Alice’s Autoresponder Recommendations

There is no perfect autoresponder, that’s for sure. There are always deliverability issues because more and more legitimate email is being filtered…and not all autoresponders work to ensure their good delivery rates.

With that in mind, here’s some suggestions on autoresponders you can use:

QuickSales: I use QuickSales to manage everything for me including my autoresponders, shopping cart, affiliate program and tracking. There are occasional deliverability issues with 1ShoppingCart, but I still prefer to have everything in one place

Aweber: Aweber is an autoresponder with a stellar reputation for good features and excellent deliverability. It is also very affordable. As a disclaimer, I am NOT an Aweber customer, but post it here because it comes highly recommended by countless numbers of my fellow online business owners.

People often ask me about server-based solutions. In other words, they want to manage the list on their own server, instead of using a 3rd party service like QuickSales and Aweber. When you run your own script, you need to ensure that your script continues to run properly, is secure and that you stay on top of any spam filters and blacklists you may find yourself on. I just don’t think it’s worth the effort.

If you really want to manage your list on your own server, check out ListMail for a good basic program.

If you’re on a serious budget than you might want to check out the low-cost Email Aces. They have a decent deliverability rate and offer a basic autoresponder service. My only complaint is that the system tends to run quite slowly and you’ve got to have patient when adding messages

Alice’s $10 And Under Picks

You’ll see that I list some pretty high-ticket educational courses and business tools as my top influences, but that doesn’t mean you have to go broke to make your business work. Here’s some tools for $10 and under that can help you grow your business.

What Website Hosts Do You Recommend?

Q: What website hosts do you recommend?

A: In my early days online (not too long ago!), I had some pretty bad hosting experiences. I dealt with poor support and with overloaded servers that caused my site to move at a snail’s pace…and I’ve moved beyond that. I now work with a few key web hosts that deliver the kind of service that you and I deserve.

Servint: I have 2 Virtual Private Servers (VPS) with Servint and am very satisfied. There support is 24/7 and I always get a near-immediate answer to any support requests. I don’t believe they have any small hosting plans, but if you need lots of space and bandwidth (great if you have a lot of audio or video on your site, etc.), Servint is worth looking into. Be sure to tell them that Alice from internetbasedmoms.com sent you.

The only problems I’ve had with Servint is with hosting my own email lists on my own autoresponder. I’ve never figured out the problem, but since have decided against hosting my own mailing lists to avoid false spam complaints and to get better delivery rates (but that’s another topic).

Mom Webs: A nice service with great uptime. It’s full cpanel hosting and efficient support and service.

Don’t Even Know How to Make a Web Page?

If you don’t know how to edit web pages and don’t want to fuss with a web page editor or learning HTML, here’s a couple website builder recommendations.

Internet Based Family: This is a site builder that I offer that creates professional-looking websites in minutes…plus, there’s a ton of great extra features. There’s a 10-day free trial too.

…or if you’re ready for heavy-duty marketing school, check out…

SiteBuildIt (SBI): Look at SBI as a marketing school, rather than a site builder and you’ll do awesome. Ken Evoy of SiteSell includes an amazing manual that comes with the builder and the builder itself has a ton of marketing-savvy features. If you decide on using SiteBuildIt, just realize that the process of getting your site online may seem to be a slow one as you make your way through the manual….but let me tell you, if you’re patient it will be well worth it. Ken really shows you how to make sites that make money. You want to make money, don’t you?

For Domains & Hosting:

Definitely check out Internet Based Moms Hosting - your one-stop shop for cheap domains and a variety of hosting packages.

Alice’s Helpful Products & Services

Here’s some of my own Internet marketing products and services that might be helpful to you.

Courses & Learning Opportunities:

Press Release Profits: As a “retired” press release writer, I share all my secrets to using press releases to get plenty of free promotion for your website.

Affiliate Marketing Sweetie: Make plenty of affiliate commissions and create a long-term business, the
old-fashioned way - by offering just what your target market is starving for.

Information Product Sweetie: Add to your income streams by selling the information your target
market is craving.

Affiliate Manager Sweetie: Build and motivate your own sales force that you only pay
for results.

Copywriting Sweetie: Learn to write copy that is enticing and boosts sales with this easy to follow course.

Outsourcing Sweetie: Boost your profits by transforming yourself in the manager of your
business, instead of working yourself to death.

Limited Availability Intensive Coaching Programs

Internet Marketing Spring Cleaning: Clear out the clutter and uncover a highly-profitable and enjoyable business.

Internet Marketing Blogging Bootcamp: Get ready to get more active and make more money from your blogging.

Internet Business Services:

All Custom Content: Let us take care of all your ghostwriting and transcription needs.

All Mom Content: Great content to target one of the largest online shopping markets…at a great price.

All Health Content: Affordable content for all who target the health market.

All Finance Content: An inexpensive option for regular finance-related content.

All Marketing Content: Top-notch marketing-related content at a great price.

