Adding RSS subscription link within your blog’s sidebar isn’t enough these days. Yes, those links will get clicked on and you will get some subscribers, but you won’t convert a lot of those visitors into readers.
If you want to convert a high percentage of your visitors into RSS subscribers, here is what you can do:
Offer multiple options
Not everyone uses RSS feed readers. Even web savvy users like me don’t use feed readers. But what everyone uses is email, so a good way to get more subscribers is to offer an email subscription option.
Location, location, location
The location of the link to your RSS feed will play an important factor in how many subscribers you have. Here are a few locations to consider:
- Above the fold – you don’t want to have your readers scroll down to find your RSS feed.
- Sidebar – you can use your sidebar to offer multiple subscription options, such as email.
- Content – right after your blog post and right before your comments you can write a little blurb that convinces people to subscribe to your RSS feed. For example, you could use “Want to be notified when there is new content to read on Quick Sprout? Just enter in your email address and we’ll shoot you an email when there is new content for you to read. Don’t worry, I promise not to spam you or share your information with anyone else.”
Get creative
If you are willing to pay for services like Aweber, you can drastically increase your subscriber numbers. For example John Chow has gained a large portion of his subscribers through popups and footer ads (which Aweber and Ultimate Footer Ads provide).
If you look at the two images above you’ll notice that John Chow offers something for free to his readers. By offering a free guide or ebook, readers will be more willing to subscribe to your blog.
Play devils advocate
Many of your visitors will be nervous about subscribing to your blog. There are thousands, if not millions of blogs with good content… so why should someone subscribe to your blog?
By creating a list on why people ought to subscribe to your blog, you will be able to convince your visitors into subscribing. Here are some things you should cover in your list:
- List out your subscriber count – If you tell people how many subscribers you have, you’ll be more likely to get more subscribers.
- Use social proof – if you have ever been covered in a newspaper or magazine, make sure you let your readers know. If an authoritative source like the New York Times has something good to say about you, then your visitors will also think you have something good to say.
- Embrace laziness – people are lazy so if you explain how subscribing to your RSS feed will make their life easier, they will be more likely to do so.
- Make a promise and keep it – tell your visitors that you’ll help them do something if they subscribe to your feed. For example, I have promised you and other Quick Sprout readers that I’ll discuss the business mistakes I made so that hopefully you won’t make them.
- Offer something others aren’t willing to – one thing I offer that others aren’t willing to offer is that I respond to every commenter and every reader that emails me. That shows that I am loyal to you and other Quick Sprout reader.
Now if you take everything I mentioned above, you’ll end up having a list similar to this:
If you are reading this, you’re probably leaning towards not subscribing to Quick Sprout. Well, hopefully these 5 reasons will push you towards the other direction.
1. The Press is always right
Well, the Press isn’t always right, but I hope they are when it comes to me. I have been featured in newspapers and magazines like the Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, Inc, Business Week, Wired and USA Today. If they think the content I am writing is worth reading, well hopefully you will too.
2. Go with the flow
Over 10,000 readers are subscribing to the Quick Sprout RSS feed. I must be doing something right if they are continually willing to read my content, right?
3. I am dumber than I look
Dumb? That’s right, I am not the smartest person out there. I have made a ton of mistakes that have lost me a lot of money. By subscribing to Quick Sprout you’ll be able to read about my mistakes, learn from them, and hopefully you’ll save yourself from losing a million dollars like I did.
4. There’s nothing wrong with being lazy
I know I don’t blog everyday, so it can be a bit tricky to predict when my next blog post is coming out. If you want to come to the blog everyday to see if there is anything new, by all means do so. But if you want to be lazy, subscribe to the RSS feed and you’ll be notified when I post new content on Quick Sprout.
5. I am always willing to help you out
If you have any questions about business or need help with anything for that matter, I’ll do everything in my powers to help you out. Don’t worry, I am not looking for any sort of financial compensation, I just ask that you follow Quick Sprout and tell all your friends about it.
So now that I have convinced you to subscribe to Quick Sprout, you have a few options.
- If you use an RSS feed reader, you can get the Quick Sprout RSS feed from here.
