away from self-serving Flash intros that provide little or no value.

While Flash is an effective tool for adding audio, video and animation to a website, it's simply overused.

Why make visitors wait as much as a minute just to watch a logo spin around? It's a blatant disregard for web users and their time. In fact, most Flash intros are likely not created with the visitor and business in mind, but rather as an opportunity to showcase a programmer's abilities.

If someone wants to experiment or go for design awards, it shouldn't be done on the customer's dime.


Web writing

Web writing was deemed most important to 109 poll participants. Why? Well, if a site's web writing does not present the information needed by users, the website provides little or no value regardless of how fast it loads or how stunning it looks.

Provide online visitors web writing that is relevant, concise, scannable and objective. Stay away from marketing hype, which is one of the quickest ways to get labeled a 'spammer' and kill your credibility.


Design

The fact that only 17 poll participants placed weight on visual presentation doesn't mean designers hold a small role in the Web and its evolution.

Quite the contrary. Good designers and programmers recognize the fact that design is both function and aesthetics. It's not about decoration.

Good design is the tool and principle by which we craft and convey successful communications. Consequently, good design is what ultimately produces useful, convenient and simple websites.

At the end of the day, load time, web writing and design all have integral roles in promoting usability and positive online experiences.

Deliver on all three fronts and you'll experience more online traffic, happier customers and a healthier bottom line.



Copyright © 2007 Rick Sloboda
-------------------------------------------------------------
Rick Sloboda is a web writer at http://www.webcopyplus.com
Web writing services http://www.webcopyplus.com/services
More web writing information http://www.webcopyplus.com/articles


Yours for Success and Wealth,

GRACE TRAN - TEM Downline Specialist
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Build Your Downline BIG... Build It FAST... And Build It Auto-Magically With TOTAL EXPOSURE MARKETING! Power-Shift Into Wealth-Creation Today - For F>R>E>E>!
THE PERFECT BUSINESS!
Road2Prosperity
TheFree1UpSecrets
Incredible New Compensation Plan
LET YOUR FONDEST WISHES COME TRUE!
TheBestBusinessYouCanMake
Build Your Own Business for F*R*E*E here!
MySpaceBlogs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
P.S.Business Opportunities are a dime a dozen and I am sure you have looked at plenty in your search for the right one for you to run
entirely from your own home, with the absolute maximum possible profit and with the very minimal amount of work..Well, look no more because this is it: This is a very simple, very
REAL business that Will Make You very easy, very REAL Money! You probably wouldn't mind adding $1,000 or more every day to your bank account, would you?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[[[The Perfect Way To make MONEY]]]

There's never a better time than right NOW to tell someone you love them. You never know how long they will be with you

You can have everything you want in life, if you will just help enough other people get what they want

Stopping Spam With With Autoresponders

AllAboutAutoresponders.info

Stopping Spam With With Autoresponders
Glenn Gordon

It seems to be a fact of life that, the longer one has an e-mail address, the more spam arrives there. One answer to the spam flood has come from several companies, who, for a fee, stop all mail from sources you have not previously verified and forward it only if the sender replies to a verification request, something spam sources will not do.

This approach is quite effective, for a fee. The good news is that, if you have a website of your own with e-mail forwarding and autoresponder capability and an e-mail program like Outlook or Outlook Express, chances are you can duplicate most of the value of this service at no extra cost. To make it really effective involves turning your e-mail use inside-out, as it were. Instead of all mail being presented for your review unless you set up rules otherwise, incoming mail from verified addresses is automatically placed in what I call Welcome Mail folders. Most of the mail in your Inbox will be from people wanting to establish valid communication with you. The vast majority of spam will never appear at all. Sound too good to be true? Here’s how to make it all work.

You will need to set up 2 webmail addresses at your website. One I will call your Public Address (yourname1@yoursite.com), one your Private Address (yourname2@yoursite.com). Set up the Public Address to forward to a Verification Request autoresponder you also set up on your website. In that autoresponder message, say something like:

"Your message to (your name) is subject to verification before delivery. Please re-send it to (your Private Address) for review. If it is verified, you will receive notice and can communicate in the future without re-verifying.

I am sorry to have to require this extra step. It has become necessary to eliminate unsolicited e-mail.

