Have you ever asked for information online about a product or service? Or signed up for an email list or a group membership on the Internet? Or received a nearly instantaneous response when you email your question to someone from a website, an autoresponder program probably delivered the reply.

To put it simply, an autoresponder is an email program that is set to send out a predetermined message response to every email that comes in to a particular address, or in response to input from a form submitted on a website. Some autoresponders, such as sign-ups for forums and internet groups may be single shot responses. Others may set up a sequence of responses over days, weeks or months. Almost every internet business uses autoresponders for many different reasons. This includes automating jobs that might otherwise take up excessive personnel hours following up all the way to building and maintaining customer and lead lists.

The autoresponder can be programmed to send a series of emails on a timed basis to the person who filled out and submitted the form. For example, this type of multiple autoresponder can shoot out an instant response, followed by another email the next day, another 3 days later, another the next week and so on for as long as the owner wishes the messages to keep going out. This can be set up for whatever intervals best suit the goals of the owner.

Autoresponders are considered to be one of the most powerful marketing tools available to set up a home internet business. The systems are easy to master and once set up they duplicate their creators original work over and over again as new subscribers sign up. They are there to handle the work 24 hours a day 7 days a week. A good autoresponder series can really help a struggling internet business take off.

How do I use an autoresponder to make money?

Just about any online business can benefit by using autoresponders. In fact, with a properly arranged campaign, your as-yet-unfounded business can be built around an autoresponder program. All you need is a product and an effective series of autoresponder messages, and you can start carving your piece of the Internet pie.

Your autoresponder service can be a golden goose. The tool that will make sales for you much more effectively than any other form of advertising. On the internet, most people want a lot of information before they make a purchase. If you are able to get your message to you potential customers repeatedly without having to worry about keeping up with it on your own, you could well see an amazing sales response.

Many people shy away from the great opportunity that affiliate marketing provides because, frankly, they associate this type of marketing with ripping people off. They believe they are going to be pushing or “hyping” people into products those people don’t really need or want.

Yes, of course there are dishonest affiliate marketers. Just like there are dishonest teachers, doctors, lawyers, cooks, landscapers and (insert just about any job here). We can never get away from the fact that there are dishonest people in every profession.

But … Is affiliate marketing itself dishonest? My answer is no. I know that it has a bad reputation. I know that there are “work at home” scammers trying to get your money at every turn. That isn’t what affiliate marketing is.

With a recession starting, many people have a real need to make extra money without sacrificing their family life. Affiliate marketing is truly an opportunity to have the income you need from that part time job (and hopefully later full time) but still be in control of your time and your life. Most important, you can be in control of the results.

The most important principle you must let sink into your mind is that you are not “selling” anything as an affiliate marketer. Affiliate marketing is really just another method of advertising. It is a particularly good form of advertising for businesses with good products, but no advertising budget. Now businesses of all sorts at all levels are using it.

It is up to the business and the product to handle the selling process. The affiliate marketers job is to creatively find out who needs the product already, where they hang out and look for information, then make sure those people know about the product. It really is that simple. Grasp that principle and everything else will start to make sense.