Thursday, January 31, 2008

Suggestions for Subscribe to Posts by Email Tool?

I'd like to offer my readers a subscribe to posts by email option. Right now, I'm using something that requires me to send out manual weekly email updates which is obviously unsustainable in addition to being less than ideal since it creates so much lag time between when I post and when people see the posts.

Can anyone give me advice on the best email feed tool to use for my blog?

Are there any issues I should know about if I use Feedburner or Feedblitz? and what are the differences between the two? Are there other options I should be considering?

Thank you so much in advance!!!

This Post was written by Eve from the Garden of Eating.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been using Feedburner's "subscribe by email" tool. I only have about 200 subscribers that way (about 10% of my feed subscribers).

I like it in that it allows folks to read however they prefer.

However, they have only one setting - the emails are sent out once a day. You can chose what time, but that's it. They won't do a weekly digest.

Also, it's the whole posts as HTML so all the images are hotlinked. If you've blocked hotlinking to your site then subscribers won't be able to see the images in their online email browsers.

That said, it's painless ... I clicked a button on Feedburner and inserted the little code in my site and bingo, instant subscribe by email. I haven't had to do a thing with it since. It allows you to customize the confirmation email that goes out and unsubscribing is just a click at the bottom of each email (and you can unsubscribe people manually via a control panel).

It's a good system for the end user

If you're already using feedburner you can try it out (not put the code on your site) and see if you like it. (Or subscribe to mine!)

Ultimately I'd prefer to have a weekly digest option that'd be more newsletter-ish, but this has worked pretty well.

Cate said...

I've been using FeedBlitz since the beginning and nary a problem.

Eve Fox said...

Thanks guys!
Cate, is Feedblitz's set up the same as the Feedburner one that cybele described above?

Anonymous said...

I haven't used FeedBlitz before, but FeedBurner's email option works pretty well. I haven't had any problems or complaints.

Alanna Kellogg said...

I offer readers both and find that some want one, others the other. This is how I describe their choice.

Since I use both, I can directly compare.

Both sites 'occasionally' miss posts. In my experience, FeedBurner more often and since being acquired by Google, has ZERO support (pre-acquisition, real staff answered technical/support issues quickly and thoroughly and with a great understanding of outlying issues/consideration; post-acquisition is classic Google;Blogger: DIYS, do-it-yourself, stupid)

FeedBlitz is more innovative, seems to be developing/adding features.

FeedBurner does have the FAN network which is increasingly productive since being acquired by Google.

Eve Fox said...

Very helpful! Thanks Alanna.

Ed Charles said...

r puts ads into the email unless you pay. I don't think Feedburner does this. Otherwise they are very similar. The only reason I used Feedblitz was because some rogue code meant the Feedburner mail didn't work. I'll swap back.

Alanna Kellogg said...

I just checked (and now remember) that in its free version, FeedBlitz does put an ad into the e-mails. But it's at the very very end and very so completely discreet I'm not sure I've noticed it before.

One of the innovations I like from FeedBlitz is the 'rate' this post feature, also the list of prior five posts.

Kalyn Denny said...

I've used Feedblitz for quite a while and I've been very happy with it. Once I had a problem with how the e-mails displayed for me personally (actually it was with the way I had my personal e-mail settings selected, not a feedblitz problem) and they were very helpful. I do notice that a lot of people seem to subscribe multiple times, so I think there might currently be a glitch in that part of the process. However, Feedblitz seems to recognize duplicate subscriptions and remove them because I don't get multiple "unsubscribe" notices to fix it.

I know there's a premium version which costs money, but I've never had enough time to even fully explore the free one I've used from the beginning of when I started offering e-mail subscription.

Anonymous said...

tahnks

alt="oktay usta">Oktay Usta

How To Eat A Cupcake said...

I use Feedblitz and I love it!

admin said...

It is a good site

oktay usta

Thanks...

Unknown said...

A aberration of the aboriginal Coco Chanel backpack is the tweed Chanel bag
. Chanel Wallet
in February 1955, there were exact copies of the aboriginal advised Chanel handbags
.



There are also many Coach handbags
stores around the country. You want to search online to see if there is a Coach Wristlet
store there. Coach Ergo
have been one of the most popular items for a woman to shop for but at a great price and this is where Coach Gallery
fits the bill.

Anonymous said...

So you've wanted to get yourself that
louis vuitton handbags
but are not sure if you really ought to? I know,
vuitton bags don't come cheap and you want to make sure that your money is well spent.
Well, I'll walk you through why you must get yourself vuitton handbag - it's an investment of a lifetime.
Here we are going to find cheap vuitton handbags.

casinos accepting usa said...

You've a very nice blog. My friends referred it to me. Looks like everybody knows about, just me, until now. I'm going to read your other posts,too. Take care. Keep sharing.