RSS Subscription Vs. Newsletter

As Internet technology has progressed, so have the ways you communicate with customers and visitors to your website. Although scheduled email newsletters once were popular because they provided a way to reach a wide audience, RSS feeds soon provided a more automated way to send website updates en masse. The line has blurred, however, now that services such as FeedBurner allow your readers to receive RSS updates in their email inboxes. Even so, there are differences between the two types of updates that might make one better for your business' needs.

Function

RSS feeds and electronic newsletters both keep people updated about your website or business. RSS feeds can show either snippets or the entire content of new posts on your website, which is why they're frequently incorporated into forum and blog scripts. Newsletters also may contain this information, but could add news about company happenings, new products or employees. Newsletters might appear online, but they generally always are delivered via email. Users can subscribe to RSS feeds via email -- which makes them appear similar to newsletters -- or they might use Web-based readers such as Google Reader to keep up with your website's feed.

Layout

Newsletter services frequently use templates, allowing you to plug in your own information. Many services offer tools to let you customize your newsletter's appearance even if you have no coding experience, although you could manually code its design as well. RSS feeds, on the other hand, vary more in appearance, depending on the website script or feed service. Some simply use the full layout of the originating website. Others use a scaled-down layout of the website, while still others simply post the links and snippets to new posts in a minimal fashion.

Frequency

One of the main differences between RSS feeds and newsletters is how frequently users receive them. Newsletters come on a scheduled basis. For example, you might send out your business newsletter once per week or month, similar to a family's yearly holiday newsletter. RSS feeds update the user whenever new content appears on a website. Feed subscribers view that content on a per-article basis, and many reader programs update the feed automatically in the background. Some users manually check for new feed posts when they open their readers.

The Bottom Line

If you run a blog and want to provide a way for your readers to stay up to date, RSS feeds are the simplest answer. Because you don't solely rely upon email delivery, you can avoid getting caught in spam filters. Popular blogging solutions such as Blogger and WordPress publish feeds by default, and you can use FeedBurner or free plug-ins to expand the basic feed. Newsletters are ideal, however, when you want to include information that doesn't publish to your website, such as changes within your organization. You may also entice newsletter subscribers with secret information, such as a coupon or sale, that can't be found on your website.