From what I can tell, the best way to get return visitors to a blog is by convincing people to subscribe to your RSS feed. That way they are reminded of updates, etc. My question is, are there any good ways to get more people to subscribe to your feed? Until getting into blogging more, I didn't really know much of what feeds did. Even now, I've never used a feed reader, and I doubt my average blog reader has either. So basically, what is the best subscription method to recommend to my readers, and what should I do to convince them that by subscribing they are getting something good in return? I was thinking of making a separate section of my blog to explain how to sign up to an RSS feed and the benefits. Any ideas?
Just a quick update. I've condensed my email subscribe box, and made the rss feed icon larger. I plan to write a small blurb about the benefits of subscribing sometime today or tomorrow to see if that helps. So far, I don't seem to be getting new subscribers. I'm holding at about 20.
Why people not get you feed can be many reason, but one reason can be that they do not know where to find the RSS feed on your site, it can also be that you don't have quality content. So Promptly your RSS feed, by banners on your site. Also add your RSS feed to RSS feed search engine.
I've already got my feed fairly large at the top of my site. Are there any good RSS feed search engines you can recommend. I'm already using some automated pinger service every time I make a new post to ping a bunch of sites, but hopefully I'm not missing anything big.
Here's some tips -Write good content that will make readers want to come back (ex. breaking long posts into a series) -Put RSS/Email subscription links above the fold -Add some buttons to make it easy to add directly to the popular feed readers -Add a note on some popular posts saying: if you like this subscribe to our feed -Add a page explaining RSS, popular feed readers, how to subscribe -Submit to RSS directories (RSS submit pro is a good, free way to start http://www.allscoop.com/tools/rss-submit/ )
Anyone looking to promote their feed should consider creating partnerships with RSS readers...By that, I mean readers like popuload.com that are free and offer a selection of pre-loaded feeds upon download. When both sides are gaining, both sides are usually willing to scratch each other's backs. Obviously, you'd still have to be tactful when approaching them, but it would definitely benefit you! Just another idea!