It has been a long-pending wish of a few of my friends that they get content in their email instead of having to visit my blog every time. Some of them, for reasons their managements know best, do not have access to Blogspot though Facebook is open - which is a real confusing company policy, if you ask me. Aren't people more likely to get addicted to Facebook than blogs? Anyway, I like it when I get such requests - for one thing, it means they like to read what I write (how can they say otherwise, we share friendships that go back over 15 years), for another, it gives me something to explore and experiment and, of course, learn.
So owing to popular demand, as I always like to say, I prowled around the Web looking for the perfect answer to my friends' problems (I like to pretend that my friends spend sleepless nights because my writings are not delivered to their Inboxes like Seth Godin's are). After peeking into others' blogs and asking properly-phrased questions to the all-knowing Google, I found FeedBurner.
There, you can see the Feedburner widget on the right, just below the thumbnails, with the title "Subscribe via email." I don't know yet how it works, or whether it works at all, so I've subscribed myself to it and am eagerly waiting for the mails. You're also invited to try it and let me know!
If you have a blog, and haven't considered delivering your blog posts by email, it's time you did. Many of us blog-readers are too lazy to visit links of even our favourite bloggers, be it just one click away. Imagine the ease if we get them home-delivered. I only wish there was a home-delivery facility for cash from my ATM too.
There may be tools other than Feedburner (probably better ones) available, but the one advantage I saw was that you can use Google account to login to Feedburner because Google has acquired Feedburner or vice versa or something. I did not have to go through one more register-and-forget-password loop. Took me a while to get the feel of Feedburner, but with ample help from friends on Twitter, I finally got it running.
I think it is one of Newton's Laws (if not, then Murphy must be the one behind it) that after we comb the world for an answer, we'll find the easiest solution right beside us. So it was, after I installed the FeedBurner code I found that Blogspot does have an option to send Email notifications to 10 email IDs when a post is published. It would have solved my friends' requirement easily, but ... oh well, I guess it was in my Destiny to install Feedburner.
You're welcome to add your email ID and subscribe to this blog, I promise not to spam you more than... three or four times a week. Most assuredly not more than seven.
So owing to popular demand, as I always like to say, I prowled around the Web looking for the perfect answer to my friends' problems (I like to pretend that my friends spend sleepless nights because my writings are not delivered to their Inboxes like Seth Godin's are). After peeking into others' blogs and asking properly-phrased questions to the all-knowing Google, I found FeedBurner.
There, you can see the Feedburner widget on the right, just below the thumbnails, with the title "Subscribe via email." I don't know yet how it works, or whether it works at all, so I've subscribed myself to it and am eagerly waiting for the mails. You're also invited to try it and let me know!
If you have a blog, and haven't considered delivering your blog posts by email, it's time you did. Many of us blog-readers are too lazy to visit links of even our favourite bloggers, be it just one click away. Imagine the ease if we get them home-delivered. I only wish there was a home-delivery facility for cash from my ATM too.
There may be tools other than Feedburner (probably better ones) available, but the one advantage I saw was that you can use Google account to login to Feedburner because Google has acquired Feedburner or vice versa or something. I did not have to go through one more register-and-forget-password loop. Took me a while to get the feel of Feedburner, but with ample help from friends on Twitter, I finally got it running.
I think it is one of Newton's Laws (if not, then Murphy must be the one behind it) that after we comb the world for an answer, we'll find the easiest solution right beside us. So it was, after I installed the FeedBurner code I found that Blogspot does have an option to send Email notifications to 10 email IDs when a post is published. It would have solved my friends' requirement easily, but ... oh well, I guess it was in my Destiny to install Feedburner.
You're welcome to add your email ID and subscribe to this blog, I promise not to spam you more than... three or four times a week. Most assuredly not more than seven.
Dear Jeena,
ReplyDeleteVery informative one! But, what is the mechanism or software to kick off the writer's block??
Keep writing !
Best Regards,
Renjith
You answered it yourself, Renjith. "Keep writing." There is no other solution.
ReplyDeleteK.e.e.p W.r.i.t.i.n.g.
Push is always a better solution than pull - and a website that "pushes" new content to folks who are interested in what it has to offer is infinitely better than one that stays passively silent, waiting for folks to drop in.
ReplyDeleteI'd be nowhere without the push-based feeds that fill my BlackBerry with news that my favorite sites have fresh content. Great idea to set it up, and a great idea to let everyone know what it is and how it works.