Category Archives: RSS

Subscribers are Key?

Does having a higher subscriber count instantly mean a better blog, or are there other factors that on first glance will make you believe a blog is good or bad?

I am asking this because there were two great posts on increasing subscriber numbers, the first was from Winning the Web, entitled 16 Ideas For Free Products That Will Double Your Subscribers & Leads and the second was from The University Kid entitled How To Send Your Subscriber Count Through The Roof.

While both of these are interesting articles, does the quality of subscribers matter? I know that we constantly talk about the quality of traffic, but in their posts, they don’t talk about what kind of negative side effects, if any, occur when you push your subscriber base up in a way that is almost artificial.

We have become so competitive at building up blogs that many people have started building them so efficiently to sell them that they make their full time living through building what appears to be a strong community and then selling it to the highest bidder.

While I would like to think that everyone that subscribes to this blog is subscribed because they want to be, there is no doubt a bit of inflation in every RSS subscriber number, and so don’t forget that, especially if you are purchasing a blog.

Originally posted on February 22, 2011 @ 7:09 pm

I Really Like RSS

1 Reply

One of the best advise I got from a friend when I was starting mind your RSS feeds. The what ? Really Simple Syndication. It is one of the more overlooked and least appreciated part of a blog or a website. When you mention RSS – you often get the perplexed look on the face of the person you are talking to. But you can find it nearly everywhere on the Internet.

Why is it important?

Because it is a way for you to deliver your content or writing to your reader.The reader just has activate it and voila! the post gets delivered to the reader. Through an RSS reader, which maybe on-line or not.

The publisher, whether blogger or webmaster, may also enable a feature in the RSS feed via Feedburner or any similar service that will deliver content to the reader via the email.

Feedburner is one of the services that allows you to enhance the value of your RSS Feed through services like receive posts via email, chiclets to promote your feed; a way to get statistics from your blog or website; and a number of other things. The service is now owned by Google.

I realy like RSS. It is quite a useful thing, although a bit too hard to explain at times. Although, I think Commoncraft does a good job at explaining what it is:

Originally posted on March 14, 2011 @ 3:18 am

My Best RSS Newsreader

4 Replies

I am finding more and more that I am considered old fashioned by not using Google Reader, or one of the top pieces of software and online applications listed on Life Hacker’s recent post on the best RSS newsreaders.

They included in their list Google Reader, NetVibes, NetNewsWire, FeedDemon, and Sage.

I am a fan of Bloglines. I have been using it since I started with reading RSS, and I have tried other software, especially desktop applications in the years since starting to read blogs in such a manner.

Why Bloglines?

Being that it was my first RSS reader, I have become accustomed to the keyboard shortcuts that Bloglines has, as well as the workflow, and user interface that it includes.

Everything is simple, includes the features I need, and seems to update with the latest posts fairly rapidly.

I really don’t think there is any other reason I use Bloglines, other than it was my first RSS reading tool, and I have become accustomed to it and it has been very stable for me. I haven’t suffered through any major changes in usability or stability.

What Would Make Me Switch?

I don’t like the “improvements” in the open beta version of Bloglines which changes a few things, mostly in design, and so if that happens to become the only version, I might switch.

Also, if I found some system that did have a better workflow for me, then I would switch.

I doubt I would ever move to a desktop client, as I work on two or three different computers every day, and each one uses a different operating system, so it would complicate things further, so my choice would probably be to move to Google’s RSS Reader, but when I would move depends on Bloglines, as I am in no rush, and it would be mistakes from them that would make me leave.

Which RSS reader do you use, and why? What are the advantages of using Google Reader over Bloglines, if you have tried both?

Originally posted on May 20, 2008 @ 6:39 pm

RSS Feed Oopsie: Moving Woes

RSS Readers: Where Are You Going?

5 Replies

I’ve noticed over the last three weeks that my RSS subscription rates seem to be dropping. I haven’t looked at any of the details yet, but I assume this is at least in part because of my decrease in content lately, as well as my focus on longer posts over the last while, but I really would love to know why people aren’t subscribed any longer, so if you are a current subscriber thinking of saying goodbye, or have already hit the unsubscribe button, I would love to hear why you left, and what you’ve replaced me with.

Has removing Xfep from your daily reads given you time for one more sip of coffee, or have you traded me in for a blog higher up on the 45n5.com/top100 list?

Originally posted on June 1, 2008 @ 5:45 pm

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