- If you use email, click here to get the latest Quick Sprout content delivered to your inbox.
Don’t worry, no matter what method you choose, I promise I won’t spam you. And if for some reason you aren’t happy with the content I am writing, you can always unsubscribe.
PS: If you aren’t familiar with RSS and would like to learn what it is, click here.
Conclusion
If you look at Quick Sprout, you’ll notice that I don’t do everything that I mentioned above. It’s because some of those things didn’t work well with this blog. Or it could be that I haven’t gotten to them yet. This means that you need to test things out and find out what works for your blog. Remember, different blogs have different audiences.
And on a final note, feel free to use anything you see on my blog on yours. If you want to copy my “5 Reasons on why you ought to subscribe to Quick Sprout” word for word, by all means do so. 
This amazing course will teach you, step by step, how to double if not triple your traffic over the next 30 days.
I discovered quicksprout through a Twitter tweet and what a fresh surprise. You’ve given me very valuable ideas for increasing the subscription rate to my blog. I’m off right now to implement them.
Thanks!
For anyone thinking of trying Aweber, check out FeedmailPro.com first – much cheaper with the same benefits and deliverability rate.
The best way to build a list of subscribers is to use an autoresponder, and AWeber gets my vote as the best autoresponder of choice for small and large businesses.
Aweber does have a pretty big following… do your research, there are many great services out there. Aweber however is very reliable.
I agree aweber is very reliable and they continue to improve their services with new tools all the time. They seem to evolve with the internet better then most other autoresponder companies.
There are many companies out there, but that services is just one that’s very reliable.
I didn’t know aweber had a pop up service. I have been looking for a plugin to do that for about 2 weeks. The reason is because I use analytics to track the keywords that people use to find my site. At least 5 times a day, I will look at the keyword phrase and know the specific answer to the exact question they are searching for. However, they may not find it on my blog, or I haven’t written about it yet.
I am looking for a way, that I can send a little pop up to search traffic just to say hay, if you didn’t getthe specific answer you were looking for, feel free to use my contact form and I will answer your question.
I used to use aweber for auto responders and never knew they had this service. Thanks for the tip.
Hey bud, well glad to see that it’s working well for you. Just be careful with not being too intrusive with people.
Thanks for the recommendation. Just make sure you do your research before choosing either or.
I’m glad to see that. It’s funny how the most basic of concepts give the best results.
Hi Neil,
Thank you for the great tips.
However, I would love to know what is your opinion on the comment about the pop up box which is claimed to be intrusive and not reader-friendly?
Initially, I put the pop up box for my site and I got response from my readers who asked me take off the pop up box.
So, when do you think the best time to put the pop up box? Do I need to create great traffic first?
I think the pop up box isn’t too bad if you do it right. Here is what I mean.
1. Cookie your users so they don’t see the pop up box more than once.
2. Don’t show the pop up box to all visitors. Ex: A visitor from digg.com or twitter.com will probably hate the pop up box.
3. Don’t show the pop up box right away. This way only readers that are actually into your content will fill out the information. The last thing you want is tons of subscribers that don’t care to read your content.
I second your opinion Neil. Most blogger make this mistake by showing pop up to all the visitors and if I’m a regular reader of a blog and if I see pop up every day I go to the blog.. probably from next day I will stop going to that blog..
IMO a intelligent pop will be , show only to search engine readers after 3-4 page views. Such users are more likely to subscribe else for other users it will look like you forcing them so subscribe
Right, sometimes it can get annoying, but like I mentioned, it all depends on how well you use it.
Agree that a lot of people worry about contributing to “popup hell,” and that there are parallels to draw between email sending practices and subscriber collection ones.
You want to make sure that if they’re going to be bombarded with popups and such, you make it well worth it for them. Provide them with enough value that they’re cool with it.
so true! take johnchows, antics for example. VERY INTRUSIVE!!!
It can, but it does work for him… it’s mainly because he’s already an online mogul. If you have the following it won’t be so intrusive.
Yes, but only if John Chow would take your advice to cookie his visitors, then it won’t be so much of a problem. Imagine, once you go to John Chow’s page, you have to go through 3 different pop-ups.
