The Ultimate Guide To Creating An Email

Autoresponder Course

by Julie R. Neidlinger

Email has the best return for effort in the industry. An email autoresponder course

is how you build your email list while connecting with your reader in a helpful and

useful way.  Table of Contents  

5 Reasons You Need An Email Autoresponder Course

1. You’ve already created the content.

2. You’re trading an email for an email.

3. Readers sign up understanding that they will be receiving your email.

4. Readers get to know you gradually, and you aren’t forgotten.

5. Email is good place to mention your latest projects.

Choosing The Topic For Your Email Autoresponder Course

1. Look at your analytics.

2. Look at your social media.

3. Look at your blog comments.

4. Ask your readers.

Creating The Content For Your Email Autoresponder Course

1. Use currently published blog posts.

2. Creating brand new content.

Building Your Email Autoresponder Course

1. Determine the length of the email autoresponder course.

2. Determine the length of individual emails.

3. Determine the frequency of emails.

4. Build your email with simplicity in mind.

5. Pay attention to your email delivery.

The Long-Term Goal For Your Email Autoresponder Course

       

 

The coveted email list, that perfect tool for building audience growth and traffic–it has the highest

conversion rate in the industry (more than social media, even), but how in the heck do you get lots of

email addresses in it?

You can beg and plead for people to sign up for you list. You can offer people a free ebook…but they’ll

have to give you their email list to get it even if they don’t want to be on your email list. Or, you could

create an email autoresponder course that people gladly give you an email for, and eagerly await the

arrival of your emails.

Yep. An email autoresponder course can do that. It makes sense for both you and your reader. It actually

works.

5 Reasons You Need An Email Autoresponder Course

An email autoresponder course is a true workhorse for your blog. It helps establish your expertise, it

creates trust, and frankly, it’s a fantastic exchange between you and your readers. Both of you get what

you want.

1. You’ve already created the content.

The apprehension for most bloggers, when it comes to finding something to trade for an email address,

is that they don’t have the time or know-how to create a comprehensive ebook or report. They feel like

they have to create some brand-new, never-before-seen content.

An email autoresponder easily makes use of the blog content you’ve already created. Most readers

haven’t read everything you’ve written, nor have they read it in sequential order. Your email

autoresponder groups related topics together and packages it neatly for the convenience of your

readers, delivering it right to them.

You don’t have to create new content in order to make this happen. You can use what you’ve already

written for your blog.

 

People don’t always like giving an email address for things that shouldn’t require them.

2. You’re trading an email for an email.

When you ask readers for their email in order to sign up for an autoresponder, it makes sense. You need

their email in order to deliver the information, and it’s a transaction that doesn’t have a hint of

hucksterism.

Downloading an ebook or a report doesn’t require an email, but that’s the trade they have to make in

order to get it. Readers aren’t dumb. They know they could get an ebook if you provided a direct link to

it. They know you’re after their email.

Their email address is your prize.

Signing up for an email autoresponder course doesn’t seem like they have to trade anything at all. It’s an

email course. The only way they can get it delivered to them is to give you an email address. For readers,

it feels like you’re being pretty generous and giving them some great free stuff without asking for

anything in return.

Your email course is their prize.

3. Readers sign up understanding that they will be receiving your email.

Some readers give you their email to get that report or ebook or infographic and don’t understand that

they’ll be added to your regular email list. Perhaps you didn’t make it clear or they are new to how these

things work. After all, they just wanted an ebook, not to be added to an email list.

Those readers unsubscribe. Sometimes they love to tell you why they unsubscribed in no uncertain

terms. Sometimes they report you as spam.

This reaction is rare with an email autoresponder course. Even though they’ll be added to your general

email list, they still expect to get emails from you and are more receptive to all of the email you send.

They get used to seeing your emails come in through your email autoresponder course; your other

emails arriving to their inbox are no big deal.

Readers who signed up for an email course understand; they asked you to email your content to them,

and they don’t mind when you do.

4. Readers get to know you gradually, and you aren’t forgotten.

How many times have you gone and grabbed an ebook and then not read it? I have an impressive library

of free ebooks I’ve downloaded and never read.

