Are You Making a HUGE Mistake With Your RSS Icon? (Hint: Think Email Instead) - DailyBlogTips

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Are You Making a HUGE Mistake With Your RSS Icon? (Hint: Think Email Instead) Posted: 20 Sep 2013 05:15 AM PDT If you've been around the blogosphere for a few years, you probably know how important it is to get people to subscribe to your blog, so they don't miss out. Chances are, right at the top of your sidebar, you have a big, probably orange, button that looks something like this: Image from Flickr by TEIA MG. Maybe you've even experimented with a really huge icon… Back when I started blogging in 2008, RSS was crucial and bloggers often linked to their RSS feed in the bio of their guest posts. Today, though, things are very different. Many blog readers get updates by email, not by RSS. And if you're not making your get-posts-by-email option really clear, you're missing out on subscribers. Most People Don't Use RSS This Business Insider title says it all, really: The Truth About RSS: It’s Not “Dying” – Normal People Never Used It In The First Place (And that's from 2011! With Google Reader being discontinued in 2013, it's clear that RSS isn't exactly growing in popularity.) I use RSS … but I'm willing to admit I'm a bit of a geek! Unless you're blogging in a very techy niche, it's likely that most of your readers will follow your posts by email, not by RSS. And in case you're not sure, think about this: The Big Blogs Are Promoting Email This screenshot shows the top of Copyblogger's sidebar. Note how large and prominent the email sign up is (compare it to the search box below) – and how small the "Subscribe RSS" link is. More and more blogs doing something similar, making it as easy and quick as possible for readers to sign up for posts by email. If you're worrying that this will put off people who subscribe by RSS, you can relax. Here's why: Those Who DO Use RSS Can Easily Get Your Feed If you're an RSS fan, how do you add blogs to your feed reader? Personally, I just put in the URL. Feedly finds the feed, and I subscribe. It's years since I've clicked on an RSS button or link on a blog – there's just no need to do it nowadays. If you have readers using RSS, they know what they're doing. They won't have any problems finding your feed. What You Need to Do 1. Make sure you have email subscriptions enabled. This is absolutely crucial … but some bloggers are struggling on with RSS alone, wondering why they're hardly getting any new subscribers. (If you're using Feedburner, there are instructions for enabling email here.) 2. Make your email subscription option prominent. That almost certainly means giving it pride of place at the top of your right-hand sidebar – this is where blog-savvy readers will look first. You might also put an email subscription box at the end of (some or all) of your posts. 3. Check how your emails look. Subscribe to your own blog by email, if you've not done so already. Are any elements of your posts not displaying? Of course, you won't have full control over how things look … but you can at least prompt readers to "click here to watch the video if you can't view it in your inbox" or similar.   Are you still using RSS? What about your readers – how many are subscribed by email versus RSS? Let us know in the comments!  Wanna learn how to make more money with your website? Check the Online Profits training program! Original Post: Are You Making a HUGE Mistake With Your RSS Icon? (Hint: Think Email Instead)

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