It can be annoying, no doubt, but John Chow is definitely doing something right
Yea John Chow is making those big checks. But I just checked his website out now and did not receive a pop up to join his mailing list like I usually do so maybe he did do the cookies thing you were talking about… or maybe I subscribed! lol I cannot remember I just do not go to him that much anymore seems like a lot of junk he is trying to make money from everyday.
He covers a lot of things on his site and whatever he’s doing is working… he does make buku bucks though that’s for sure.
Excellent point Neil. If you control how many times your visitors see the popup and how often they see it..then it does not cause a problem with most readers.
Right, it’s the “all in moderation” rule. Don’t go extreme and bug them, but don’t do anything and let them get away.
Neil
Love your posts usually but I think here you are guilty of falling into the professional bloggers trap here of getting over excited about RSS subscribers. I really don’t feel that it is that big a deal and the only people who go on and on about RSS subscribers are the ‘make money’ bloggers.
I don’t agree for one minute that it is that important
The reason I am into RSS subscribers is because the more readers you have the more visibility your content will get.
I have tried the pop up box before on Quick Sprout and took it away because I am not into collecting emails off of users that don’t care to read my content.
I will probably relaunch something in the next month or so, but it will have to be thought out.
Lastly, from working with 30 or so of the Technorati 100 I have learned that RSS plays a BIG role in a blogs success. You don’t have to spam like some of the make money online bloggers, but the higher the RSS numbers the more likely that your blog will be successful.
Publish RSS Subscriber only post. Other bloggers have used the this baiting technique to get people to sign up to their RSS feeds. All you do is every once in a while, publish a list or a list of tips only to your RSS subscribers. Make sure you post about these “special tips” to your regular readers on your blog. This will make them sign up so they don’t miss out on the special tips
Exactly, it can easily help you increase the number of people who sign up exponentially. It also shows you care and gives them the feeling of importance.
I like this tip, but i want to know how/where explicit do you make the promise of RSS goodies for subscribers – can you show me an example?
Put it on the side bar saying “why you should sign up for my feed” or something like that. You can take what I do on my site and use it verbatim.
I know I am a blogging newbe, but how to you create a post just for RSS subscribers? I know my posts automatically go into my RSS. I use feedburner. Is there a simple way to publish a post in wordpress but not have it show up on your blog, and only go out to the RSS instead?
There are settings in your feed burner account that should help you do that.
I think that I do a pretty good job at Freshome.com and that I’ve already implemented everything that Neil posted in this article, but the problem is how I get more.
Well you got to keep at it. It’s a constant hustle and it doesn’t get any easer. There really isn’t an end in sight.
There are lots of things you can do to increase your subscribers.
For instance if you use wordpress, there is a plugin which looks at the referrer and you can add a custom paragraph for each referrer.
So if people were to visit your blog from twitter you might show a paragraph like: “hi Twitterer, you know you can keep up-to-date easily through the RSS Feed? Subscribe now to receive the first news immediately”
Or you give the blog posts a bit extra “ground breaking” information ONLY for the RSS readers. Use the following plugin for that: http://yoast.com/wordpress/from-rss/
All in all it’s about building a cummunity with return visitors.
Hey Baja,
Do you know the plugin that allows customized messages based on where the reader comes from. I have seen that before on blogs and want to get it for mine. Like once in awhile I will see, welcome googler, you searched for…
If you know the plugin I would appreciate it, thanks.
Here you go: http://omninoggin.com/wordpress-plugins/wp-greet-box-wordpress-plugin/
Thanks for posting the link
Thanks Baja,
That is awesome. I think I am getting plugined to death, but it is fun installing a lot of these and playing around with them. I appreciate the link.
Yeah, it’s too easy to be bombarded with so many of em. Just be careful as it will only distract you from quality work.
Stuff like that does help, just avoid getting carried away with it. The second idea is great, give only RSS members an extra incentive.
Yes Neil that is true and I admit I am guilty of spending more time than I should on this stuff. Speaking of this stuff, any update on kissmetrics?
That’s the million dollar question
@Neil. Advice worth following; RSS really does play a big role in the success of a blog, especially when coupled with the email subscription option to cover all grounds. I personally find the RSS feed reader less time consuming as it brings it all to one place.
