Camino Blog Question

GuyA · May 18, 2021

Hi,

In 2013 when I first walked a Camino route I created a Blog and have had great fun on my various Camino walks posting updates at the end of the day. Over time a massive following (~100 or so people) have subscribed and receive an email whenever I post.

Recently Feedburner (which is used by Blogger to send daily posting emails) has indicated that they are terminating their email delivery option. So...I started researching and quickly found MailChimp which appears to be perfect for my little audience except for one troubling aspect...

My full mailing address must appear (Anti Spam legislation) with every posting email sent. Given this is a travel blog I am uncomfortable (my spouse more so) in making address information known while I am away walking. This isn't a concern for the people who are currently subscribers but what about anyone else who stumbles on my blog.

I believe there is a way for individuals to follow specific blogs...when I Googled this I think an 8 step process is required. I would expect to lose about 95 - 99% of my loyal followers if this is the way to go.

Any suggestions welcome!

Thanks

Guy

trecile · May 18, 2021

GuyA said:
Hi,

In 2013 when I first walked a Camino route I created a Blog and have had great fun on my various Camino walks posting updates at the end of the day. Over time a massive following (~100 or so people) have subscribed and receive an email whenever I post.

Recently Feedburner (which is used by Blogger to send daily posting emails) has indicated that they are terminating their email delivery option. So...I started researching and quickly found MailChimp which appears to be perfect for my little audience except for one troubling aspect...

My full mailing address must appear (Anti Spam legislation) with every posting email sent. Given this is a travel blog I am uncomfortable (my spouse more so) in making address information known while I am away walking. This isn't a concern for the people who are currently subscribers but what about anyone else who stumbles on my blog.

I believe there is a way for individuals to follow specific blogs...when I Googled this I think an 8 step process is required. I would expect to lose about 95 - 99% of my loyal followers if this is the way to go.

Any suggestions welcome!

Thanks

Guy

Set up a separate email account just for the blog and mailing list.

Tincatinker · May 18, 2021

The intraweb offers almost infinite opportunities of existence. I’ve lost track of most of my personas let alone mailbox passwords. (I used to write them down but my pencil got hacked). I guess your choice is do you want to put yourself out there on the web or not

Stephan the Painter · May 19, 2021

GuyA said:
Hi,

In 2013 when I first walked a Camino route I created a Blog and have had great fun on my various Camino walks posting updates at the end of the day. Over time a massive following (~100 or so people) have subscribed and receive an email whenever I post.

Recently Feedburner (which is used by Blogger to send daily posting emails) has indicated that they are terminating their email delivery option. So...I started researching and quickly found MailChimp which appears to be perfect for my little audience except for one troubling aspect...

My full mailing address must appear (Anti Spam legislation) with every posting email sent. Given this is a travel blog I am uncomfortable (my spouse more so) in making address information known while I am away walking. This isn't a concern for the people who are currently subscribers but what about anyone else who stumbles on my blog.

I believe there is a way for individuals to follow specific blogs...when I Googled this I think an 8 step process is required. I would expect to lose about 95 - 99% of my loyal followers if this is the way to go.

Any suggestions welcome!

Thanks

Guy

I occasionally use mail chimp, so I think understand your question better. What they require is your actual street address. I and others that I know, just put my town and state/province/country/ , and skip the street address. Or just make something up. I don't think anyone actually polices this, which is unlikely to happen if you are not doing anything that gets complaints. And all you are doing is sending emails to people who opt in. The address just appears in small letters at the bottom of the email.

Another option is to switch to wordpress.com, (which is what I use) which has it's own system to send emails when you make a post. You can probably migrate your current blog and mailing list somehow, but I'm sure it is alot of work.. Heres a link to look into:

Move from Blogger to WordPress.com: A Beginner’s Guide

If you want to move from Blogger to WordPress.com, we’re happy to let you know the process is much simpler than it might seem.

wordpress.com

GuyA · May 19, 2021

trecile said:
Set up a separate email account just for the blog and mailing list.

Thanks Trecile...If I understand your suggestion it would be to set up a Grouping of email addresses (current subscribers). When I post on my Blog I would then send out a separate email to the Grouping letting them know that a new Blog post has been created.

Simple...an extra small step and resolves my address issue. I would like to have subscribers keep the current unsubscribe option though. It's easy to not read emails and junk them however annoying to keep receiving them. I suppose they could simply block mine in no longer interested.

Appreciate your thoughts

Guy

trecile · May 19, 2021

GuyA said:
Thanks Trecile...If I understand your suggestion it would be to set up a Grouping of email addresses (current subscribers). When I post on my Blog I would then send out a separate email to the Grouping letting them know that a new Blog post has been created.

Simple...an extra small step and resolves my address issue. I would like to have subscribers keep the current unsubscribe option though. It's easy to not read emails and junk them however annoying to keep receiving them. I suppose they could simply block mine in no longer interested.

Appreciate your thoughts

Guy

Oops, sorry I misunderstood the question!

GuyA · May 19, 2021

Tincatinker said:
The intraweb offers almost infinite opportunities of existence. I’ve lost track of most of my personas let alone mailbox passwords. (I used to write them down but my pencil got hacked). I guess your choice is do you want to put yourself out there on the web or not

Quite ok with being out there on the Web however still want to mitigate any problems where I can...and my better half is more concerned about this than I am...so it's important!

