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This one is for my fellow small business owners….and it’s going to save you a ton of money and time!
I currently operate about 30 different websites in all different niches, but I’m working on a site now that will require my ability to take payments from advertisers, so I needed a way of making the payment, verification and communication tasks easy and integrated. 
Anyone who is running a business online knows that there seem to be a million moving parts that you need to get into alignment before you can really launch a successful website. Add in accepting payments, signing up affiliates for an affiliate program and running multiple newsletters and you can see how complicated an endeavor it can become.
I was looking for a solution that would allow me to integrate everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) from payments, to autoresponders, to shopping carts, coupons, an affiliate program, a membership module, a knowledgebase, a support center, and more. Fat chance right? But guess what? I think I *actually* found what will work, and boy is it cool!
I’ve been testing TotalMarketer.Com , and at first, I was skeptical of their claim that you can run your entire business from one system. Once I poked around their site though, I saw that the developers had really thought of everything.
For many years I have pieced together a system that works pretty well….I have an autoresponder service, a shopping cart service, a payment processing service, a support ticket system and more. The problem is that it’s difficult to INTEGRATE these systems so that they work together and talk to each other. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to have to troll the support forums or hire a programmer every time I want to make one script or program talk to another one. I’ve done that for years, and it’s exhausting and saps my productivity!
This system, TotalMarketer has ALL of these features (get ready, it’s a long list!):
~Unlimited Autoresponders with Unlimited Follow-Ups and Broadcasts
~Affiliate Management System (that runs 1-tier or 2-tier affiliate programs)
~Domain Name Integrator (so all emails and other references point to your own URL)
~Digital Product Download Manager (with protection and expiring download links)
~Membership Management System (password protect and sell access to unlimited directories on your site)
~Ad Tracking System (keep track of ads you have placed and track their performance)
~Customer Support Manager (with support ticket system and knowledgebase)
~Tell a Friend System
~Unlimited Shopping Carts
~Sell Unlimited Products
~Provide custom sales tools (banners, ads, links) for affiliates
~Coupon system (offer coupon codes to give discounts to customers)
…..and much, much more……this list consists of just the basics because there are LOTS of little features within these features.
I know what you’re thinking: A system like this is going to cost a bundle isn’t it? Ready for a shocker? It’s only $19.95/month! (This is where you need to start breathing again, by the way!) Seriously, twenty bucks!
The $19.95 level allows for 15,000 subscribers (meaning autoresponder subscribers and customers). If you have more than 15,000 subscribers, first of all congratulations, and secondly, it will cost you a bit more. Their most expensive package is still only $39.95 per month for 35,000 subscribers. It’s a steal no matter what!
I’m going to warn you about one thing though: These are listed as introductory prices, so I’m not sure how long these prices will still be valid. I checked with Barry Richardson, owner of TotalMarketer, and he told me that if you sign up at the lower introductory price, your cost will remain the same no matter what the price is increased to. So, in effect, your price is locked in which is awesome!
I’ve had to ask Barry a question or two as I’ve been setting up my own use of the system and he is very responsive and answers questions very quickly. The same support ticket system that is included with the TotalMarketer package is used to also handle support by Barry and it’s very user-friendly.
One thing that I really love about this system, is that you can use it on more than one site for just one monthly fee. What a savings! I also love that you are able to setup the sale of physical products that you ship to someone, digital products that are downloaded online (or a service) and also memberships. When you setup a membership site to sell access to, the system provides all the files you need to protect the folder on your site where your membership resides. You just upload three files to that folder, and your folder is protected. Then, when someone wants to join the membership site, a username and password is generated that gives them instant access to the protected area of your site. If they cancel their membership, their username and password is cancelled as well. So easy!
If you want to check it out, I highly recommend doing so quickly before Barry raises his price…seriously, even a $10 increase per month would still be a steal, but why pay $120 a year more than you have to?
Click here to check out TotalMarketer! I’ve been very pleased with their service and it will save me so much time and money this year! I’ll follow up with a regular update on how it’s working for me, but so far I am beyond pleased!
Technorati Tags: shopping cart, coupon system, affiliate program manager, affiliate module, autoresponders, membership manager, support tickets, help desk
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8 responses so far ↓
Kristine // Mar 28, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Wow, this sounds like a great service, especially at that price! How would you compare the functionality compared to Aweber and Wahmcart (if you have used either)?
Kristine’s last blog post..IRS to Start Sending Rebates on May 2
admin // Mar 28, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Hi Kristine,
I haven’t used Wahmcart personally, so I can’t speak to that, but I am still an Aweber customer and probably always will be.