@ Mihai, stay subscribed
Even though a lot of people don’t like it, there are many many people who find it very useful. It helps people catch up with their content a lot faster.
RSS subscribers are a very profitable part of any blog. Learn how to increase your RSS subscribers and watch your profits go up. Failing to take advantage of RSS subscribers is like leaving money on the table, a lot of money!
I agree, there is a lot of money to collect, just so long as you do it properly. Don’t annoy your database, but don’t avoid them either. You get what I mean?
Great tips.
RSS subscribers is really importent these days. There are many ways we can increase our sbscriber numbers and one of the ways is to place it above the fold and put a big momma icon that people wont be able to ignore. I’m not too focused about rss yet, but will try methods out very soon.
Just focus on writing powerful content and then the number of subscribers will automatically begin to increase.
If you have the art of writing powerful content then you can surely polish this art and give it a shape of creative writing. These days creative writers are using their caliber of content writing in the most efficient way to rule the different genres of writing.
Right, it’s very important and the difference that sets you apart from everyone else.
Hi Neil
I am really enjoying your blog, and especially since I am about to launch a new start-up. Your tales of success and failure have given me some great insights.
These ideas about compelling readers to subscribe are spot-on. The other key thing of course is to keep people subscribed by writing valuable content on a consistent basis. Readers can unsubscribe at the click of a button – with so many blogs out there competing for the reader’s attention, each post needs to be useful and original.
I have added your blog to my blogroll and look forward to many more interesting lessons.
Kind regards
Kevin
That’s great Kevin, thanks! That’s why you always need to stay on your toes… you have thousands upon thousands of competitors.
Pop up sign in boxes are irritating specially if you are already subscribed. You can even bribe people to subscribe via contests.
You can definitely provide contests and give a ways, just be sure to follow through with it and allow yourself enough time to market it.
The best way to keep readers coming and be interested in your website is by adding content of high interest. I am doing that on my website and the visitors keep on coming.
I think you’re wrong, because I know a lot of websites which add content frequently but I wouldn’t subscribe to their feeds because I have to find the RSS feed from the source
Best regards!
I didn’t say that I don’t use RSS feed, but valuable content si what people are looking for. They are reading a blog because what is written there is what they want to read.
Yes, but you obviously want to keep high quality in mind.
Exactly, providing your readers with the highest quality of content is the best way to retain them.
Great tips! My feedburner count hasn’t increased much yet, sadly. But I guess, I can take your advice and make some changes.
The last five tips you listed made me laugh!
-mighty
If what’re your doing isn’t working at all, then it’s time for you to change it up. Remember, having a gradual increase is also still a powerful thing to have.
Excellent article -) translated it into Russian (put a link to the original), I hope you do not mind -)
That’s perfectly fine!
I use
Email
Rss Feed
Feedburner
Twitter
Google Friend follower connect
Bookmark
These are the top ones everybody should have because most people use these and if they dont use they just save the link on top of their web browser.
That’s a great start Joshua. These are great tools to help you grow, but your main focus should be on providing powerful and compelling content too.
My favorite thing about FeedBurner is it’s ability to handle email subscriptions. A simple code addition to a blog can add instant newsletter signups, with double opt-in handled by FeedBurner.
Super sweet, I’ve been using them for a few years now.
They have a very powerful service, no doubt.
I usually use the John Chow’s method, I think it is the best. But Sometimes I offer some sort of rewards for the subscribers and I stimulate them for example I often give some free books to the readers and I boost my subscribers stats
Best regards!
It’s the law of reciprocity… you give a little and you’ll get a little. Offer them something for free, and get their info in return.
Sometimes they return more than a “little”, they just don’t understand it. I don’t what is the English word.. but everything happens without the knowing of the user. For example I give them information about a free coupon code for some kind of hosting and I accidentally have used cookie stuffing on my blog about the web hosting company and I get 50$ commission, it’s kind of a black hat and I don’t use it often
Best regards
Sounds like a big accident lol. Hey, you do what works, and those commission checks are great.
Good advice. I think offering a free e-course or report to knew subscribers is the best way to gain more readers.
