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How can my readers get e-mail updates from my blog?

Today’s post is brought to you by the ever-popular and knowledgeable Jordan from Momma Blogga.
She has graciously agreed to guest post for me all week while I bask in
the glory that is a family reunion. Welcome Jordan (as you always do)
and leave her many comments so she’s come back!

E-mail subscriptions are a good option to offer your loyal readers.  Many readers haven’t yet begun using a feed reader, but still want to receive updates from your blog at their convenience.  Or maybe you prefer to get updates from your favorite blogs via e-mail, but they don’t offer that option.

There are lots of good RSS-to-email services to provide your readers (or you) the latest posts on your blog.  Two good services are FeedBurner and FeedBlitz.  Each service has its own advantages, of course.


FeedBurner

If you’re already signed up with FeedBurner for your blog’s RSS, you can easily add e-mail subscription options.  Go to Publicize>Email Subscriptions.  From here, you can choose which service to use, since FeedBurner offers all three of the services listed above.  FeedBurner’s own e-mail subscriptions offer a number of customizable options, including a (set) subject line, an image header, and some control over fonts and colors to help to make your e-mails look more like your blog.

FeedBurner also provides you with HTML code to create a form or a link to put on your blog to promote your email subscription.

FeedBlitz

FeedBlitz is especially good if you’re looking for a service to offer e-mail updates from your favorite blogs that don’t offer e-mail subscriptions.  Just go to Feedblitz’s homepage and enter the blog’s address in the box at the bottom of the page.

Like FeedBurner does for RSS, FeedBlitz provides a "chicklet" to display the number of e-mail subscribers you have.  FeedBlitz also helps you create widgets (if you’re on TypePad or Blogger) to promote your e-mail updates.

While FeedBlitz is free, the free option will include ads placed by FeedBlitz in your e-mails.  However, you can also place your own ads through private advertisers or services like Google AdSense to make money for yourself (I believe this service is a premium service, however, meaning that it does require you to pay a fee to FeedBlitz).

FeedBlitz fully integrates with FeedBurner to show your total stats numbers whether you use it as a stand alone service or through FeedBurner.

A third service, Send Me RSS, can e-mail you updates from your favorite blogs with the forms on their homepage like FeedBlitz does.

3 thoughts on “How can my readers get e-mail updates from my blog?”

  1. I went to Feedburner and didn’t find anywhere that said, “Go to Publicize>Email Subscriptions.” So I still haven’t found an effective way to send email notifications of blog updates to blog subscribers.

  2. I use Feedblitz and have updates go out about once a week. I set up an autoresponder and attached it to the newsletter so I could offer a free report that goes out when someone signs up.

    Obviously, this helps getting more people signed up for my email updates.

  3. What funny timing — I just talked to my Mother-in-Law this weekend, and she was saying how she didn’t get email updates anymore, since I used to use Blogarithm and they got bought out. So, finally yesterday, I thought, “Ummmm…you know, she’s probably not the only person in the world that had subscribed to my blog via email. I probably should update it.” So, since I have a feed with FeedBurner anyway, I set up their email feed. Very easy to set up, as you said, especially if you already have an account.

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