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The other day I wrote a post on getting your readers and traffic to take action. I focused on some strategies you could use to help steer your traffic to follow through with things you want them to do on your blog.
Today my focus is on how to increase your blog subscribers to your RSS feed from your blog.
When I browse on different peoples blogs, I see an entire spectrum of subscriber counts: 15, 55, 236, 853, etc. It varies from blog to blog and niche to niche.
I have been looking at my blog subscribers vary from 9 all the way up to 20 at one point over the life of my blog.
I took a look at my traffic from the month of January 2010 and I had 2,664 unique visits to my blog. That averaged out to 86 visitors per day. Nothing to write home about – but I am still learning here (wink, wink).
Of those 86 visitors, I assumed that I should be getting 1 new subscriber each day. Over the month of January that would mean 31 new subscribers – so long as my content was useful and valuable. But as of today, I sit at only 14 at the time of this post.
hmmmmm…..
In the words of the eternal Foghorn Leghorn from Looney Tunes “Boy…that just don’t add up!”
So I went off searching for other peoples blogs for about an hour to see if I could spot some different things that I could do to increase my RSS subscribers. But honestly, I didn’t find anything specific.
So I did a Google search on increasing my subscribers.
When I went to look at the different results that Google spit back at me, I started seeing a common idea that successful bloggers were mentioning.
It was the fact that psychology was playing into my low subscriber count.
They were mentioning that when people visit a blog and see the RSS Subscription links, many people turn around and leave without leaving their e-mail and contact info.
It all has to do with one word…
…”Subscription”
Really? One little word?
Well think about it. At the end of your blog posts, what do you ask your readers to do?
You ask them to subscribe to your posts right?
So why does “Subscribe” turn your readers away?
Well, like I said earlier – it’s psychology.
When you see the word subscribe, your mind is taken back to a newspaper or magazine subscription most likely.
What did you have to trade for that subscription?
Money.
Now sure, most people familiar with blogs know that an RSS feed is free. But for the most part, when someone unfamiliar with blogs and RSS feeds sees the word “Subscribe,” it could have an effect on their decision making process.
They’re thinking of paying to get something.
When you look at my blog, there are 3 spots where people subscribe: 1. Upper left corner via RSS button, 2. Middle of right side Blog RSS subscribe form, 3. Subscribe button right under that for those that are more familiar with the RSS logo.
So, here is what I decided.
I took the advice from some of the articles I had read, and changed the text in my boxes.
Instead of “Subscribe via E-mail,” I changed it to “Posts Via E-mail”
Instead of “Subscribe via RSS,” I changed it to “Updates Via RSS”
These are my two main subscriber sign-up points, so those are the two areas I’m going to focus my efforts of change.
Now, granted, I am going off of the advice from different articles and bloggers. And I haven’t recieved ANY results yet since I just changed the text right before I made this post.
I will be looking at it over the next month and let you know what my findings are after that period of time. Again, as of today, my subscribers is 14.
So, in the mean time, instead of asking you to subscribe to my posts, I’ll simply ask you to fill out the form on the right to receive my post updates via e-mail, and we’ll see how the results end up over the next month.
Let me help you learn more of these strategies in person… Let’s get you the proper training and the proper strategist you need to show you how to successfully build your MLM business online – and surprise the pants off of your upline!
Look right below here and fill out this form today. I can help you start creating the MLM Success you deserve and that will make your upline jealous.
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Hey Linus,
I am having the same issue with my blog concerning subscribers. I will making the changes you suggested to see what happens also.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge. That why I keep coming back.
To Your Continued Success,
Bill
[Reply]
Linus Ruzicka Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 11:16 PM
Bill,
Interesting isn’t it? How people can have great content and very little subscribers. We’ll get to the bottom of this mystery yet!
~ Linus
[Reply]
Thanks for the great!
It’s amazing how a few small changes makes such a difference.
I will definately be changing this in my own blog.
Adam
[Reply]
Linus Ruzicka Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 11:19 PM
Adam,
Great man. What I think is funny is how much the psychology changes from one little word to the next.