Do not respond to this message; it is being sent by autoresponder."

Set up the Private Mail account on your Outlook or Outlook Express email program. There is no need to set up a Public Address account since no useful mail will arrive there.

Spam sources sending messages to your Public Address will not respond to the autoresponder message and so you will never receive those messages. Valid senders will respond to the autoresponder message and re-send their mail to your Private Address. The sender can use your Private Address from then on to send you messages.

For messages received at your Private Address, you will need to set up a "Welcome E-mail" folder or folders in your e-mail program to store valid email. You may want to set up one for family and friends, and one or more for business communications. Make rules routing messages to these various folders based on the sending address, using your address book list. That way, messages from your current friends, family and business associates will automatically be placed in respective folders for your spam-free viewing. You will also want to set up folders for viewing your favorite ezines, etc. (Note: Since many ezines are sent from addresses which won't accept replies, you will need to use your Private Address when signing up.) Of course, you can just operate out of your Inbox instead of setting up folders and rules, but since the Welcome E-mail folders are your last defense against spam, I don’t recommend it.

Don’t publish your Private Address anywhere and give it out only to those you want to communicate with. When you do give it out to someone, take their email address and make a routing rule so you will automatically receive their messages. Is there anything to stop spam from arriving at your Private Address anyway? No, but it should be small since you are not publishing your Private Address. And, more importantly, since your rules accept only e-mail from previously approved addresses, it will not end up in any of your Welcome E-mail folders. You will want to periodically scan the Inbox for valid messages awaiting verification. When you find messages from senders you want to communicate with, send a reply and set up a routing rule for that sending address. Note: The need to review your inbox for email you want to verify can be somewhat of a pain, but if you pay for the commercial services that I mentioned at the outset, the same step is necessary.

In general, you should set up other email addresses you publish to forward to the Verification Request autoresponder you set up above. An exception would be if you publish addresses like Questions@mysite.com where your customers need to contact you with any urgency. Set such messages to forward to your Private Address and establish a rule to route these messages to the proper folder. Of course, be sure to include the subject in the hyperlink so you can establish the routing rule based on that subject. I have yet to receive any spam sent to such addresses with the subject intact, so the routing rule should keep your folder spam-free.

You will need to visit your Public Address webmail account periodically to delete the spam that will collect there, since a full box will probably inhibit the operation of your Verification Request autoresponder. A small price to pay for spam-free email!

Growing Customer Relationships With Autoresponders

AllAboutAutoresponders.info

Growing Customer Relationships With Autoresponders
Glenn Gordon

How do you build and maintain a good relationship with your customers?

Practice relationship basics - remember that relationships depend on communication, and that communication is a two way street. And don't imagine that a constant bombardment of ads is constructive of a relationship. It only says to that customer that all that matters to you is whether he buys.

You may be saying, "My customers are automatically put on my ezine mailing list so they hear from me regularly. I don't have time to do more than that." My answer is, the ezine is a great start. Now use my favorite tool - the autoresponder - to its full, time saving advantage to personalize the relationship. I have put together some steps that I think will build these relationships more quickly than any other

• Personalize your communications
• Generate feedback
• Exceed expectations
  
  1. Personalize your communications
  
  Make sure you use the personalization feature in your ezine list manager and your autoresponder to full advantage. You know, [firstname], how you like to see and hear your own name. Whether you realized it or not, it's your favorite word! But don't overdo it. Just as you don't begin every sentence in a verbal conversation with the other person's name, use the name sparingly in your emails. Make it flow naturally by placing it in sentences that are more personal in nature (note the sentence above where I used your name, for example).
  
  2. Generate feedback
  
  Look for ways to generate feedback from your ezine subscribers. As you noted above, I have started features soliciting your feedback in form of your personal biographical background and information about your website. Anytime you can get your subscribers to share something important to them, they have come another rung on the relationship ladder. It should go without saying that you need to share yourself to encourage feedback. Communicate simply as you would if you were talking to a friend - you will find that your subscribers will come to consider you their friend! Don't be afraid to take a stand on issues, again, just as you would with a friend. It is difficult for your subscribers to develop a friendship if no personality emerges from your emails. If you are by nature a more private person (as I am), you may need to work at being more open in your communications. Have a friend or spouse read some of your emails to give you honest feedback as to how your personality is communicated. Obviously the latitude you have in expressing yourself is enormous. I receive several ezines whose authors always start out by writing about their children's braces or their dog's cancer. While that isn't my style, if you have a let-it-all-hang-out personality, then go right ahead. It communicates who you are. The personality you project won't be the favorite of all your readers anyway, but that's not the point.
  
