Setting up an autoresponder is not difficult and it will allow you to stay in contact with your mailing list automatically. You can use it to create passive income with an ecourse, or a newsletter. Both help you stay in touch with your subscribers so that you can provide valuable information to them, create trust, and make product recommendations.
There are many autoresponder programs to choose from, Aweber and WAHM Cart are very economical and easy to use. You can find free autoresponders, but they will include ads for other products. You don’t want to send your mailing list someone else’s ad unless you’re getting paid to do so. These also look very unprofessional to your market.
The first step to setting up your autoresponder is to write your messages. You can use your favorite word processing program to do this. Keep in mind that Microsoft Word may add formatting that will look strange when it’s copied into the autoresponder. A text editor like Notepad or Wordpad is best.
Once your messages are written, log into your autoresponder. You’ll need to select the list that you want to add these messages to, or create a new list if you haven’t done so already.
Most autoresponder enable you to send your messages in plain text or HTML. You might want to use plain text, as not everyone can receive HTML messages. They can also take a while to download, and that can be very annoying to people on your mailing list with dial-up internet. HTML messages also are more likely to get caught in spam filters.
To add your messages, you will need to open the saved messages you created earlier. In your autoresponder, click on the link that allows you to create a new message.
Your autoresponder will allow you to choose the amount of days to send this message from the last message you have sent. If you are setting up an e-course, you may want to send one lesson per day or one per week. Be sure to let your subscribers know on the ecourse sign up page how often they’ll be hearing from you.
Congrats! You’ve just set up your autoresponder. It may take a long time to do it the first time, but soon it will be second nature.
For more information on ecourses and how they help grow passive income from your website, visit Mini Course Money. It includes ideas to help you brainstorm your topic and a step by step checklist on setting up your first ecourse.