Whether it’s in ad copy, PPC ads, article titles, lead capture pages, etc. – getting inside the head of your readers is key.
~ Linus
[Reply]
Linus,
Sweet marketing strategy, before you know it you are going to need to upgrade to new servers with all the subscribers that are coming your way.
Rock on my friend…..(__________)D
[Reply]
Linus Ruzicka Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 11:20 PM
Carlos,
LOL have any new server suggestions?
~ Linus
[Reply]
This is such an important HOT TOPIC <> Thanks for taking the time to research this for us bloggers.
I have had the same issue of building a blog subscriber list over 20 and have leveraged this using an affiliate program called ListHero by Tellman Knudson (the dude running across the country barefoot right now like Forrest Gump).
ListHero let’s me keep the subscriber contacts and import then into my Aweber autoresponder and also they join automatically under my ListHero Affiliate.
Since beginning to use this ListHero my subscriber count is growing at about 3-8 people per week for my blog, but my regular RSS feed still only has about 10 total. HMMM!
I’m going to change my strategy using the world “SUBSCRIBE” right now after reading your post. (((Cheers from Oregon my friend)))
[Reply]
Linus Ruzicka Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 11:27 PM
Zack,
The further and further I get into these comments, the more and more people I see with this same problem. Hmmm….
And yes, referring to your other comment, feel free to make a video about it. I’d learn something from it as I’m not sure where to go in the wordpress back office to change the text on the WP greet box. Make sure to let me know what you find and when you finish the video.
It can’t hurt!
~ Linus
[Reply]
I was also just thinking that if people use WP Greet Box on their blog, like we do, that we would need to edit the standard text presented to new visitors on our blogs. It uses the word SUBSCRIBE…
Shall I make a video HOW TO do this?
[Reply]
Linus, I absolutely loved the tip here in your post and I implemented is immediately! Thanks for the observation and then sharing the results!
[Reply]
Linus Ruzicka Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 11:30 PM
Tracey,
Thanks for the comment!
Like I said, stumbling upon this issue was accidental at least.
I will of course be creating a follow-up post after I give it a month to see how the changes affected my subscriber counts. So stay tuned
~ Linus
[Reply]
Linus,
Some of your suggestions are right on and I can’t believe that I have not implemented them. After reading your article it slapped me in the face. Thank you and I will start implementing some of these immediately.
Be Blessed
Ron Pruett
[Reply]
Linus Ruzicka Reply:
February 15th, 2010 at 12:10 AM
Ron,
You’re welcome my friend. I hope that the changes that you implemented have resulted in some increased subscribers.
God Bless,
Linus
[Reply]
Linus,
Now that’s probably the simplest “tweek” we could do to our blogs that’s worth any amount of subscriber increase rate.
I would have never thought of that which is why I follow your blog posts. Once again, I have learned something new of value from you. I just adjusted mine.
Appreciate it,
~Bert
[Reply]
Linus Ruzicka Reply:
February 15th, 2010 at 12:12 AM
Bert,
It’s sometimes just the small changes that makes all of the difference. Have you noticed a difference in your changes yet?
God Bless,
Linus
[Reply]
Interesting. It makes sense. I will go change my blog right away.
Thanks
Bob
[Reply]
Linus,
Once again, you deliver a tremendous amount of value with such a simple little adjustment! Rock on Linus, you got my vote for the PRO Bowl this year!
- Yo
[Reply]
Linus Ruzicka Reply:
February 16th, 2010 at 12:49 AM
Yo,
Just call me your blog chiropractor!
God Bless You,
Linus
[Reply]
Great Tip! I just read your tip on Better Networker and implemented it immediately. Thanks for the great article!
Peter
[Reply]
Linus Ruzicka Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 7:30 AM
Peter,
thanks for stopping by and commenting. Better Networker is an awesome site that I frequent often for training, updates, and networking with other like minded professionals.
I’m glad that you were able to stop by and find just one little piece of my training – but if you go browsing around, I have a feeling you’ll find a lot more.
God Bless,
Linus
[Reply]
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