We want an auto-responder to deliver our emails automatically in the sequence we design and to subscribe the respondents at our web page to a list we designate on the auto-responders database.

So the first thing we want to be sure of is that our auto- responder company is stable enough to be around for awhileit pays to stick with the big ones if you don't want your business to be dislocated.

From my experience and everything I read AWeber is the most popular of the Auto-responder services and is highly endorsed by many users.

But all auto-responders are not born equal so first let's examine some of the things an auto-responder can do for us and what makes one better than the other.

This is a good cross-section of popular auto-responders on the web at the moment:

AWeber http://aweber.com/

EmailAces http://emailaces.com/

GetResponse http://getresponse.com/

IntelliContact http://icontact.com/

RobotReply http://robotreply.us/

Before subscribing to any of these you'll want to know a few things about them.

How well do they deliver your emails?

Independent testing suggests that the first 4 all deliver above 80% of your emails but Robot Reply seems to fall way behind at 50-60% delivery of your emails. In these days of spam where AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail etc. have such vicious spam filters I would think that these numbers are bit high.

How do their Features compare?

Aweber, GetResponse and IntelliContact all have great features so there's not a lot between them in this area. Email Aces has OK features and Robot Reply trails the field. How quickly do they respond to your email queries?

Get Response and AWeber are reported to respond to "Trouble Tickets" in 4 to 6 hours while the rest take 20 hours and over.

How much do they cost?

Pricing is an important consideration and for some people over-rides every thing else.

The following prices are not totally current so you should check for yourself. Pricing is time sensitive but this will give you a ball park idea of what to expect.

GetResponse: $17.95 per month ($17.95/mo for 10,000 subscribers $4.50/mo for extra 5,000)

Aweber: $19.95 per month ($19.95/mo for 10,000 subscribers, plus $9.95/mo for extra 10,000)

RobotReply: $34.95 per month

EmailAces: $37.90 the month you sign up, then $29.95 per month thereafter.

IntelliContact: $109.00 per month. Ouch! (but it does allow up to 15,000 subscribers)

Pretty obvious hereGetResponse is the lowest cost followed closely by AWeber while IntelliContact is way more expensive.

It would seem to me that AWeber and GetResponse come out ahead of the field.

I personally use AWeber most of the time and find them very good.

Sometimes when I want to upload a purchased list in bulk I will rely on other services. AWeber is totally restrictive as far as double opt-in is concerned and insists on the verification email. This protects both them and you, but if you have purchased a double opt-in list it can be a pain.

The way I handle this is to upload my bulk list to another service and have my "web-form" send the respondents to AWeber for my long term list needs.

Once you have your website up and running you'll want to make some money from it.