One very important thing bloggers should do is to capture the e-mail addresses of people that read their blog. This is something I have not done yet. I have been putting it off because of what I perceive to be the complexity of doing it. I had searched for widgets and plug-ins and I could not find anything that I could install. Additionally, I wanted something to do more than just capture e-mail addresses. I wanted something that would auto respond, help me manage a mailing list, help me send newsletters and product promotions.

I spent some time searching for the solution to this problem. While there are several software suites available I found that for my purposes, a service called Aweber is the best fit for me. I also trust this service because it is used by both Pro-blogger and the Smart Passive Income Blog. Both of these blogs I referred to several times in my posts and are two of the “big boys” out there..

I have just begun to use this service so I don’t really have any feedback for you yet. Of course as time goes on I were to give you all my thoughts on Aweber, and any advice that I think might benefit you in using the service. At this point, I will give you a rundown on some of the features that I think would be useful.

• Website opt in form. This of course is the main reason that I wanted to use Aweber. You can either set up an opt in button on the sidebar or, alternatively, you can direct them to a entirely separate sign in page.

• Autoresponder. This feature will automatically send an e-mail after the person signs up confirming their e-mail address. You may may also then set up a schedule of reminder e-mails to everyone on your list.

• Newsletter. Aweber allows you to custom design a newsletter using your text , and any images you might like etc. and then allows you to schedule the newsletter  for immediate delivery or delivery at any chosen date and time in the future.

• E-mail analytics. One feature that really excites me about Aweber is the ability to know who has opened my e-mails, or as deleted them without opening them, and who is clicking on the links within the e-mail.

I also decided that I may use Aweber as an affiliate, as I do like the way their affiliate program works. You simply get a 30% commission on any user that you send to Aweber. As an example, the monthly cost of the Aweber service is $19. So, 30% of $19 is $5.70. As long as the subscriber continues using the service I would then get $5.70 every month.

As you may already know I am very frugal with my blog. I do not want to spend money unless I’m fairly sure it will work. After all,  any money I spend comes off of my bottom line. In this case, however, I believe it is $19 a month well spent. There are also other pricing packages where you can save money by subscribing quarterly or with an annual subscription. It looks like a good deal, but I’m going to wait till after I’ve used it for a couple of months before I buy the longer term subscriptions.