  Use a spell checker and have someone else proof your emails if grammar and sentence construction give you problems. You have a message to communicate to your subscribers - bad grammar or incomplete sentences obscures that message. Even worse, it says that you didn't consider the message (and its recipient) important enough to get it right. Don't expect significant feedback if you don't respect your subscribers enough to pay attention to details.
  
  Autoresponders also allow you to easily get feedback on site issues such as HTML/plain text, or whether to publish on Tuesday or Saturday. Simply set up separate autoresponder addresses for each reply, or one address with different subject lines.
  
  3. Exceed expectations
  
  Assuming you are already doing the basics such as delivering a good product that does all it claims, and promptly following up on support issues, nothing builds good relationships and customer loyalty better than doing little things that are pleasant surprises.
  
  For example, your customers deserve first rate support and you should by all means deliver it. But why not anticipate as many of their questions and potential problems as possible by including a FAQ/support email in your autoresponder instant message that immediately follows up your sale? It will not only save you tons of support time and effort, it will deliver the message that you want your customers to have answers at hand before there are questions.
  
  Use another of your follow up messages to offer your customer another product that is a natural follow-up to the one you just sold him. It is not only smart marketing; it says you know what he is likely to need and are not just pitching whatever else you have to sell.
  
  Another message could ask for a testimonial in exchange for some item of value. This tells your customer you value his feedback and are willing to pay for it.
  
  Here's the biggest relationship-builder. Before you put your product on the market, think in advance what other less costly but closely related products your customer is sure to find useful. Offer these products as bonuses through your autoresponder follow-up series. By doing so, you will immediately set yourself apart from 95% of your competitors. Nothing I know of matches the pleasant surprise of receiving unannounced bonuses that are immediately useful and valuable. It speaks volumes about your thoughtfulness and the value you place on your customer and his needs. Even if you have to pay to get these follow-on bonuses, it will be more than worth it in the long term. One is great; if you can manage it two or three would be even better. Ideally you could continue to provide articles or tips on a continuing basis that relate to that customer and his needs. Autoresponders make it simple!
  
  This is just a sampling of the kinds of relationship-building jobs you can set up your autoresponder to do. Does this kind of approach call for considerable planning before the sale? You bet! While your average customer may not appreciate the fact that you spent the extra time to set up the post-sale autoresponder sequence, he will get the overall message that you care about him as a customer and have gone out of your way to see that his needs are met. As you build a relationship of trust and respect by applying methods such as these, that position you hold in your customer's subconscious relative to your competitors will move higher and higher. While this is an invisible, intangible thing, it will translate into future sales and a growing customer base. Combined with a continuing flow of good products, this is a recipe for online success. It's time to crank up the autoresponder and start putting in the ingredients!

How to Structure A Follow Up Series

AllAboutAutoresponders.info

How to Structure A Follow Up Series
Beka Ruse

Marketers the world over use follow up autoresponders to increase sales. But, many struggle to write a compelling message series. Don't let that keep you from your share of the profits! Print and follow these instructions; you'll soon be following up with finesse.

(Examples in this article use the fictional product "Green Garden Lawn Fertilizer". Any similarity to actual products is unintended and coincidental.)

• Big Benefits
• Establish a Need
• Tool Talk
• The Wildcard
• Questions? Comments?
• Testimonials
• Last Chance
• Follow Up With Finesse

Message 1 - Big Benefits:

Many of the sales resulting from your follow up series will come after the very first message. Keep this message short. Just take 500 or so words to flesh out a handful of your biggest benefits. For example, part of the Green Garden Lawn Fertilizer company's first message might read:

"A Lush Lawn: Green Garden Fertilizer will give you a lush lawn in just 2 weeks! Density will increase up to 50%...

