I am running my Ghost installation as a publication. I fiddled around with trying to accomplish this for a while now but have found a format that is now suiting me in regards to work load and efforts and such.
But, I do struggle a bit with the news vs the newsletter, as in how often to send a newsletter together with the news. Myself would be irritated if I got a newsletter everyday. So I try to avoid sending one to each article/news story. But I also struggle with weekly wrap up. I sense it would make people lazy.
How do other people do it? A friendly reminder now and then, spamming with newsletters, or a weekly wrap up kind of thing. Would really want to know
I totally relate to what you’re experiencing—managing newsletters versus news can be quite the balancing act. At Trizone, which focuses on triathlon, we constantly have fresh content, so finding the right approach was essential for us.
One strategy that’s worked well for us is creating separate newsletters based on our main tags, such as News and Racing, Opinion, Training, and Gear & Tech. This way, subscribers can choose exactly what interests them, ensuring they receive content they’re genuinely excited about without feeling overwhelmed.
Additionally, like you, I’m very mindful of the frequency of our emails. Before hitting send, I ask myself, “Is this content important enough to deserve an email?” This helps us stay concise and respectful of our readers’ inboxes, avoiding the spammy feel that comes with too many updates. Experimentation is always ongoing to ensure I’m keeping my audience engaged and happy. An example of that was for me to try a short form email that then links to the longer form article, therefore not really a mental overhead for the recipient.
I do the same thing. And then the next time I do send an email, I’ll add an “ICYMI” (in case you missed it) section with some bookmarks to recent writing that didn’t merit an email but might still be of interest. Best of both worlds?
Twice a week I run a chronicle, and those always go out as newsletters, and always had high open rates already on my old platform. They still seem to be popular.
The new edition of mine is a weekly summary on Sunday’s, the first issues consisted direct links to articles to see what people seem to find interesting and click on.
The past weekend I sent out another with more generic links, and the “read more” reinstated in the bottom.
This version seems to have been a total disaster or they already been on the site reading, which would be a good thing cause I do want people to come onto the site.
For this week I will reconsider the content and layout of the weekly Sunday edition, and see where it leads me.
or they already been on the site reading, which would be a good thing cause I do want people to come onto the site.