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To be honest, this is the one area that I absolutely suck at. I realize that it takes time, but I just haven’t found any fast ways to build a big subscriber base so that I can flip these quickly. But I do have a few ideas for you that I’ve had success with in the past.
Ask Them
If you don’t have the “subscribe remind” or a similar plugin installed, you are missing out on some potential subscribers. This puts a small blurb of text on the bottom of every post asking people to subscribe to your feed, and it generally has about a 1-2% success rate. Not much, but it’s worth having.
Contests
I realize that if you hold a contest it could push your blog past the deadline for selling them, and thus cost you some points in the contest. But more RSS subscribers might make you more cash, and then it would make it worth it. I’d recommend a quick contest… something you can do in a week, maybe two and make it a term of entry that they have to subscribe to your feed.
Giveaway
You might forego the contest completely and just do a giveaway. This might be your best option. I saw my buddy Ryan do this with a brand new site, and he ended up with over 200 Rss subscribers in less than 60 days. And what was he giving away? A wordpress hoodie. Yeah…
Respond to Comments
When responding to comments, you can almost always find a way to slip in a statement like “are you subscribed to my feed” or “Thanks for the compliment. I recommend signing up for the feed so you don’t miss any more great information”. Stuff like this is cheesy, but effective.
Category Exclude
There are several Wordpress plugins that allow you to exclude categories from your blog. Why would you want to exclude these? So that you can use them for RSS-only posts of course! Make sure and hype up that you are getting ready put out a post that offers a great deal of information, hype it for about 2 days… then release it. Your Rss subscribers will get the post, the regular blog readers… not so much. Want to kick it up a notch? Post an excerpt on your blog. Two sentences followed by some periods might peek their interest.
Even with all of these ideas, it’s pretty tough to generate a ton of RSS subscribers in 30 days. I usually end up with somewhere between 30-50. So what do I do? I don’t mention it anywhere in the ad for the site, unless someone asks… and surprisingly, they usually don’t. Just focus on the good parts of the site, and leave out the not so good… just as if you were selling anything else. Always focus on the features and benefits. For example. if you were selling cars, and a couple came in to look at a new SUV would your opening line be “Hey this thing sucks gas bad. It gets like 8 miles per gallon.” or “This is a great looking truck with a wonderful ride. It’d be great for hauling a boat back and forth to the lake.” I think you know the answer…
July 18th, 2008 at 4:35 am
RSS is tough, I usually don’t get over 100 or so and then it will bounce back down without be doing anything different. It certainly takes time.
I like the sounds of the Subscribe Remind plugin. I am downloading it now. I think that is probably the most effective way of reminding people.
BTW I am all the way up to 4 subscribers. YEAH!
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Bryan Clark reply on July 18th, 2008:
LOL. It’s tough to gain RSS subscribers so quickly. I wouldn’t worry about it.
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Jay reply on July 18th, 2008:
lol Coach. No worries, I try not to check mine, but as far as I know you got my subscribers doubled!
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July 18th, 2008 at 4:45 am
Anyone else having problems with aligning their pictures inline with your text in the new WordPress release. I can’t get mine to align at all. It sucks.
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Bryan Clark reply on July 18th, 2008:
I have the new version and it works fine. Generally problems like this aren’t due to the new Wordpress release, it’s usually because your theme isn’t compatible with a change they’ve made.
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July 18th, 2008 at 5:14 am
I have not downloaded the new wordpress release yet.
I have my Aweber and subscribers mixed. I didn’t do anything particular but RSS is reading at 97 today!! Aweber is 39. The worst thing about it is that I have been working for a year on my main site and still don’t have this many subscribers!!!
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Bryan Clark reply on July 18th, 2008:
That’s excellent Forest. That’s about as many subscribers as I have here, and it’s a couple of months older!
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JK Swopes reply on July 23rd, 2008:
How you mix em like that, I keep hearing people talk about it, but never done it. Not that I want to, but I just like to know what folks are talking about
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July 18th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Damn, I just left a long ass comment, and when i hit the submit button, i got a 405 error. Damn it. Im NOT typing all that again.
Jeez!
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Bryan Clark reply on July 18th, 2008:
Hate when that happens!
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July 18th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Basically i wrote, that the (exclude category tip) was a solid one. Will try this.
Also that a contest is THE best way to gain RSS subscribers fast, IMHO. And that the success of the contest, depends on the PRIZE. Will do one, a quick one. Anyone want to sponsor it? LOL.
And that everyone have a good weekend. Im going to my fave Mexican restaurant in a few hours, with my roommate.
DosXX, anyone? Happy Friday!
(hope this comment goes thru)
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Bryan Clark reply on July 18th, 2008:
My favorite kind of beer! Gotta be the green bottle though. The other one isn’t as good.
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July 18th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Oh! I also mentioned that some of us (ok, me) know these little tips and tricks, but we need motivation. We suffer from the “can i get a witness” symdrome.
The ole “watch me, watch what im doing” daddy deal. Enough with the therapy session, lets get to work.
We can do it, lets all together now say, “I can do it”.
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July 18th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
LMAO. Can I get a witness syndrome? That’s just great!
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July 18th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
@ Missy: What goes around comes around… “Get a grip. Nuff said!”
@ Bryan: I love the tips… I just need to use the damn things!
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July 23rd, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Good stuff, I never knew about RSS only post! Man..I may have to try that one!
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Bryan Clark reply on July 23rd, 2008:
I used the plugin on another blog of mine, and I gained abour 40 Rss subscribers one day by promising to deliver a big secret in an Rss only post. It worked.
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JK Swopes reply on July 23rd, 2008:
There’s a plugin for it? Got a link?
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Bryan Clark reply on July 23rd, 2008:
Here you are my friend. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/advanced-category-excluder/
July 23rd, 2008 at 3:34 pm
SHCWEeeeeeeet….talk about service
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July 23rd, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Ha ha, I didn’t know an Instant Messenger plugin had been installed here!!
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Jay reply on July 23rd, 2008:
LOL @ IM! Everybody is just hangin’ out, staring at SiteFlipU.com, refreshing like crazy!?
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korprit reply on July 24th, 2008:
i assume that means the site is possibly dying? just finished reading every post too
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July 24th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
gah, disregard last comment….sometimes im retarded and post a message on the wrong page lol
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Bryan Clark reply on July 24th, 2008:
LOL. It happens to the best of us. And no, the site is growing!
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July 24th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
@ korpit: Now I’m curious… what site WERE you referring too?
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korprit reply on July 25th, 2008:
i was actually referring to a day trading site i was reading through for research purposes…if im going to write about an area im not proficient in i study the area, rehash an idea and get twice the comprehension by regurgitating the information
it was a site that started out with daily lessons like the author was teaching a class, and was easy to read. but it ended after several posts.
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korprit reply on July 25th, 2008:
on an extra note, it looks like the site (which had like 10 posts that stopped somewhere in may 2008) probably is dead as comments are not getting approved….*sigh*
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