Blogging Tips

10 Killer Ways to Boost Your RSS Subscription Number

One of the common complaints most bloggers have is that gaining even a small RSS subscription number consistently is an uphill task for them. They are all struggling with low subscription counts and just cannot seem to get past the double digit subscription number. There are many posts around the internet that will talk about boosting your number of RSS subscribers. But then, this is a post where I share my tips on how you can increase the number of subscribers. And the mistakes that I have learned from, while I tried to gain more readers to become subscribers.

1. RSS is as important as email subscription

Although, you may find the subscription email box on every blog that you go. Fair warning is that some readers will not prefer to be emailed new posts. For example, for me it is much more convenient to read the latest post on Google reader, rather than opening my inbox expecting mails and finding new posts with it. It is a matter of personal preference- and many visitors would prefer your RSS subscription option rather than email deliveries.

See Also: Stylish & Cute Subscription Form To Increase subscribers

2. Write guest posts

Do guest posts on popular blogs, you will definitely find a jump in the subscription number. The only point to note is that make sure your blog has good content on the home page before getting the guest post published. There is no sense in doing a guest post when your blog would fail to impress visitors. And if you don’t impress, there will be no RSS sign ups either.

3. Use a pop-up

They are intrusive no doubt, but they are proven to work and the best blogs on the internet make use of it. The only reason is – they work! Some blogs that do make use of the pop-up to encourage visitors to sign up are blogs like Shoutmeloud, Famousbloggers etc. They have great traffic and a lot of subscribers. In fact, Darren Rowse managed to increase his conversion rate by more than 700% using pop-ups.

4. Start a useful and irresistible series to boost subscription number

Starting a four or five post series on an interesting topic is another clever techniques bloggers use for forcing a visitor to subscribe. But make sure the series is interesting and really worth subscribing for – in that case, people will sign up to ensure that they are notified for every new post you publish in the series.

5. Use an attention grabbing RSS button

You can use a big RSS button so people don’t miss it. Most readers don’t have the time to find a tiny RSS icon and moreover, RSS links are hard to find in a blog. So ideally provide a nice, big button for users to see. At the same time, you can also use a .gif format animated button. if the button has effects or if it is really attractive, that can really encourage a visitor to sign up for the post subscriptions from your blog.

6. Use your About page

I am the sort of browser who would definitely visit the About page of a blog if I get curious about the blog or if I think the site is interesting. And so many times, an impressive about page has motivated me to sign up to their newsletter or posts. So give your subscription links at the end of your about page.

See Also: Making The Most Of Your About Me Page

7. Give good content

The base line of any high subscription number is that the blog provides great value in their content. Time is precious for everyone. Nobody wants to waste time reading something which bores them and is not of any use. So providing valuable content should be a task you should religiously follow.

See Also; 12 Tips For Writing Engaging Content For Readers

8. Write a post on RSS subscription

This is another technique which I have observed some bloggers are using. You can create a post all around RSS subscription – which talks about what is RSS and how it can be useful to a reader. You can give the benefits and convenience of a RSS feed and their popularity. At the end of the post, you can provide links and call-to-action for the reader to sign up for your feed. This is a technique that is really similar to a squeeze page.

9. Don’t show your RSS count

It is recommended not to show your RSS account until it reaches a decent number. Because RSS subscription number is vital social proof, visitors judge your blog status by the number of readers you have on roll. So if the number is too low, you should probably hang back until it reaches a good number. Once it touches a good amount of readers, then you can display it to encourage even more subscribers to join the feed.

10. Finally, a call to action

A call to action is the most obvious way to get a boost in subscription number. Do you end all your posts asking the reader to subscribe to your blog? If not, then start doing it. You readers need to be reminded that there is an option to subscribe to your blog articles. Many readers are not aware and others are too busy or have things on their mind. So a call to action with a subscription link at the end of every post can do you wonders.

Getting new subscribers and increasing subscription number is a challenging task, but it is not impossible. Be confident and never give up even when you feel that people are not reading your blog. It is only a matter of time and a period of lot of learning’s before you can become successful. I have done my talking, now I would love to hear some comments from your side below. I would be happy to get a chance to talk to you about increasing subscription number!

Guest Post by Vivek Krishnan from Entrepreneur blog.

5 Reasons How Blog Comments can Increase Your Blog Ranking

By Rajkumar Jonnala 9 Comments

When we are writing blogs as a regular feature, we find a special bonding with the readers. The comments must be good and heartfelt to bring the readers back to the page to read them. Few ways can be discussed to find out how to increase the ranking of the page.

