The AutoResponder is fantastic and effective for increasing traffic to your website. It helps you save valuable time with its automated response function: emails concerning frequently-asked questions about a service/product or sending a greetings and welcome letter to new subscribers to your program/service. It helps to track the effectiveness of each and every one of your promotions.

The Autoresponder, in short, is an invaluable tool in your business. As one of the most popular marketing tools available on the Internet today, it is used a lot by different types of businesses and websites. However, this great tool is not always used in a proper manner. Below are some rules and regulations to observe:

1. Avoid Flooding: Do not use an AutoResponder Address when submitting to Search Engines

Search Engines like Google and Yahoo!, directories, classified, and free-for-all sites commonly use AutoResponders. Were you to use your AutoResponder to contact these companies, their AutoResponders will reply to yours, then yours to theirs, and so on and so on. This situation would create a cycle of autoresponses that would flood your respective email boxes!

2. Common Courtesy: Do not use an AutoResponder to subscribe to Ezines or Discussion Forums

As Ezines send updates and new information regularly to subscribers, your Autoresponder would respond with a message each and every time. In a Discussion Forum, each person in that Forum will receive our auto response. This can cause a lot of irritation all round, and most of the time you will be unsubscribed. It is often very difficult for the Forum/Ezine administrators to determine who is using the autoresponse.

3. Do not use an Autoresponder to Take Advantage Of Unsuspecting Individuals

Some unethical companies make use of AutoResponders to respond to automated messages; when this happens, the email address in the 'from' field is automatically subscribed to their mailing list. The unsuspecting individuals start getting unasked-for mail and many are fed-up of this as this happens very regularly. Companies that do this, rather than promoting their business properly, create for themselves a very negative image. Remember, bad publicity spreads faster than good.

The Internet is a fantastic arena in which to do business, local, national and international and AutoResponders are simply a great way to save valuable time doing repetitive tasks. However, when used in an unprofessional way, and without regard for your chosen victim-recipients, it will only cause much aggravation and frustration in un-requested-for barrages of emails. You and your company will only stand to lose goodwill and business. Appropriate use can lead to massive amounts of business. Misuse it, and you get...the opposite.