An email autoresponder is a bit different. It’s not the full deluge, it’s not a 42-page PDF. It’s your best

information, fed out in a steady drip, like an information IV. And, even better, it arrives in their inbox, the

place they spend most of their day anyway. You meet them on their turf on their time.

An email autoresponder keeps you on your reader’s mind. An ebook is downloaded once, and is a

one-time connection. An email autoresponder is repetitive, and your content can become a habit. Your

emails constantly remind your readers that you still exist, and they grow comfortable hearing your

“voice” in your emails.

5. Email is good place to mention your latest projects.

Maybe you finally have something to promote. An online learning course, or a webinar.

When it comes to selling or promotion, single solitary landing pages are powerful, particularly if you

understand the art of creating copy and graphics that get readers to do what you want them to do on

your landing pages. But maybe you’re not up to landing pages just yet, though you still have something

to promote. Where do you do the promotion at?

Start with the email autoresponder course. Get some motion going with that first; you’ll eventually get

to the landing page.

Don’t be shy or feel like your email autoresponder ought to stay purely instructional. You have given your

readers great content, and you earned their attention. They don’t mind if you mention something you

think they would be interested in. They don’t mind if you mention that webinar or other product in your

email to them.

Choosing The Topic For Your Email Autoresponder Course

Here you are, convinced that you ought to have an email autoresponder course. What should it be

about?

As usual, I’m going to tell you to “know your audience” and you’re going to sigh in frustration. Before you

walk away in exasperation, though, read on. You can find out who your target audience is. You can find

out what your readers want you to tell them more about.

1. Look at your analytics.

Your analytics can tell you specific information about why people visit your site. Here are three things to

look at in your analytics that give you an idea about what is bringing people to your site, and what they

want to hear about from you:

Search terms: You can find out the specific terms people are using to find your site, which will

help you decide what the most popular topics for your readers are. However, Google searches

are increasingly not providing the specific search terms that they used to, going with “not

provided” instead, so this ability may decrease in the future (at least with the Google search

engine).

You can subsidize this lack of information from Google Analytics a little bit with your Google

Webmaster Tools dashboard. Simply go to Search Traffic > Search Queries and get a list of the

terms people are using to find your site.

 

High-traffic posts: High-traffic posts are the posts that people are reading, and indicate a topic

they are interested in.

You could create an email autoresponder out of these specific posts, or use them as a guide on

what people want to read about. An added bonus, once you know which posts get the traffic, is

that you can promote your email autoresponder in those actual blog posts and target a specific

audience.

For example, we found a few obscenely high-traffic posts on the Todaymade blog, and created

a pop-up that encouraged people to sign up for an ebook that was related to the topic of the

post. These were posts that had high bounce rates, meaning people came in, read what they

wanted, and left. We figured we might as well offer them related content, since they were

going to leave anyway. (Click here to see what I mean.)

Imagine if you did that for your email autoresponder course? If you know people are going to

those posts, why not offer them useful related content? They’re already primed for the topic.

Nuthin’ to lose.

 Choose an email course on a topic your readers like. Not one you like.

  

Topical trends: See if there is a trend across these posts that make for a singular topic.

Unrelated blog posts might still have a connection.

For example, on my personal blog, two high-traffic posts have to deal with customer service

issues with Dell and Verizon. They are unrelated except that they indicate people are looking for

help in dealing with large corporations when they are frustrated. That trend could be a topic.

What topics are people reading that are related on your blog?

2. Look at your social media.

Your social media isn’t just for sharing and conversation. It’s also a not-so-sneaky way to learn about

what your readers are doing with your content. It is a kind of “unofficial” source of analytics, if you pay

attention.

Shares. Which of your blog posts get shared the most on social media? This is a good indicator of

not only what your followers are interested in, but what they are willing to share with their own

followers.

 Even basic stats are useful, such as what Bit.ly provides.

Bit.ly, Buffer, and other apps that you use with your social media give you some nice stats that

show you which of your posts get the clicks and shares. Those posts have topics and headlines

people liked.

Hashtags. Pay attention to the popular hashtags you’re seeing used by your social media

followers. They are telling you what topics are the most important to your readers. Plus, you can

capitalize on these hashtags when it comes time to tell the world about your email

autoresponder.

