10 things you should know about site feeds
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What are feeds? How can you cater to the majority? What should you avoid? All those questions, and more... along with a clever image.
1. Potential subscribers may not know what a feed is.
If you're targeting people who are already tech-savvy, that's one thing, but otherwise - don't assume that your potential subscribers will know what a feed is.
Here's my basic definition:
A feed contains recently updated content from a website.
Here's a scenario so you can see why a feed is useful:
When you visit a blog for the first time, if you like it, you might bookmark it. Great if you want to find it in future, but how do you know when it's been updated? You could visit the blog again. This quickly becomes unrealistic if you bookmark a lot of blogs.
That's where a feed comes in. I view a feed as a combination of a What's New page and a bookmark. You can still bookmark the site if you wish, but if you subscribe to the feed, you'll get a lot more out of it.
Inform and educate:
If you inform and educate your readers, instead of assuming they will already know what you're talking about, they might subscribe to your site. Somehow, I think it's worth the effort.
2. Not having a full feed defeats the purpose of subscribing.
Did you know that some people unsubscribe from sites because they don't have a full feed? Would you rather have someone who uses their feed reader to get your latest posts, or would you rather that person didn't even read?
To be fair, some people may only subscribe to stay aware of new content, and won't mind going to the site to read the full post... but I'm not one of them. I think I've removed all of the feeds where the author only included a summary instead of the full post.
3. Once a post appears in someone's feed, that's it.
If you're someone who likes to publish a post just to get it online, but then go back and edit it as you find errors, you're going to be in trouble. Once the post appears in someone's feed reader, you won't be able to delete that post. So be careful!
Using FeedBurner gives you a bit more time to play with, as FeedBurner doesn't update immediately - but it's better to proof-read and get the post right first time. Much better.
4. Editing the title of a post can duplicate it in your feed.
Let's say you've published a post and it's already showing in the feed readers of all your subscribers. Now, you decide to edit the post and change the title - maybe you made a mistake, or maybe you think there's a better title you could use.
The result is that some feed readers (such as Google Reader) look at the title of a post to determine if it's new. Change the title of a post, and there's a good chance the post will show up twice. Don't go thinking this is a good thing, either! It just looks like you messed up your feed, or you're spamming people. Avoid doing this at ALL costs.
5. Some people want to subscribe by email.
I used to subscribe by email, and it flooded my inbox. I couldn't do it again. However, some people swear by it. Don't cut them out - let them subscribe by email. It's an option that can be enabled if you use FeedBurner.
Having said that, it would be nice to get more emails in my inbox that aren't spam. Maybe subscribing by email isn't such a bad idea after all.
6. Some people may never be subscribers.
We all work in different ways - or don't work, as the case may be. I like subscribing to a site using Google Reader. You may prefer to subscribe by email. Others may not be sold on the idea of subscribing - at all.
Don't get too pushy with getting people to subscribe (more on that in a moment) - and don't worry if you don't have a lot of subscribers. There may be many more people reading your site than you realise.
Keep an eye on your comments to see how much discussion your posts generate. If you get a good amount of comments but you don't have many subscribers - so what? At least you have the comments. Of course, it's not the same if most of the comments are your own replies. Try not to talk to yourself too much. (Yes Ben... that means you.)
7. Nagging for subscribers can be a major turn-off.
Some sites use a popup window to ask for subscribers, and I've heard a few of them do well out of it - but isn't it annoying? Is it worth getting some extra subscribers when you consider how many other people may be turned off by the popup?
Even without popups, some sites go overboard with linking to their feed in EVERY possible location - and then some. As for subscribing just to enter a contest... give me a break. What's the point in temporarily inflating your subscriber count with people who don't care about your content and just want to win a prize?
Oh yeah... more subscribers makes it look like your site is worth visiting. Just don't blame me if you don't have good content and loads of people subscribe, then they complain you don't have good posts. I'm just saying.
8. Hiding the subscription link is a bad idea.
At the other end of the spectrum we have sites where you have to play "hunt the feed". You can usually click the orange icon at the end of the address bar, but some sites don't even have that. How am I supposed to subscribe... if I can't subscribe?
Thinking about it though, hunt the feed could actually be a fun challenge for your readers. If you don't mind that most of them won't be able to subscribe. OK, maybe not.
9. Unexpected topic changes can make people unsubscribe.
If off-topic posts are taking over your blog, you may start losing subscribers. People subscribe for a reason, and if you suddenly change your posts to a topic that's not related to what they thought they'd be getting - why should they keep reading?
Top Ten Blog Tips is a fairly loose concept and can be adapted in a number of ways. I think it'd be a waste of time if I wrote a string of posts that don't stick to the format I'm using now. I could vary it a bit, like writing 9 tips or 11 tips and pretending I can't count, but what's the point?
If your blog starts out as one thing but ends up as another, don't be surprised if you lose some subscribers along the way. It may be easier just to start an additional blog if you want to write about things that don't fit your current topic.
10. Perks can work, if you do them right.
Special content for subscribers is a great bonus. But beware of requiring people to subscribe by email to get these perks. What happens if someone has already subscribed in a feed reader? Why should they subscribe by email as well?
I haven't seen a site get around this problem yet. Some of the biggest blogs continue to offer special benefits for subscribing by email. Surely there has to be a better way. I'm probably being optimistic, because I can't think of a better way.
