AWeber is one of the most popular email marketers tools. And with good reason! The tool is incredibly easy to set up and use; all you need is a credit card to get started. From there, you can begin using the tool to build and grow a following; all while enjoying the benefits of a modern-day CRM.

Why Should You Use AWeber?

If you’re looking to grow your email list and make the process of sending email less labor-intensive, AWeber is the perfect tool for you. And, as a bonus, you’ll also enjoy the benefits of a powerful CRM. The tool integrates with most major email platforms including Gmail, Outlook, and more.

How does AWeber work? Let’s take a look.

Step 1: Set Up Your Account

Once you’ve landed on the AWeber dashboard, you’ll see a big green button that says Add New List.

Click that button and you’ll be taken to a screen that will ask you to enter a List name and description. You can also choose to have your list auto-generated. When you’ve filled in all the necessary details, you’ll be presented with a success message and a small link to click to continue.

To create a list, you need to have a minimum of 500 subscribers. As a Quick Start Plan subscriber, you’ll enjoy all the benefits of an email list without having to enter a single email address. The free option allows you to create up to five lists with a name and description. If you want to have more than five lists, you’ll need to upgrade your account.

Step 2: Add Your Subscribers To Your List

Next up is adding subscribers to your list. To do this, you’ll need to enter their email address and then choose either AWeber or Email campaign. The first one is a choice between autoship and webinar invites; the second one is between drip email campaigns and bulk emailing.

Select AWeber and a green check mark will appear next to the subscription button. When a new subscriber signs up, they’ll receive an email from you with a link to click to confirm their subscription. You can also choose to have them receive a welcome email from you. When they confirm their subscription, you’ll be able to see their personal profile info in your account.

For Email campaign subscribers, you can choose to have them receive a confirmation email or a welcome email. If you confirm their subscription, you’ll be able to see their personal profile info in your account. However, you won’t be able to see any data about them until they upgrade their account to a paid plan. After this happens, their email address and any other logged in user data becomes available to you.

Step 3: Create Your Email Campaign

Once you’ve got your email list set up, you can begin creating your email campaign. To do this, you’ll click on the Create email button and then choose either one of the three types of email marketing (webinar, drip, or sweepstakes) from the drop-down menu. You’ll then be taken to a screen that will allow you to set up the content of the email.

For the sake of this example, let’s say you’ve chosen to send out webinars. When you create your first webinar, you’ll be presented with a simple email form. In this form, you’ll enter a subject, content, and a few optional tags. When you’re done, click on Create Webinar.

From there, you can set the date and time for the webinar and manage your email list from within the same tool. You can also choose to have the webinar streamed to an audience or recorded and sent to you later. Are you ready to begin sending emails?

How To Set Up Custom URLs For AWeber

If you’ve been using AWeber for a while, you may have noticed that when you click on a link in an email, the URL is not very user-friendly. For example, if you click on a link in an email that takes you to a website, you’ll see this format:

https://email-address.com/website/

Instead of having a pretty URL like this:

https://email-address.com/learn/

You can fix this by going to your list settings and then clicking on the URL link.

On the next page, you’ll see a section that says Link to Website. In this section, you can choose to have AWeber automatically generate short and long versions of your custom URL. When you’ve chosen a specific time for the link to activate (this will be the URL that you can use when someone clicks on it), you’ll be able to test out the short and long version to see which one works best for your needs.

To create a custom URL for AWeber, follow these steps:

Step 1: Log into your account.

First, you’ll need to log into your account and click on the gear icon located in the top right corner. Once you’re in your account, you can choose to switch to the Gear icon from the main menu.

Step 2: Click on the Settings hyperlink.

From the drop-down menu next to Link to Website, choose either Short or Long URL. When you’ve chosen a specific time for the link to become active (this will be the URL that you can use when someone clicks on it), you’ll see a green check mark in front of the option. Make sure you’ve chosen the right option for your needs.

If you’ve chosen to have AWeber generate short URLs, you may have to create a special short link that will work for your needs. This special link will only be active for a short period of time before it disappears. When you’ve created a custom URL for AWeber, you’ll see the option appear at the top of the drop-down menu when you return to the Settings page.

What kind of short URL should you use? Let’s say you’ve chosen to have AWeber generate short URLs and you’ve also chosen to have the link in the email become active on March 15th. If you go to your Settings page and click on the link today, you’ll see this error message:

Oops! We’re unable to redirect you to the URL you requested because we don’t have a short URL for that address. If you want to access this URL, you’ll need to create a short URL manually.

If you’ve been using AWeber for a while and want to create a custom URL for AWeber, you’ll have to do the following:

Go to API.
Click on the Get a Short URL button.
Type in the URL you want to redirect to (i.e., yourwebsite.com/learn/ or yourwebsite.com/your-special-url/).
You’ll then see a confirmation screen with the short URL you can use.
Click on the Okay button to continue using AWeber.

To learn more, visit this helpful guide by MailChimp:

How to Create a Short URL Using MailChimp