Conversations. You’ve had conversations with people on social media. What are they talking

about? What are they repeatedly asking you about? Wouldn’t you love to have an email

autoresponder handy so the next time you’re asked, you can mention that it is available?

Places like Inbound or Quora are a great place to find out what people want to know about. Just

read the conversations they have with each other. Answer their questions, and tell them about

your email autoresponder. Social media isn’t as mathematical as pure analytics, but it is a good

measurement of what people say they are interested in.

3. Look at your blog comments.

Which posts raised the most discussion and passion? What questions were asked?

An active comments section is a great way to find out which blog post topic piqued your reader’s

interest. If you’re lucky, readers may even be so kind as to ask you questions in their comment that you

can answer as part of your email autoresponder course, or that you can use as an opportunity later to

refer them to your email autoresponder course. I’ve had blog readers email me directly and ask if I could

write specific posts to answer specific questions they had. As you can imagine, I’m more than happy to

do so.

Wouldn’t it be great to say “I just so happen to have an email course that’ll walk you right through that.”

4. Ask your readers.

Consider asking your readers directly if there is a topic they’d like to know more about. Use a survey, or

write a blog post.

Bloggers spend a lot of time water witching for post topics and forget that they can just come right out

and ask what readers want to read. Don’t be afraid to ask your audience specifically what they want to

know, and how they want you to cover it.

Creating The Content For Your Email Autoresponder Course

Your email autoresponder can be made up of content you’ve already published on your blog, or new

content that you write specifically for the course (or, a mix of both).

1. Use currently published blog posts.

Using blog posts that are currently on your blog is quite common, and it is a good way to get started and

build your first email autoresponder course. The barrier to entry is easy, because you already have done

most of the work.

Evergreen posts. Select blog posts that are “evergreen”–that is, their content will age well. Blog

posts with detailed “how-to” instructions on using social networks are notorious for aging

poorly. Just ask me about the very long and detailed series I wrote on the “new” Facebook

Timeline. I think it was outdated in two weeks.

If you’re going to use posts already published, try to find ones that will remain viable over a long

period of time. It’s easy to forget what’s in your email course if you fall into the

set-it-and-forget-it mode.

 Make sure your email course has content relevant over the long-term.

 Popular posts. We’ve mentioned using analytics, social shares, and comment activity on

popular posts to determine what your overall topic should be. Go ahead and use these

same popular posts for your actual email autoresponder content…but with one extra

consideration: don’t forget your archives.

You likely have some great posts that used to hit the top ten that maybe don’t anymore

because they are a few months or more old. Do they still contain good content? You bet

they do. Include them.

You be the judge. You know which posts you are proud to have written (and those which

inspire hidden, dark shame). Select those posts that have excellent content that your

readers might not have found yet.

One nice thing about using content that already exists out on the wilds of your blog is that you

have the option to either include the full blog post in the body of your email, or give readers a

snippet and a link back to the original post. Snippets and a link drive traffic, to be sure.

2. Creating brand new content.

Sometimes you might want to create brand new content for your email autoresponder. There are

several reasons this is a good idea.

Rework old copy and make it new. You may have a great post that you wish you could use, but

the content is outdated and in much need of repair.

There are several blog posts I’ve written that I’ve reworked and slapped a new headline on. The

foundation and frame was good; they just needed a bit of remodeling. It is not unusual for us to

use a looming new email autoresponder course as the impetus to get us to write several new

blog posts for our blog. The topic or idea might be relevant, but the available blog posts at our

disposal need rework.

Rework an old blog post, publish it fresh on your blog for readers, and set it up for your email

autoresponder course recipients.

Introductions and prefaces. Creating new copy to put each blog post into context helps make

individual posts seem to be part of a cohesive whole. The new copy helps frame the blog post so

that it fits with the rest.

For some of our email courses, we’ve written a preface, a summation of the previous lesson, and

even a bit of a teaser that hints at what the next lesson will bring. That little bit of extra fresh and

new copy helps your email autoresponder course feel less like you’re just spitting out old blog

posts.

