Whenever I come across a blog that DOESN’T have a “Subscribe via Email” option for following, I’m floored. Why don’t they? They’re cutting off a huge chunk of would-be followers!
If someone doesn’t have their RSS feed link in their sidebar or a Bloglovin’ link or a Feedly link, that can be annoying but it’s ultimately not a problem. You can just manually put their blog URL into Feedly and follow that way. Or, you can figure out what platform they’re on and get their RSS feed that way because the URLs are always the same:
- Blogger: http://YOURBLOG.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss
- WordPress: http://YOURWEBSITE.com/feed
So my point is: If the RSS/Bloglovin/Feedly links aren’t included, it doesn’t stop you from following the person that way because you can find or add them yourself.
But, if the blogger doesn’t have a subscribe via email option (set up via Feedburner, Mailchimp, or another method) then there’s nothing you can really do about it to get email notifications. And if email is the main method you use for subscribing to a blog and they don’t offer it, well you basically can’t follow the blog.
Sadly, this is the problem I’ve run into a few times now.
I always sit there and wonder: why don’t they have this option in their sidebar? Feedburner may suck a bit, but it’s completely free and not much effort to set up. By adding an option to subscribe via email, you open up the door to potentially hundreds of new followers! Don’t push them away. 🙂
I do have a e-mail subscribtion thingy from Mailchimp. 🙂 Have around 50 subscribers on it! And I follow you by mail. 🙂
Awesome! 😀
I do, but no one subscribes to my blog via email. D:
Hi Priscilla 🙂 I cannot find a way to subscribe to your blog by e-mail, only Twitter, FB, RSS, Goodreads, Instagram and Google +. Maybe it’s because of my browser?
I have the e-mail subscription both with feedburner, and using the WP jetpack one. I haven’t been able to figure out how mailchimp works – and I really want to do that so I can format my e-mails the way I want to.
Oh hi! Mine’s at the bottom right corner — the ‘follow’ tab. 😀
OK, found it! But maybe the fact that it’s not so easy to see it is why you don’t have any e-mail followers yet? 🙂 Thanks for pointing it out to me!
Ohh yeah that’s kind of hard to find. Usually I assume the form is going to be wherever the social media icons are.
I never thought of that. I guess I should do something about it! Thanks, lovelies! 🙂
I do have email subscription via Feedburner and over 150 subscribers on it. I recently switched to follow my favorite blogs via email since sometimes I don’t have time to read whole rss feed. I was annoyed that some of them did not have this option.
Did I come across a blog that does not have this option? Yes! Stares at Christina from http://readeroffictions.com and Jamie from http://www.perpetualpageturner.com.
Luckily those two people do have Feedburner’s subscribe by email enabled so you can subscribe that way.
Perpetual Page Turner: http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/CVAGi (Click “Get The Perpetual Page-Turner delivered by email”)
A Reader of Fictions: http://feeds.feedburner.com/readeroffictions (Click “Get A Reader of Fictions delivered by email”)
But it goes to show how important it is to have the signup form directly on the site! Most people won’t think to click on an RSS icon to subscribe via email.
Thank you Ashley, I completely forgot to check Feedburner’s page for email subscription option.
As you said, it’s much easier/handier subscribing directly from website. For me, email subscription form is a must have for a website.
I don’t! I only follow 3 blogs by email and these are ones I never want to miss. All others I follow via bloglovin.
I have thought about offering email as an option but it’s not a priority for me. If someone wants to follow, I have all the other options.
I think the problem is not everyone will follow via another method. For example, I only follow blogs via email. I could subscribe via RSS, but I never check it. So even if I follow that way I’m not really getting updates, you know?
I do have one that links to WordPress. I used to follow by email, but I prefer managing who I follow in Bloglovin’. I have more email followers than any other type though! R x
Yeah I have a lot of email subscribers too. I’d hate to think of losing any one of them!