It’s one of the best things you can do. Just be sure to create something that’s different from everyone else though… Having an “how to make money online” ebook only does so well…
Some great ideas on here Neil.
I think it’s important to try different things to see what works for a particular. Loads of bloggers try every possible technique all at the same time and their blog becomes a mass of RSS buttons, email forms and reader counts.
It’s easy to get get carried away. Keep it simple and keep your site looking great! (Just like yours!)
Thanks Ben, simplicity is an art that many people forget. It’s too easy getting caught up in 20 million plugins. Stay focused and stay simple.
Great tips! There are so many benefits to enticing readers to subscribe (via RSS or email). I’ve found it helpful to use Feed Reader to publish my feed because I can learn from the analytics and stats it offers about my readers.
That’s great Jillian! Your analytics well definitely teach you a lot of information that can give you an idea of where you should spend you time.
there must be a more efficient way to build your list. i really think, coming up with a huge list is the way to go to earn tonnes of money from affiliate marketing. i just don’t know how. any tips?
Well it begins with providing powerful content. I think you should stay away from your “how to make online” BS. It’s been done a million times already. Find something unique or less competitive.
yes i agree keywords like make money online and weight loss is very competitive. and securing even top 100 position in SERP is very difficult atleast for me.
It’s extremely difficult, especially for that particular niche. You really…really have to work your ass off to get results
AWeber lets you decide what the interval between each follow up message should be. Once your follow ups are written, adding them to AWeber under your list is really just a matter of cutting and pasting.So you can see that using an autoresponder is not really a big technical challenge at all. The real work consists of writing your follow up messages.
It definitely helps you in several areas… it allows for a high level of efficiency.
I normally place my link on the right sidebar (on the upper top). In term of conversion it is the best.
That’s great, and it’s all about testing so just go with what works for you.
Superb timing on this post- I majorly violate the rule “stick to one topic” on my blog which I do not mind. But one thing I want to do is split it out so readers do have more options and can easily filter through to what they like- to drive up subscribers.
It’s easily a way you can be much more effective and efficient at the same time. I’m glad it was delivered to you at the time you needed it.
Good one there Neil!
One of the ways i use to increase my subscribers – Click on “Mayank Agarwal” just above the comment
The link redirects you to my RSS Subscriber page instead if the main website.
This approach can work wonders if used properly.
hmmm, that’s a very interesting approach. I agree, it might be annoying, but if you use it properly, it can do you really well.
I’ve never thought considered us AWeber or services like that because it always seemed so annoying. However, the cookie idea never occurred to me. I thought that all of my readers would have to shut down the pop-up every time they came to the blog.
Thanks for the insight Neil.
No problem Brett, they’re are little tricks here and there that can and will make it effective.
Thanks Neil, your post was very helpful especially for a new startup blogger like me. Hmm, i’m a little bit curious.
I read Engadget everyday, since 2007 and i dont see their homepage displaying statistic number of feed subscribers. According to Technorati, Engadget ranked at number 7 right now. They must have a big number of feed subscribers.
I think what Engadget do is just encouraging their visitors to read the homepage and other ;old’ pages via search box. There’s no archive link either.
So each time new content comes out, Engadget readers visit the homepage, read what’s new along with any previous contents they have missed. I dont see a subscribe form on Engadget like most big blogs do.
I found the habit of visiting the homepage is much easier than subscribing during my early days as their vivid reader. Bookmark the Engadget homepage then come for a visit over and over again, 10-15 times a day!
Then i realized that what is Engadget want! Why their reader have to subscribe eventhough thousand of readers can easily, quickly access the site in a few clicks? That is what i’m thinking.
Well, this is just my personal opinion i eagerly want to share. To learn more I’ve personally subscribed their feeds by clicking the orange RSS button on the sidebar of my web browser, using Google Reader as reading option. All because i was so curious. I’ve found that Engadget feeds were set to “full feed”. Again, it makes me wonder!
What makes me think until this day is the question of, “why Engadget does not suggesting their reader to subscribe their feeds?” Maybe Engadget have hidden psycological strategy behind this.
Neil, what do you think?
