I’ve mentioned before in a previous post that email marketing is the number one blog monetization method for your blog. I believe every blog should have a web form that allows you to sign up for their newsletter or content that you want your subscribers to receive. But what about RSS? Should we totally neglect RSS? If we choose to have someone to subscribe to our feed why do it? Why not just resort to sending emails?
RSS feeds, in simple terms are written in XML, which is a unique language quite similar to HTML. XML allows news reader or RSS reading software like FeedDemon display headlines, links or virtually any other portion of information from an RSS data feed. So when you subscribe to my feed, you will see content generated in FeedBurner or FeedDemon according to what is written on my blog posts.
But why provide the option to subscribe to my RSS feed?
1. You get content straightaway. You don’t have to visit my blog (although I would prefer that) to see what’s newly published. You will definitely receive newly updated content and there is 100% deliverability.
2. It’s automatic. Once you open up FeedDemon (which is my preferred RSS news reader), new content will be updated straightaway and you’ll see it.
3. You don’t have to sign up for anything. As much as I hate the way it sounds, this provides the user the flexibility to receive content from my blog. I don’t have to pester you to sign up to my ebook or newsletter. You can choose to totally unsubscribe from my feed (NOOooo..) at any time.
4. I won’t clog your inbox. Now I know you guys are receiving a gazillion emails from blogger A, affiliate marketer Y, membership site B etc. You can read RSS feeds from FeedDemon itself.
I hear a but… yes a but is coming…
What is RSS Lacking?
Personalization
What you see on my RSS Feed is just blog content. Any updated post will be posted as content and that’s all you’ll see. Emails give you the added advantage of being more personal. I can address you by your name. I can tailor my content to your needs. I can make you feel more appreciated and emails give me the chance to build trust and confidence with my readers. RSS feeds are just plain content and that’s it.
Affiliate Marketing / Sales
If you are thinking of closing a sale on RSS, I think it’s quite frankly impossible. E-mails give you the chance to explain about a new product or service you are offering to your subscribers. It also gives you the chance to bring product promotion beyond your blog. Emails are where you can further promote a product providing that you know the right techniques and avoid sounding too pushy. It’s much easier to close a sale through emails while retaining customer’s information.
Engagement
If you noticed, RSS feeds only allow one way communication. Emails allow communication in both directions. Although it’s not often I get people emailing me back, you don’t get the chance to constantly email or send newsletters to your subscribers on RSS feeds. Emails allow you to keep in constant contact with your readers and letting them know that you are there to help them People are more likely to stay as loyal readers through emails as they get to know who you are and why you are there sending them emails every so often.
Frequency
You as a webmaster or a blogger can control the number of emails you wish to send to your readers. Unlike RSS feeds, you receive news or content once (and only ONCE). Frequency helps build relationship and close in sales through emails. Do you think you would buy from me on the FIRST instance if I were to send you ONE email on a product? I don’t think so…
So should you have both RSS and Email based subscription for your readers? DEFINITELY.
I’ll be releasing an ebook related to this subject soon. It is still in its early stage. So stay tune!
RSS Feed and Why
If you haven’t had a good read or decide to skip most of what is written up there, I’ve produced a video for you to have a look on RSS feeds
Enjoy!
More RSS Articles
- About the Feed Demon RSS Reader
- Find the RSS Subscriber Count with Google Reader
- What You’ve Missed In Signal: Incl. RSS Feed for all you RSS Readers Out There
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Twitter: megabizflakes
December 9, 2010 at 11:40 pm
Awesome post Bryan, Having both Rss feed and Email subscription is the best, it helps in so many ways. Can’t wait to get your ebook, I’m sure it will make a hit. Thanks a lot for sharing. Have fun.
samuel recently posted..Growing Your Business- Are You Reachable
Sam,
Thx for stopping by here again! Yeah I think every blog should have both just because RSS (which comes with most blogs) is deficient in one of those mentioned areas. I will let you know once the ebook is released. Thx!
Twitter: danalingga
December 10, 2010 at 3:12 am
You have the point here. I also think that we should have both since RSS and Email Marketing have their own function which complete each others.
Dana recently posted..Motorola XT520 Quench Cell Phone
Hi Dana,
That’s right I think RSS and email marketing should be part of anyone’s blog for the various reasons I’ve mentioned there. Thx for stopping by again!
