I am a big advocate of offering email as a subscription option for RSS feeds. Not only does it give people another choice to consume RSS feeds, but this option has been far more popular among reader of my blogs than subscribing with RSS readers.
There are various ways to do this, but I’m going to share how it’s done via AWeber, since that’s the vendor I use.
In addition to the ability to collect emails for RSS feeds via AWeber, they also enable you to build email lists for newsletters, autoresponders, and more.
Anyhow, when you’re in AWeber, you can start an RSS opt-in list by going to “Blog Broadcast”. It’s an intuitive process where you setup the email subject, select a template (or design your own HTML), choose frequency, whether you want click tracking, etc.
I have a number of different RSS lists going, and some drop daily, while others go out weekly.
The default for the subject in your emails is the name of the RSS feed. Based on feedback I received (people thought I kept sending them the same emai), I changed the subject in the interface, so the email subject is always the title of the first blog post in the email.
I’ve seen my open rates increase since that change.
There is also an option to have your RSS email subjects syndicated to Twitter through an AWeber account.
The presentation is available to view or download at http://www.slideshare.net/affsum/rss-to-email.
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Hey Shawn!
Thanks for the great post and high quality video. You have covered a must-have tool.
RSS Feed is one of the most powerful and necessary elements of a blog or website with regularly-updated content. The advantage behind this amazing feature is to inform our readership about the newest published content which means getting fresh and targeted visitors who are waiting for our posts.
Combining RSS Feed by email would give a better exposure due to its flexibility and simplicity. As you mentioned, RSS by email is now more popular than other feed reader tools.
What you have done via your Autoresponder (AWeber) is a very smart idea. Now, you have collected a list of your readers whom you can contact anytime you wish. Remember that email marketing combined with blogging and affiliate marketing is a secret key to success for many super affiliates.
By the way, I really liked the tips about subject interface. It is quite impressive to have better open rates just by changing these little parameters.
Thank you again for sharing with us your tips about RSS Feed and doing it via AWeber.
Keep up the great work!
Hooshmand Moslemi
@Shawn Collins:
Yes! But it must be in private. It’s real cloak and dagger-type stuff
I will email you
@Ron Givens:
Ooh – any details you can share on upgrades?
Thanks for the tip on the subject line! I added AWeber on your recommendation a few months ago and have been loving the blog broadcast. It has definitely helped my traffic. I just went in and changed the subject line of my broadcast emails. We’ll see how that goes.
Great Video Shawn
This is by far one of the most popular functions within the AWeber customer accounts.
It is fairly easy to set up, extremely efficient, and is a great way to stay in touch with your subscribers with fresh and relevant information.
I am subscribed to your feed, by the way. I noticed that you have yours down to a science
Look for even more upgrades!
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