Free autoresponders are detrimental to your website health

Don't use a free autoresponder script!

One would think that a 'free autoresponder' is a great solution - after all, you can build your list and send emails, for free! What more could you want? But you could potentially damage your business by using a free program.

Let's see why this is the case.

Firstly, we need to reiterate that when we talk here of 'autoresponders', we are talking of the type of autoresponder that can be used to set up a pre-defined sequence of messages that goes out to any new subscriber in a pre-defined time frame. We are discounting here the type of autoresponder that is provided with most hosting accounts, where one message is sent out mechanically in response to some query made to a pre-defined email address.

If one wants to have an autoresponder that has a sequence of pre-defined messages, there are on the whole three options:

1. Run a free autoresponder script on your own web server 2. Run a paid-for autoresponder program on your own web server 3. Make use of a third party autoresponder service provider.

Option 1 is obviously the most desirable for the inexperienced since it presents the best of both worlds - it is FREE and you have the most control over it.

Option 2 is a close second since, while not free, it gives the illusion of control.

Unfortunately option 2 is actually the worst choice, since at least with a free autoresponder, once you've realized the error of your ways you at least have not exhausted your funds.

Why am I saying that running your own autoresponder program is a bad idea?

Most webhosting service providers are going to be very unwilling to let you run your own script on their servers. The first problem is that if you don't know how to configure the script properly, you might run into the problem that you are sending out too many emails in a specific time period. This hogs the server resources and may cause performance issues on the server, especially if you are using shared hosting.

Secondly, hosting providers are very aware of the hazard of being labeled a source of unsolicited emails. It is extremely easy for an email to be marked as spam and this could lead to your domain being placed on a 'bad IP' list, such as provided by the Spamcop service. If you are on shared hosting, this could mean that the whole server is affected since all domains on a shared server share the same IP address. This means that ALL the domains on that server could be affected (all emails sent from that server being rejected by the recipient's email provider!)

Thirdly, if the script that you are using is not sufficiently protected from a security point of view, it is quite possible for spammers to hijack the program and start sending unsolicited emails using YOUR program and even YOUR email address. How quick can you say 'banned hosting account'? Don't think that this cannot happen to you. There is no end to their inventiveness. They scan the Internet with special tools to pick up susceptible scripts and as soon as they have found one, they are on it like a pack of vultures, picking it clean for any value that they can get out of it and you and your business will have to bear the brunt of the impact.

Lastly, if you are using your own script 'just to start off with' you will have to realize that there is a big likelihood that once your list becomes slightly too big to be handled by a free (or badly written paid-for) program and you then decide to move to a third party professional service, you will find that due to the strict rules imposed by these third party services your subscribers will have to re-subscribe to your list and very few will do so. You might easily lose 70% to 80% of your old list when you move them to the new service.

My advice is to rather make use of a professional third party service provider such as Aweber or Getresponse from the beginning, than wasting time and effort on trying to run your own autoresponder program on your own server.

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