Twitter: alexanderthegry
December 10, 2010 at 4:56 am
I use feedly as my favorite rss reader and it has an option where you can expand the post and read it in the directly in the reader, and it can contain affiliate links(which could help you land a sales if you have affiliate links in your post).
But email will always be something more personal and can help you establish a more intimate connection with your subscribers.
Alex@Jocuri recently posted..Masini Ford
Hi Alex,
I’ve not checked out Feedly yet but I heard the new version of FeedDemon is removing quite essential features away from the version i’m using now. Might decide to have a look at Feedly later on.
Twitter: lavenderuses
December 10, 2010 at 10:31 pm
Hi Bryan
I have RSS feed option for my readers. What I would like to ask you cos I don’t really understand how it all works (techie set mine up for me) is should a person who is subscribed get the published post straight away or is it delayed?
I’m asking cos I have subscribed through RSS on other sites and it hasn’t come till the next day! That’s why I prefer to scan Twitter to see what posts are being published each day. Rather than be a day late. Have stopped subscribing to other people’s feeds for that reason and if they are blogs that I regularly visit I follow on Twitter and find that I get the tweet soon as the publish button is pressed.
Patricia Perth Australia
Patricia@lavenderuses recently posted..Are You a Tweetheart-Commenter…or both!
Hi Patricia
Hmm, Usually RSS feeds come straightaway. I’ve never actually encountered delayed RSS feeds. One of the reasons I can think of is that the owner of the blog must have had some delayed RSS system put in place. They might not wanna overload their readers with too many RSS feeds. You know a lot of blogs get updated quite often, so by delaying the feeds, they might get better readership. Personally I won’t delay it. Cos I want my readers to see it immediately. Another reason I can think of is that they could be a cache system in place. An RSS feed might have already been sent off but they could be a queue to “release” those feeds. Not actually seen that happen to mine either.
You’re right Twitter is really good at instant notification. No doubt about that, but then again, people can schedule their tweets too. Saw your article on Twitter too. Great job!
Thx for stopping by
To be honest, I think RSS is practical when you are marketing to quite a technically savvy market. Even thought it is means to be “Real Simple” it is actually quite cumbersome for regular people.
In fact most people don’t even know what it is!
Nevertheless, it still has it’s place.
Adwords Mogul recently posted..Good Old Google Adwords Catches “Evil Clicks” and Brings You Results…
Hi there,
Yeah you’re right. I do notice that even though it’s “Really Simple..” it’s not exactly straightforward to use. I think most people won’t even bother subscribing to an RSS feed unless they know why they should or how it works. I’ll probably have a post on this in future but yeah you do have a point there.
Thx for swinging by though!
Twitter: stevescott1
December 12, 2010 at 2:13 am
Great points Bryan.
I am all about email marketing. Obviously if you could choose getting people to follow your email is Better. I try to offer some unique information in email so that getting both is not just getting the same info 2 times.
But RSS is a lot more convenient for the users. Many people may not want to be on an email list. Or at least not until they have more trust and faith in you, which is understandable.
Regardless both should be offered and both should be easy to find and sign up for!
Steve@Lifestyle Design recently posted..Creating an Elevator Pitch for Your Online Business
Hi Steve,
RSS is definitely more convenient for users. It’s easy to use and yup most people prefer not to be pushed to sign up unless they really see the value in doing that. I hope you’re subscribed to one of them though
Glad to see you here again
Twitter: deutschedweb
December 13, 2010 at 7:53 am
Great post Bryan!
You’ve really convinced me to start my own RSS feed. I was always discouraged to do so, cause many people argue that nobody uses RSS feeds anymore, however, you seem to have many valid points. Definitely creating one today!
Amr Boghdady @ Learn German Online for Free recently posted..Das Wort des Tages
Hey Amr,
I’m glad I manage to convince you!
I think every blog must have an RSS feed because otherwise no one will know easily if you’ve updated content there unless I visit your blog. Not many people would wanna know do that if they have a 101 more blogs to visit. If you ask me to choose between RSS and email marketing, I would choose to omit an opt in email box rather than RSS. RSS feed subscriptions is a must and I think that won’t change for now
Thx for your comment!
Hey, nice and a very good piece of share. I like the way this has been crafted. Keep up the great work. Retweeted
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