Take a look at the blogosphere and you will realize that many bloggers rely exclusively on RSS syndication to get in touch with their readers. While I do believe that RSS is a corner stone of online publishing, I also think that offering email subscriptions can be very beneficial for a blog, and here are the reasons:
1. Email subscriptions can increase the number of subscribers to your blog:
The blogs that offer email subscription usually have from 5% to 15% of their readers getting updates via email. This may not sound impressive for small blogs (if you have 100 RSS subscribers you will probably get only 5 or 10 more readers by offering email subscription), but it will certainly make a difference once your blog starts to grow.
2. Not everyone is familiar with RSS:
if you are already publishing your blog it is very likely that you find new technologies such as RSS trivial, but you must bear in mind that the vast majority of the population is not so tech-savvy. There are studies, in fact, confirming that only 3% of adults and 6% of teens use RSS readers. Email subscriptions come as a natural way to fill this gap.
3. Email subscription gives you an opportunity to interact with readers:
people getting your feed through RSS do not reveal anything about themselves (except what kind of reader they are using). Email subscribers, on the other hand, must leave a very valuable asset on your hand: their email! Now, while you should treat this information with privacy (i.e. affiliate offers and the like) there are certain situations where having emails from your regular readers can be useful. You could, for instance, send them a quick survey about what topics they would like to read about or what design they prefer for your blog.
Here is a list of Email subscription providers:
Feedburner
Feedblitz
Zookoda
1. Email subscriptions can increase the number of subscribers to your blog:
The blogs that offer email subscription usually have from 5% to 15% of their readers getting updates via email. This may not sound impressive for small blogs (if you have 100 RSS subscribers you will probably get only 5 or 10 more readers by offering email subscription), but it will certainly make a difference once your blog starts to grow.
2. Not everyone is familiar with RSS:
if you are already publishing your blog it is very likely that you find new technologies such as RSS trivial, but you must bear in mind that the vast majority of the population is not so tech-savvy. There are studies, in fact, confirming that only 3% of adults and 6% of teens use RSS readers. Email subscriptions come as a natural way to fill this gap.
3. Email subscription gives you an opportunity to interact with readers:
people getting your feed through RSS do not reveal anything about themselves (except what kind of reader they are using). Email subscribers, on the other hand, must leave a very valuable asset on your hand: their email! Now, while you should treat this information with privacy (i.e. affiliate offers and the like) there are certain situations where having emails from your regular readers can be useful. You could, for instance, send them a quick survey about what topics they would like to read about or what design they prefer for your blog.
Here is a list of Email subscription providers:
Feedburner
Feedblitz
Zookoda
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