We’re Leaving Feedburner and Why You Should Consider Moving Your Blog Too

For the last two years, we’ve used the Feedburner service on this blog for folks that are kind enough to subscribe.

It was the simplest and – at the time – most effective way for bloggers to offer subscription options. Then Google bought it, and it went downhill.

Subscriber numbers were all over the place; often whole subscriber services disappeared; and the support for issues turned into something pretty non-existent. Although, in fairness, that’s true of pretty much any Google product…

However, we – like many other bloggers using Feedburner – persevered, in the hope it’d finally work out. Then I read this recent blog post over at The Way of The Web, which suggested Google may be about to close Feedburner down. From that post:

But today two things have happened. The Google Adsense for Feeds Blog has announced it has closed;

‘After some consideration, we recognize that we’re just not generating enough content here to warrant your time, so we won’t be posting here any longer.’

Which is true, given the last prior post was in October, 2010.

But also the @Feedburner Twitter account is being closed from today as well. The Feedburner API was already deprecated and is due to close in October, 2012.

Now, while Google may keep Feedburner going, the signs aren’t good. So, time to move.

I’d looked at Feedblitz before as an alternative, but at the time it looked a little clunky as far as migrating feeds over. Let it be noted, however, that I am the world’s crappiest techy-type person, so that could have been down to me…

However, when I checked it out again earlier this week, it looked a lot smoother. Email subscription transfers for existing subscribers was pretty straightforward to do, and all new email subscribers should be going over to the new Feedblitz option.

RSS was even simpler – a straightforward feed redirect from Feedburner for the next 15 days, and then this blog should all be on the Feedblitz platform.

What I also like about Feedblitz are the social options – you can subscribe via a host of social networks too, so you’d get a Twitter mention once a post goes live, for example. There are also some pretty nifty analytics available, as well as newsletter options and more.

There is a cost involved, but that’s only for email subscriptions – if people subscribe to your blog by RSS feed, then that’s free for you to manage.

I don’t really do justice to the Feedblitz options here (especially the support from founder Phil Hollows) – so check them out for yourself and , if you’re currently on Feedburner, you might want to consider moving your own blog over.

• Note: To ensure you continue to get this blog by RSS, please update your feed settings to http://feeds.feedblitz.com/bloggingtipsforbloggers. If you currently subscribe by email you will automatically be moved over to Feedblitz. Cheers!