So no matter what happens with the third-party reader, you’ll still get your content. You don’t risk losing it on a whim or having to migrate to another platform. That’s why — if you love Copyblogger — you should subscribe via email. And this is why you should go right now and subscribe via email to your other trusted and high-priority daily reads. Email will never go away. Neither will email subscriptions. Unless you want them to. Control is a wonderful thing. And yes, I’m someone who has always gotten my daily Copyblogger fix via Google Reader, so I’m eating my own dog food here. Or … offer RSS alternatives But this isn’t about giving people the hard sell on email.
As I learned while interacting on philippines photo editor Twitter last night, some people have zero interest in becoming an email subscriber. Great! You have a tremendous opportunity to positively impact these folks as well. Do so by providing them with the solutions they want, not just the solutions you’d ideally have them adopt. out there for people who want to continue using RSS. First, let your audience know about Google Takeout. It will be their RSS migration friend over the next three months. Then, show them a number of possible RSS options they can choose from.
Feedly was the most oft-cited alternative I saw being tweeted, and they have Google Reader migration instructions posted already. You can also point folks to useful resources like Marketing Land’s post on 12 Alternatives to Google Reader. Provide value in a time of need What’s important here, as always, is to listen to your audience and offer the solutions that they want. A wise man once said — yesterday, in fact — “choose your customers first.” You can’t go wrong listening to your customers’ or readers’ wants and needs, then fulfilling them. Right now, those of your readers who relied on Google Reader are faced with two immediate needs: A trusted way to control consumption of their favorite content in perpetuity. An alternative for RSS.