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!
I do, because there are some blogs that I love following by email because I want to know what is going on with their blogs because they are my favorites. So I want to provide that same way of following in case someone might think I’m a favorite and want to follow that same way. 🙂
Likewise!!
I actually had to check if I did or not, but I do lol I just couldn’t remember. It’s one of the basic widgets that WordPress offers thankfully. I’ve seen a few blogs that don’t have it, and although I subscribe via Bloglovin I think it should always be an option.
I definitely do. It annoys me to no end when a blog doesn’t have an email subscription option. BUT I was just informed on twitter that there is something you can do about it! I was just told about blogtrottr.com where you can enter their RSS feed link and your email, and you get their feeds by email. It takes a little more work than a subscription box, but at least it is something.
Thanks for the link! That’s a great option and I think I’ll give it a try!
I just recently added the subscribe by email option. And I even have the number of “subscribers” underneath where they sign up… but my # of subscribers is always up and down (mostly down). So to me, it seems like people don’t use the email subscriber option often… or if they do, they unsubscribe. I don’t know what’s up with that :p
It is natural for the numbers to go up and down—mine do too. But I think it’s worth having even if only a few people use it. Those people may not want to follow any other way and I’d rather not lose/alienate any of them!
(But maybe I’m biased because I tend to only follow via email. 😛 )
I’ve actually found a few blogs that have NO following options at all-kind of odd lol.
I have two following options on my blog-bloglovin and then email subscription through feedburner. I only have 9 followers through the email option, but it’s still nice to offer an alternative to bloglovin 🙂
Yeah I always thought an email subscription option was a standard, so it always surprises me when someone doesn’t have it!
This is great! I’m so glad you brought up this topic. I ONLY read blogs that I subscribe to via email, so it’s so disappointing to run across a cool blog that doesn’t have that option. I’ve actually thought about emailing them and asking if they can add it. And yes, my subscribe via email option is at the top of my follow options.
Same! I do have some blogs on Feedly but I don’t check it very often. When I want regular updates from a blog I always subscribe via email.
Thankfully I do have a subscribe via email option on the blog 🙂
I’m mostly a Bloglovin follower though but I know that everyone has their own preference for how they follow blogs so I try to have several different options. Although, I’ve came across blogs before that I was interested in following and couldn’t find ANY way to follow, that annoyed me that I had to actually search for a follow button so I just said screw it and closed out.
Yeah if people have to spend too much time searching for what they want, they’re going to give up (I do that too!). The best way to not alienate your readers/followers is to make everything as clear and easy to find as possible!!
Thanks for the input Ashley. I never thought about having an email subscriber option. I currently do not have subscribing by email as an option on my blog. I will have to work on getting that set up.
I took mine off. I had feedburner and I kept losing my subscribers. The first time I hot 700 email subscribers, I lost them all and had to start over. Brought it again to almost 900 and lost them all again. I think now I have 464 and I noticed that the number never changed. I deleted it when I tried Jetpack (which sucks) and I just never added the option again.
I hate following blogs by email. It drives me crazy to have too many emails and I already get enough as it is. I use blogloving or a feed. Most of my blogger friends use those options too.
If I want to follow a blog. I’ll find a way. Some don’t have blogloving but I bookmark them to my desktop and check that way 🙂
It is important to consider that Feedburner’s numbering system isn’t accurate whatsoever. Even if it says you have 10 subscribers, you could actually have 30 people getting your emails (as an example). Their numbering system isn’t to be trusted!
Figures, is anything Google related accurate???
I took it off because I was gonna use Jetpack instead then I just forgot about it until this post. I’ll probably add it back sometime 🙂
Well, to be fair, Google actually bought Feedburner—they didn’t create it. I don’t think they did much work to it, they mostly just left it as-is.
I used to follow blogs through my email, but I found out it doesn’t work for me. I do keep the option on my blog and I switched from Feedburner to Feedpress, because Feedburner kept messing with my subscribers.
Yeah everyone has something different that works for them. 🙂
Feedburner’s numbering system is definitely wonky.
Yes! And I definitely think that email followers are the best – the blogs I follow via email (which includes yours!) are the ones I interact with the most because I always get updates from them. Next is Bloglovin’ – I check my Bloglovin’ feed relatively often, but I definitely don’t go through ALL of the posts in my feed. Now my challenge is to get more email followers. I have over 2000 Bloglovin’ followers, but only a couple hundred email followers. I’ve been wanting to improve that number.
Thanks Nicole! I definitely think email subscribers are some of the most loyal and frequent visitors. 🙂 A lot of people seem to love Bloglovin’!
