How Do You Increase RSS Subscribers?

[45n5]

I'm guessing 90% percent of the readers of the post are like me, you don't do anything consciously to increase the actual number of rss subscribers other than putting a big button on your page.

Sure we care about our rss numbers, but we aren't consciously and specifically going after trying to increase the number.

I want to change this, so this question is for the 10% that actively try and increase the people that subscribe to their blogs: How Do You Increase RSS Subscribers?

[Kevin]

Great to see you sign up Mark :)

There are a few things you can do to help increase subscribers

* Offer a full feed to readers. Cutting off your feed will discourage some people from signing up
* Make sure your subscribtion links are clearly marked on your site. On blogging tips I have the subscription link at the very top right of every page. I also have a link below posts and anothe link in the footer.
* Remind your readers to subscribe to your feed every now and then in your posts

On 45n5 I think you should place the subscription link in its own box and give it a header. At the moment you have a note that '45n5 (http://www.45n5.com/) will be tweaking the layout over the next few days. '

I think you should move that somewhere else and give the box a header - (eg. you have Recent Comments at the top of the comments area, why not have Subscribe at the top of that box)


The bottom line is increasing the number of subscribers is a long and hard journey but with every good post you write you should get a few more readers :)

[cmanlong]

i actually just wrote two articles on this very issue.

Feed Failure in 5 Easy Steps (http://cmansmoneypages.blogspot.com/2007/07/feed-failure-in-5-easy-steps.html)

Feed Success in 5 Easy Steps (http://cmansmoneypages.blogspot.com/2007/07/feed-success-in-5-easy-steps.html)

enjoy

These are things that I do to maximize subscriptions and retention.

[45n5]

thanks cmanlong they were both enjoyable reads.

Kevin, good analysis, I'll be implementing some of them later this afternoon.

I was also thinking of maybe like a "welcome page" for new visitors? Introduce them to how to subscribe, where your popular info is, maybe give them something free?

thanks again ya'll

[Kevin]

Thats a good idea Mark
You could link to reviews of some feed readers or tell visitors the one you use

:)

[ses5909]

Some people write ebooks on their niche market and then offer the ebook ONLY if you subscribe to the feed. Brilliant idea if you ask me.

[Kevin]

Yeah I've noticed a few ebooks released in the last few months Sara, specifically John Chow and Yaro Starak

It's a good way to promote your blog, particuarly if you can offer information which isn't found elsewhere

[Marc]

theres a pluggin that may help you increase rss readers http://www.richardkmiller.com/blog/wordpress-plugin-what-would-seth-godin-do/

[45n5]

@marc - cool plugin, I'm not on wordpress but I get the idea

@ses5909 - ebooks probably could rock. not sure about actuall subscribers but just spreading your brand in general i think

i've been thinking of how to get an ebook to spread and thought of allowing people to replace my affiliate links with their own in the ebook as long as they left my info (i want to spread it as far and wide as possible)

[Rich Minx]

I think often it's about reminding (without nagging :) )
I added the 'RSS subscribe remind' plugin message to the bottom of each post and that has definitely helped.

[Mani Karthik]

I think it's purely about how you market it.

1 - Writing compelling copies.
2 - Reminding in between without nagging.
3 - Driving them to it by giving privileges on subscribing.

But personally, i will subscribe to a blog only if the content is interesting.

Damn- somebody was talking about fooling your readers by faking a feedburner button.

[cmanlong]

I have noticed a nice jump in subscribers since I added a little blurb about subscribing in the signature of each post.

[Celebrienne]

The WP plugin WWSGD (What would Seth Godin Do?) which was mentioned by Marc before, is really a nifty feature and definitely helped me getting some new RSS subscribers. Just give it a shot! :)

You should also create a page and (easily (!)) explain your readers what RSS is in case they're not familiar with it. I, for instance, have been involved with blogs for about 2 years now, but it wasn't until a month ago when I really started to read feeds and subscribe to them because it seemed to be such a pain in the ass to understand what it was without getting lost in all the technical terms.

There's also a great video called "RSS in plain English (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU)" created by Commoncraft which I embedded on my blog to explain RSS for people who struggle to understand or use it.

But in the end, Mani's totally right - it's all about the content. This is by far the biggest factor with regard to RSS subscribers growth.

P.S.: I like the idea to fake the FeedBurner chicklet in fact. Success breeds success, right? Therefore it would make a great experiment to see if faking the subscribers count really works to increase the number of RSS subscribers.