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The Long-Awaited(?) ShakespeareGeek Newsletter
So. Every article I read about having a successful web presence of any meaningful size always starts with, "Have a newsletter. Collect email addresses."
I've never done that. It is a glaring omission in my strategy. There's many reasons for that, but most end up in that vicious cycle of "Unless I specifically plan to sell you something, I can't incur the cost of paying for such a service."
Well, today after stumbling across a free (we'll see about that) option, I figure let's try an experiment. If you're interested in what a Shakespeare Geek newsletter might be all about, please come over to the blog and sign up. I don't really know what the newsletter will involve, I'll be honest. It'll depend on how many people sign up.
Over at the top of the left-hand column you should see a new "Follow Shakespeare Geek by Email" widget, where you can enter your email address (and then confirm by clicking on a welcome email). If for some reason that widget is not working or you don't see it, please click here to go directly to the subscribe page. Thanks!
I'm relying on you folks to let me know the demand for this feature. If I see a bunch of people sign up right off the bat, I'll know it's something you've been wanting. If I have to beg and kick and scream, well, everything will balance out - I won't go killing myself to deliver content via that channel. It's up to you.
5 comments:
I'm in! But where do we sign up?
kj
Give him tending;
He brings great news.
—Macbeth, Act I, scene 5
Over in the left hand nav, do you not see a new box that says "Follow ShakespeareGeek via email"? Right at the top? If you're not seeing it, something's very wrong.
You can, however, go directly here:
http://tinyletter.com/ShakespeareGeek
if I've made some sort of mistake.
Ah, that's better! A nice "Newsletter" link. Lovely.
kj
I already receive notices via e-mail by RSS feed. How would this be different? Also, one of the reason I do a work blog is to replace the work newsletter I used to have to do. What would be the purpose of this newsletter? What is the problem that this is the solution for?
Hi Gary,
For 6 years I've agreed with you - I'm an RSS guy, and have been for ages. But the thing is, 99% of the world isn't. We geeks (and I mean that in the computer, not Shakespeare, way) love RSS and hate email for a whole variety of reasons, but we're a very small minority compared to the world at large. Everybody that does this for a living, who does not focus on a highly targetted technical audience, will tell you that they get far more reach from their email signups than from their RSS efforts.
As for what's in the newsletter? I honestly don't know yet. There'll be overlap, of course. But I don't plan on churning out a newsletter every week, so attempting to say "Here's a month's worth of blog headlines" would be too stale. Off the top of my head I'm thinking it'll be maybe twice a month, highlight some of the more interesting posts (after they've had a chance to generate discussion so that we know which were popular), and try to add some original editorial content strictly for the email crowd.
Hope that helps. I completely understand if you want to stick with RSS via email. Nothing's changing about how the blog content gets delivered. The email is an entirely new beast, and it'll evolve into what users want it to be.
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