How To Setup Your Autoresponder Messages- Part 3

In the first tutorial I explained the 2 types of email messages , plain text and html. In this final tutorial about setting up your autoresponder messages, I’m going to show you how easy it is to create professional looking emails in which ever format you prefer.

Creating and Formatting a Plain Text Message:

1. Open your Notepad program. Use this to compose your message. Most computers have this already installed.

2. At the top you will see File- Edit- Format- View- Help

Click on ‘Edit’ – Select All;

Click Edit again- Copy

3. Open your browser and go to www.formatit.com This is a free formatting program. It will help you make your line breaks and character spacing uniform.

4. Scroll down to the ‘Cut and Paste’ method

Right click in the box; then choose ‘paste’

5. Set the Desired column width to 50 – 60 characters wide

6. Click Submit and your text is formatted for you.

7. Highlight and copy it as is from the text box.

8. Go to your autoresponder program, create new message- then paste this text into the Text message area of your autoresponder. Give your message a subject line ( such as Thanks for subscribing to ‘the name of your newsletter’ ) Then Save your message.

How to create an HTML message in Outlook Express

If you have Outlook Express, this is a very simple way to create the HTML code needed to send an email message…(even a simple webpage) HTML is a language that your computer understands. It reads this code and turns into colored text, bolding and images. Most marketers don’t know how to write this code themselves, that’s what web designers are for, right? Well, sometimes you just want to create a professional , eye catching email or maybe a very basic webpage but you don’t want to hire a web designer to do it for you. Here’s an easy way to do it yourself:

Open Outlook Express and click on ‘New Mail’ or ‘Create Mail’ depending on the version.

From the top menu options, Select ‘Format’.

In the drop down menu select ‘Rich Text (HTML)’.

Again, from the top menu options, select ‘View’.

In the drop down menu, you’ll want to be sure you have ‘toolbars’, ’status bar’ and ’source edit’ all checked.

You will now notice a tool bar appear with several buttons for formatting your email. This will allow you to select text color, size and the font of your message. You can also insert images into the message.

You will also see 3 buttons at the bottom of the screen.
“Edit”, “Source” and “Preview”

You will create your message in ‘edit’ mode, simply typing in your text in your desired font and color, spacing, alignment and then inserting any images.

Want to create a link to your website?

Simply highlight the text or click on the image, then click on the ‘hyperlink’ icon on the toolbar. (this looks like a globe with a chainlink)

Type in the url of the website you are linking to. Once your message is created, you can click the ‘Preview’ button at the bottom of the page.

From here you can see how it will look when it is sent and can test your links.

Now about the ‘Source’ button at the bottom…

Clicking on ‘Source’ will reveal to you the HTML code of your message. This is needed in many autoresponders in order to send an html message in their system. This code is also needed if you are wanting to post a simple web page.

To get this code to use, click on ’source’;

Click on ‘edit’ at top of page; then ’select all’.

Click on ‘edit again and choose ‘copy’.

Now you can paste this html code into your autoresponder message or any other program you need it for.

You have just created your own HTML email !

Important Tips when using HTML messages:

• Do not write your message in 18-point Impact Red or other “flashy” font styles and sizes. This does not draw attention to your product; it draws attention to your inexperience. It’s perfectly acceptable to use color in your autoresponder messages, and in fact may help to strengthen that three-second lead time by pulling attention to those compelling subheads you wrote (you did write compelling subheads, didn’t you?). But for the most part, keep your entire message in the same font and type size, using emphasis like color, bold and italics sparingly for effect.

• Do not stuff your messages with “cool” graphics, animated smileys, or a dreaded Flash presentation. This slows down load time considerably, and many people won’t wait for your incredible pictures to appear on the screen

I hope you found this tutorial series to be helpful,

Rhonda

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Welcome back! Be sure to grab your free Social Networking Guide.
Your comments are always welcome- Rhonda Crosby

How To Setup Your Autoresponder Messages- Part 2

Options for Setting up the Sequence of your Messages:

For Prewritten content- (prewritten newsletters, special report series, multi-part ecourses etc)

Let’s take the ‘prewritten’ newsletter series as an example…

Write 12 newsletter issues- 1 per month for a year. Create them as Text using the formatting tutorial above.

Create a ‘Welcome’ ‘Thanks for subscribing’ type message. In this message, also tell your subscribers that you just sent them a copy of the latest issue.

Once you have all 12 of your issues and your welcome message added to your autoresponder, heres how I recommend you set them up in sequence.

Welcome message- set to send on Day 0

Issue #1 message- set to send on Day 0 also

Messages set to send on Day0 in your autoresponder will then be sent immediately after someone subscribes.

Issue #2 message – set to send on Day 28

Issue #3 message- set to send on Day 56

Issue #4 message- set to send on Day 84

Issue #5 message- set to send on Day 112

and so on…every 28 days.

Want to send a weekly newsletter? No problem-it will just require more writing on your part Just change the sequence to every 6 or 7 days instead of 28.

For Newsletters you will be creating and sending as you go…

Again, you’ll want to create a ‘Welcome’ ‘Thanks for subscribing’ type message. Add it to your autoresponder and set it to send on day0. Remember this message will then be sent immediately after a site visitor subscribes.