Well I think its great. It’s the perfect example actually… use sites that compelled you to sign up to their feed… More often than not, you should do the same thing.
Hey Neil,
I installed that plugin to welcome new visitors to my blog and I think I can set it up to welcome anyone from any specific site that I want. Since I do get a few of your readers that venture over to my blog I am going to set up a greeting for your site to see how it works. However, I would like to change the website that my name links to in my comments from my static home page and add /blog so it goes to my blog, however it seems to hang something when I try this. Any ideas on how I can change my website?
Yeah I’ve seen that. You’re going to have to go to that plugins site and read the forums to customize to the way you want it.
hi neil. i have been around your blog for quite some time. i must admit you are doing things right. i once stumbled on a post of yours offering to coach bloggers how to properly do social networking. I just would like to know if you are still offering your services as a way to help new bloggers like me…
(by the way, i am not receiving e-mail notifications when you reply to my comments. you might wanna check it out as this could also be the case with your other followers.)
thanks!
hmm, I’ll look into that, but have you checked off the button under manage my subscriptions?
nope. the manage subsriptions is not checked off. you might wanna check with your other readers. thanks!
Well thanks for that, I’ll look into it.
hi neil great tips to convert our visitors into subscribers. i am using feed burner feed and its link is also above the fold. now i am thinking to use email subscription service, thanks.
That’s great, just be sure to test the places you post those links to find the best conversation rate
I never really paid much attention to my RSS subscription until a few weeks ago when I first read your post. After that, I moved up my RSS button, taught myself a little widget coding to get a nice looking RSS picture, then at the bottom of the post I asked readers to subscribe. The first day I had 20 new subscribers.
I don’t think I had any before that, but I wasn’t tracking it until I installed feedburner. Of course I am sure that it helped that I am in the middle of a pretty good series of 5 posts.
Speaking of writing in series. I think I also got that tip from one of your posts a few months ago. It really does help, not only for repeat traffic, but it lets me really get into my content without overloading one post. So I am able to provide extra value.
Your posts have really helped me out a lot the last few months. Thanks for so much great stuff Neil.
Wow, that’s fantastic!! I’m glad you’re instantly seeing results with what I’ve taught you to do. Good luck!
Hey Neil thanks for sharing this incredible information to compel visitors into subscribing to my blog. I have been searching exactly for this kind of information. I already know some of the points which you mentioned here but, also I learned some new to get more subscriptions to my blog. Anyway thanks once again.
That’s great to hear Robert. Please do share with us the results you get by using theses techniques.
How come I didn’t find you blog before this? Oh heavens! you write so well. Since I found your website this morning, I have spent a lot of time reading your posts. The thought came to my mind to stop reading and keep working on my projects but hell you write so well, you got me engaged. Good work and all the best for your future, will continue to check in time and again.
Thank you for your kind words Amol, it inspires me to write even more. I’m glad you liked what I wrote and I hope you implement it in your business.
This is most useful post i ever read. You gave example of rss subscription through pop up as johnchow do is very good. I am going to use it on my site InshAllah. Because i have not got any subscriber till now.
I’m excited to see the type of results you get, so please check back with us to let us now how it goes.
Neil, Really great post and the points you make are very compelling. I will add a subscribe page on my blog this week and see if my conversion results improve. You can always do with more subscribers… thanks again…
You’ll never know unless you test it out, so come back and share with us your results.
Again, I think the most important factor is how’s the setup of your homepage and color used to attract your visitors…this will be the 101 rule…
Catalin, I really think people get this point very wrong, because they see a few sites that look really crappy and get alot of traffic due to good content. However, it is very rare that a poorly designed site will gain a new reader these days. There has to be a mixture of both great content and good design. We are in a more astute world now and if you can’t meet the needs of your visitor then they just move on to the next site.
I recently done a post about this sort of thing see – http://theprodesigner.com/the-single-biggest-website-mistake-ever/
There are plenty of sites that have mediocre to basic designs who get a ton of traffic. Take a look at Stevepavlina.com and his blog. He has the most popular personal development site on the web.
It’s important, but not the most crucial thing. Focus on powerful content and you’re golden.
