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Free
Autoresponders - are they any good? by: Peter Phillips Free autoresponders – are they any good? If you know anything about the world of internet marketing, you will know that autoresponders are an indispensable tool – you just won’t have any success unless you have one. Having then decided that an autoresponder is indeed a necessity, you will then look at the two options available to you, free and paid. The paid option will commit you to a certain amount each and every month, with current prices around the 18-20 dollar mark. Of course this is nothing to the big hitters, but if you are just starting out this commitment can be a bit daunting, as the odds are you won’t even be making $20 a month – surveys show that the vast majority of internet marketers aren’t making any money at all. If this is your situation, and you do not want that commitment, you will then be left with the option of a free autoresponder, of which there are several available. They may not be the most professional looking, but then any autoresponder is better than none at all. The first place you should look for a free autoresponder is the features of your hosting package – they may indeed have one. You should be able to access it through the cpanel function of your site. If it’s not there, you will have to do a search for a free autoresponder on the net.
You will find a lot, but nearly all of them will have advertisements with them – after all that is how they can offer a free service to you - they aren’t doing it for nothing. If you feel you can live with these advertisements, then go with that. However, free autoresponders are a bit like free email accounts: they carry a bit of a stigma, and are not looked upon as being professional enough for internet business purposes. Another factor to consider is that these ads may be in the same market as you, and are in direct competition with you, or they could be in indirect competition with you – the last thing you want to do is let your precious customers see other offers, which could easily be better than what you are selling or promoting. These free autoresponders usually have a limit on the number of subscribers they will support. However, this should not be a problem, as once you have reached that number you should be making enough money to support a paid one. Indeed, many new internet entrepreneurs tread that same path – they feel they cannot justify the monthly expense until they are generating enough profit to cover the cost, and in many ways this is a sound business approach. There are also “lite” versions of paid autoresponders available. This is a business decision of the autoresponder companies. They want to get you into the habit of using their service, and then they will show you all the extra features you will get if you upgrade to the full version. It will then be up to you to decide whether what you will get will be worth the extra expense. Therefore, to summarise, free autoresponders are a good choice if you are just starting out. If your list is small, and the ads don’t compete with you, then perhaps you can live with them, remembering that they do not give a professional appearance to the recipient. Also consider the financial stability of the service. The internet is full of start-up businesses trying to make some quick easy money, before they realise that it’s not that easy. I know I have been the victim of companies just ceasing to exist without any warning, and although it was a hosting company in my case, it could have just as easily been a free autoresponder company. Because it’s your business, you will have to make the decision, but when you come to that happy day when you are finally turning a profit, switch to a professional paid autoresponder service – autoresponders are the lifeblood of serious internet marketers, and there really is only one autoresponder to use; Aweber If you have any experience in internet marketing, you will probably have noticed that virtually all the pros use Aweber, so I wouldn't bother with anything else.
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