Blog comments and reading the posts:

There are reviews and comments that are posted by just getting a glimpse of the reviews. This is not a good practice and if you keep working in this way then the readers will find the thinning interest level and then they will stop commenting and coming back to read your blogs and comments. The best way is to read the points thoroughly and then thing about it and then find a few good points to discuss. Then write them down in a few crisp lines so that they are short but to the point and this crispness will bring in more readers, increasing the ranking.

Be a friend to the community, know their choice:

When you are commenting, you will find there will be small information regarding the choices and likings and disliking of the readers. They may like to drink coffee or may feel good in a blue cardigan and all these small things become important to them. When you can comment on these or refer to the likings of the readers, you get the readers closer to the group. They feel the bonding and then come back to the site at least once to check if there is any comment for them to go through.

Be a teaser for your readers:

You can tease the readers to make them feel good and come closer to the community. The reader base is from different age group and some small jokes and few questions on the comments that can have different meaning will make the blog comments interesting read. The readers will crave for more such session where they can laugh a little and pull each other’s legs and feel the warmth of the bonding. This bonding can make the readers come closer and also increase the ranking with their regular visit. The different types of people from different background can be in this community and they will all find something funny to say at times and thus make the session interesting and attractive and less boring.

Use technicalities to Make popular comments:

You can use different links in the comments so that they will pull up the page ranking. You can use keywords that will bring the comments for the blog and users following keyword search will get these comments by those word. You can use do follow and anchor text links for the commenting page so that the search engines offer the comments to the user of the engine. You can also find out other posts that are there in the popular sites and then comment on them and then point your site from there. Copy the link is the address bar after you have posted the comments and for this purpose you can use Pingomatic or Pingler etc. These links in the popular sites will help you to increase your PageRank for the comments pasted in your website.

A new angle and interesting comment:

You can find the comments that have been there on the page and then try to post your own views about the subject. You must try to find the note of the previous comments and then try to bring in a new line or a new angle of the topic. Do not make it boring and repetitive. Keep it short and interesting so that it is good to go through and then other might agree or disagree and the topic discussion can turn to a new zone of the old subject. This can be done regularly and can make your topics and blogs and comments more interesting. This attraction can bring in the regular readers and even the readers of blog comments as the angle is unique.

The blog comments are short lines and they need to be to the point for the readers to find interest in them. These regular changes in topic and comment angle attract readers and they feel the urge to comment on your site regularly too, increasing the ranking of the page.

Author Bio:

Rajkumar Jonnala Full time SEO Consultant and Currently Working for bookgator.com which Provides wide range of online textbooks, school textbooks and many more.

5 Things to Confirm You Are Still A New Blogger

By Rahul Kuntala 31 Comments

Do you know what it makes a blogger professional blogger or newbie blogger? Professional blogger learns from his/her mistakes while the other one who never learns from their blogging mistakes is called a NEWBIE blogger.

Are you blogging from so many days or just started? Let’s check out whether you are newbie blogger or not…

#1. Looking At Stats All The Time:

This sounds to be crazy but its common for the newbie bloggers who check their traffic stats all the time. Stop checking it, or disable the plugin if you are using WP stats plugin. And don’t check your stats even in Google analytics!!

I agree that stats reveal your blogging success and progress but what’s the use if you stare at them always? Instead of checking all the time, set a proper time for checking your stats once in a day or at the weekends.

#2. Updating The Themes Thrice A Week:

Shocked? You will do this if you are a absolute beginner. You always like to change your theme at least once a week.

How to overcome: Stop chasing after updating the themes, concentrate on the quality content creation. My advice is use simple and minimal theme like this blog.

#3. Looking At Alexa Rank So Often:

Keep your head on the content creation, building network and getting traffic to your blog rather than looking at the alexa ranking system. What’s the use if you just sit and look at that widget or rank?? Will it change?

Otherwise try to increase your alexa by updating more often. The more you update, the chances of increasing your rank will be more. Install alexa rank widget and toolbar in your browser to increase your rank.

#4. You Feel Lazy to Write Regularly:

You should be consistent in writing/updating your blog. It’s not necessary to write one post/day though. But, you should always update your blog often. It’s needed if you want to succeed in blogging.

Keep one thing in mind that “Perfection is an illusion”. We all are humans, so strive not for the perfection, strive for the consistency. Don’t feel lazy to update your blog content.

#5. Not Proof Reading Your Posts Before Publishing:

You never check your blog posts before hitting the publish button. You are just so lazy to do that. After all who will read your blog, huh? Your mom, pet and you – isn’t it?

How to overcome: Make it a habit of re-checking your posts before you publish them to the world. If possible double check them and re-craft it until you feel satisfied. This makes your writing better and adds value to posts.

Conclusion:

No one is more than you – think yourself as a professional blogger even if you are a newbie blogger and start doing the things. Learn from the successful bloggers in your niche and try to list out the top blogs in your niche and start commenting on them. You will notice the changes within few weeks.

