Before I started Court’s Internet Marketing School, I had absolutely no idea how powerful it is to have a group of people that reads your site through RSS.
Confession time: I actually used to think it was stupid to allow people to read your site through RSS because it seems to cost you valuable impressions every day.
Right now there are around 900 people that read my site through RSS. Simple math seems to tell you that over a month’s time, that would cost me 27,000 visits to my site – about the same amount of unique visitors I have every month.
Does this mean that I could effectively double the amount of unique visitors I have every month by deleting my RSS feed? Even though it seems like it could be the case, it couldn’t be farther from the truth. Before I started this site I didn’t see the value in RSS but I was very wrong.
3 Reasons You Desperately Need RSS Subscribers
- Your RSS subscribers are the people that will link to your site most often. This will positively affect your search engine optimization efforts more than almost anything else. More links is always going to translate into more search engine traffic.
- RSS subscribers are more likely to add your posts and pages to social media sites like BloggingZoom, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit. If you don’t have a good RSS count, you probably don’t have a base of social voters.
- RSS subscribers are more likely to buy your affiliate offers than random people that come across your site. Since they will get to know you and trust you (assuming you’re trustworthy), they will likely put more stock into your recommendations. Note: If you give sucky recommendations this will have the opposite effect.
There is no doubt that without my subscriber base, I would have less traffic. My RSS readers are the ones that link to my site, and they are the ones that are voting for me on social sites. There is absolutely no way I could have the Google rankings I have without my RSS subscribers.
The #1 goal for your blog should be to increase your RSS count. Nothing is more important than this. If you don’t have a blog but are using a traditional site, make sure you create an RSS feed that people can use.
The next post I publish will help you to increase your RSS count. You’re probably going to want to subscribe to my RSS feed now so you don’t miss it.
Steve McGrath
edit
I was a visitor turn RSS reader. I will comment, like now, from time to time.
Plus, you could add RSS ads in the feed to compensate. Just enough to make some money with 2-3 advertisers per post. You will need to take the number of post/month into consideration.
Frank C
edit
I find myself subscribing by email to blogs that aren’t updated regularly but I tend to just go ahead and directly visit those that I like that are updated regularly. I feel like I’m missing part of the experience if I use a reader.
Gids
edit
Hi Court
I think you’re right on the money with this on all counts.
Without RSS and full feed it would be impossible for me to keep up.
Partial feed is a tease and there’s not one left on the 50+ feeds I have; and no I don’t visit there sites or give them my email address – the partial feeders lost me!
PS Thanks for the new themes – always great to get new ones.
Portal Guy
edit
I like that you can get regular updated info from those that you subscribe to and not have to have your email account get so crowded. Here is a great resource to take your business to the next level: http://portal-feeder-review.com
Justin
edit
I agree with you heavily on this one. And posting regularly is a must otherwise that baby can drop fast.
Steven Snell
edit
Well said Court. The only thing I don’t like is that it’s impossible to know how many people actually read your feed.
James Lee
edit
I check up on my feed subscriptions through firefox live bookmarks…and more specifically, I save the feeds in a folder on my bookmarks toolbar.
In a nutshell, I actually visit the site after viewing the title of the post via the folder. So even though I’m a feed subscriber, I’m hitting the site most every day. I wonder how many subscribers are like this.
Also, wordpress 2.1+ cuts off the feed annoyingly. But this might work well for the publisher as it forces the reader to the site to read the rest of the article.
Frank C
edit
You can get a full feed plugin that allows you to still use -more- or optional excerpts and still get a full post in the feed.
CutieGadget
edit
Yeah, I Think I have to optimize the feedburner… I just considered now how feed will increase the SERP
Lin
edit
I couldn’t agree with you more. I read your blog by RSS feed, amongst many others, and every day I find several of the blogs with posts (such as this one) that move me to pop on over and comment.
I am much LESS likely to subscribe a blog by email because I found by doing so that I get spammed big time. Not only does that cause me to unsubscribe from the blog, but I also remove them from any friends list on networking sites. I think people that misuse email addresses are probably the lowest of the low amongst bloggers.
RSS feeds is the easiest way to subscribe to blogs, and I’ve been thrilled that my subscriber numbers have doubled in a very short time. You do great work here Court!
Neena
edit
Court,
I agree with Lin. When I read an interesting post via RSS I am very likely to click over and post a comment, which results in increased pageviews.