Create entirely new content. Perhaps you’re using published blog posts, but your email

autoresponder is missing a crucial lesson and you need to write brand new content so that the

course achieves its goal. Maybe you’ve not even begun your blog yet, and are building your

autoresponder first. Or, you just want to write the course from scratch from the ground up.

Some bloggers don’t like creating entirely new content. For one thing, it’s a lot of work. But

mainly, you miss out on the SEO benefit because that content is not on your site. These things are

all true, but do consider this: exclusivity.

When you create new content that isn’t available anywhere else, you can “sell” your email

autoresponder course on the promise that there is exclusive new content not available

anywhere else. Readers need to sign up if they want it. So, whether or not you’ll publish all newly

created content on your blog depends on if you are using exclusivity as part of the enticement.

Building Your Email Autoresponder Course

Building an email autoresponder is all about considering the nuts and bolts of the course. These are the

decisions you’ll want to make before you get going on it. You want to build something that people are

going to open and read.

1. Determine the length of the email autoresponder course.

How long will your email autoresponder keep sending emails? Weeks? Months? The number of emails

that you send out for your autoresponder will depend upon the content you are using, and what you

hope to achieve.

Never-ending. Some bloggers have a never-ending email autoresponder, always adding (and

sometimes removing) blog posts from the queue based on what they’ve written lately. They

build and prune their autoresponder “live”, while it is going out to readers.

A never-ending autoresponder is a good place to feature your “greatest hits” and best blog

posts on the broad topic of your niche blog. It is a recirculation tool, making sure your older,

archived posts always get traffic.

Shorter email course. We have several short email autoresponders, and we use their brevity as

part of the selling point. A short email course is the perfect answer to a reader who doesn’t

want to be bothered too much, and who doesn’t want to commit to a long session of emails.

A short email course works great for a tightly planned topic with a logical course outline, and a

distinct beginning and end. With a shorter email course, people are more readily aware of

previous content, and continuity and structure are important. A shorter course is also easier for a

new blogger to get started with.

Longer email course. We have noticed in our own email autoresponder courses that people do

unsubscribe more as the course continues, but that does not mean you should not have an

autoresponder that runs a longer time. It will take some readers longer to commit to you, your

content, and ultimately, anything you are selling.

A longer email autoresponder fits their needs perfectly. A longer email course is a good place to

feature a set number of blog posts on a topic that you have written many blog posts on.

 How many emails will you send? There is room for nearly all course durations.

 Some readers will unsubscribe from your email autoresponder, whether it is short or long in duration. It is

inevitable.

Watch for trends that might indicate a necessary change (e.g. high unsubscribes after a particular lesson),

but understand that unsubscribes are a natural part of your list’s equilibrium. Even if people unsubscribe,

they were exposed to your content before they did so. Load the beginning of the course with

excellence and go from there.

2. Determine the length of individual emails.

How long will the actual email be? What will be the word count?

Long-form content for blog posts are all the buzz right now. Google search rewards blog posts that are

longer. Yet there is still the issue that people might not read longer content, even if Google leads them

to it. Readers want excellent content, they want to learn something, they want you to help them, but

they don’t always have a lot of time.

Shorter copy is powerful. 200-300 words or less is a good rule of thumb if you aren’t using a

full blog post, especially if you are sending more than one email a week. We have used this idea

of using only part of a blog post in our own emails, making sure that the introductory copy was

sufficient to let the reader know exactly what the post was about. Entice without tricking, in

other words.

Longer copy is acceptable. Including the full blog post text means a longer email, but there is a

benefit to including the full blog text for your reader. You are offering them convenience by not

making them click through to your site to read everything. You hold nothing back and give them

everything for free, not even requiring a visit to your site. That can be seen as a form of

goodwill, and readers often prefer the convenience of being able to read everything in their

email client on their mobile device without having to open up a browser.

Break up the copy. Use white space with enthusiasm, especially if you are sending your reader a

full blog post. Use headers, bullet-point lists, and short paragraphs with plenty of double-space

between them. This makes it easy to read, period. They might be reading it on a huge monitor or

a tiny iPhone.

3. Determine the frequency of emails.

How soon will your emails follow each other? What days will they arrive?

