.gif "The DOs and DON'Ts of Blogging")
.jpg "The Top Seattle Twitter Feeds")
.jpg "Chicago Twitter Feeds You Should Be Following")
.jpg "Social networking sites we use and love")
.jpg "freeandflawed")
.jpg "The Best iPhone Apps For Women")
.jpg "Why YOU Need To Use Gmail")
.jpg "The Dumbest Trends Ever")
.jpg "Choice Hearing Center")
.jpg "Rejuvenating Healing Massage")
.jpg "Ray Schon State Farm Insurance")
.jpg "Dan Tyler State Farm Insurance")
.jpg "Awkward Family Portraits will make you say \"WTF?\"")
.jpg "Love is funny: Awesomely BAD engagement photos")
.jpg "Failbook")
SPONSORED LISTINGS
Increase your site's readership by promoting your RSS feed
- by freeandflawed
- -
- December 03, 2008
(5)
.jpg)
Once you've decided that you want to be a blogger, acquiring readers is the next step. Most established bloggers know about RSS feeds and how important and convenient they are. This guide will explain what an RSS feed is, why it's beneficial to you and how to encourage people to subscribe to yours.
What is an RSS feed?
Not everyone knows what an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed is. Educate your readers. An RSS feed is an XML file that provides content or summaries of content, including links to the full versions of the content and other data.
Strategize
Place your RSS icon toward the top of your page. That makes sure that when your site is opened, one of the first things that person sees, aside from the title, is your RSS feed.
Another option is to place RSS icon on every page of your blog. Some people claim to see a big jump in subscriber numbers after doing this.
Use Words
Sometimes you might benefit from actually using words in addition to your icon. Give the section in your side column a title. A simple “subscribe” would suffice, but I’m sure you’re a creative genius and can come up with something a bit more enticing!
Ever heard the saying “Ask and thou shalt receive”? Blogging is no exception. Write a post asking your readers to subscribe to your feed.
Hold a Contest
People like free stuff, so hold a contest on your blog and make subscribing to your feed a requirement to participate. This is a great way to boost your subscriber numbers.
Be consistent
By publishing new posts frequently and consistently, you are letting your readers know that your site is active and that the best way to keep up is through an RSS feed reader.
When I’m cleaning out my reader, I often check the last date that blog was updated. If it’s been over a month, most likely I will unsubscribe.
You're not a blogging machine
Don’t exaggerate. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is post too much, too soon. My reader currently has over 200 blog feeds in it. If a blog updates more than twice a day, and believe me they do, I’m less likely to read it. If I only had 10-15 blogs to read, that would be different. Exceptions to this rule are news blogs, political blogs and gadget blogs.
Favors
Get your blogger friends to recommend your site and RSS feed on their site. Many of their readers should pay attention to the message and at least check out your blog to see if it’s something they’d be interested in.
Email first time commentators
When you receive a comment from someone who hasn’t left one before, respond to them via email and encourage them to subscribe to your feed. Mention the benefits (not having to search through links for your blog) and the convenience (knowing when a new post is up) of subscribing.
FeedBurner
“FeedBurner is the leading provider of media distribution and audience engagement services for blogs and RSS feeds.”Their web-based tools help bloggers, podcasters and commercial publishers promote, deliver and profit from their content on the Web.
So you want to be a blogger
Unsure about blogging? This guide will help you determine if it’s right for you.
Size DOES matter!
Especially when it comes to RSS icons. If you select a small icon, it can get hidden among all of the other text and icons on your site. Choose something large enough that will grab someone’s eye. People are lazy. They don’t like to spend time looking for something. Make it easy for them to spot.
Get Creative!
Putting a creative spin on your RSS icon will increase the chances that it’s spotted. I’m a big fan of the little orange guy sitting on the bench. Not everyone is though. Just be sure that if your background is orange, or another bright color, that you do something to make your icon stand out.
Write a Guest Post
Writing a guest post has many benefits. One of the biggest is that it draws more traffic to your site. If you write for a site that is similar to your own niche, those readers may feel more inclined to subscribe to your blog.
When writing a guest post on a new site, be sure to welcome those readers. Use that opportunity to explain what your blog is about and why they should subscribe to your feed. Be sure to include a link to your feed within that post. Remember, keep it easy. Cut out as many unnecessary steps as possible.
Have a clear focus on your blog
If you write about 12 different topics, it might make it difficult for your readers to maintain interest in your blog. At least, enough interest to subscribe to your feed. Some readers might enjoy your posts about movies, but not about pregnancy. Why should they subscribe if they’re going to get posts tey don’t want to read?
Having a clear focus also helps you. It gives your blog a natural flow. The less bouncing around, the better. Then when you’re asked, “What is your blog about?” You can reply with a quick answer instead of fishing for words that seem to describe the randomness that is your blog.
Popular
Use icons to offer subscription on the most popular RSS readers. Reduce the number of steps required to subscribe to your feed by using RSS reader specific icons (an example would be Google Reader). Take a look at the most common RSS readers among your subscribers and add those icons to the sidebar.
What is Google Reader?
Google Reader is a web-based aggregator, capable of reading RSS feeds. It helps you keep up with everything by organizing and managing all the content you’re interested in. Instead of constantly checking your favorite sites for updates, you can let Google Reader do it for you.
Google Reader helps me keep the blogs I read organized. The folder feature lets you arrange them in any order you want. Reader also has a sharing feature. This allows you to share posts from blogs you read with your email contacts.
Google Reader FAQs
New to Google Reader? Check out these frequently asked questions to determine if it would benefit you.
Don't forget about popular bookmarking sites
By including icons to Digg, StumbleUpon, Kirtsy, etc., you’re increasing your chances of acquiring new subscribers. Sites like these can bring in a lot of new numbers in a 24-hour period. Because they’re so popular, the number of new subscribers might not seem impressive, but every one counts. Give it time. Be sure to remain active on those sites as well.
Start a long series
Half Deserted Streets
An example of this is Half Deserted Streets Testament series. She had bloggers write in with their stories of first love, lost love, etc. and created a weekly series. It had a total of 29 posts. A great way to keep up with them was to subscribe to her feed. That way I’d always know when a new addition to the series was published.
Driving more traffic to your blog
After taking the plunge and joining us in the Blogosphere, this guide will help you increase your readership with a few simple tips.
- |
- |
- |
- |
- share this
.jpg "ihatesomuch")
-
Great guide, Jen! I’m so bad about my RSS feed— I really need to sign up for feedburner or something so it’s easier for people to subscribe.
.jpg "tmamone")
-
Great guide! I’m a blogger, too, although I sometimes have trouble having a clear focus. I’m interested in a lot of things, and it doesn’t help that I have ADD. But I’m working on it.
.jpg "mswen")
-
Awesome guide! Great job in explaining all of this in layman’s terms.
Add Our Widget To Your Site
.jpg)
Discussions