"No More Brown: Watch your lawn become 3-5 shades greener with regular treatments"

Message 2 - Establish a Need:

Use your second message to explain why your product is necessary. First, lay out the situation leading to a need for your product. Then, show that your product will meet that need. For instance:

"Lawns across the country are looking dull. Homeowners water and mow to no avail. But, not those who use Green Garden Fertilizer! They've created lush, beautiful lawns"

Message 3 - Tool Talk:

In your third message, show the lead how he will go about actually using your product. Detail any tools or supporting material that you offer. In the case of our fictional Green Garden Fertilizer, part of this message might read:

"This treatment is a cinch: Simply attach the included diffuser to the end of your garden hose, creating a sprinkler. Run the sprinkler for 15 minutes each week. You will see an improvement after just one treatment!"

Message 4 - The Wildcard:

Customize message four for your unique product. Try one of these ideas:

• Have a customer case study? This is a great place for it.
• Selling complimentary products? Detail one of them here.
• Selling a real-world product? Explain shipping / tracking now.
• Have a bricks and mortar office? Invite the prospect to visit. Include directions.
• Are you personally a visible part of your brand? Include your bio here.

Message 5 - Questions? Comments?:

Your lead may be waiting to purchase until you explain one particular thing. By asking outright, you can speed the sales cycle to a close.

Start the fifth message by asking your prospect if he has any questions. Give him several ways to reach you, and include your hours of operation and time zone.

Take the rest of the fifth message to answer some of the questions your prospects ask most often. For instance:

"Are you excited about the lush lawn you'll have with Green Garden Fertilizer? I hope so! Let me go over some questions our customers have asked in the past"

Message 6 - Testimonials:

With your sixth message, show off your satisfied customers. Choose several of your best testimonials, and list them here. Look for quotes from customers who are obviously excited about your product, but that still sound believable. For instance, choose:

"I'm thrilled with my Green Garden Fertilizer! Just two weeks, and my lawn looks better than it has in years."

Instead of:

"Green Garden Fertilizer is miraculous! It turned my back lot into a rolling meadow in days - and that lot is PAVED!"

(The testimonials in this article are made up examples. All of your testimonials, however, must be real. Fabricating testimonials is illegal.)

Message 7 - Last Chance:

Your final message serves as one last reminder of your product. Briefly reiterate its most impressive features. Then, throw in a few testimonials or a very short case study. Round out this message with your contact information. Our example product's final message might read:

"Over the past several weeks, you've heard about how Green Garden Fertilizer can turn your lawn around. Customer Dusty Dan tried it, and he says, 'My lawn has never looked better...'"

Follow Up With Finesse

Automation means that good follow up doesn't have to be time consuming. Now, creating a message series is just as easy!

Beka Ruse is the Business Development Manager at AWeber Communications. Experience the acclaimed customer support and reliability of AWeber autoresponders. http://www.aweber.com/lfs.htm

When and When Not to Use an Autoresponder

AllAboutAutoresponders.info

When and When Not to Use an Autoresponder
Joe Bingham

You've got your business, you've got some ads ready to run, and
your site is ready to take orders. All that's left is to buy some
advertising and get people coming to your site. But should you
send people straight to your site from your ads or set up some
auto responder messages and direct them to those?

Hmmm. Good question. Here's some thoughts to help you with the
decision.

When NOT To Use an Auto Responder

In general, if you're selling a single product, something that's
not really that complicated, only requires a limited amount of
information to stimulate interest, or you are using the
excitement of the moment to make the sale, do NOT use an auto
responder. Just direct people straight to the site.

For example, ebooks. Generally, any information you need to
stimulate interest can be done on a single page site. You don't
want to give away too much either, and if you are setting up
multiple messages in an auto responder, what are you going to
talk about?

When You SHOULD Use an Auto Responder

A more complicated topic, products or opportunities that require
a somewhat larger investment, or plans to cover multiple
products or multiple benefits, require the use of an auto responder.

Auto responders give you more time to explain your business or
product. Or, you may just need to keep in touch while your
prospect considers a way to come up with the money for what you
are offering. In these cases auto responders are excellent. You
simply provide more information or feature different benefits in
each message and then direct prospects to your site to learn
more or to make a purchase.

