Autoresponders + The Wagon Wheel Caveat
Aweber Is A Commercial Conduit
It becomes very clear in so many ebooks and courses on the market that
list building is the same as business building for most internet marketers.
That’s still an understatement.
List building is vital and especially so for the internet marketing community today!
However, contrary to what I read so often online,
list building does not start… with list building!?!
It starts with something much more important – a business,
a reason to have a prospects list.
List building starts with creating an online business
that your subscribers and customers will come to know
and trust in time.
I know. That’s obvious to most,
but there is… a caveat.
If you begin to build a list with nothing more than a front end squeeze page and you haven’t developed a back end salespage then you’ll be playing catch-up from day one.
Why? It’s because building a list with an 
email autoresponder service like
Aweber or Get-Response isn’t free.
There’s a recurring fee. If you can
sustain 6 to 12 months of funding for a
paid autoresponder service then I’d say
go for it but you’ll be starting behind the eight ball instead of leading it.
If you don’t have long term funding, then here again it’s even better still to wait and build your front end (opt-in pages and blogs) and then a solid back end (your follow-up email series including your offers) before investing in a commercial conduit like Aweber.
When your front and back end are both in position then you’re ready to join a paid autoresponder service and start doing ‘real’ business in ‘real time’.
The following analogy, somewhat modified, seems appropriate:
The front end is your ‘cart’ (opt-in pages and blogs)
The back end is/are your wheels (your email follow-up series, sales pages & offers)
You’ll need both before you buy the horse (Aweber),
hitch up the business, climb on board, and say ‘Giddy-up’.
That’s how, if the wagon’s got wheels, a wagon master rolls 
Don’t forget to ‘broadcast’ emails with some sort of consistency or your list will shrink or not respond. 
I Wish You A Happy, Healthy, Successful Summer!
p.s. Coming up next I’ll post a screen caputre video that covers:
- sign-up
- set-up
- follow-up series
- and broadcasting
- using Aweber.com’s service.
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Very, very sensible advice Steve.
I think the problem with a lot of new people who start Internet Marketing (me included), is that we buy all the recommended software, but have no chance of actually getting a return from it.
So unless you have money to throw away, your advice is spot on. Build the business first, THEN when you have something substantial to promote, you can invest in software.
Keep up the good work Steve.
John
Hi John, Thank you so much, I appreciate that. I was inclined to call the post ‘the cart before the horse?’ but then the search engines would send people interested in horses and bridles, etc. and that’s a blog of a different color.
Steve D.
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this post is very usefull thx!
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Hey this is a great post. I’m going to email this to my friends. I stumbled on this while surfing for some lyrics, I’ll be sure to come back. thanks for sharing.
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4
Hi Steve,
You’re so right with that one. Building a list needs a purpose, it’s like putting stepping stones in the river: we lead our followers to the other side (sales page).
Keep up the good work,
Barry
http://www.barrynewtonmarketing.com
Hi Barry,Well said. Thanks for stopping by. Steve D.
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I love your website! did you create this yourself or did you outsource it? Im looking for a blog design thats similar so thats the only reason I’m asking. Either way keep up the nice work I was impressed with your content really..
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My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!
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Hi Steve. It is a problem deciding when to take on an autoresponder – you may be collecting names and emails to sell to later (details you may not otherwise get if you don’t have your autoresponder set up straight off) but on the other hand it is a vast expense for no return at the beginning.
Enjoy the journey.
Mandy
Hi Mandy, I agree. Building a list is always a good thing and learning to set up an autoresponder can turn something good into something even better… and it usually takes time and expenses to make a good thing happen as we’ve come to learn.
Be well, Steve D.
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hey there I just wanted to comment your blog and say that I really enjoyed reading your blog post here. It was very informative and I also digg the way you write! Keep it up and I’ll be back to read more soon mate
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You made some good points there. I did a search on the topic and found most people will agree with your blog.
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Steve,
Aweber is way awesome. I couldn’t agree with you more with what you said about list building. I really like and enjoy your wagon wheel caveat analogy.
Hi Justin, thanks for the compliment and for stopping by. It’s most appreciated. Steve D.
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Genial post and this fill someone in on helped me alot in my college assignement. Thank you seeking your information.
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12
I must agree with the previous comments, Steve: great and sensible advice.
Don’t dig yourself into a hole, unless you have the tools to get out of it.
Ana Hoffman
202 Bite-Sized Tips To Insanely Increase Your Blog Traffic
PS Thanks for stopping by my blog!
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Hi Steve very well put. Being ready to go before you purchase an auto responder can save you a lot of money. I’d like to add you must set some time aside to learn how to use an auto responder so I totally agree with you Steve be ready don’t jump in the pool with out your bathing suit. Terry Conti
Terry Conti recently posted..Sell your ebook on its own or put it on Clickbank What do you think
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Steve
Reply:
August 27th, 2010 at 1:57 pm
Hi Terry, thank you. Even though there’s some disagreement on the issue of the right time to ante up for an auto-responder, we’re all pretty much on the same page. There’s nothing terribly wrong with getting the service up and running before every little detail is perfect as long as we stay with it and get our wagon wheels on the cart as soon as possible and complete those little details. It sure does take some time to learn how to use an AR system and joining jv giveaways is how I learned as well as having an opt-in from on my blog which has gotten some response to. There’s more to come on this topic in my JV Giveaway Spotlight series. Steve D.
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