POPULAR SERVICE CONNECTS BLOGS TO READERS
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The move leaves users of Blogger with no clear choice for how to continue to offer a subscribe option to readers, though many third-party solutions exist.
The "subscribe by email" gadget will also stop working that time.
Google has notified everyone who uses the subscription service of the impending change, so this report is really just for the record.
But if you currently subscribe to this or any blog, expect a few speed bumps related to the change.
The horse's mouth
A more detailed Q&A on the Blogger help pages explains,
From July 2021 onwards, your existing Feedburner feeds will continue to serve but the automated emails to your subscribers won’t be supported.
Google is encouraging users to download their subscription lists from Feedburner if they would like to recreate the subscription functionality with another, non Google, service.
Finally, a note in the help pages for Feedburner has a little more information about what will change in July, and what will not, for feedburner generally.
No changes are planned before July, and readers can sign up, and receive emails, until the end.
Google bought Feedburner in 2007, and introduced subscribe-by-email in 2011.
This is significant blow to Blogger blogs, and I will probably have some other things to say, but that's the news for now.
"This is significant blow to Blogger blogs, and I will probably have some other things to say, but that's the news for now."
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely a blow. I pretty much regard it as a signal that Google is abandoning Blogger. They'll let it function, but just limp along and that's it. It's on the way out and a person would be crazy to start a new blog on Blogger now. For those of us with existing blogs, we're being abandoned.
I've been looking for another gadget that can be uploaded to my blogs for the email subscriptions. If anyone has a clue on what will work, I'd like to know.
"The move leaves users of Blogger with no clear choice for how to continue to offer a subscribe option to readers, though many third-party solutions exist."
ReplyDeleteSo what are the third party options and how do we integrate them into our blogs? Help!
This is a shame (although I am looking forward to an improved Feedburner). I have around 900 subscribers so I've been shopping alternatives. Unless someone waves me off, I think I'm going with MailerLite. Very easy to whip up nice custom emails and, from what I can tell, it's free up to 1000 subscribers if you can live without their premium services (and I can). And you can plop their subscription form into your blog using the HTML gadget. Anyway, looking forward to other suggestions. There are a lot out there.
ReplyDeleteThank you, John. I'm also very interested to understand what's out there.
DeleteI think that different providers will be appropriate for different blogs, and that for some high-volume blogs the switch may actually be an improvement and worth paying for.
I'm glad somebody has a solution. So how do I add Mailer LIte to my blogger blog.
DeleteIt occurs to me that as I have over 1,000 subscribers on one of my blogs, I'd be in the paying category for MailerLite. That shouldn't bother me, but it does.
DeleteI'm really hoping that we'll see some other solutions posted here, or anywhere.
MailerLite doesn’t list Blogger among its “integrations.” Is that a problem?
ReplyDeleteI’ve been looking at follow.it. Does anyone have thoughts about this service?
A bigger question: It seems rude to me to take a reader’s e-mail address and give it to a service that the reader never signed up for. I’d be interested in hearing other people’s thoughts about that.
Not a problem as far as I can tell. I've placed the sign up on my blog using the HTML widget. Using the Feedburner RSS to generate the stories within my email. Very happy with the little newsletter I've worked up.
DeleteI'm asking people to resubscribe. I figure it's a way to clean house and make a fresh start (and keep under 1000). I'm changing from a Daily to a Weekly email anyway.
I'm testing Follow.it right now. At least it was easy to put it on the blog.
ReplyDeleteI am following this discussion, as you might imagine, with great interest.
ReplyDeleteIt looks as though the different options involve trade-offs: some are free but have ads, there are volume or frequency limits for free versions, some are less automated, etc.
May I ask those who have posted here, what is the great hurry? We have until July to make a decision.
Not a hurry for me. I just saw what I could do elsewhere and now this feature excites me. I've pretty much ignored the Feedburner email because I really couldn't do much with it. But now I'm having fun. :)
DeleteJohn yes, it is clear to me that some of the offerings are much more robust, and might be a positive change for high-volume blogs.
DeleteI'm testing Follow.it as well. Seems like a solid turn-key Feedburner substitute.
ReplyDeleteThoughts so far:
- uses feed directly from Blogger / Blogspot and not the Feedburner feed (which means I've lost the feed snippet feature created by Feedburner)
- free account emails are not configurable (much like Feedburner)
- unable to configure specific send time for the emails (appears to send approximately the time the user signs up for the email subscription)
- company has a whole page on GDPR compliance
- the free default emails sent out have the Follow.it physical mailing address on the footer
The emails that get sent from a service like MailerLite are much more customizable and can be made to look very professional. (John Cox has done a FANTASTIC job with his.)
There may be an option to do this on Follow.it with a paid account, but I don't know.
I'm not in a rush to move subscribers over. Using this time to learn more about options.
Michael Leddy: I have the same thought about feeding readers' emails into a new system. At the risk of losing some readers, I'm going to make them subscribe to the new service. (And if I'm feeling ambitious, I'll potentially send emails to the folks that haven't subscribed, encouraging them to.)
Here is what is happening, which is just another instance of Google's unfounded confidence in a new platform rather than sticking with what works until is replaced.
ReplyDeletehttps://blog.google/web-creators/
jusTodd, I don't think web creators is another platform. Rather it's a program that treats "web creators" (including bloggers) a bit like software developers. As a tribe to be wooed and assisted.
DeleteThe've published some Blogger tips recently, though we are not a big focus there.
Sorry. Poor choice of words. I should have said replacement solution.
DeleteI don't mean to quibble, but it is not that either. It might help some creatives; it does not replace anything as far as I can see.
DeleteI've tested https://blogtrottr.com/ which seems to be able to use the Feedburner RSS feed (unlike Follow.it). It doesn't appear to let you see who subscribed. The emails it sends are full of ads.
ReplyDeleteWe're in the final month of Feedburner email and we've made the decision to have subscribers migrate themselves to Follow.It
ReplyDeleteLaura from WMTC found this article which closely aligns with our research:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.jenryland.com/best-free-services-for-email-blog-subscriptions/
I've been using MailerLite for two 1/2 months now and continue to be very happy with it.
ReplyDeletehi! I am a new blogger and I was wondering how you got that follow button on the side bar. I would love to put one on my blog and I can't figure it out.
ReplyDeleteHi Grace! That button is actually a custom thing that I explain in this old post. It is just a lot smaller than the standard followers gadget.
DeleteNote that following is not the same thing as subscribe by email.
Seems feedburner is still working in 2022. Who else has noticed this?
ReplyDelete