Turn Your Email Newsletter Into An RSS Feed In 3 Steps Or Less

I should have titled this post '...3 Easy Steps Or Less'. In a moment you'll see why.

Let me begin by first sharing with you the inspiration for today's post.

Several days ago I wrote a post entitled RSS Vs. Direct-To-Desktop Publishing - It's No Contest!

In the post I gave a big thumbs-up to RSS as opposed to some direct-to-desktop publishing systems hitting the market. Read the post to find out why.

In an opposing viewpoint (which is always welcome), a fellow left a comment on the post about how he felt his direct-to-desktop system was great due to the fact that publishers could integrate their existing email newsletter into the system, and they wouldn't have to learn anything complicated and new such as XML (RSS).

I maintain my stance that RSS is superior, and in my reply to his comment, I outlined some reasons why.

His post got me thinking, however, about how you can bring your email newsletter into the RSS-age. In other words, if you offer an email newsletter now, and you would like to also offer an RSS feed of that newsletter in the simplest way possible, then pay attention.

Let me first state that creating an RSS feed/RSS content is not difficult at all, and what I'm about to show you is a prime example of the versatility of RSS, and why I think you need to invest yourself in learning and embracing what I call the next generation of the Web.

First, in order to make this work, you need an email newsletter, so I'm going to assume you do.

Here's what you do:

1. Head over to NewslettersByRSS.com.
2. Sign up for your free account to the service. When you do this, they'll provide you with two things: a special email address and a URL to your very own RSS feed.
3. Add the email address they provide you to your subscription list, and begin promoting the RSS feed they gave you (it's just a URL/link you can display on your Web pages, email signature, or anywhere else you want)

Now, whenever you send a newsletter out to your subscribers, a copy gets sent to the email that NewslettersByRSS provided you. When they receive it, they automatically update the RSS feed they provided you so that it contains the content of your newest newsletter. Anyone subscribed to your feed sees your newsletter content.

Is that great or what? And it's simple, simple, simple, don't you think? And, it works with virtually any email newsletter system you may be using now.

As the title of this post suggests, there is an even easier way of offering an RSS feed version of your email newsletter, but it only works of you use either Aweber, or GetResponse for managing your email newsletters.

Both of these services automatically generate an RSS feed from any list you have with them. All you need is the list name.

The RSS feed URL for an Aweber list is simply:

http://www.aweber.com/z/rss/?listname  (replace 'listname' with the actual name of the list)

For Getresponse, it's:

http://www.getresponse.com/rss/listname (once again, replace 'listname' with the actual name of the list)

In either case, the resulting URL that you get can be promoted just like your Website URL. When someone subscribes to it, and you send out a newsletter, they get your content.

RSS is the way to go.