Setting up Communications

 The money is in the List. Almost from the day you start thinking about an online business you hear it. You can have the best products available, but if there are no customers then you are sunk. So, how do you tell all the people out there what you are all about? You could stand on a corner handing out fliers, or sit at a desk making phone calls, but either way you cannot generate enough traffic that way. You could send out letters or post cards, but that gets expensive really fast. There are actually many things you can, and should do...like posting on Craig's list and other FR'EE advertising sites but that is not reaching a really targeted crowd. That is where the list comes in. If you can get a list of people who have expressed an interest in the products you represent then you are on the right track, but how can you do that?

       The first thing you need to do is get and set up an Autoresponder. In order to get promotional materials like banners, all but one said you had to join their program first. There is only one banner displayed. AWeber is often referred too as the Guru's Choice because it is the most popular one in use, but there are a number of others (in no particular order) including but not limited to...GetResponse, Trafficwave, iContact, Experian, ConstantContact and one that is actually FR'EE, Listwire. These are the ones you come across the most but there are a few others I have come across from time to time.There are also a few programs that you come across that have an autoresponder included in the program.This is one of the areas I was talking about when I said that research was a big part of learning Marketing. Email campaigns are usually a big part of any program so once you have decided your game plan you will need to see which one fits your needs best. Sometimes as your programs grow you may even find that you need more than one. A separate email (Gmail is recommended) will help keep your email campaign information separate from your other communications.

       This is where your list comes into play, what good is an automated email system if you do not have anyone to send information too. No product, no matter how good, is worth anything if you do not have customers to sell too. One option is to buy a list, either from the company you get the autoresponder from of from an independant company. The good thing about these lists are that they are supposed to be qualified leads, which should help your clich through and capture rates. The bad news is, they can get expensive, especially if your conversion rate is not so good, which can lead to a disaster on you ROI.( I am not going to explain any of that, so if you do not know this is your homework. If I had to learn it on my own, you can too!)


This survey is from AutoresponderGeeks.com for the time period 2009 to 2010. Several recently released Autoresponders were not tested.

Since I was not able to copy/paste the names, or even type them in, I will list the ratings here. If you click on the place the name SHOULD be you will be able to read the reviews (Click in the MIDDLE of the area, you will see a RED LINE pop up)...modern technology!

1)   A Weber
2)   Constant Contact
3)   Get Response
4)   Infusion Soft
5)   iContact
6)   1 Shopping Cart
7)   Vertical Response
8)   Mail Chimp 
9)   Stream Send
10) Benchmark

	Autoresponder	Votes	Overall Rating
*Autoresponder Rankings are based from User Ratings (Top 10 Autoresponders 2009/2010). Setting up your own list comes later...
1	AWAWeber ReviewebeAA Weberr Review	77
2	Constant Contact Review	53
3	Getresponse Review	68
4	Infusionsoft Review	68
5	iContact Review	66
6	1ShoppingCart Review	61
7	VerticalResponse Review	54
8	MailChimp Review	58
9	StreamSend Review	53
10	Benchmark Email Review	53