Exceptions

No rules are perfect, so we should all learn to put what we read
into perspective when considering our own businesses. So, even
if your product is expensive or complicated to understand, if
that's better 'shown' at a web site than 'told' in an email,
send people directly to your site.

As well, you can use email information courses to keep referring
people back to your site for just one simple product.

Ways To Complement A Site With an Auto Responder

I've had quite a few hits on an auto responder I placed on my
site. I simply ask, "In a hurry? Want more information by
email?" and provide a link. That way, even though everything is
right there on my site, if they are intrigued but don't want to
spend much time right then, there is a way they can get more
information later, and I still get to keep in contact with them.

Also, you can offer different information courses through
autoresponders and put them on your site. This way, even if
people don't buy from their initial visit, you'll get repeat
contact and get multiple chances to convince them to return.

Auto responders are extremely useful. There's no replacing them.
It's just a matter of considering your product or opportunity,
and your options when deciding how best to use them.

***
Written by Joe Bingham, Editor of the NetPlay Newsletters
Want MORE articles like this delivered REGULARLY?
Subscribe to 1 of 3 Quality NetPlay Ezines, See which one
fits you at: http://www.netplaynewsletters.com



Yours for Success and Wealth,

GRACE TRAN - TEM Downline Specialist
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Build Your Downline BIG... Build It FAST... And Build It Auto-Magically With TOTAL EXPOSURE MARKETING! Power-Shift Into Wealth-Creation Today - For F>R>E>E>!
THE PERFECT BUSINESS!
Road2Prosperity
TheFree1UpSecrets
Incredible New Compensation Plan
LET YOUR FONDEST WISHES COME TRUE!
TheBestBusinessYouCanMake
Build Your Own Business for F*R*E*E here!
MySpaceBlogs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
P.S.Business Opportunities are a dime a dozen and I am sure you have looked at plenty in your search for the right one for you to run
entirely from your own home, with the absolute maximum possible profit and with the very minimal amount of work..Well, look no more because this is it: This is a very simple, very
REAL business that Will Make You very easy, very REAL Money! You probably wouldn't mind adding $1,000 or more every day to your bank account, would you?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[[[The Perfect Way To make MONEY]]]

There's never a better time than right NOW to tell someone you love them. You never know how long they will be with you

You can have everything you want in life, if you will just help enough other people get what they want

How to Write A Follow Up Message

AllAboutAutoresponders.info

How to Write A Follow Up Message
Beka Ruse

Smart marketers know that follow up autoresponders drive sales. But, many don't know how to write the e-mail messages they need in order to use these tools. Don't let that keep you from increased profits! Write masterful messages with these simple steps:

• Pull the Reader in
• Introduce the Product
• Explain the Product's Significance
• Tell the Reader to Make a Purchase

(Examples in this article use the fictional product "Green Garden Lawn Fertilizer". Any similarity to actual products is unintended and coincidental.)

Pull the Reader in

First, convince your audience that your text is worth reading. Make your first sentence or two very interesting: Make a bold statement, say something seemingly ridiculous, or appeal to your prospect's emotional side. Later, tie this grabber in with the rest of your copy. For instance:

"Want to make your neighbors jealous? How about with a lush, green lawn in just 2 weeks?"

Introduce the Product

What is the product you're advertising? What does it do? Directly after your grabber, give a compact explanation of your product. Keep this explanation short, while still being very clear. For example:

"Green Garden Lawn Fertilizer is taking the landscaping industry by storm. What else can give you the lawn of your dreams in just 15 minutes a day?"

Explain the Product's Significance

What will it do for me? This is the time for details - make this section long and rich. Suggest a variety of product uses, and give examples. Make the most of this opportunity to directly target your unique audience! Clearly explain how your readers will benefit from your product.

Tell the Reader to Make a Purchase

You've come so far - you've laid out exactly what the product is and how it will help your unique audience. Now, seal the deal - tell your readers to purchase the product!

This step may sound strange, but it's necessary. Often, people hear about a product and are genuinely interested, but fail to actually make a purchase. A clear call to a simple action cuts down on buyer ambivalence. Don't be pushy - just change your verb tenses to the imperative. Instead of:

"If you think that you fit this profile, you might want to think about buying Green Garden Lawn Fertilizer."

