Blogging Through E-mail, The Posterous Way

Some spam landed inside my comment box but I was curious because it said anti-snore. Plus it had an extension leading to Posterous, another blogging platform some of you may be familiar with. The spam site overall wasn’t too pleasing, junk information which anyone can Google, backed by a product on the front page and chock load of keywords below. I decided there’s got to be something else more pleasing.

Clicked through to Posterous and was amazed with the first impression. The landing page was quite clean in design. Without going below the fold I glanced over to the right sidebar as I’m asked Who’s it for? Impressive. Scrolled down and noticed that the footer remained static. Convincingly with their non-invasive design, asking another blogger to switch over might be a temptation.

What Posterous Can Do

All the well-known FREE platforms like Blogger, Typepad, SquareSpace, Tumblr, WordPress and even Flickr was on the list of switchover made easy. There’s plenty more so just click on any one of the platforms available and you’ll see the comparison. Reasons why Posterous might be better for you is convincing here.

However, I’m more concern with design and while WordPress has some of the best templates around, I don’t have a clue about CSS. Honestly, that might propel me NOT to switch. As a blogger, I found that design is like clothes, I need to change it frequently, even if it’s in the little regards. Not knowing CSS is already limiting my accessibility.

Will Posterous allow me to tweak my theme without touching too much of code?

I had to find out. So what I did was read through the FAQ and get this! You blog through e-mail! If I missed that the first time around I apologize, I was looking more for overall features. When that was resolved, the a-ha moment came through.

Who Posterous is Good For

Scrolling through the FAQ, the overall feel of blogging on Posterous was obvious. This would be a great platform for those on the go who’s constantly with their phone. Catering to this kind of crowd is smart because who knows, at just about any minute on the train, the bus or flight across somewhere, a new blog post with a picture is written and published.

I find the e-mail part is still not catching on to me. If I had a nice smart phone which I was on all day this would be a godsend. But I’m more into writing long articles. So this is almost indirect in nature. I’m so use to logging into my dashboard and checking the stats, this forces me to check my e-mail.

What if I’m distracted by other e-mails?

Posterous calms me down and continuously provides reasons why they think publishing through e-mail is better. You can also post through a document which converts into a page for you or through a link and if it’s a video, they’ll also embed it for you.

We focus on THE best email experience, and do a lot more to support large photo galleries and other file downloads. Other sites force you to upload through cumbersome web forms. With posterous, you can attach any files you want. Plus, you don’t have to remember a gibberish secret email address. Just post@posterous.com and that’s it.

As I got deeper into other features Posterous showcases, here is what I found.

• autopost – broadcast to social media sites to update your followers on Twitter, Facebook and so on.
• bookmarklet – let’s you find things you like on other sites and post it onto yours like videos, photos, etc.
• markdown – for fancying up your posts, this rich-text language can be used to make your posts look good.
• custom domains help – down the line if you want to transition your blog to your own domain, Posterous will help you with the technical process.
• analytics and feed – like other blogs, analytics through Google and RSS through Feedburner is possible.
• widgetized – paired with WidgetBox , display your posts as a widget or even share with other Posterous members.

Still curious? What about AD-FREE. For those who aren’t into the blogosphere yet, here’s a great spot to stretch some muscles. While Blogger and WordPress may lead the pack, with a little patience and some time, getting your blog up can be a snap. Better yet, already have one with one of other platforms listed? Transfer over. Now just publish through e-mail.

What Posterous Might Not Be Good For

Somewhere down the road, your blog might be something you want to monetize. Who knows, it might also be something you’re attached to but having no control over it is something most FREE services do. They only give you the space and tools for you to whip up your storm. In the long haul, if you’re going against the terms of service, don’t be surprise to see your blog go bye-bye overnight.

Such as the case with most blogs who think that FREE services are worth trying. Just know you’re treading on risky grounds. All the hard work can be wasted. Those who are into marketing, SEO or making money online should not consider FREE services. It’s better to get a self-hosted account if profits and long-term marketing is your thing. You can start as early as testing out the first month. But I suggest 3 months or more will give you effective results.

This is if a few things are important to you:

• site ranking
• monetization
• control

Otherwise, if you’re not into SEO or the ranking of your site isn’t important and while you haven’t yet ventured into having your own domain, Posterous might be a fun place to blog on. After all, there’s no system to learn the ropes of. All you need to know is how to send an e-mail and your post is published.

Check out Posterous’ blog to read more about new features they’re including. Take a look around other Posterous blogs and get a feel for what they are. Remember, if you can e-mail, you can blog.

This article is not a paid post by Posterous, it is only the author’s stumbling onto the site, follow by reading through which led to this review. If you find Posterous worthwhile, share it with someone you think will benefit from this blogging platform.

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