I think this is a very important feature of a blog. I will admit, I don't always look through the list of blogs I follow looking for updates. I do have the best intentions, but I don't have the time in the day to do that. BUT! I never miss an email though. Anymore, when I follow a blog, this is the first thing I do after I subscribe...look for the email subscription box. Very few take advantage of this free and easy to set up feature for your blog. I want to walk you through it.
Maybe you don't like to have your email flooded, but I'm more likely to read your blog update and comment if it's emailed right to me. This was handy when I was working full time and even more so now that I'm unemployed and glued to my email. Slowly, I'm going back through the blogs I follow and subscribing to emails to whoever has it set up.
When someone signs up for an email subscription to your blog, they are receiving an email when you have updated it - added something new. How fab is that? Instant gratification. Here's how you add the email subscription. I suggest putting it at the top of your blog in very close proximity to your followers box. (Side note: your followers box should be at the top of your blog, not buried below.)
First you will need to set up an account with Google Feedburner. You can do this through your Blogger Settings tab and then click on Site Feed.
Once you have set up your account, you will need to burn a feed. Here, you will add your blog URL. You will need to title your blog feed. This should be the name of your blog.
After you get your success page, you will want to customize your options. You will then be presented with a Dashboard. Click the tab that says Publicize.
On the left handside, you will see a column of links to various topics. Click on Email Subscriptions.
Choose Feedburner and activate.
You will then be on a screen that's titled Subscription Management or go to Email Subscription again on the left (doing this from memory).
You will see a box of code. Don't copy it just yet! You will see a drop down box just under the code box. Be sure to change it to your blog format - Typepad, Google, language etc to your liking. Then go back and copy the code.
You will then come back to Blogger and in the Design mode you will add an HTML gadget. Remember to put the gadget toward the top of your blog!
Save changes and you're done!
Hope this helps you out in increasing your blog traffic and comments.
