How not to Spam your Blog Subscribers
You must be thinking “after blasting me with 10 emails, why would I listen to him talk about not spamming your blog subscribers!?“. Well the reason is simple.. It was unintentional, and I found the mistake, and want to show you how to prevent it from happening to your subsribers!
It really was a simple mistake. You see I was using FeedBurner to send out emails when blog updates were made. I then switched to Aweber to use the Blog Broadcast. With Feedburner you simply set the time you wanted it to send, and presto it would send an email once a day with all the updates.
With Aweber it’s slightly more advanced! As you can see below there are more settings available!
If you want to have one email sent out per day with all the updates in one email then use the settings above. Select your time, select On a specific day or days of the month and choose Every Day. Then check the Send Automatically button.
If you want a seperate emails sent out daily with individual updates then you’d select When number of new items is at least and select 1.
If you want an email sent out right away whenever you update then again you’d select When number of new items is at least and select 1, but also change Send broadcast to Immediately.
With these 3 scenarios you should be able to figure out any other methods you’d want to use. But the final word of caution is before you change feed settings uncheck Send Automatically! The reason Aweber thought it had new emails to send was my fault. I changed a setting on FeedBurner which changed all the URLs in the feed. To Aweber, those new URLs meant new emails! If I had unchecked Send Automatically, changed the feed, and waited till Aweber found the new URLs to re-check it, I could have deleted the duplicates and not sent them out!
PS. If you don’t have Aweber yet, you can try it risk free for 30 days. I know you’ll see how awesome it is and realize it’s waay worth the money!
May 9th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Hi Tim,
I just Knew there had to be a logical explanation to that bunch of emails I got from you the other day, especially since they were duplicate of emails I had received previously!
Thanks for explaining in this many details what went wrong and how to prevent it.
I didn’t mind receiving your emails twice, they are always very helpful! :-)
Thanks!
Lucie
May 9th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Again another very helpful Tip from Tim.
Thank you my friend
May 9th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
it all makes sense now lol thanks for the post and the help in the interactive you gave today about this very issue
:)
May 9th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Hi Tim
I never mind emails with decent content, even if they are in duplicate,
thanks for the tip.
Zos lastest blog post..Traffic Exchange Fun - special congratulations
May 9th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Hi Tim,
You are not alone.
Lol, made the same mistake myself once. Makes me feel a little better that even the experts like yourself can make this mistake.
You are so right about Aweber, it is king. :)
Ray
May 9th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Hi Tim,
In my book you are definately forgiven! I get tons of e-mails in my server IP and your’s just stood out a bit more. Made it easier for me to see you and open you up! Thought it was something really really urgent!
I still enjoy reading them over my first cup of the day!
SilverRose
May 9th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Hi Tim,
Np! I had a blog repeat it self 45 times one day! It was nuts, I got way more then 10 emails! LOL!
Kenny
May 10th, 2008 at 5:04 am
Hi Tim,
I knew exactly what happened when I got all the emails. Happened to me right after I launched my blog which I really need to get updated with me sending 10 messages as well. My members have come to expect a oops email from me either with the newsletter or the blog a few times a month or more. I think they have finally figured out I’m just half idiot half the time and half human the other times. But when you have the greatest members a Traffic Exchange owner could ever want I’ve come to expect that they are all smarter then I.
Rich Morris
Traffic Heroes
May 13th, 2008 at 8:26 am
I noticed it too, but was sure that you didn’t do it on purpose.
besides most of your emails are content based, and if you
do have a link or recommendation they are usually on the
blog not in the email.
but i figured it was a technica mishap.
happens to the best.
= )