Section 3

Advantages & Disadvantages of Locally-Hosted Autoresponders

How do they Work?

Locally-hosted autoresponders refer to those that are hosted on your own web server.

These are usually scripts or programs that you must install on your web server.

These usually involve the purchase or leasing of a program or script written in Perl, PHP, ASP or some other scripted languages.

These programs often require a database backend as well e.g., mySQL, SQL2000 or Postgres.

After installation, a web browser is used to access these programs e.g., to set up the program, to run it and to backup the subscribers list.

The use of these programs may or may not require some knowledge of the scripting language it is written in.

Installation may be done by the providers of these programs, or you can do it yourself if you have some basic knowledge of tasks like ftp, CHMOD, HTML, CRON and creating databases.

Some of these autoresponders can be quite flexible and have very powerful features.

This option is suitable for you if you are a webmaster who have your own web space.

Advantages & Disadvantages

For professional internet marketers who have a large subscriber list and a growing need for multiple autoresponders, a locally-hosted autoresponder may be the better choice compared to the remotely-hosted ones because:

• You can buy the program and owned it for life, so there is no monthly charges involved apart from the initial cost in buying the program.
• You may be able to run multiple copies of the program on multiple websites if the licensing condition allows. Or else you may be able to upgrade for a small fee. It is important that you find out how many copies of the software (and/or websites) you are allowed to install and run the software to determine its real cost.
• You can have better customization features and better control over the database.
• You may be able to customize the script further to suit your need by paying the developer a small fee or by doing it yourself (if you are familiar with the scripting language).

Continued Reading- Advantages and Disadvantages of Desktop-Hosted Autoresponder