Getting Setup with AWeber

Okay, the next major player in the email marketing arena that I would like to cover is AWeber. As I have mentioned, they have also been around for years and have email marketing down to an art (or science if you're more accustomed to that background.)

As mentioned earlier in this tutorial, I'll assume you have an email Opt-in form setup already either via SumoMe or MailMunch or any other really. And, you're looking to setup an autoresponder. So, this section of the tutorial is more about setting up the autoresponder and assuming you can sign up with AWeber on your own.

Somewhat different than GetResponse, when you sign up with AWeber you are asked to immediately set up some business stuff to begin branding yourself.

Hopefully, you were able to get that all knocked out.

Also, please note that AWeber refers to their Autoresponder as a Follow-Up Series. For some reason, they didn't like the term autoresponder and I suppose Follow-Up Series makes more sense to beginners.

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Okay, first here's a snapshot of an old email opt-in autoresponder AKA Follow Up series to give you an idea of what we're looking to accomplish:

As you'll notice within the left-most column is the email message number. This is NOT necessarily the day the message will be sent. It's simply the sequence in which the messages go out. A neat thing you can do after you have these created is drag-and-drop the messages easily to change the order in which they will be received. That's pretty darn cool!

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Step 1: Login, Click Messages and Select Follow Up Series

Step 2: Click the Create a Message button:

Step 3: From the drop-down menu, Click the Drag and Drop Email Builder selection:

Step 4: Enter a snappy subject line for you first message.

Remember, this is your Welcome message not necessarily the first email of your training series, if that's what you'll be providing your subscribers.

Note: You can personalize the message with the Personalize button on the right. This will insert the variable that will be replaced with each subscriber's first name.

Step 5: Getting Started with Email Templates

Next, Click the Templates button on the right, below the Message Properties option:

Pick one of the many templates to begin your messages with. You'll have the opportunity to modify it at great length. Once you have made your selection, Click the

button at the bottom.

Step 6: Using the Drag and Drop Graphical User Interface

AWeber uses TWO main components:

1. Sections
2. Blocks

Sections are the areas within which you will copy (from your favorite text editor) and paste in your content (text of the messages.)

Blocks are the actual content in your message (text, images, etc). You can drag and drop these blocks to move them around. To start working with a block, simply click on it.

Moving Blocks

If you wanted tomove the block, click and hold down the "Move" option. You'll be able to drag and drop the block into the section you wanted:

Additionally, to the right you'll notice the options to either Copy or Delete a block:

Also, you can drag and drop different block components from the left margin:

Step 7: Inserting Your Text

Okay, now that you have all your sections and block in place, you can begin copying and pasting in your desired bodytext from your email series.

You can copy in what you need to, even add in a block or two between paragraphs

Also, keep in mind that you can personalize the message by inserting the first name variable from the Personalize menu:

Just place your cursor in the text where you want the first name to appear. Then, click the Personalize button and Select the First Name option as shown above.

Step 8: Save Your Work

After you have it just the way you want it, Clickthe Save & Exit button. The Save button is there if you get interrupted and need to return to finish your edits later.

Step 9: Add to Follow Up Series

After you have saved your work, Click theSend Options button and select Add to Follow Up Series as shown below:

Step 10: Set Send Interval

Set the email send interval - the number of days AFTER the previous email was sent.

Note: The first message, typically your Welcome email is sent out immediately after they sign up. We call this Day 0.

You will also be offered the opportunity to exclude specific days of the week. I recommend leaving this alone.

When finished with this, simply click theAdd to Follow Up Series button as shown below:

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And, now you have completed your first autoresponder (or follow up email as AWeber calls it.) Congrats! Now, that you have the hang of it, simply rinse and repeat these 10 steps to create the remainder of your follow up / autoresponder emails.

Next, I'll show you how tointegrate your new autoresponder series with the MailMunch and SumoMe email opt-in functions.