As some of you may know I’ve become somewhat obsessed with email marketing and list building. I don’t just actively engage in list building, but I blog about it frequently, I’ve written an eBook about building an email list and I’m also halfway through recording episode 5 of the Magnet4Marketing Podcast, which talks about email marketing and list building.
But…
Whilst I strongly believe that building an email list is one of the key ingredients to successful blogging or doing business online, I also don’t overlook the importance of increasing RSS subscribers too, especially since I’ve noticed that quite a few bloggers are now using ‘email opt-in’ only through their email service provider and have ditched displaying their subscribe via RSS option.
Today I’m going to share 3 simple reasons why I think RSS still matters.
image courtesy of PhotoBucket user: emigasei67
Why RSS Still Matters…
1. it’s cost effective
Let’s face it; sending out a monthly email newsletter or email marketing campaign to your list isn’t exactly cheap, even at $15 per month that’s probably more than your average monthly web hosting bill.
Whilst email still has huge advantages over RSS, i.e. customization for design and content, scheduled sending etc, RSS is extremely cost effective, it’s totally free and that for me is the number one reason why RSS still matters. Not everyone is able to start building an email list straight away, you might want to start in your own time, that’s where offering RSS subscription option comes in.
People can subscribe to your RSS via email because they want to be able to access your content without having to visit your blog each time you update it, and it’s costing you nothing in return.
2. It takes care of itself
Creating an email marketing campaign or newsletter is time consuming. You’ve got to think about design and layout, what content to include, adding call to action, links blah, blah, blah…
With your RSS subscribers, you never have to use up valuable time dedicated to creating and sending your email updates. RSS is automated, you publish content on your blog and your subscriber’s gets a copy sent directly to their inbox, done and dusted, which brings me to reason number three…
3. Its 100% spam proof
With RSS your inbox delivery rate is 100%, which email marketing really can’t compete against. That means your email RSS subscribers will never miss anything you put out. It’s in their inbox for them to see, they don’t have to go and fish it out from their spam folder.
More over, people who subscribe to your RSS via email will never, ever have to worry about getting spammed themselves, not that you would do such a thing in any case.
So there you have it, 3 short and simple reasons, and a friendly reminder as to why RSS still matters. Not offering RSS on your blog? Get over to feedburner.com and get started… Once you’re done, you can subscribe to my email updates via RSS here.
Well convincing article. My thoughts are same RSS still matters a lot and there are people who prefer RSS over other things. And as you said the best thing about RSS is that we don’t need to lay our fingers on it, It’s completely automated and that’s quite relief, We can use our important time in taking care of some other works..
Anyways, As always you shared some good stuffs. Retweeted it.
Thanks Romy, yes RSS is hassle free which is a HUGE advantage over the time consuming efforts of email marketing. Once set up that’s pretty much it. Thanks for visiting buddy
I agree with you Fabrizio. I used to have Feedburner for my blog but I migrated to FeedBlitz due to its rumors of being closed down.
Yeah Naser I heard the same rumor too, though I don’t think anything has come of it yet, I know the last tweet that went out on feedburner’s twitter account was back on 21st September 2012 and then abandoned, the AdSense for feedburner blog was also left to rot so who knows, I guess it’s a matter of time. But it’s concerning. Out of interest, how do you migrate to FeedBlitz?
This guide should help you Fabrizio: http://www.feedblitz.com/the-feedburner-migration-guide/
Thanks a lot Naser, I’ll add it to my do do list to migrate mine too next week, don’t want to take any chances with Feedburner after looking into it
Any time Fabrizio
Very correct Fabrizio. I really like the last point you mentioned. RSS subscription is still very necessary
Hey Enstine thanks, I’m glad you agree with me mate
A serious blog will not just have an option for opting into conventional email but also RSS too. A few years ago everyone was displaying the big old orange square RSS icon, these days I don’t see many of them.