Tay - Super Blogging
edit
Guess what Court? I’m both an RSS subscriber AND a site visitor to this blog!
But anyway, I don’t think you could’ve said it any better. I used to be the same way – I thought that when people subscribed you lost tons of valuable uniques and pageviews. But like you said, it’s really the opposite – it’s those subscribers that’ll be willing to send you even more pageviews because they refer people to your site!
Heather in Beautiful British Columbia
edit
Good post Courtney! I clicked over here from the email as I wanted more info…
This will sound dumb I’m sure, but I don’t really know what an RSS feed is, where to find one or how to install it. I wouldn’t have gone looking as I didn’t know the advantages, but now you’ve explained the ‘why’ I WANT one too
BUT, please explain the ‘how’ as well.
Court
edit
Hey Heather! Here’s a lesson I created to help people to learn about RSS:
http://courtneytuttle.com/2007/09/24/the-beginners-guide-to-reading-with-rss/
That should get you started! Watch for a lesson before too long on how to install Feedburner to track your RSS count.
Spuds
edit
And I just subscribed to yours.
Matthew Griffin
edit
I agree, RSS subscribers are extremely important. Leaving out RSS on a blog is like a magazine only offering their publication at the newsstand–A big mistake. The big question we grapple with is whether or not to include the full text of each article. I’ve heard great arguments for RSS teasers and for full text.
Digital Music Recording
edit
I am convinced. I am subscribing separately.
Monika @ The Writers Manifesto
edit
Great post Court and I look forward to seeing your tips on increasing RSS feeds. I can certainly use them myself.
Making Sales Making Money
edit
Court, Ive never thought it was I never thought it was stupid, however, I have found it one of the more challenging aspects of running a blog. The fluctuations can make one a bit of a nut job, I look forward to your suggestions. Until then I ‘ll keep trying to add value content and hope for the best. But I have to say that oversize d button you have on this post has to have had a positive effect for you. Confession time for me now, I just subscribed to your feed because of it, although Ive been visiting your site 15 times a day. I guess I never saw a need to subscribe. Good work
Mert Erkal
edit
Great post Court! I never looked at RSS subscribers from your perspective. Thanks for the motivation! I subscribed to your RSS feeds long time ago
Joe
edit
Boy …. the more I learn … the more I find that I still need to learn .. arggg …I’m a newbee to all this and there is so much to digest … how to create a good blogsite, search word optimizing, now feeds, etc.
(
)
My site is still very crude, and visits rare …
Hope I can learn enough before I get discouraged and quit. Always willing to accept advice from anyone who has fought the good fight and won ….
Chee Kui
edit
Guess what? I didn’t even bother about the number of RSS subscribers that I have too, and now, I try to grab every opportunity that I have to turn those one time visitors from search engines to faithful subscribers.
And it’s kinda hard to keep coming up with quality contents that your subscribers to make sure they stay as a subscriber… but of course, it’s a good problem to have.
Chee Kui
edit
Sorry, I supposed to say I *used to* don’t bother…
Digital Music Recording
edit
I subscribed to your RSS feed yesterday and as I write this, I am yet to receive any thing from you!
Todd Morris
edit
hmmm … I’m not so sure that the idea that RSS subscribers don’t also contribute to site visits is totally valid … especially if your posts encourage comments. I think that in addition to being the most likely to submit your posts to social networks, RSS subscribers are also quite likely to be the most likely to leave regular comments. … and until there is a way to do that from an RSS reader, they have to visit your blog … the best of both world
dan
edit
as long as you keep posting, we’ll keep reading. the numbers that good blogs can get are staggering. gotta keep them coming in to look around
Genuine
edit
Your 5,000 (odd) words on blogging is what gave me the final push to add a subscribe by email button to my blog. So, pretty cool, and since I just added it yesterday, I’m excited that I already have a subscriber, squee!
Make Money Online
edit
I just wanted to say that I love this site
Chris
edit
Hi Court! I just started my new blog: http://www.floridaguyinbrazil.com/ and I have to say that I’m so glad I found your site! I have a long way to go, but I believe that with the great tips found at your site I’ll be successful. It’s going to take hard work, but I’m willing to put in the time and effort. I hope one day to write a book about my experience in relocating to Brazil so that I can help others.
Have a geat day!
Chris