Here is the latest Blogs By Heather Q&A. Don't be shy about asking questions. I'd love to help and I know others will benefit from the solutions as well!
Discussion This Week:
FeedBurner vs. FeedBlitz
For this week's Q&A I would like to focus on a very popular discussion of Feeburner vs. FeedBlitz, especially surrounding update delivery scheduling.
How it all began...
For me, when I first started blogging, both professionally (this TypePad blog) and personally (my stamping, papercrafting blog on Blogger), I signed up for both Feedburner and FeedBlitz. At the time both were free. I created the FeedBlitz account first as a fellow demonstrator told me about it. When creating my TypePad blog, under the Widget Gallery they used to have, Feedburner was under the Subscriptions widget area so I used that one. They both pretty much do the same thing - keep your subscribers updated with your new posts!
QUESTION: Why don't my subscribers get notified of my new post right away?
However, many people have recently asked why they're subscribers didn't get their post until the next day. And the answer was that they were using FeedBurner, and FeedBurner presently only has one set delivery time. So if the delivery time is set between 7 am - 9 am and you posted at 5 pm in the evening on a Friday, it is after the set 7-9 am delivery time and therefore will be included in the next round of updates to go out (7-9 am the next day, on Saturday).
RESOLUTIONS
In FeedBurner
It depends on your posting pattern. I have been posting every other day and I normally schedule them to post at 8 am if I'm ahead of the game and scheduling. However, in FeedBurner, I have my delivery time set to between 7 - 9 pm just in case I want to write a post after dinner and still have it delivered that evening. I think this time slot, 7-9 pm would suit most bloggers who post once on any given day (every day, every other day, weekly, etc.).
However, if you are a blogger who posts several times a day, say three times, this option still works for you but in the delivery between 7-9 pm, all three posts would be included in the email that went out to your email subscribers.
In FeedBlitz
On the other hand, many bloggers prefer to have their email subscribers updated ASAP whenever they post. This is NOT an option with FeedBurner! However, FeedBlitz can "check for updates" every hour, every two hours, etc. You could choose a delivery option that best suits your personal blogging habits.
FeedBlitz, however, is no longer a free service and your monthly fee is based on your number of subscribers; the more subscribers you have, the more you pay! Click here for pricing.
FeedBlitz vs. FeedBurner Comparison
- Prompt corporate support and ongoing development;
- More consistent and reliable RSS stats tracking and updating;
- Greater email design flexibility (e.g. add your own sponsorships to the mailing);
- Multiple email scheduling options;
- Ability to send an email newsletter blast to your list without a blog or feed entry;
- Custom fields, personalization and segmentation;
- Autoresponder capability for drip marketing or simple incentive mailings;
- Extensive email reports for click, bounce, open tracking and more;
- Automatic subscriber management, including automatic dual opt-in reminders;
- Better email deliverability to major US internet service providers, such as AOL;
- Greater integration with social media.
Are you interesting in switching from FeedBurner to FeedBlitz?
I'm not recommending you to "jump ship" as I believe FeedBurner is great for most bloggers. But if you are a frequent blogger, professional blogger, and post several times a day, every day for example, FeedBlitz may be a better option for delivery and corresponding with your followers/subscribers.
Click here for the whole scoop - FeedBlitz vs. FeedBurner Comparison.
Click here to migrate Email Subscribers.
Click here to migrate RSS Feed Subscribers.
Click here to learn about the migrations process in its entirety.
FeedBurner Tutorials
Lastly, FeedBurner does have great abilities as well, such as Email Branding (adding your logo and color scheme to coordinate with your blog design) and socialization with Twitter. Most of all it's free.
Here is the bunch of tutorials I've written for FeedBurner. With the increased interest in FeedBlitz, I will begin writing those!
- Add FeedBurner as a Widget in your blog's sidebar.
- Looking up your FeedBurner Stats.
- Changing your blog's feed address!
- Changing your Delivery Time.
- Email Branding.
- New Blogger Widget - Follow By Email.
- Update your Twitter Account automatically with FeedBurner.
I hope this has helped answer your many questions on FeedBurner vs. FeedBlitz.
Happy blogging!
Heather Wright-Porto
www.BlogsByHeather.com
Like you, I'm using Feedburner on a Typepad blog. When my subscribers receive email updates of my new posts, the email shows a distorted view of my latest post - the paragraphs and photos are staggered in diagonally across the page. I don't want viewers to read my posts in that fashion! I tried to change the appearance with the Feedburner controls, but wasn't able to. It would be nice to just have the blog post headline and maybe one paragraph of the post appear in the email. Or customize the announcement with a note, like "Friends, check out my latest rock rant!" Is this possible? When I receive emails of your posts they do not appear to be distorted. Thank you.
Posted by: Dana Spiardi | January 31, 2012 at 09:25 PM
unfortunately everything I am finding on moving from FeedBlitz to Feedburner is a manual process. That you USED to be able to contact Feedburner and ask them to import an OPML file (export from FeedBlitz) but that option does NOT appear available anymore since bought by Google (Feedburner now owned by Google).
I just looked around in Feedburner myself and see no "import" options. Sorry,
Heather
Posted by: Heather Wright-Porto | January 15, 2012 at 01:53 PM
What's the best way to switch from feedblitz to feedburner? It looks like I'd have to depend on everyone to manual do it themselves.
Posted by: Niko | January 13, 2012 at 07:46 PM