Really Simple Syndication or RSS is an enabler of the social web providing readers with automatic updates of posts to their feed readers. But not everyone wants to read via RSS so email services provide easy and sometimes free ways for delivering posts via email. My two favorite are Feedburner and FeedBlitz. I’ll cover each one and outline how to set this up on your website or blog.
Feedburner is a service that formats your RSS feed for various feed readers making it easier for visitors to subscribe. They also provide metrics on feed subscribers and have become the industry standard for measuring readership and engagement. A free service offered by Google, Feedburner also provides email subscription as a standard offering. To enable, just click on the “Publicize” tab and choose “Email Subscriptions.” Scroll down and activate the service on the first tab and then customize, “Communications Preferences,” “Email Branding” and “Delivery Options.” Feedburner provides a subscription widget but this takes up too much space in my book so either grab the subscription link and associate with an icon or use a plugin such as the WordPress Feedburner Subscription widget. The features might be limited for some but Feedburner will work for most websites. In fact, it’s the service I use to syndicate this site via email.
If your needs are for a bit more control, then check out FeedBlitz. Like Feedburner, their RSS to email service is free but is supported by ads. For a small fee based upon the number of subscribers, FeedBlitz will remove the ads and provides some other benefits. I use this for my wine blog and a client who wants to send out their blog entry at a specific time each day (Feedburner gives you a time range for the automatic email). FeedBlitz also offers more robust personalization options and very granular metrics for evaluating engagement (to be fair, Feedburner provides good statistics and integration with Google Analytics). FeedBlitz takes a little bit longer to setup than Feedburner but many will appreciate the expanded range of features at a very fair price. It is also perfect for monthly newsletters.
Whichever service you choose, adding email subscription to your site will expand your reach and enable your content to spread virally via email. And since many wine consumers are Baby Boomers who have been using email for years, adding this method is a no brainer for wineries.
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