A full day of work to automate something that now works every Sunday — without me. Not just a time-saver, but a system to stay visible, serve better, and show my progress week by week.
Every Sunday, I reflect on what I’ve built, learned, and published. Today, I set up my blog-to-email automation — so you get everything directly in your inbox, effortlessly.
Why Email Is Still My Favorite Tool
Despite all the modern tools out there, email remains personal, predictable, and platform-independent. That’s why I decided to send a weekly digest — one that pulls together everything I’ve done, all in one place, every Sunday.
But I didn’t want to just send plain links. I wanted it to look clean, visual, and automated.
The Problem
Most RSS feeds are raw. No featured image. No caption. No structure. And my email tool, while powerful, doesn’t automatically style the feed the way I wanted.
That meant I had to connect the pieces — and make the output look the way I had in mind.
My Strategy
- Send a single email every Sunday
- Include each blog post from the week — image, title, and a clean preview
- Use the RSS-to-email feature in my email tool
- Keep it minimal: no marketing fluff, just progress
This lets me focus on creating throughout the week, knowing that my readers will see everything at a glance — no extra work required.
Want to See How I Did It?
I’m sharing my full implementation — including the code, testing method, email provider setup, and visual best practices — for my subscribers only.
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Implementation: How I Built My Weekly Blog Digest Automation
Inside this private section, I’m sharing the exact steps I took to go from idea to execution.
1. Customize the RSS Feed
- Used WPCode Plugin to edit the summary (post.summary)
- Added the blog post’s featured image and caption into the RSS summary (code snippet below)
- WPCode Settings: Auto Insert, Run Everywhere
2. Troubleshoot Caching Issues
- Rocket.net was caching the feed aggressively
- Used random query strings to preview live feed updates
https://cornel.blog/feed/?nocache=1&rand=7646 - Verified changes using a plain browser and ConvertKit’s preview
3. Create a ConvertKit RSS-to-Email Template
- Used Liquid syntax to loop through blog posts
- Injected {{ post.title }}, {{ post.summary }}, and custom “Read more” links
- Styled emails to match CORNEL.BLOG brand
4. Add Dynamic Date to Subject Line
- Custom code injects Date into the subject
Weekly Progress — {{ "now" | date: "%B %d" }} - Helps track progress and consistency over time
5. Set a Weekly Automation Rule
- Every Sunday, ConvertKit pulls the latest blog posts since the latest digest
- If I publish nothing, no email goes out
Tools Used
- WordPress + WPCode
- ConvertKit (Creator plan)
- Manual email preview testing
- Custom brand styling and logos
add_filter('the_excerpt_rss', 'custom_rss_summary');
add_filter('the_content_feed', 'preserve_original_content_feed');
function custom_rss_summary($excerpt) {
global $post;
// Get featured image
$thumbnail = get_the_post_thumbnail($post->ID, 'large');
$caption = '';
// Get image caption (if available)
$thumbnail_id = get_post_thumbnail_id($post->ID);
if ($thumbnail_id) {
$caption = wp_get_attachment_caption($thumbnail_id);
if ($caption) {
$caption = '<p><em>' . esc_html($caption) . '</em></p>';
}
}
// Only return image + caption
return $thumbnail . $caption;
}
// Make sure content stays unchanged
function preserve_original_content_feed($content) {
return $content;
}