Get More RSS Subscribers With New WordPress Plugin
RSS subscribers are the golden ticket for bloggers.
People who subscribe via RSS are making a commitment. It doesn’t mean they’ll read your blog everyday, buy lots of things from you, and make you rich and famous, but they’re still engaging and giving you a piece of their precious attention. And, they are customers. You should think of them like that (and treat them accordingly.) They’re also your true community of peers.
I was recently introduced to a new WordPress plugin which is called What Would Seth Godin Do. It’s a great name. Linkbait city. I love it.
The plugin allows you to add a message on your blog for new visitors - asking them to sign-up to your RSS feed. Here’s the description:
By default, new visitors to your blog will see a small box above each post containing the words “If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!” After 3 visits the message disappears. You can customize this message, its lifespan, and its location.
I haven’t tried it. I already have a fairly prominent request for people to subscribe that appears at the top of the main index page and at the top of each post. But I think the idea is great.
I’d be fascinated to know how many feeds a person subscribes to on average. I sometimes wonder if people subscribe and then forget about a feed because its lost in the middle of a whole bunch of others. There’s an awful lot of good stuff out there!
Great find Ben! The only problem is that it does not work if you use the Feedburner feed. It was an easy fix though, and you are able to edit the plug-in right there in the Wordpress admin.
Ben, I’ve been thinking about this plugin for a while but haven’t bitten on it. Are you really seeing a change in the rate of subscriptions?
And Greg, sounds like the FeedBurner hack is pretty easy. True?
Greg - thanks for the tip on there being a bug…
Dawud - I’m not using the plugin, but I have seen a marked increase in RSS subscribers with my blog’s redesign, including the prominent placement of the subscription option above posts. But there could be a lot of reasons for that as well…
Great. Thanks for the clarification.
I’ve recently added a subscribe link at the foot of my posts, thinking that if someone enjoys the article enough after reading it then the subscribe option is right there without the need to scroll back up to the top of the page.
I’ll see if that improves the rate any.
David - I’ve done that in the past as well, but not on every post. Now with my rather bold message at the top of every post I haven’t added that “reminder to subscribe” as often. But you’re seeing people do that more and more, and folks like Darren Rowse and Brian Clark recommend adding that kind of note at the end, so it can’t be half bad!