My first 'computer' was web tv. There are a lot of good features on web tv. That's why I still have web tv today. I learned a lot of web 'lingo' and played every FREE lotto I could find. I loved different games that I found on internet to play. It was a whole new world. I did some research, collected jokes, recipes and information on stock market.

One day, totally by accident, I subscribed to an ezine that was talking about making money on internet I thought that was only for programmers! I started subscribing to more ezines that talked about internet marketing. I decided this was something I wanted to do, but I knew I needed more knowledge. I found website: http:/ hirdage.com . WOW! This site really opened up a lot of avenues for me. They offered FREE courses! I dug right in. I was thrilled when I finished first course, took a final exam and got a certificate (which I considered a diploma), that I could print out on my printer! I will never forget feeling of accomplishment and pride. I showed it to everyone that came to visit. They probably could care less, but it was a big deal to me. I still have that certificate today. It's framed and hanging on my office wall. After I had a few courses under my belt, I figured, 'I can do this!'. Boy, I really didn't know what I was in for.

I had some software that came with my computer, so I decided to get started building my first website. After a lot of attempts and failures, I finally got a web site built that I was proud of. It was exactly way I wanted it.

Ok, that was done. Now I needed a domain name. I got that done with no problem. Next I needed a host. I quickly found out that I didn't need just any host, but a host that could and would deal with a newbie. That was a tough one to solve. I went through about five different hosts before I ended up with host I now have: http://linkopp.com I think sometimes he got impatient with me at first, but soon learned that he was dealing with a GENUINE newbie and I wasn't going to give up. He has proved to be very patient and helpful, which is what I needed.

My host was a very busy man, so he assigned me a sponsor. That way I could bug him. We communicated by email for a while, but he saw quickly that I needed more help than email could give. He asked me if I could call him. It just so happened that my daughter had given me a three hour phone card as a gift, so I said, 'sure, no problem.'. I was so excited! I couldn't hardly wait for day and time we had set-up for phone call....................

I was so excited!! The day had finally come! My site would be up on internet! Imagine! My own site!

I called my sponsor, Gary McLeod http://www.mack49.com , and he worked with me to get site uploaded. Since I had a three hour phone card, I wasn't worried about cost. I thought to myself, 'Oh, we'll have time to get acquainted.'. Boy, was I wrong ! We tried, and we tried, and we tried, to no avail ! We would get site uploaded and have two of everything ! That certainly wouldn't do ! After three hours, yes three hours, phone cut us off. I immediately called him back. He decided that it was software I was using. I sent him html and sure enough, it wasn't right. Back to drawing board !

By Steve McClain

Internet Marketing has many advantages vs. traditional offline marketing, minimizing cost is a "biggie". But ability automate and simplify your operations through autoresponders is just as heavenly.

I think most Internet Business Owners would agree; your most valuable resource is your time. Autoresponders free up your time handling tasks automatically so you can focus on profit centers of your business.

A good autoresponder is like hiring a army of robots who take care of daily grind automatically. They work 24/7 which allows your business to function whether your there or not. You could be anywhere in world and your business is making you money 24 hours a day 365 days a year. With a laptop and a place to plug in you will want to check how much money was deposited in your account and answer a few emails every day and that's about it. That's pretty much all that is required once you've set everything up on autopilot. Who wouldn't want a job like that?

When a prospect makes a request, your autoresponder instantly responds to that request. Your customers love it because their requests for information are instantly supplied. It's a win win proposition.

A good quality autoresponder will allow you to personalize your messages and provide automatic follow ups. Most marketing experts will agree that, for most part, it will usually take between 5 to 7 follow up messages per sale. Once you've developed your messages and set delivery intervals it's a cash machine on automatic pilot.

Your first message may instantly welcome and greet a visitor to your site. That message would be set at 00 for example. Two days later another message set at 02 is sent automatically perhaps inviting them back to your site for some additional information that may be of interest to them. Four days later another message coded 04 goes out automatically introducing them to one of your products, etc., etc..

A good autoresponder will also provide ability to track source of that customers contact so you will know where they came from. Helps you know your best performing forms on your web site, or ads, articles etc. And when ever your autoresponder is triggered you are instantly sent an email notification to further help you track your promotions and advertisements. Tracking tests ads will save you considerable time and money helping you focus your exposure only where you get best response.

For example:

Make a list of your best ad sites that you intend to post an ad or classified ad.

Assign a number for each site on list.

Then add a simple code to your email tag like: mailto:myname@myautoresponder.com?subject=A1