I noticed that less people is subscribing into my rss.I will try to change colors and see if it works.
It may not be the colors… but consider your content or even the placement of the rss buttons.
Very well said. I’ll try to apply these principles and tips to my blog and vlog now….
Destination 10,000 subscribers!!!!
That’s a fantastic goal and I hope you achieve it!
I would have to say contetent is #1 for me. I don’t care about free ebooks etc.
Well that’s great, not all the points will work for every person… at least one hit your hot button.
You know what, the design of web page is a great skill and it’s always tie to advertisement, buy some of the design books and get a feel of some of the design that can “control” the audience to look at certain things…you will be amazed with that…
Always do your research and then test your findings. Different things work for different sites. You just need to spend the time figuring out the details.
I like some of the Japanese advertisement and perhaps I should design some Japanese style webpage to attract more visitors…
Hey whatever works for you… Do some market research and as much testing as you possibly can.
good info. i tend to disagree with one thing though. i mean maybe people don’t care much for it but i find those pop up or under opt in forums very annoying. your reading the post and it keeps popping up. but its just my test maybe it doesn’t bother others, and that’s why its used by successful blogger like jon chow. any how good read. thanks.
It works for some while it doesn’t for others. It’s a great way to gain more readers, but understandably harder to retain them.
Great Post.
I use WordPress as a blogging platform and the “What would Seth Godin Do” plugin. I was not getting any subscribers be for that. I’m focusing more on quality content that gives people a reason to come back and visit. It takes longer to write, but its more fun and you actually seem to get more subscribers.
Good quality is really all it takes. Sometimes it takes me over 5 hours to write one blog posts. As long as you enjoy what your doing, it shouldn’t be work at all.
I think we should do some DOE on the blog and see which design layout is having the highest visitor and obviously re-visit visitors.
There are probably many sites dedicated to finding that exact information.
First of all..WOW 120+ comments that is totally awesome.
Funny thing is I was trying to figure out a list just like this earlier today. I am in desparate need of RSS subscribers, I only have five. 5? Yup 5!
I have a few blogs that have well over 400 comments
Don’t be in desperate need of anything. If you want more, then you need to write more.
I always believe some attractive photos on top of your intended message that could pull visitor attention
Hey, I agree with you, but it may not always be true. Especially if all of your pictures are like that.
Again Great Post—People love to read about failure, maybe more than success because if all you talk about is your success it sounds like you are bragging.
Also, it’s a smart idea for you to take advantage of that knowledge so you prevent yourself from making the same mistake.
How could you not read a post with the title “How to Compel Your Visitors Into Subscribing to Your Blog”? Great word “Compel”.
That’s what we are all trying to do.
One thing you didn’t mention (unless I missed it) was always replying to the comments. I notice that you do exactly that.
Perhaps that’s the secret to your success!
I’ll work through your suggestions one at a time.
Well, my thought on it is that if people are willing to go through the trouble to send me a comment, I should take the time to respond to them.
My subscriber numbers are staying pretty steady. No significant bounce up or down. Sometimes I wonder if the surge in social media is causing a decrease in actual blog subscription numbers. Any insight?
It probably is… the more competition out there, the harder it will be for you. That doesn’t mean you should quit, it means the when something does hit, you can have much higher numbers with the stream of traffic.
Neil, What is your recommendation to compete in those more competition keyword?
Try to avoid the competitive keyword and work hard with the ones that aren’t so much. You don’t want to start battling it out with people who have much more capital then you.
Try building solid backlinks,not “firework” links…
great advice, thanks for the input.
Carlocab.com and johnchow.com is the best example. We must follow to collect Email opted-in lists.So we must take into the location of RSS icon or opt-in form.Try to make a good results to teach reader ” What is RSS feed” ?
Very true, so it’s always a good idea to have some kind of brief idea of what it’s about nearby.
hello, neil. i think RSS will not work for me because I monetize my blog through blog advertising a lot. But thank you for the tips, However, I am wondering how I could change my template so that my pictures will look clearer and bigger and more SEO friendly. any idea?
