Some Good Questions About Subscribing to this Blog

I received an e-mail this morning from a new-to-me cousin who recently found this blog.  He is thinking of subscribing, but he had a few very good questions first.  I thought it would be a good idea share with everyone his questions and my response. 

His questions:
1. What is FeedBurner?
2. What does it cost to subscribe?
3. What information is needed to subscribe?

My response:
For my purposes, FeedBurner is simply a way for readers of this blog to get an e-mail every time I post rather than having to check periodically to see if I've posted anything new.  FeedBurner is used by some bloggers and websites to scrutinize and analyze their readers - usually for commercial purposes.  Since there are no "commercial purposes" connected to my blog, my use of FeedBurner is quite simple.

It is 100% free for you and me both.  (Good thing these days!)

The only information required from you is your e-mail address.  Simply type your e-mail address in the slot provided and click on "Subscribe."  A "Email Subscription Request" screen will open that asks you to letters or numbers in the image shown (spam prevention device).  Click here to see what this screen looks like. Once you successfully type in the letters/numbers, you will see this screen.

Next, you will get an e-mail from Feedburner asking you to verify your e-mail address.  Click on the appropriate link in the e-mail, and that's all there is to it!  (This step is required for the process to work at all.) When you see this screen, you're in!

After that, every time I post a new article, you will receive an e-mail with a link to the post.  Click here to see an example of such an e-mail. 

Since the e-mail comes from Samuel Reed’s Gmail account, it is recommended that you add that address to your address book so that the notices do not get caught in your spam filter.  His address is:  samuelreedfamily AT gmail DOT com.  (Remember, of course, to replace the AT with @, the DOT with a period, and include no spaces.  I’m trying to avoid spam trolls, too!)


I hope that having a little more knowledge about the process will encourage more subscribers!  Many thanks to our cousin for asking these questions and inspiring this post.