June 23, 2006

RSS, blogs or newsletters - which one for you?

In the beginning we published newsletters (I use Constant Contact, then we migrated to blogs (I use blogger.com), now we are really hip and use RSS feeds (I use FeedBurner)

Is one method of communication better than the other? No.

Newsletters are still important and should always be used, if you have a good newsletter your audience looks forward to seeing it.

I love Marketing Sherpa and Sales Autopsy.

Blogs are great when you want to update the content of your web site frequently and let others do it quickly and easily as well. It's also good for encouraging content writing and communication.

RSS feeds (or news feeds) are another tool that you can use to quickly get information to those who want it.

The Wall Street Journal interviewed Web-design guru, Jakob Nielsen, who has spent years advising companies about how to create attractive and easy-to-use Web sites.

He says, "The best newsletters really drive customer relationships. But they have to be very good, very targeted to a specific user's actual needs. And it's got to be very timely as well. For example, one newsletter is called 'Your Baby This Week,' and is targeted at new parents and, in particular, new mothers. It talks on a weekly basis of what you can expect for your new baby. That is something that is extremely relevant, so people really look forward to getting that particular newsletter. Unless a newsletter is very good, people will just say, 'Oh no, more information."

Read the full WSJ interview here.

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