It is not easy to get people to subscribe your blog. In my opinion it is almost impossible without proper reward for that. Sometimes it can be something very small, sometimes we need to think something bigger or more important. But for beginners I must say that none of them will get subscribers for a long time.
It is difficult, no doubt! If you’re able to work you butt of by providing super high quality content, you’ll be able to attract buyers in no time.
Hi Neil.
I like what you have here. I have a lot to learn!
Question: Can you tell me the relative benefits of simply having a feedburner or feedblitz RSS or email vs aweber/mailchimp/vertical response email vendors?
What I surmise is that the email vendors enable stronger opt-in persuasions within the opt-in form, and then let you build campaigns around offers to your list.
Then there’s cost, with the vendors charging, although feedblitz does too. I gather than feedburner doesn’t?
Anyway, any guidance would be appreciated!
Thanks.
Joe
If you use the paying subscriptions, you’ll be able to customized anything that you send out to your group… compared to only sending out new blog posts… With the paying subscriptions, you can create special marketing campaigns, surveys, and probably much more to entice your clients to take action.
After watching the video from John Chow how he makes 40k a month I will do Aweber service. I just need to get my funnel ready and blog setup.
It just completely makes sense how he is doing it and I see how other blogs are making pennies on the dollar of their full potential.
It did work for him… but its not as easy as 1 2 3… it’s years of hard work.
Good advice. I think offering a free e-course or report to knew subscribers is the best way to gain more readers.
You’re right, it’s definitely a good way to do it, but not the only way. Like I mentioned, don’t neglect Facebook, Twitter, or just blogging with high quality content.
Do whatever you want, if a visitor does not want to subscribe, he will not do so. I think the most important thing is provide QUALITY UNIQUE content that really interests the visitor and bring benefits to him. At the end of your article, you then add your subscription links, that may help.
Exactly Guildford… if you provide the same thing everyone else does… you’ll give nothing that’ll benefit the visitor.
I really like the “RSS beartrap” with some websites it feels like a trap instead of the next step on a adventure learning with a guide. That is alot how your blog feels. (the learning part)
Well there are obviously several different ways and angles you can approach it, but just test it out and see what’s best for you.
Hey Neil,
I think the most important part of getting visitors to become REAL READERS it to put out quality content, which is exactly what you do.
And that’s probably the best reason to find why you have an insane number of readers and traffic – because content is king!
Sincerely,
Jay Jalodomisa
You nailed it right on the head Jay. The better the quality you can provide, the more loyal visitors you’ll have.
Great tips. RSS subscribers is really importent these days. There are many ways we can increase our sbscriber numbers and one of the ways is to place it above the fold and put a big momma icon that people wont be able to ignore. I’m not too focused about rss yet, but will try methods out very soon.
Good… it’s something to really begin considering when you have massive amounts of traffic. Great job so far!
Some great tips there. Personally the pop-up banner thingy upon entering the site is a really big put-off for me – literally, I will just close the site altogether straight away.
yes, I appreciate your feedback, the pop ups have been taken off. Some people liked them and some didn’t, but I decided to just take them off.
I really like the “I am dumber than you think” part. Sure to get eyeballs.
lol… yeah it will
“Embrace laziness – people are lazy so if you explain how subscribing to your RSS feed will make their life easier, they will be more likely to do so.”
Haha that’s so true. Most people are lazy and telling them that it’ll make things easier sounds like it really would work to get more subscribers.
That’s why you need creativity to outshine their laziness.
How many people out there simply don’t use RSS or don’t know how to? I wonder what would happen is you were to make a blog post describing RSS, its advantages as well as adding a short tutorial on using RSS readers. Then people will subscribe. Or at least more of them will.
RSS is definitely not as popular as you would expect or want it to be… but there is always email subscription which is what really works well.
I just subscribed to Aweber yesterday and install the lightbox feature last night. Once again, you offer very valuable content! I will subscribe to your RSS feed right now!
Awesome, glad to hear it.
RSS really helps in today’s world. It gives real time updates and now a days RSS is also peeked more by people around internet.
It makes it easy for you to read several blogs at one time.
All you do is every once in a while, publish a list or a list of tips only to your RSS subscribers. Make sure you post about these “special tips†to your regular readers on your blog.