The only way I subscribe to anything is through email, so when that’s not an option, I feel like, “Welp – you lost my vote!” Once, I saw that very thing on a site I really wanted to follow, so I emailed them mentioning it and they added the feature.
To me, it seems like it’d be the FIRST option to allow subscribers via email!
I didn’t have one for a long time because I don’t follow anyone by email and didn’t understand why anyone would want to. I eventually added one because I ran across some blogs I wanted to follow that didn’t use Bloglovin. I have tried RSS and can’t be bothered with it. I don’t want any more email than I already get. So I didn’t follow them. Then I got it: options are good. There are a lot of food blogs I would follow more closely if they offered Bloglovin following. Instead, I have to bookmark them and I check them when I remember, which might be once every couple of months instead of daily when I’m on Bloglovin.
But I can’t say it’s been a huge success on my blog. I have held steady at 8 subscribers (and one of them is me) for months.
You’re right—options are good. 🙂 Everyone has a different method that they use to follow blogs.
I don’t have one… but I’m gonna get one now. I didn’t realize how important it was because I have links for bloglovin’ and rss etc, but after reading this I see it’s quite important for people who isn’t linked to bloglovin’ etc.
That’s why I love your posts so much. I learn something new just about on a daily basis.
I’m glad this was helpful to you! 😀
Feedburner sucks!!! I had to move to mailchimp which is waaaay better. Feedburner sent my followers a bunch of codes I can’t decipher. UGH. it happened like 3 times already…*sigh*
Some blogs don’t have the subscribe option? That’s weird…it’s very convenient for both the blogger and reader.
Yeah MailChimp is a lot better. It’s not free after a certain point though, so I understand why not everyone wants to use it.
Honestly, I have never come across a blog I wanted to follow that didn’t have an email follow option. Not yet anyways. I use to prefer email, but now I only follow like 3 blogs through email. Mostly I use Bloglovin.
I think I still have a grudge against Bloglovin’ from when my blog didn’t update on their site for like 2-3 weeks >:(
I definitely have one and think it’s important to give people as many options as possible so they can follow via their preferred method. Personally I hate following via email…it’s just too much in my inbox and too annoying to have to click so many times to open and delete emails. I prefer feedly.
Yes, I do! And I’m surprised at how many people have actually chosen to subscribe via email. I don’t usually subscribe via email since all my emails come to my phone. I generally use Bloglovin’, which works just fine for me. I don’t think I’ve ever come across a blog that hasn’t had Bloglovin’ or email though, I must say.
Great post 🙂
Tori @ Bookish Affairs
This is a big thing for me because this is pretty much exclusively how I follow blogs. I see tweets that interest me, or links from other bloggers, or even comment luv, but to really follow a blog, I need there to be an email subscription. When I’ve found a blog I really like and they don’t have an email subscription option I actually ask them where it is – thinking maybe I’ve missed it or prodding them to get one. In at least two instances they added it just for me 🙂 I think it’s something people just don’t realize they don’t have… I guess?
I have heard about your blog from others, usually in terms of blog design, so I’m glad to visit here! I just signed up to subscribe via e-mail. I have all of those options in my sidebar, and I learned early on that it’s important for them to be visible. So they are the first things you see!
Thanks for the great post. Here’s MY WEEKLY SUNDAY/MONDAY UPDATES POST
I don’t follow via email myself, but have had a follow via email option since the birth of my blog. I actually have a lot of followers that way too! Especially some of the older generation that don’t like or know how to use Feedly or Bloglovin. It takes no effort at all, so I’m all for it 🙂
Hmmm…guess I’ll add an email sub link…don’t really want to, but you make a valid point and I guess I should do it. lol I don’t subscribe to anyone by email, because most times you cant read it all and have to link up to it anyways, and so then I end up deleting the emails and not go back later and read all the posts.
I think it’s important to realize that everyone has different preferences. 🙂 Some people hate subscribing by email, but for other people that’s their primary method of following. For me, if someone I want to follow doesn’t have an email option then I just can’t follow them.
I’m so surprised when people just leave the subscribe via email to Feedburner or WordPress, where that service owns the list instead of you. As you can tell from the commentluv link and the other articles it links to, I’m all about owning your assets. By using a Mailchimp account or another email marketing service, you have so much more control over the emails, and you can do more for your subscribers that way. In fact, I just bought a few books that I’m giving away in a subscribers-only raffle.
Well if you’re using MailChimp you don’t technically own the list either since it’s hosted on MailChimp. 😉
But yeah, I’m all about owning your assets too. I coded my own email subscription plugin so I handle the lists and templates all on my own! I love that I don’t have to worry about a third party site shutting down since it’s all on me.