Say:

"Click here to order Green Garden Lawn Fertilizer today."

An Eye for Continuity

More and more opt-in e-mail is being sent around the Internet. Remind your prospect that he requested your messages by keeping an eye on continuity.

Start and end each message in a similar way. At the top, let your prospect know who you are, why he is getting e-mail from you, and where he is in the follow up sequence. This can be as simple as saying:

"Last week, you requested more information about Green Garden Fertilizer..."

Then, end each message with your own contact information. Use your autoresponder's personalization features to list details about your lead. Also, include a way for the lead to unsubscribe. For example:

"This message was sent to Dusty Dan at dustydan@needsanewlawn.com. On April 5th, Dusty Dan requested information about Green Garden Fertilizer. Questions? Call us at 000-000-0000. Or, to unsubscribe, click here."

Create With Confidence

Don't sweat over follow up messages - your prospects are waiting for you! Print and follow the guidelines in this article, and follow up with confidence.

Beka Ruse is the Business Development Manager at AWeber Communications. Experience the acclaimed customer support and reliability of AWeber autoresponders. http://www.aweber.com/lfs.htm

AllAboutAutoresponders.info

How to Use Autoresponders

Email autoresponders are the most powerful tool to automate the process of marketing products online, and in fact to do business online in general. As I found when I started online, however, there is more agreement about the need to use autoresponders than there is on the specifics of how to use them.

As on virtually any topic related to online business, it is possible to go into great detail about how to use autoresponders. In fact, when a person gets serious about their Internet business, this kind of detail is necessary to separate yourself and your business from the casual users who aren't serious about the use of autoresponders to really make serious money. If you are to that "make serious money" stage or want to get there, you need to check out my comprehensive resource on how to choose and use autoresponders.

However, there is a place for a discussion of a more general nature on the use of autoresponders. To state what may be obvious to some and completely new to others, email autoresponders are special email addresses that return a pre-stored message or set of messages in response to any email sent to the autoresponder address. Autoresponders are are available over a range of costs and come in different forms. A moment's thought begins to reveal the power of this concept to provide information on any topic to anyone, anywhere, instantly and automatically. With that briefest of introductions, what are the uses of autoresponders?

• General information dissemination

• Building an opt-in mail list

• Following up with visitors

• Multi-part courses

• Basic sales

• Customer support

General Information Dissemination

Anybody that has information they want to be instantly available to anyone else might well use an autoresponder, since many are available for free. It could be information about a product you are interested in. It could be instructions on how to use or repair a product that you have. It could be an article about how to lose 30 pounds in 30 days. Anything that can be be put into text (and with HTML email, pictures or drawings also) can be sent by autoresponder.

Building An Opt-in Mail List

Just as a brick-and-mortar business loves to build a happy clientele that keeps coming back to buy again and again, so online business want to build relationships with visitors as well as customers so they will keep coming back. Physical stores may ask their customers to provide their name for a store mailing list which alerts them to special sales, etc. The online mailing list is even more important than the physical counterpart, because there isn't an online equivalent to driving down the street and noticing a "Sale" sign in the window of your favorite store. For an online business to compete and survive, it is virtually necessary for the owner to build an email list of people who have willingly given their names, with the expectation that they will be advised about things they are interested in. Building this list can be done several ways, but an autoresponder or email list program with autoresponder functions is usually the tool of choice. You need to be careful, of course, in selecting the autoresponder for this purpose. Some are much better suited to do it than others.

Following Up With Visitors

So you have an opt-in email list started. What do you do with it? A list of names isn’t much good unless you follow up with them about your product offerings. Obviously the basic autoresponder function of responding to e-mail messages isn’t of much value here. You need a function that can send follow-up messages to addresses you already have. And that is one of the additional functions of a good autoresponder or an e-mail list program. It is often called the ‘broadcast’ function for obvious reasons – a message is broadcast to all the addresses in the list at once. Again, not all autoresponders allow this function, and some do it better than others.

