For the last week, I have been following a new tradition – whenever I subscribe to a site, I send off an email to the sites author letting him/her know that I have subscribed. The main benefit of doing this is networking. Also, you can send the link to your blog in that mail.
Last week, I subscribed to a few new blogs – and I send them an email notifying them that I subscribed – along with my link. Here is a list of those blogs…
This is the basic template of the email I send – feel free to modify it and use it if you want to do this as well…
Hi [Name],
I am Binny V A(http://blog.binnyva.com). I wrote this to let you know that I just subscribed to your site. I really enjoyed the [name of an article you really enjoyed] article.
Also, I have a blog in this field – http://lindesk.com/ – check it out.
Thanks – and keep up the good work.
—
Binny V A
http://binnyva.com/
Sometimes, I also ask them to consider switching to full feeds(if they are using partial feeds). Or if I find a bug in their site(like a broken link or something), I let them know in this mail.
In some cases I could not send these – because I can’t find the email of the admin. In such cases, I am thinking about leaving a comment to let them know – but I am not sure about it.
Advantages of Subscription Notification
- Networking
- You can contact someone else in the same field as you – this relation can later lead to backlinks, guest blogging opportunities, etc.
- A Possible New Reader
- You are sending your link to another blogger in the same field as you – chances are, he will subscribe to your blog as well.
- World Peace
- When someone sends you an email telling you how much they loved your blog and so on, you get a warm fuzzy feeling. The sender also gets a bit of this ‘WFF‘ by sending it.
- And More
- I have only started doing this for a week – I’ll find out its hidden advantages later on.
What do you think?
This is the part I want your help in – what do you think of the idea? Some points I would like your feedback on…
- Will these emails be considered spammy?
- How will you respond if you get an email like this? Will you think someone is pushing you their site – or will you be glad to put a face on one of your feedburner stats?
- Will you consider doing this?
Image Credit: oooh.oooh
Binny,
I like your idea and I’m going to adopt it, and suggest it on my blog! I know I would enjoy getting emails like that. It sounds very personable and you’re right, it’s a great way to network.
I like your idea, but some people may take it as spam.. Even if I got a mail like this I’ll simply ignore this thinking itz a spam.
It is really difficult to know that if a person writing to you is a spammer or is actually a genuine future reader etc.
I usually check out the person’s site before replying or not.
As long as the email is personable and doesn’t look templated (whether it is or not is a separate question), I don’t have a problem with that. I (when I actually blog semi-regularly) think it’s great to know who your readers are.
I’ve also considered putting together little “This blog is ace because…” posts, which I figure are better than a single link etc.
good move 🙂 it gives more change for a relationship to grow
keep us posted about your experience ..
Contacting people couldn’t hurt, but to be honest I probably wouldn’t do much with this email except peek at your website, and reply and say ‘thanks’.
But you never know, once in a while an email like this might be the start of a beautiful friendship 🙂
it is nice gesture to let people know about it…It will also be good if feedburner has a way of letting the site owner know all the subscribers.Not sure why they don’t do that.
@Jill
Thanks – I’m following the comments on your page as well. Why are you not using the ‘Subscribe To Comments’ plugin?
@Mayooresan
Thats what I’m worried about too. I think I’ll reduce the number of links in the email. Even if I have to reduce the links to zero, its worth it for the networking benafit.
@Ajay
Maybe if this tradition catches up, people will get used to getting mails like these.
@si,
> As long as the email is personable and doesn’t look templated
I agree – I try to change as much as possible text in the mail.
@dinu
> keep us posted about your experience
Will do.
@Jesse Skinner
True – but I think its still worth the effort.
As easier way would be to comment on the blog you are subscribed to. Like this one 🙂
That sounds great. I like to acknowledge new followers to my site, but sometimes miss looking at the followers section.
Also, I use Blogger, and cannot always subscribe through Blogger’s Dashboard, but can through Google Reader, so the blog may not show me as a subscriber.
Expect my email to you soon 🙂