When sending your email autoresponder, if possible, try to avoid days when you are sending out your

regular blog email. You don’t want to overload your reader’s inbox and annoy them into unsubscribing.

Start with a welcome email while the sign-up is still fresh and they are looking for you to pop into their

inbox and perhaps make sure you don’t go to spam. Thank them for signing up, and tell them what they

can expect. Keep it short, simple, and text-based. Nothing flashy.

From there, the beginning emails should arrive closer together. You might send an email out every two

days for the first two, then once a week for the next three, and then once every 10 days after that. You

are still connecting with your readers, but without being like a buzzing gnat that won’t go away.

Properly spaced out, it is a pleasant surprise to get an email every 10 days. Confession: I tend to

unsubscribe from emails that come every day. But that’s just me.

 

Carefully consider how your emails will arrive in your recipient’s inbox. Don’t overload, but don’t let them forget.

 4. Build your email with simplicity in mind.

How does your email look? The body of your email should have easy-to-read copy. This means a font

that is easy to read and graphics that don’t get in the way. Your goal is to get your content read, and not

use the reader’s inbox as a flashing billboard.

Plain text. Don’t discount the power of a simple plain-text email that has no graphics or

formatting. Oddly, many readers actually prefer plain text emails to flashy HTML emails with

graphics. They are easier to read on their mobile devices and they feel more personal and less

like marketing materials.

If you are not confident that you can create an email autoresponder course with graphics that will

look great in all email programs and mobile devices, go with plain text. Even better? Go with the

look of simple text, but use basic HTML formatting so that the copy loses the harsh “plain text”

look, but still lives without graphics.

Body and images. People click on images. If you choose to have any graphics, they must have a

link to something relevant, such as the blog post. Don’t ever waste the opportunity that images

provide you. All images are clickable, all images link to something relevant. No exceptions.

Avoid self-advertising. Be cautious about taking out ads on your own emails. In other words,

avoid loading up your email with links or graphics that advertise your copywriting or design

services. If you are going to include these things…do them in the footer.

A useful footer. Below your main content is the footer of your email. It should contain a clear and

simple way for your reader to unsubscribe, as required by the CAN-SPAM Act. Mention why they

are getting the email (they signed up), and how to contact you. Email apps often take care of this

for you, but just be sure it is included. The footer area is where you could do “self-advertising” if

you wanted to. Keep it simple, if you choose to do it, preferably just one or two “ads” or links.

5. Pay attention to your email delivery.

How do you package and deliver each email? It is easy to get distracted by the content of email

autoresponder course and forget about the email itself, but the basic components of the email play a

role in whether or not readers will open your email.

Headline-quality subject lines. The same rules that apply to creating great headlines apply to

your email subject line. It has the burden of getting your reader to decide to open the email and

not delete it. Ask readers a question directly, hint that you have a solution to a problem, or

suggest there is something they don’t know and ought to. MailChimp offers a free tool that lets

you test your subject lines out against all of the data they’ve collected on emails that get great

open rates.

Words to avoid in the subject. Avoid using words in your subject line that can trigger spam

filters, such as “free”, “satisfaction” or “open.” While you likely wouldn’t use such sales-oriented

words for your email autoresponder course on purpose, it is wise to be aware of words that

might send your email into spam.

Length of the subject. The subject line of your email should not exceed 50 characters. You want

to avoid having your carefully crafted subject line get truncated in an inbox.

Who it is from. Keep the “from” line in your email the same throughout the course. You are

building trust, so it is important that the sender of the email remain the same Plus, if readers

have whitelisted your email address, or directed your email into their primary Gmail tab,

changing the address could hurt you. Choosing a person instead of an app or a blog name is best

if you can; it is easy to ignore email from an entity and less so from a “real” person.

The Long-Term Goal For Your Email Autoresponder Course

You might not have that coaching session to sell yet, or that online webinar or book that you plan to

promote someday, but that should not stop you from creating an email autoresponder course. In fact,

not having all of that stuff done makes your email course even more important.

Build your email list first, so you have people you can sell to someday. Your email course is how you go

about building your email list, one agreeable reader at a time.