split image of one man with a bunch of paper and the other man at a tidy desk with rss feed

I’m Moving Away from Email Newsletters and Embracing RSS Feeds

NOTICE: As of 12/12/04 I Am Reclaiming My Time: Welcome to My Knowledge Base

After much reflection, I’ve decided to step away from using WordPress and other CMS/website builders for blogging. The process has become overwhelming and time-consuming, requiring multiple steps to create, archive, and publish content. Instead, I’m reclaiming my time by focusing on a more efficient approach: creating PDFs/Quick Links and organizing them in a file management system that I’m calling my Knowledge Base.

This Knowledge Base will not only house my content but also include FAQs from friends and clients, transformed into easy-to-follow tutorials. By simplifying my workflow, I can focus on delivering meaningful, practical resources. Thank you for understanding as I embrace this new approach! You can access it here.


Quick Read — 

I tried the following:

Feeder is the one that I like the best (so far). Learn more about how it works and overview .


Watch/Listen


Read In Full — 

I’ve been using Mad Mimi since around 2009, and like many, I was content with its simplicity for creating and managing newsletters. However, when GoDaddy acquired Mad Mimi in 2014, we were still able to log in and use the platform. But now, as of August 2024, Mad Mimi is coming to an end, and users are being urged to switch to GoDaddy’s email marketing platform. 

If you’ve already been using GoDaddy, the transition from Mad Mimi to GoDaddy’s platform has likely been seamless for you—importing all your previous campaigns and contacts at no additional cost. I’ve done this for clients, and it worked without a hitch. However, my personal experience with GoDaddy has not been as smooth. Over the years, GoDaddy’s platform has become bloated with unnecessary products and add-ons, making it difficult to manage my digital properties efficiently, let alone those of my clients.

I also use Mad Mimi alongside GoDaddy’s website builder and have done so for one of my online properties since 2017. Unfortunately, when I tried to import all my data from Mad Mimi to GoDaddy, I was prompted to upgrade. After spending too much time researching alternatives, I realized I missed the simplicity of Mad Mimi, even if GoDaddy technically runs it on their backend. 

Frustrated, I began exploring other email marketing platforms, but I quickly realized that setting up a new platform, learning how to use it, and then updating all my websites to direct users to the correct newsletter sign-up page was more hassle than it was worth. Moreover, I’ve noticed a trend: many of us are growing tired of email newsletters. I, for one, only send newsletters once a year, if that. It made me think—are newsletters really the best way to engage an audience anymore?

This led me to revisit an old friend: RSS feeds. Remember Feedburner and Google’s RSS feed reader? Those tools allowed you to organize and curate content from your favorite blogs and websites. With the rise of social media, RSS feeds fell out of favor, but I’ve grown increasingly frustrated with social media algorithms. They don’t always show me what I want to see, and I’m tired of trying to work around them.

So, I’ve decided to go back to basics and use an RSS reader. After testing several options, I found that Feeder.co is the best fit for me. It’s simple, has an app, a Chrome extension, and can be accessed on your desktop. You can easily input the RSS feed from any blog or website and curate the content you want to see, when you want to see it.

I’m done with email newsletters. Instead, I’m going all-in on RSS feeds. If you’re like me and want more control over the content you consume, I encourage you to try Feeder.co. I might follow up with a part two on this topic to show you how to add anything you’re interested in to your RSS feed reader.

The feed for my blog is https://courtney.holdthatvibration.com/feed — sharing if you want to know when I demonstrate how to use an RSS reader. 

Note: Yes — I have other digital properties but I won’t be posting feeds for those. If you want to know what those are, you can kinda — almost — maybe — more than likely find them all here https://linktr.ee/courtneycrosslin .

As of 12/12/04 I Am Reclaiming My Time: Welcome to My Knowledge Base

After much reflection, I’ve decided to step away from using WordPress and other CMS/website builders for blogging. The process has become overwhelming and time-consuming, requiring multiple steps to create, archive, and publish content. Instead, I’m reclaiming my time by focusing on a more efficient approach: creating PDFs/Quick Links and organizing them in a file management system that I’m calling my Knowledge Base.