Can you think of a better way? What else should bloggers know about feeds?
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Comments on 10 things you should know about site feeds
2
I realise I am probably about commit blasphemy but I have to admit I don't really see the great attraction of encouraging people to subscribe. Isn't it just something else to boast about, like page rank and Technorati authority?
I do in fact subscribe to some feeds, and here I'm about to commit blasphemy number 2, I hate full length feeds. I don't want to wade through/scroll through a load of stuff that doesn't happen to interest me, to get to the next item. I rather like (blasphemy 3) Blogger following in that respect, because you see only a snippet.
And now I'm going totally off topic to ask what does it take to entice you back as an EC moderator. It is becoming over-run with new blogs of 5 posts each, listing schools, colleges, temples etc., one for each town in India. Will any bribes work?
3
I'm torn about your comments regarding full posts in feeds. While I can see what you are saying about not wanting to go to the site to read the full article, don't you really want people coming to your site for more than just your most recent article?
Hmm, it's definite food for thought, and maybe the answer lies in "it depends." For my personal blog, I want family and friends to have to come to the site--I make changes very frequently and I want them to see all of the pictures, videos, etc. that they won't see in just the feed. For my "commercial" feeds, maybe your thoughts are right on the money. Then I read A.'s comment about not wanting to wade through lots of text (to which I agree). Geez, one more decision to make, LOL! ;)
4
11. If a reader subscribes rather than visits your blog periodically via bookmark, your stats will reflect that. Don't make the mistake of thinking this means subscribers are bad. Subscribers hear your voice every time you make a post, come to your site sometimes to comment (as I just did), link to your posts in their own blogs (a disproportionate number of feed-users are bloggers), and are otherwise good for your blog. Subscribers improve your blog's influence. Problogger had a good post about this recently.
5
Hey everyone, thanks for the comments.
Leo, thanks for subscribing!
A, sounds like you are one of the people I refer to in point 6. I know a few others who don't view subscribing as worth doing. That's OK, we don't all share the same views. :)
As for EC - it's a shame to see my hard work being undone, but there is no way I'm going to go back. Have a read of my post at Zen Working - "Why you need to de-stress" - for an explanation of why I couldn't continue there.
Web-Betty - I believe this is covered by Ginkgo's comment. :) Ginkgo, I did read ProBlogger's post, and it was in my mind when I was writing this post.
6
I don't use feeds myself. Just stared using the Follow feed with Blogger and Google Reader. Still don't think to check it. I added a feed to WordGrrls when a reader asked for it. I know it worked through Blogger but have not checked it since moving to the domain. Myself, I still am not a fan of feeds. I just don't have time to read every post on every blog on my list. I have several personal favourites, bloggers I really feel connected to in some way and those are really the only ones I work on keeping up with. All the rest are hit and miss. But, I'm not afraid to back track and read old posts. I don't think many people actually do that.
7
A. I noticed EC is running downhill. Even in the blog and forums it is neglected. I don't see Graham adding anything, just an update about changes and then left everyone to sort it out. There is a spelling error/ typo in the title of his post which has not been fixed though it was pointed out a few times. Anyway, I don't want to rag on EC. It is disappointing to see it going this way. I did think it was going to do well. Ben put a lot of time and passion into EC and took a lot of flack about it. It was not fair and I really would not expect (or even ask) him to return to it. He was a volunteer, not an owner.
8
I wasn't really serious about asking you back Ben, I really only said it in a fit of exasperation, after reporting the same site for the umpteenth time. I did read your Zen Working post so I knew your reasons for leaving - I agree wholeheartedly with them.
Laura, yes it's very disappointing and as a result I'm going to cut down on my EC involvement. Not that I was ever as committed as many others, but even my current activity is causing me irritation/stress and I need to get on with different things.
9
The majority of my online reading is done in a reader. I prefer full length articles in the feed. If the content is interesting I will want to comment and then I will visit the blog. The one thing that worries me slightly about feeds is the lack of control one has over the alignment of graphics on them (or have I missed something?).
Ben, I would love to see you back at EC, but this time as the owner. This could get things moving again. The mind boggles, maybe Ben and Turnip as co-owners!
10
Lyndi - great point about alignment of images. In fact, I now remember it was the reason I thought up this list - and forgot to add that one!
11
For nr. 10...
To get around the problem, one could give out a free eBook (or sth of the sort) and all people have to do is reply to your post or enter their email address in some textbox.
In the email in which you send them the eBook, you can take a moment to tell them about subscribing to your website and that it would be much appreciated, but that it's also fine if they don't.
So instead of taking and then giving something in return... you give something and then you see if they give something back in return. (there's some good examples of this in Seth Godin's Purple Cow, I believe... or maybe it was Freakonomics).
12
Hey Ben, are you the guy that helped me out so often with EC?
13
Bas - I'm not a huge fan of e-books, but I know there are many bloggers who recommend using them. And yes, I was the one who helped out at EC, but I am no longer on the team.
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Wow, what a great and huge post about feeds!
"3. Once a post appears in someone’s feed, that’s it." - I love the fact that Feedburner takes some time to update, cuz I'm always changing something directly after I published the post!
"6. Some people may never be subscribers." - This is so true, and I'm one of them! I love lists though, so I subscribed to yours.
You found the golden thing! Lists!
Peace,
Leo