It doesn’t take a whole lot to start a blog and run it these days but in terms of getting and keeping subscribers it can be pretty hard. There are lots of different methods for gaining subscribers for your blog’s RSS feed but it is not necessary to use each method or that they work well for you. Keep reading to learn a few good methods that you can use to raise the numbers on your RSS subscription list–the only way to find out if these methods actually work for you is to test them out. Ready to get started?
Add an RSS Feed Icon to Your Blog: Have you ever come across those blogs where the RSS feed icon is not only small but it’s tucked away in the corner somewhere? Blog readers won’t even think about subscribing if they can’t easily see anywhere for them to do this. Some blog readers won’t think to go searching for your subscription icon, especially if they don’t see it right away. Find an icon that is easily recognizable and make the effort to put it in an easily visible place on your blog. Of course, you shouldn’t compromise the overall design of your blog while doing this or you risk it looking unprofessional. Be sure you leave the icon colored orange, as recoloring it may make it more difficult for readers to recognize it. Keep From Overdoing: While it is recommended that you update your blog with many posts during the day or week, you don’t want to go overboard on it. Your approach on balancing how often you offer new and useful content to your readers needs your attention so that you don’t overwhelm them with content. Your readers might just click the unsubscribe button if they are getting so many updates and find they feel overwhelmed because they can’t keep up. So just the way it’s important that you focus on gaining new subscribers, it’s also important that you retain the old ones so that your subscriber numbers aren’t going down. The only exception to this rule are blogs that are focused on fast paced niches that are required to update frequently. You will get better results if you adhere to a certain amount of posts per day or week.
Have an Option to Subscribe to Email: Don’t limit your readers by telling that they’ll only be able to subscribe to your RSS feed in one way – offer them email subscriptions too because that way you’ll give them the easiest way to subscribe. Email is still used widely by the majority of the people and a lot of them prefer receiving their updates in email, instead of an RSS reader. If you’re using a service like Feedburner to optimize your feed and track it, then you’ll be able to use their ‘publicize’ option to activate the email subscriptions. Another option that can help you manage your email subscribers and your feed as well is FeedBlitz.
The initial stages of your blog development and getting the right kind of audience are always going to be difficult, which is why you need to be focused on having repeat visitors so that your traffic is balanced.