You can use a mailing list in many ways, even alongside an RSS feed. Some people think that because you have an RSS feed that a mailing list is not needed, but that is not true. They both have their advantages and both can be used together.

RSS Feeds Are Immediate
An RSS Feed gives immediate information to your readers. As soon as the bookmark updates, they can see if you have posted anything new. They are also in control of when they look for new posts. These feeds look far better than mailing lists, so why use both?

A Mailing List Gives More Control
Well with a mailing list, you are in control of what you send and when. If you have found a special offer or valuable piece of information then you can highlight it within the newsletter, but getting the readers to read that particular RSS Feed entry is down to your skills of writing a good, succinct, title.

The benefits of sending a weekly or monthly newsletter are great. You can send to your list a summary of recent posts, along with a few extra adverts that might not fit in with an RSS Feed. You can highlight the main post that you want to draw people in with at the top of the newsletter and other lesser posts further on.

The Hidden Extra Values
But a mailing list once it grows has a bigger appeal than just that. If you are hoping to profit from blogging it can also have a marketing value on top of what you might expect. I am not advocating selling the names under any circumstances, that could destroy the list and is unethical. But there are subtle ways to make cash.

If advertisers discover you have a list of people that like to read your blog then they might be interested in placing a small advert in the newsletter. Or maybe if they have an affiliate product on offer you can write a post about it, selling the advantages, and then include a mention of the product in your newsletter. Maybe even just send a newsletter about this one post to really highlight it. As long as you are only sending odd newsletters, every couple of weeks, this should not offend.

A Newsletter Is Easy
Running a newsletter is easy. Sign up to a free service and grab their signup form. Put this form onto somewhere obvious on every page and promote it. Maybe even one of those bars that scroll up above the rest of the page to really attract attention.

Reassure your readers that you will not spam them and will not sell their email addresses and make sure that they newsletters you send are of valuable and sell your blog and themselves. Make the newsletters something that your readers will want to receive.

This way, the mailing list will give you the opportunity to run an excellent newsletter that increases your website traffic and adds value to your website.

If you want to know more about blogging, call over to our website - http://www.howtostartmyblog.com. There you will find loads more help, and you can get yourself a free copy of our how to start a blog ebook.

Written by Keith Lunt