Multi-part Courses

Offering multi-part courses is one of several methods to attract visitors to your site. The course establishes you as an expert in some field - even if you aren't! Any good information source can be broken down into several parts and placed in autoresponder follow-up messages, to be sent at whatever interval you choose. This approach is often used as a sales tool. When the student gains confidence in you through the information you have provided, you can then present your product (hopefully related to the course material) and hopefully gain a sale. You can advertise your free course anywhere on the Internet. Included in your instant or follow-up message would be an invitation to join your opt-in list. Do you get the idea of the power of offering a free course?

Basic Sales

Studied have shown that you need to present your product before a potential customer several times to increase the likelihood of making a sale. To do that, you want to give the potential customer a good reason to send his/her e-mail address. Since he/she may not have enough interest simply to ask for more information about your product, you will want to offer some incentive, like a free gift or service. Whatever the method, you want to get the potential customer into your autoresponder message sequence, then, in those messages, send your customer to your web site to make the sale.

Customer Support

This is a large topic. If you are selling information products, you may want to use autoresponders as the product delivery method. You can provide after-sale support information such as FAQs (frequently asked questions), thank-you messages, request for testimonials, etc. There is really no limit other than your imagination to the uses that autoresponders can provide in supporting your customer.

Free Autoresponder

AllAboutAutoresponders.info

Email autoresponders are the most powerful email marketing tool available to the online business. But, as with any tool, users always want to keep costs as low as possible. So, with free autoresponders available, why not use them? Or to state it another way, who should use free email autoresponders and who should opt for paid autoresponder services or autoresponder software?

There was a time when the choices were somewhat simpler. If you were in business, you wouldn't bother with a free service because it didn't look professional. However, as the free autoresponder services have changed, that distinction isn't quite as sharp. Let's look at some of the issues involved. By the way, it isn't possible for this overview to cover all the factors that go into choosing a free autoresponder or a paid service. To get the entire picture, you need to see a side-by-side listing of all the available products.

• The free autoresponder you already have

• Dealing with ads

• The ezine issue

• The big picture

The Free Autoresponder You Already Have

When considering the universe of ways you may use autoresponders, don't ignore the one you probably already have. That is the 'unlimited' autoresponders usually supplied by your web host, if you have a web site. The address of these autoresponders will take the form of name@yourdomain.com, where 'name' is the name you select for a particular autoresponder. They are unlimited in number, but limited in function. They, in fact, only provide the basic autoresponder function of sending a reply to a message sent to the autoresponder address. No follow-up messages can be sent, no list of names is kept of those who queried the autoresponder, and consequently no method to send a message to all those who used your autoresponder. Thus, this autoresponder is limited to the simple function of sending out information on request. But there are lots of uses for it, nevertheless. Use it to send copies of articles, background information, reference information, FAQs, etc. Being able to use your domain name in the autoresponder address can be a real advantage, and may be something you find impossible to do with some paid services.

Dealing With Ads

A major reason not to use free autoresponders is the fact that most free services include an ad with every autoresponder message. Having an ad is bad enough; you may even find that your message carries an ad for your competitor's product! Some free autoresponders limit their ad subject to the autoresponder service itself. The more professional you want to appear, the less you want to be doing advertising for someone else, even if it is only the autoresponder company. But, depending on your needs, you may well choose a free autoresponder for some portion of your business. It is rare for a growing business to use only one autoresponder - you will probably find that your autoresponder needs change right along with your business. This means that a good free autoresponder may continue to fill a role in your business.

The Ezine Issue

One of the major uses for an autoresponder or email list program with autoresponder functions is to produce and distribute an online newsletter or ezine. Producing an ezine is a time-consuming process and you don't want to make it more so by choosing the wrong autoresponder. If you want to maintain an ezine and send broadcast messages to your subscribers, you have imposed a major new requirement on your autoresponder product. If you want to send emails using HTML, you need to look for that feature. Frankly, there are few free autoresponders that can meet even the minimum needs for distributing an ezine, but a few may be able to fill that role for you for some period of time.

The Big Picture

When deciding whether a free autoresponder will fit your needs, you need to think ahead and decide all you expect it to do. Will it need to function as your ezine list handler? How many follow-up messages do you expect to send? Have you thought about how many total messages you might send in a month? Do you need to have your autoresponder track the response to the messages it sends? These are just a few of the questions that you will need to answer to determine whether a free autoresponder might fit your needs or not.

Would you like to see a feature comparison of the available free and paid autoresponder?