If your website isn't setup to capture a name and email address from your visitors you're literally throwing money away. I can't stress how important this is for any website. The list is KING and many internet marketers will argue that capturing a name is more important then a sale. The reason is because sending offers to your list is proven to generate "money on demand".
The main thing that you need to know is that there are newsletters and autoresponders. A newsletter is a communication, usually on a set interval, that is sent to your subscribers. Autoresponders are pre-sequenced messages that are sent to subscribers automatically without any intervention on your part. They come complete with personalization (ex. Dear John) and one click unsubscribe to cut down on the spam complaints. Both should be used to keep your business in the minds of your customers. Wherever possible I try to use autoresponders because they also have newsletter capabilities.
You can either host your own script or pay a monthly subscription price to a third party program. I usually recommend that if you have very large lists you should host your own script. Using third party programs can get costly as the list grows. However, the benefit of using a third party program is that you really don't have to worry about anything and they take extra care to ensure emails make it through the spam filters.
Third Party
AWeber and GetResponse
There are two competitors whose features are pretty much identical. It's really a matter of preference. I think AWeber has a nicer user interface but GetResponse is a little bit cheaper. Like I said, it's a matter of preference. They're both excellent programs and offer both newsletter and autoresponder functionality.
Constant Contact
This is a newsletter management service that is pretty good but doesn't offer any autoresponder features. The program is good for sending newsletters, managing images, and reporting.
Hosted Scripts
Autoresponse Plus
Autoresponse Plus (aka ARP) is one of the best autoresponder programs out there. You can still send newsletters (called broadcasts in ARP) but they specialize in autoresponders and offer features that I haven't seen in any other program. The people who tend to use this program and the next one below, Elite Autoresponder, are people who rely heavily on their list and email communication to their subscribers. I use ARP for one of my websites and I'm really happy with it.
Elite Autoresponder
Elite Autoresponder started as a customized version of ARP and has taken a life unto itself. It offers multi-user functionality which will allow you to offer a newsletter service to your clients. But the thing I like about multi-user functionality is that it allows for you to easily segment your lists for multiple websites.
Mailloop
Mailloop is a software application, not a hosted script, that makes managing your list very easy. They're up to version 7 which means it's a a very mature program with a ton of features.
SendStudio
SendStudio is a really nice newsletter program with autoresponder functionality along with the ability to offer user accounts, allowing you to offer a newsletter service to your clients also. This solution is a good way to go because even though the autoresponder functionality is limited they really make it easy to manage your newsletters.
poMMo - (free)
pOMMo is a free newsletter script. The script doesn't offer the ability to send autoresponders but it captures the name and email of your visitors and at least allows you to start building a database. Plus it's free!
* Please contact me if you need any help installing these scripts to your webhost.
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