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Most blogs only have one list you subscribe to. That list gets you not only any new blog posts that are published, but also any special emails or newsletters that are sent out. For the first few years of WCI, I didn't have an email list, just the RSS feed with the new blog posts. When I started creating an email list for the free monthly newsletter, I promised readers I would not spam them and thus far, I feel like I've kept my promise. Most months I only send out one email, and it is very unusual to get more than 2-3.
I am considering adding the RSS feed to the email list but I want your permission to do so because of that promise to not spam you. For those of you who are not subscribed to the RSS feed already, this would be an increase in emails from 1-3 a month to something more like 15. If you are subscribed to the RSS feed using your email address instead of an RSS reader, you will be getting two emails for every new post that goes up on the blog, one from the newsletter list (Mailchimp) and one from the RSS feed (Feedburner.) Obviously, that will be annoying the first time it happens, but you can just unsubscribe from RSS feed so you're only getting one (and can still get the newsletter and other announcements.) If you are not already signed up for the newsletter, you won't notice anything different. The last thing I want, however, is a bunch of people to unsubscribe from the newsletter list because they now feel spammed.
The main benefit of doing this is it is a lot less confusing for a new reader arriving at the website if they only have to sign up for one list. Plus, the email list is well over twice the size of the number of people reading via RSS. So the information will get to more people.
I would appreciate it if you would answer these two polls so I can get some direction. The first poll is whether you're okay with this.
[poll id="70"]
The second poll is asking about what you would like those emails to look like. There are three choices- just the title, the title and the very brief excerpt that shows up on the main WCI homepage, or the whole blog post like you usually get in an RSS email.
Title Only
Title and Excerpt
Entire Post
This screenshot was all I could show of this option, but the whole blog post would be in the email. If you prefer to read it in your browser, you can just click on the title and do that.
[poll id="71"]
Thanks for your valuable feedback!
I am considering adding the RSS feed to the email list but I want your permission to do so because of that promise to not spam you. For those of you who are not subscribed to the RSS feed already, this would be an increase in emails from 1-3 a month to something more like 15. If you are subscribed to the RSS feed using your email address instead of an RSS reader, you will be getting two emails for every new post that goes up on the blog, one from the newsletter list (Mailchimp) and one from the RSS feed (Feedburner.) Obviously, that will be annoying the first time it happens, but you can just unsubscribe from RSS feed so you're only getting one (and can still get the newsletter and other announcements.) If you are not already signed up for the newsletter, you won't notice anything different. The last thing I want, however, is a bunch of people to unsubscribe from the newsletter list because they now feel spammed.
The main benefit of doing this is it is a lot less confusing for a new reader arriving at the website if they only have to sign up for one list. Plus, the email list is well over twice the size of the number of people reading via RSS. So the information will get to more people.
I would appreciate it if you would answer these two polls so I can get some direction. The first poll is whether you're okay with this.
[poll id="70"]
The second poll is asking about what you would like those emails to look like. There are three choices- just the title, the title and the very brief excerpt that shows up on the main WCI homepage, or the whole blog post like you usually get in an RSS email.
Title Only
Title and Excerpt
Entire Post
This screenshot was all I could show of this option, but the whole blog post would be in the email. If you prefer to read it in your browser, you can just click on the title and do that.
[poll id="71"]
Thanks for your valuable feedback!
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