10 guaranteed ways to get more readers
All bloggers dream of having a large following of loyal, happy, appreciative readers. RSS, which stands for real simple syndication, gives people a chance to read your blog posts without needing to physically surf to your domain each day. As the Internet ages, more and more people are turning to RSS to stay up-to-date with their favorite bloggers. Here are ten ways to help you get more RSS subscribers.
1. Make your RSS icon easy to find
Readers cannot subscribe to your RSS feed if they can’t find it. How you choose to advertise your RSS icon is up to you. A winning strategy may include:
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Make your RSS icon big and noticeable.
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Animate your RSS icon.
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Place the RSS icon on the top and bottom of every page.
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Put your RSS icon in the sidebar of every page.
2. Advertise your RSS feed
Don’t just show visitors your RSS feed icon, tell them about it too.
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Write a blog post letting users know how and where to subscribe to your feed.
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Add a link to your feed in your about us or bio page.
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If you send an email newsletter, remind those loyal readers that an RSS feed is available, and how they can subscribe.
3. Submit to directories
Most webmasters submit their to search engines and directories, but fail to do the same with their RSS feeds. Submit your feed to as many directories as you can, including:
4. Give an incentive
Make readers want to sign up for your RSS feed by giving them a reason to do so. Give subscription readers a free gift for signing up like a pack of free icons, access to an eBook or additional information not found on your website.
5. Post daily
You can be the world’s best writer, but still disappoint readers. Keep a blogging schedule and stick to it. Make sure your readers know they can depend on you and that you won’t waste their valuable time.
6. Offer full RSS feeds
Don’t give snippet feeds, but full blog postings in your RSS feeds. People turn to RSS for convenience; if they have to click away from their reader to get to your domain to read a full post, they may not stick with you.
7. Link to your feed
Link directly to your RSS feed in addition to your domain name. You can link to your feed in a multitude of ways:
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Your email signature
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Forum postings
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When commenting on other blogs
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Your business cards
8. Publicize your subscriber number
Once you’ve gained 100 subscribers, publicize that number on your blog. The more readers you have, the more your visitors will think they’re missing out on something by not subscribing.
9. Encourage subscription
Add a tagline to the end of every post to encourage readers to subscribe to your feed. A simple sentence like “If you like this post, subscribe to my RSS feed” can dramatically increase your subscription counts.
10. Give readers a lesson
RSS feeds are still relatively new. Not everyone who happens upon your domain will know what RSS is or how to use it. Write a post about RSS and link directly to your feed.
Are you doing all you can to promote your RSS feed?