As many of you know, I’ve signed off of Facebook – relegating it to the online dustbin (along with MySpace and a few other sites that are merely extended billboards). I’ve received a few emails from folks chiding me for my decision, thinking “how am I going to keep up with you now?” Well – aside from Twitter – to which I sometimes post from my cell phone, there’s also this site – which I’ll be leveraging as more than an extended business card going forward.

So, if you want to know the latest goings-on in my little corner of the world, you’re welcome to “subscribe” to this blog via email. That way you’ll be able to see what’s happening without having to dive into my site. Once it’s set up, you’ll receive an email the day after a new post shows up on my site. Singing up is relatively simple.

Point your mouse to the “Subscribe” link in the right-hand menu. A dialog box will pop up, where you can click on the “Email” tab – then select either of the RSS feed subscription services – SimplyHeadlines or FeedBlitz. Clicking on either one will take you to a page where you can enter your email address (I recommend that you use a web email address such as Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail or the like) and some other bits of information that will let you go back and unsubscribe when you like.

Once you’ve completed the form you’ll receive an confirmation email that will have an active web link that you need to click on in order to “close the deal” and set up your email subscription. From there, you simply check your mail as you usually do – and the day after a new blog post comes up on our site, you’ll get a notification email. It’s that simple.

Both subscription services (SimplyHeadlines and FeedBlitz) have a good reputation for not sharing email addresses and whatnot to outside parties. But to be safe, I recommend that you only use a web-based/throw-away email address for any service like this. Of course, you can unsubscribe at any time – which is the nice thing about this service – you have total control of what you see.

You may also click on the “Subscribe” tab to select an RSS feed site/aggregation service that you may already use. If you’re one of the savvy ones that’s part of the crest of that wave, you probably don’t need an instructional blog post telling you how to sign up.

I may also open up a few other avenues of communication through this site, such as switching Comments on and allowing people to sign up, etc. – but for now I like the amount of maintenance (very little once it’s set up) that is required on both sides of the information loop using end-user-drive email subscription. If you have any comments or questions about the “subscribe” function, give me a shout through the Contact form on this site. Cheers!