That will be the only message you actually add to your newsletter autoresponder ‘campaign’.

When it’s time to write and send your latest issue, create and format the newsletter using the formatting steps we’ll discuss in the next tutorial. Add it to the Messages area of your autoresponder but don’t actually associate it with any one campaign or group of contacts. Instead, send the latest issue message as a ‘broadcast’ message on the day you want it to be sent. Most autoresponders include a broadcasting feature. This will allow you to go to your autoresponder at any given day or time, choose a group of contact, choose a message and click send. The message will then be sent to all your subscribers at once, regardless of when they subscribed.

Look for Part 3 in this tutorial series tomorrow.

Rhonda

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How To Setup Your Autoresponder Messages, Part 1

Creating a great autoresponder message series is the key to making serious money on the internet. Studies have proven that most consumers buy only after repeated exposure to a product. Having an autoresponder system is the hassle-free, automated way to put your product in front of interested buyers enough times to move them from consideration to purchase.

An approximate breakdown of the percentage of people who buy according to product exposure is:

• 16 percent after one or two messages
• 34 percent after three or four messages
• 34 percent after five or six messages
• 16 percent after seven or more messages (and the passage of a considerable amount of time for deliberation)

This means the largest percent of your target market will buy after receiving three to six messages about your product. To build an effective autoresponder campaign, you should prepare eight to ten messages to load into your program. Each message should build on the previous one, and make your product more enticing to buyers. There are several methods you can use to increase interest through autoresponder messages.

This is a 3 part tutorial. The tutorial series will give you a good overview and some tips and advice is setting up your autoresponder (no matter what autoresponder service you choose to use)

Part One: Components of an autoresponder email message :

• Subject line.

The subject line is the first thing people will see when they receive your message. Therefore, it must be compelling enough to keep them from deleting the message unread. Which of the following e-mail subjects would you be more likely to click on: “Make a MILLION DOLLARS Practically Overnight!” or “Here is your free Report #1 on boosting your web site profits through the roof”? You may have jumped at the first one, but think about it: to most internet users, the first is obviously spam and would be deleted without a second thought. The second subject line implies that not only have you requested the information , but you are receiving something of value for nothing. Be understated, but as specific as possible with your subject line to ensure your message is opened.

• Compelling opening sentence.

Let’s say you clicked on the second subject line in the preceding example. You now have the message open, and the first line is this: “Buckets of money will pour on you. Buy My program Now, for only $495. It’s easey!” Will you read further? Chances are, you’re already looking for the delete button. This opening is long on hype and short on promise—not to mention riddled with spelling and grammar mistakes. But what if the first sentence reads: “You are about to learn the secrets successful web marketers use to make a killing on the internet.” Will you continue? Probably. There is no outright pressure to buy anything; you are being given something for free that will benefit you. So far, it costs nothing but a few minutes of your time.

• Disclaimer.

This should not be lengthy. Immediately following your compelling opening sentence, remind people they are receiving your message because they asked to be on your list. It will keep them from clicking the “spam” button if they decide they aren’t interested in your product, and keep your autoresponder and web site off internet blacklists.

• Introductory paragraph.

Explain in a concise paragraph exactly what you or your product will do for the subscriber. Avoid using ALL CAPS or excessive punctuation!!! This looks amateurish and will almost certainly get your message deleted.

• Subheads and further information.

Write compelling subheads, set on separate lines within your message, that describe certain benefits or sections of your program, then follow up with a short paragraph of explanation. For example, using the fictional internet marketing program we began discussing, your first subhead might state: “Millions of people do business on the internet. Are you reaching them with your web site?” Tease the contents of your product, but do not give away too much information (otherwise, why would anyone want to buy?).

• A call to action.

After several subheads and short paragraphs of information, reveal what it is you want your subscriber to do whether it is to visit a website, listen to an audio, visit your blog and interact.

• Reminder of follow-up messages.

Let your subscribers know the next time you will contact them, which will be the time interval you’ve set for your autoresponder distribution—tomorrow, in a few days, next week. Be sure to include a teaser of what will be revealed in the next message.

• Unsubscribe link.

This is critical to a successful autoresponder campaign. You must give subscribers the option to discontinue receiving messages from you, or you will be labeled as spam. Most autoresponder services will provide you with an automatic unsubscribe list for all your autoresponder series. All you have to do is make sure to include the link in your message.

Types of Messages

Some autoresponders will allow you to create plain text messages as well as HTML messages. HTML messages are email messages that include colors, bolding, different fonts sizes, graphics etc. HTML messages look nice but my advise is to use text only messages.

Since the CanSpam Act, more and more ISP’s and email providers have become agressive in filtering incoming email. They filter based on message content and HTML messages tend to get filtered (blocked) more often than plain text messages. So… for better delivery rates, create your messages as plain text.

What many publishers are now doing, is posting their newsletters to a page on their website. Then send a short plain text message to your subscribers notifying them that the latest issue is now available online. Include a link to the online version. You may even want to include a few highlights of what they will find in this issue.

This works especially well if you have a blog. Notify your subscribers of your latest post in a short email and direct them to the post on your blog.

In part two of this tutorial series, we’ll talk about ‘Options for Setting up the Sequence of your Messages’.

Rhonda

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