Curiosity question...Tincatinker..."What are the references to DitchPig...seems like you have walked this beautiful route at least 5 times!!!" I am intrigued!

GuyA · May 19, 2021

Stephan the Painter said:
I occasionally use mail chimp, so I think understand your question better. What they require is your actual street address. I and others that I know, just put my town and state/province/country/ , and skip the street address. Or just make something up. I don't think anyone actually polices this, which is unlikely to happen if you are not doing anything that gets complaints. And all you are doing is sending emails to people who opt in. The address just appears in small letters at the bottom of the email.

Another option is to switch to wordpress.com, (which is what I use) which has it's own system to send emails when you make a post. You can probably migrate your current blog and mailing list somehow, but I'm sure it is alot of work.. Heres a link to look into:

Move from Blogger to WordPress.com: A Beginner’s Guide

If you want to move from Blogger to WordPress.com, we’re happy to let you know the process is much simpler than it might seem.

wordpress.com

Thanks...I am definitely going to try this...If I can skip the street address I am off to the races. I certainly thought of simply making stuff up however my Canadian upbringing is really causing me palpitations

C clearly · May 19, 2021

Stephan the Painter said:
wordpress.com, (which is what I use

I use it too. The transfer is quite straightforward, I think.

I would certainly not want to send my home address anywhere and broadcast my absence.

GuyA · May 19, 2021

GuyA said:
Thanks...I am definitely going to try this...If I can skip the street address I am off to the races. I certainly thought of simply making stuff up however my Canadian upbringing is really causing me palpitations

Hmm...Mail Chimp requires a street address...a moral dilemma on creating a fictitious one

peregrina2000 · May 19, 2021

This is maybe not what you are interested in hearing about, but I remember the year I could no longer use my beloved blogspot. I was on Day 1 of the Camino Baztán and it just wouldn’t work. A forum member I was walking with suggested I try Find Penguins. It’s easy, allows you to post pictures, and doesn’t require any identification. Since then, that’s what i’ve used and my family likes it a lot.

Instead of you sending them a group email, they can each “follow” you and will receive a notice when you post. You can see what it looks like here —

Camino 2019, From Irún | FindPenguins

June 2019

findpenguins.com

trecile · May 19, 2021

I had no idea about Mail Chimp needed a physical address. I am a chapter coordinator for American Pilgrims on the Camino and we use Mail Chimp for our newsletters. My former co-coordinator set up the account and used her address - where she no longer lives!

I just changed the old information. There are several layers to Mail Chimp - finding all the places that I needed to make changes wasn't that straightforward. (Kind of like the entire Mail Chimp platform)

Tincatinker · May 19, 2021

GuyA said:
Quite ok with being out there on the Web however still want to mitigate any problems where I can...and my better half is more concerned about this than I am...so it's important!

Curiosity question...Tincatinker..."What are the references to DitchPig...seems like you have walked this beautiful route at least 5 times!!!" I am intrigued!

The Ditch Pigs are an honourable association of Pilgrims who periodically spend time cleaning up the stuff that other pilgrims forgot to. See https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/where-are-the-ditch-pigs-this-year.65514/ and others

Kanga · May 19, 2021

@GuyA like @peregrina2000 I am also a fan of FindPenguins. It can be configured several different ways too - mine is public, so anyone can read it, but you can make it private if you wish, so that only people who you allow to "follow" can see what it there. No email address or private information needs to be shared.

What I really love about it, is the ease with which one can create a hard cover book at the end.

GuyA · May 19, 2021

peregrina2000 said:
This is maybe not what you are interested in hearing about, but I remember the year I could no longer use my beloved blogspot. I was on Day 1 of the Camino Baztán and it just wouldn’t work. A forum member I was walking with suggested I try Find Penguins. It’s easy, allows you to post pictures, and doesn’t require any identification. Since then, that’s what i’ve used and my family likes it a lot.

Instead of you sending them a group email, they can each “follow” you and will receive a notice when you post. You can see what it looks like here —

Camino 2019, From Irún | FindPenguins

June 2019

findpenguins.com

Thanks I will look into this for sure…your blog looks great! A concern is does Find Penguins have any kind of import functionality for an existing blog…pictures, past posts, comments received?

GuyA · May 19, 2021

Kanga said:
@GuyA like @peregrina2000 I am also a fan of FindPenguins. It can be configured several different ways too - mine is public, so anyone can read it, but you can make it private if you wish, so that only people who you allow to "follow" can see what it there. No email address or private information needs to be shared.

What I really love about it, is the ease with which one can create a hard cover book at the end.

Thanks…recently published 3 books from my blog through PixxiBooks. Would have been great to have had this option!

Giy

thepacman · May 27, 2021

Stephan the Painter said:
I occasionally use mail chimp, so I think understand your question better. What they require is your actual street address. I and others that I know, just put my town and state/province/country/ , and skip the street address. Or just make something up. I don't think anyone actually polices this, which is unlikely to happen if you are not doing anything that gets complaints. And all you are doing is sending emails to people who opt in. The address just appears in small letters at the bottom of the email.

@GuyA - I too occasionally use Mailchimp, and there's no real need to put a private street/home address in it. As well as @Stephan the Painter's suggestions you could also use a postal address.

But that said, Mailchimp is somewhat more of a business tool. Have a look at Wordpress as someone else mentioned, or perhaps Wix. I find Wordpress a bit clunky to set up, but once you've done so it's easy to use off either phone or computer.

Good luck ...

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