Your Turn:

If you found this post funny or useful – drop your comments below. I would love to hear them from you.

This is a guest post by Rahul Kuntala, author of LearnBlogTips

Creating a Classroom Blog

By harpermac11 3 Comments

Creating a classroom blog is an excellent way to foster interactions among your students through online teaching. As your students read and react to the blog, their reading and writing skills will improve. They will also gain experience in communicating with one another, formulating opinions, and defending them. In addition, requiring your students to participate in a blog helps them learn about using the Internet for social interaction and networking.

Setting up the Blog

There are several platforms teachers can use to create blogs, many of which are free. Some of the most popular free blogging platforms include WordPress, Blogger, and Edublogs. Make sure that the platform you choose is simple for your students to use. After you choose a platform, you can create and customize a profile for your classroom’s blog. You can also use a platform to create accounts for each student, or you can allow students to create their own accounts.

After your blog is complete, you can begin making live posts for your students to read. If you allow your students to comment on your posts, make sure that you choose options on the blogging platform that allow you to read students’ posts before they go live. Taking this precaution will help prevent inappropriate comments. In addition, instruct your students to use only their first initial and last name when making their posts. Students should never give out personally identifiable information on the Internet.

Technical Concerns

Because you are making posts for students to read, you need to make them as easy to follow as possible. Align all of your writing to the left of the page. Left-aligned text is easier to read than centered text. You should also use paragraphs and subheadings whenever possible. Subheadings and paragraphs break up your text so that students can easily digest it.

Keeping Interest

When your blog is up and running, make sure that you post often enough to keep your students coming back. However, you should not post so often that your students can’t keep up with reading and commenting. Most teachers find that posting two to three times per week is sufficient. Allow students to subscribe to your blog via email so that they know immediately about new posts.

To keep your students interested in your blog, change your themes regularly. Add some fun widgets, but try not to add so many that your students lose track of the blog’s purpose. To help students find past blog content, add a search box to your blog and teach them how to use it. End each post with a question so that students will be inspired to respond with comments. You should also make sure that you reply to the comments students make on your posts. Interacting with your students is the best way to foster their communication skills.

Blogging for Success

Creating an effective classroom blog takes time and dedication. Don’t give up if the blog doesn’t seem immediately successful, especially if your students are inexperienced in the blogging world. Continue to make your posts and encourage communication, and your classroom blog will become a valuable tool that your students can use to share and defend their ideas.

Lindsey Harper Mac is a professional writer living in the Indianapolis area. She specializes in writing guest posts on social media and education and writes on behalf of Colorado Technical University. Currently, Lindsey is completing work on her master’s degree.

Generating Income From Online Blogging

By Amrik Virdi 2 Comments

Can you really generate income nowadays without scamming your clients but from Generating Income From Online Blogging? Given the amount of over-blown offers one will discover on the web, an ambitious internet entrepreneur might question if you can find legit ways to earn money online. And surely you will find possibilities for ethically generating income online. No scams are essential.

Probably the most broadly used legit ways to earn money on the internet is your blog associated with an internet site. But to discover how you can do this ethically, one should remember exactly what a blog is.

A blog, or weblog, is definitely an internet journal through which it’s possible to communicate a person’s ideas, beliefs, and views to others. Therefore, it is mainly a communication medium, no advertising medium. So your blog should not provide the initial impression it’s simply an online billboard. Individuals will not arrived at your blog to be able to view a lot of ads. When they don’t get helpful information, or support for his or her own sights and concepts, they will not come whatsoever.

However, while you can start a blog only to share your ideas with other people, a particular type of blog is made to earn money blogging. To earn money blogging, a blogger “monetizes” the posts he’s written initially for communication reasons. As lengthy because the blogger is constantly on the offer his site visitors helpful information, the next could be legit ways to earn money online.

Sharing visitors to some website where they might buy some service or product from the blog writer’s. For example, when the blogger has written an e-book, or created a relevant video, which increases the details he normally includes on his blog, he might mention this and supply a hyperlink in which the customer can buy the e-book or video.

You can include links to sites which your blog author is definitely an affiliate.
Selling ad space on the website. To become effective at selling ad space, your blog author needs to show he’s produced enough visitors to his site to create the advertiser’s acquisition of space on that website worth the money he makes.

These could be legit methods for generating income online, although if a person will probably be a joint venture partner, he might want to take a look at the standard from the service or product he’s connecting to.

Many occasions effective professionals in off-line jobs begin using these methods simply in an effort to supplement their earnings, not to mention this really is one goal you may have. However, some writers make handsome full-time earnings using their blogs.

This is guest post by Amrik who blogs at Blogging For Money