All Press Content: Ready-made and fully-editable press release packs.

All PLR Content: Purchase individual bundles of content to meet your specific needs.

Easy Website Builder: Take it for a free 10-day spin.

Cheap Domains: Need I say more…start building your network of sites.

Alice’s Tech Toolbox

• Microsoft FrontPage How I edit and create most of my web pages. Microsoft is no longer making this software, but it serves me well for the time being.For web building, I also use Mambo, WordPress, Blogger & Internet Based Family to create & manage my websites. But if you’re just starting out, you needn’t explore all the options…just start with one and run with it. HINT: The Internet Based Family is a near no-brainer way to get a site up and running, looking the way you want and with the features you want. There’s a 10-day trial too.

• Cute FTP A super-easy and reliable FTP program for uploading and downloading files from my websites.

• Kayako A great script for setting up and running your own customer support system.

• MailWasher A great program for managing spam.This has been a longstanding lifesaver for me.

• Microsoft Outlook How I read and answer my email.

• Microsoft Word Writing documents to convert to PDF.

• Instant PDF Generator Creating PDFs with active links

• Adobe Photoshop Elements I use this for simple graphic editing and making screenshots. I don’t need a complex program because I outsource most graphic work to more competent graphic artists.

• Microsoft Excel Well, I don’t usually create my spreadsheets, but have my assistants create reports I can look at in Excel!

• TextPad For formatting text emails.

• Article Announcer For streamlining the article submission process.

• Sweetie Reader My very own RSS reader where I keep up with all my favorite feeds. This also gives me content discussion points and keeps my finger on the pulse of my market.

• Windows Media Player For listening to marketing information while I work.

• All Recorder To record mp3s

• ScreenCam Generator For creating screen capture videos. These are great for creating info products, instructing your customer how to use your website and giving detailed instructions to your assistants.

• QuickSales For my shopping cart, ad tracking, affiliate programs and mailing lists.

• I used to use Ask Database for organizing questions that my visitors and subscribers would like answered. It’s great for content creation ideas. I have recently switched to a beta version of Easy Internet Survey that will be publicly available soon.

• WordTracker keyword research for pay-per-click campaigns and creating optimized content for my website.

• Google Keyword Tool same as above

• Audio Generator For creating streaming audio on my websites…instead of doing it the techy way.

Alice’s Top 4 Influences

Yikes…I’d better put some picks up here. A few of you asked me why this section was totally blank. My apologies, I’ve been working on answering the questions I’ve received, so I kind of forgot about this section.

I’ll keep adding to it, but let me get you started.

The Top 4 Products to Influence My Online Entrepreneurial Life In Chronological Order:

1. It all started in March 2002. I had NO CLUE what I was doing and was stuck in a direct sales / MLM opportunity that I hated. The company was a good one, but I couldn’t stand being subject to rules. I wanted to be my own boss for REAL. Thankfully, I stumbled upon the genius of Dr. Ken Evoy.

I immediately snatched up his “Make Your Site Sell 2002” ebook and learned the RIGHT way to get started. This ebook helped cut my learning curve immensely and helped me generate profit for my online business in just a few months.

The ebook hasn’t been updated in over 3 years, but still has some tremendously valuable information to get you started.

2. Next, I was ready to tackle the search engines and picked up a copy of Michael Wong’s “Search Engine Optimization Strategies” and yowsers my traffic exploded. I love free traffic and Michael knows his stuff.

I took the information I learned from Michael and was able to generate tens of thousands (and eventually lots more) of free and targeted visitors to my website. After taking Michael’s course, my life was really beginning to change. I was making the transition from relying on offline sources of income to online income sources. This was really cool!

3. Okay, if that wasn’t enough, in 2004, my friend Andre Chaperon told me about a guy named John Reese. Certainly, tons of people knew about him well before I did, but I was kind of cruising in my own “Internet marketing bubble” as I like to call it.
I am so thankful to Andre for drawing my attention to the genius of Mr. Reese because if he hadn’t done so, I wouldn’t have gone from earning 4-figures monthly to consistently earning 5-figures each month.

I am at the point where I don’t have to worry about bills and I can spoil myself and my children…I love it. I’m also not sure if I would have reached this point, if I hadn’t purchased John Reese’s Traffic Secrets (if you’re thinking about taking the plunge…check out that link because I have extra goodies for you).

The things I’ve learned from the course and the directions it has taken me, have been unbelievable. And I continue to learn from the course every day. Bless you, John Reese, for helping me make some incredible changes to my online business and my LIFE.

4. Studying the Traffic Secrets course lead me to this copywriting whiz named Michel Fortin. He wrote the sales copy for John’s Traffic Secrets, so I started paying attention to him a bit. I joined his Copy Doctor membership site.

Michel has taught me more about direct response marketing than anyone else and I highly recommend you check out his site. You get access to all kinds of great copywriting resources and a ton of video critiques of sales letters. He’s a fanatic tester of what works in all kinds of markets…and you can learn those results in the membership area.