Currently I am doing some intel work on Internet Marketing. In my last post I told about a nice free e-book on Internet Marketing. I hope some of you at least read it. I was thinking why many people consider Newsletter so great. How much good is it for blogging and how does it compare to simple RSS Feeds and Email Feeds.
I have no doubt that it is one of the best method for Internet marketing (MMO, Affiliate etc) but I was thinking how much it effect the blogging world. You will be amazed to hear my findings. Here are my conclusions on the three. Below I have divided my thoughts in two ways. One view is of the Publisher and other is of Reader. The target here is to get loyal leaders. We are not here trying to measure conversions (0f selling/affiliating). Below is are my findings.
RSS Web Feeds
From the eye of Publisher: Its automated. No need to worry except putting a RSS Icon in a visible area of the blog. To add some whistles like Subscribers counter merge it with FeedBurner. Bad thing about it is that RSS in not any more a hot item.Â
From the eye of Reader: Its cold item now. Readers want to see some nice email form for subscription. Those who subscribe mostly read it and do not visit the blog as they got what they wanted. Its not bugging so its OK to subscribe.
My Conclusions: People read it but they won’t visit your blog until they want to comment – which may be very rare. This can be overcome if you provide partial feeds – which is bad for reader and they do not like it. Finally it a good way to increase your readership but converting them to loyal readers will only depend on your future contents.
Email Feeds
From the eye of Publisher: Use FeedBurner and it is easy to setup. Daily updates get delivered to Inbox of the blog readers. People read their mails, so they surely will at least eye on it.
From the eye of Reader: Its OK. Email form for subscription attracts and make the blog look a little professional. If there are few updates then receiving them in In box is OK but more is disturbing.
My Conclusion: Frequency of visit to blog posts is more, even if readers do not comment as reading the blog post directly on blog will be easier for them. One more reason readers will visit the blog is because they are already online and opening a new tab is no pain. Most people who subscribe to Email feeds can already be considered Loyal Readers as they have shared their email with you and are most likely to give a visit on every update. If you update more then once daily them Email Feeds is not good. Reader will unsubscribe soon.
Newsletter
From the eye of Publisher: Little hard work and experience required. Can be manual as well as automatic. Powerful for marketing. Will surely convert. have option to send personalized messages. Its a hot item.
From the eye of Reader: A blog with Email Newsletter is best. One email a week is very nice. Not much of bother. But lets also subscribe to RSS Web Feeds too.
My Conclusion: Both readers and publisher love it. But for bloggers it has many disadvantages like the updates reach once in a week so readers might skip to visit some posts. They may even forget about the blog in a week and maybe even forget why they subscribed – this happen a lot. So only some percentage of Newsletter Subscribers can be considered Loyal Readers. One thing to remember daily email newsletter is even worst then Email Feeds. It will increase the number of unsubscription. But most people (experienced) who subscribe to Newsletter also subscribe to Web RSS.
Final Conclusion: As far as blogging is concerned none of them is better then other. Email Feeds seems to have some edge but if it too frequent it no good. So for blogging the best thing is to have all the three methods ready as different people have different tastes.
What do you think? Do you consider any of the method better then other? Which methods do you use?
NOTE: I do not want any comment telling me that you can earn money from Newsletter or this method help to increase you earning. We are here discussing about getting Loyal readers w.r.t blogging sense and do not pull in MMO here. Also I am considering Blogging as a form of Internet Marketing where the target is to increase quality readership.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I had a series of marketing newsletter that comes out every 3 days, and here’s why I had use newsletter on my blog, it will divide the readers away from passer-by.
First I put it 3 days, is because I want my readers to be able to accept my email often, if they can’t then they are not what I call as “players”
Second I want them to be marketing readers, I don’t want them to be just reader but marketing readers, because I believe marketers are “players”
With the two reason above, I’m able to get more targeted reader even if my list is small, because those small group of people are “players” which I’m targeting for when I’m offering them product which to say they are more likely to buy then just plain old reader.
.-= The Bad Blogger´s last blog ..The Amazing “Twitter Music Video†Sang By Justin Ezarik Who Is Most Probably The Top Most Beautiful Girl In Twitter ! =-.
From my point of view, it’s all about what the reader wants. All three of these options should be offered to readers. Good comparison though, newsletters might be the next new thing.
.-= Austin´s last blog ..Twitter Hyperlink Codes =-.
A very good comparison made!
I have got some tips from this and I hope I will implement it.
Just a request: If you are already trying to get information about Internet Marketing, It will be good to see some How-To articles regarding making Catchy Newsletters and Subscription Emails coming up soon.
Hiya, that’s a pretty nice theme you got there. Anyways, I just dropped by to let you know that I started a contest on my blog with prizes worth $1600+. I thought you might be interested and thought of letting you know. Keep up the good work and see you around!
Ya! I am doing some experiments slowly, so I will surely come up with few tips in future.
Newsletter is very hot now. People are crazy about it. As I said in the post when people see it on any blog they are attracted to it.
Thanks for the nice tip. 3 days frequency is good. I am thinking of doing so as well.