How can I productively setup the Automated Extension on a magazine blog?
If your blog is a multi topic magazine, with distinct categories (for example sport, gossip, life style and so on) the best way to answer this question is to ask another question: what my readers expect to have from the newsletter service on my blog?
Probably you’re already sending a full newsletter with all the latest contents from your blog. If you create is manually week by week, you should start setting up a general main channel which week by week generates a newsletter with all the latest topics from your blog. Since the automated channels are connected to subscribers’ profile lists, you will setup even a list named “Weekly All In One Newsletter” (the name is only an example, of course!).
Secondary channels
Then you should start to make some assumptions about your readers. Between them is there a relevant part not interested in a full content newsletter but maybe in a specialized newsletter. For example only to gossip or sport?
If the answer is yes (and in a multi topic blog is always yes…), you should setup a channel for the more relevant topic. So you create a new automated channel named linked to the new list “Yes, Only Sport” and that channel will be configured selecting only the blog categories connected to the sport topic (maybe you have only one or more than one).
Your subscriber will see in their profile both the lists and can choose freely what to receive. Even during the subscription, you can offer both the lists. If you prefer to have a “simple” subscription with no too many option (yes, ask them only the email, there is always a second moment to ask for more), you can set the subscription form in a way that each new subscriber is automatically added to the main list, see the subscription configuration panel (or force it using the new form shortcodes).
How to suddenly offer more options after subscription
As you know, Newsletter lands the subscriber on the welcome page (after confirmation), if you didn’t change that behavior. This is a really big opportunity. The welcome page can actually contain the subscriber profile form, just insert the {profile_form} tag in its content. When you’re welcoming the new subscriber, you can tell him: “hey see below your data a options to opt in my other specific channels. May be you’re sport addicted, so enter our fantastic sport channel!”.
Do not exaggerate!
Your readers probably don’t want to see 30 channels to choose upon. They don’t care about all your categories and most of them don’t care to subscribe a ultra specific topic. Try to identify few topics and create the correspondent channels. Don’t try to make a channel for every category you have in your blog!
Have a nice automation!