A little over a week ago, I visited Feedburner to check on my blog subscription stats. I don’t do this too often, and I was a bit surprised to see my number at zero.
Now I know I’m not a blogging superstar (except for in my head), but I was pretty sure that I had at least a few subscribers. I mean, I see that you visit and many of you actually do comment. You all just didn’t get together and leave me, did you?
Alas, after some quick Googling and searching on Twitter, I realized that I was not alone. Everyone’s stats were at zero. I posted something on my Facebook page about it, downloaded a list of my email subscribers while I could, and started to look for other options.
I’ve been hearing rumors over the interwebs that Feedburner is all but done. There is no support behind it, their blog was shut down in July, and their API is being deprecated. When I was having trouble with my email subscriptions last May, the only person who could help me was a geek in Ireland who responded to my questions via LinkedIn. While I was waiting for an airplane to take me to Las Vegas.
What does this all mean? It means I made some changes. And, hopefully, they are for the better.
I changed my RSS feed manager from Feedburner to Feedblitz. While there is a small fee for Feedblitz, there are actually people behind it, and they have way more features than Feedburner. Check them out if you are looking for an alternative to Feedburner. The transfer was pretty easy, and they have a handy guide to follow.
If you want to read this blog via an RSS reader, please subscribe to http://anotherjennifer.com/?feed=rss2. You may need to update the feed in your reader if you have always subscribed this way.
As for email subscriptions, I am now offering two easy ways to subscribe to another jennifer. Options are good, and I want to give you a couple. I decided to use AWeber to help me manage all my email subscriptions. This past week, I’ve found that they have some incredible customer service. So, I recommend AWeber highly if you are looking for a good email marketing company.
You can get an email with every post that is published, on the morning it is published. Or, you can subscribe to my new monthly newsletter, where I will feature a quick writing tip, an easy way to give, and the best of the blog from the previous month.
Note: If you are already subscribed to this blog via email, you should have received an email asking you to opt in to the new email subscription service from AWeber. All you need to do is click on the confirmation link, and you’ll be switched to the new email service. While I will keep Feedburner going for a while, I do intend on deactivating it eventually. So, if you are reading this in the usual Feedburner email, I hope you will switch over.
Of course, you can also just sign up for email updates via the handy dandy new subscription widget on the left sidebar of the blog. It’s big and purple. You can’t miss it.
That about covers it. Any questions? Ask me in the comments section or email me directly.
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