I love Aweber, and if someone is planning just to use autoresponders and doesn’t need all of the other functions, I highly recommend going with Aweber.
But, if someone wanted to use both the autoresponders and the other functions such as the affiliate program and shopping features, MyTotalMarketer.com might be a better buy since it is the same price as Aweber anyway.
So far, from what I have seen, the deliverability of the emails (autoresponder broadcasts/follow-ups) seems good. But Aweber *does* offer more features in the autoresponder department.
I guess it depends on each person’s own needs. I’ll be updating this review as I go and learn more about it though. In fact, today I’ll be setting up a membership site with MyTotalMarketer so I’ll report on how that works for me!
Karin // Apr 8, 2008 at 3:11 pm
WOW! Just what I need! Great price too!
Signing up ASAP!
Thanks for the great resource.
Karin
admin // Apr 10, 2008 at 7:54 am
I’m glad you found it useful Karin!
I’ve been using it myself now for almost a month and have liked it very much…especially the fact that everything is in one place (and for a great price!).
You know, the fastest and easiest way to increase your monthly profits is to find ways to reduce expenses without sacrificing quality or features. It’s difficult to do, but this service does the trick!
Please come back and let me know how it works for you!
Brenda Nicholson // Apr 11, 2008 at 8:57 pm
This looks like something that could work very well for me. The system I’m using now is a little difficult to use and has far less features.
Since you are still using Aweber, this may not apply, but I was wondering if you had a subscriber list that you had moved to this new system? Or is your current subscriber list part of the reason you are still using Aweber?
Thanks for the resouce. You have a great site with lots of useful information. I’m always up for something that makes my life easier!
Brenda Nicholson’s last blog post..New Audio Tuesday
admin // Apr 12, 2008 at 6:00 am
Thanks Brenda for the nice comment!
About Aweber…I just love Aweber and will probably always be their customer because I have some smaller non-ecommerce projects that are already set up with them. I can understand your concern about moving a subscriber list. It can be tricky!
For me personally, I’m using MyTotalMarketer for projects that have an e-commerce component. As I add new non-ecommerce projects I might use MyTotalMarketer for those as well. But since I am already a 3-year customer of Aweber, I’ll admit it’s hard for me to cancel!
My advice for anyone in this situation is to look at your options:
If you are well-established with another company it can be difficult to get all of your subscribers to opt-in again and migrate to a new system. However, there are ways to incentivize them…maybe offer something for free in the “Welcome” email from the new system so that it’s only available to people who successfully move their subscription.
Your other option is to run two systems concurrently for a period of time and slowly encourage stragglers to migrate over a period of a few months. Again, provide an incentive and maybe make it a bigger and stronger incentive closer to when you pull the plug on your previous system. This method also give you a chance to compare services and make sure your new one is living up to your standards. You could even do split testing on your messages and see which list provides higher deliverability rates and open rates.
Finally, your decision might be a budget issue and that’s always a valid reason to make the “one or the other” choice. Aweber is about $20 and MyTotalMarketer is about $20 as well for the Silver package. But, with MyTotalMarketer you also get all of the sales tools, ecommerce features and membership site and affiliate program tools. So maybe to save money, MyTotalMarketer would be better, especially if you are also paying for an ecommerce package somewhere else in addition to Aweber.
So Brenda, it sounds as though you are ready to give it a try but if anyone else is still on the fence, I’ll be posting an update to this entry soon with my thoughts on how the first 30 days have worked for me. I’ve been very happy so far, but I can understand readers wanting some follow-up in order to make a decision.
Thanks Brenda for the great comment and question! Please come back and let me know how it’s working for you!
Karin // Apr 13, 2008 at 7:56 pm
OK - I have been signed up for about a week now and have been getting familarized with the program. It is a very user friendly program, with good tutorials and help desk. Barry has answered several of my help tickets - very quickly!
I feel much more at ease with this program than with my previous program - plus it is cheaper!!! I am still a newbie to list building, so my list isn’t affected greatly with the change. I feel great about “growing into” all the features Total Marketer has to offer for such a great price.
Thanks for the great tip Jen!
Karin
Grace // Apr 29, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Hi Jen,
Remember me? I’m the one who ask for the review and update. I want to let you know that I’ve just signed up the $1 for 30 days trial thru your other post. I have a quick look at the tutorial, it seems like it’s not that difficult to use. Thanks for sharing this special offer!
Grace
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