Email List Suggestion

1. 91

   EricDockettposted 2 years ago

   One thing I wish HubPages would consider is finding a way to allow readers to sign up to get notifications when a writer publishes a new article without having to become writers themselves.
   
   In others words, people can join HubPages just to follow a writer or topic they like, but they are told they are signing up to be writers and taken through a longer onboarding process they might not follow through with.
   
   Not everyone wants to be a writer.
   
   How about a lighter-weight signup process that just collects their email address and allows them to get notifications when an author publishes?
   
   This can be extrapolated out to the niche sites as well. They can sign up to get notifications whenever something new is published on a niche site or just a weekly digest or newsletter.
   
   Email lists are powerful. When we've already identified a potential reader who is interested in a topic, why not give them the opportunity to get notifications on something they want?
   
   More traffic—and the right kind of traffic—without having to rely on search.
   
   Just my 2 cents. Do what you will with this thing.

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   1. 72

      Miebakagh57posted 2 years agoin reply to this

      I can understand the problem. It's like the comment system without notification, or the situation generated by the removal of the comment system, that no longer let readers to make comments on a new article.                                    Such a suggestion has been indirectly suggested to  HubPages. But it seems they want none of it. Even the comment button on niche sites, have no notification to either writters, or readers, or both.

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   2. 84

      Joshua Crowderposted 22 months agoin reply to this

      Creating a Mailchimp sign-up landing page is an option, as long as you're willing to keep updating the notification. Visitors to the page will be able to learn what they'll receive by subscribing. They enter their email and hit a subscribe button. To share the landing page, simply enter the URL into your profile and provide details about it or replace your website's URL on HPs with the landing page URL.
      
      I had previous experience using Mailchimp for a class, and it took me about 10 minutes to sign up for the software and create the landing page. There is a limit of 2,000 people who can sign up for the newsletter.
      
      Having markup capabilities on the profile page would be helpful, as it would allow you to create clickable links directly on that page.

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      1. 72

         Miebakagh57posted 22 months agoin reply to this

         Joshua, d' you mean to say the mailchim softwar works in tandem with the hubpages system?

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         1. 84

            Joshua Crowderposted 22 months agoin reply to this

            Not exactly. You would have to personalize the newsletter and decide when to send it out. I created a signup page just to show how easy it is. This link goes to a landing page that adds you to a list.
            
            https://mailchi.mp/22b85698da85/subscribe
            
            Subscribe is what I named the campaign and shows up in the link. You can use your profile name and it will show up in the link. You can post the link on your profile page or where you would normally add your website.
            
            You just have to spend time updating the mailing list with good information so they don't unsubscribe.
            
            Create -> landing page -> begin -> select a template -> create the template -> get link -> post link -> build newsletter -> execute newletter

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            1. 72

               Miebakagh57posted 22 months agoin reply to this

               Thank you.

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               1. 84

                  Joshua Crowderposted 22 months agoin reply to this

                  Well, I guess you could use the link in every HPs article (like near the end) but I'm guessing those articles might get flagged.

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                  1. 72

                     Miebakagh57posted 22 months agoin reply to this

                     Yes, you're correct.

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2. 96

   PaulGoodman67posted 2 years ago

   Mailing lists work well on Medium and blogging sites, but I have my doubts about HP.
   
   It seems an okay idea for topics like poetry and some of the other Letterpile material, maybe Soapboxie, too. A reader may want to know when a writer publishes something new in these fields.
   
   However, HP's main focus has to be on casual search engine traffic and answering specific queries and that doesn't generally lend itself to mailing lists.
   
   (I don't expect the Quora subscription idea to work out either for related reasons, but that's another issue.)

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   1. 91

      EricDockettposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      I'm not following.
      
      If someone writes in a niche, don't you think people would be interested in following that writer if they are interested in that niche?
      
      For example, if I write about model trains, and someone is a model train enthusiast, you don't think they would want to subscribe to an email list to get my articles when they come out?
      
      They'd be subscribing because they are interested in the topic(s) you write about. It is no different than a niche website.
      
      I guess you are correct about writers who don't write in a niche but even then why not give the reader the choice? It is not like we are killing it with search traffic these days, and it wouldn't hurt.

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      1. 96

         PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

         HP isn't really a blogging site, there is some of that but not much.
         
         Almost all my traffic on here comes from search engines, people trying to solve a specific problem or looking for a particular piece of info.
         
         I don't think I said anything about "writers who don't write in a niche."
         
         Even when I write multiple articles within a niche on here, I'm still trying to solve specific problems for searchers. The articles might be related by topic but they're still not blog-style.
         
         I try to keep my writing voice pretty neutral on HP. I don't see it as a place for building followers generally.

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3. 83

   Solarasposted 22 months ago

   HP has taken your suggestion and applied it to Rojo.  Here you can signup for PetHelpful News and comment on the hilarious and heart breaking alike. 
   
   They say it is intended to connect users with what is trending (on TikTok?) We might be able to post links to our own article in the comments, but that might get you blocked for being self promotional, which remains to be seen.

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   1. 72

      Miebakagh57posted 22 months agoin reply to this

      If it seems good to be true, then its awful.

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