Are RSS Subscriptions That Important?
This is a guest post by Charles, who blogs at Big Idea Blogger. You can connect with him via his blog or follow him on twitter @ BigIdeaBlogger.
You have heard the advice by now. Many big-time bloggers have said,
“Get more RSS subscribers. You’ll get more repeat traffic.”
But I’m unconvinced. What about internet marketers like Frank Kern who doesn’t get an iota of RSS subscribers? He still gets tons of readers to his Mass Control blog. Look at his Alexa ranking, it’s 10,591. By comparison, Copyblogger ranks at 10,500.
Yet nowhere on Frank’s blog do you see our familiar bright orange button. (Oh my, he is too lazy to even get RSS subscribers!)
But he still gets hordes of raving fans, and his blog averages 80-100 comments per post. And while the top bloggers earn six figures, Frank’s business earnings is in the millions. How the heck does he get so many followers who are not just regular readers, but regular buyers of his products?
Here’s my answer:
He gets people to join his LIST. His email list.
Is there a difference between RSS and email subscriptions, you ask?
There is. Let me explain.
1. Feed Updates vs Unread Emails
When you see a list of unread emails in your inbox, what do you do? If they are not in the spam folder, chances are you’ll open it. Something has been wired in us since our old days of traditional mail – that we need to at least check out what’s inside the mail before we decide to either continue or skip it. But when you see a new article in your list of subscribed RSS feeds, you say “That’s interesting. I’ll check it out later.” Then you forget about it, and before you know it, the update gets buried below newer updates.
2. RSS tool vs Email
Let’s face it, most people who subscribe to RSS feeds are already bloggers themselves. We bloggers are familiar with the tool. But people outside of blogging don’t know squat about RSS. Before I was introduced to blogging, I didn’t know what RSS is (and I didn’t care). But I knew email before I knew blogs. If you want to reach out to readers beyond the blogging circle, email should be your primary means of contact. Besides, more people read emails than read blogs. Even if all your readers are bloggers, you should consider email because of point #1.
3. Pull vs Push marketing
Blogs are a great medium for “pull marketing”, which are things like building trust and forming relationship with readers, etc. But it must be complemented with the “push marketing” of email. If you have a retail business, when you do a promotion, you don’t just sit there in your “shop” and expect your regular customers to know about it. You got to notify them. Likewise, when you are promoting a product on your blog, you don’t just write a promotion and expect your regular readers to show up. What if they miss your RSS update?
Even if they do show up, are they expecting it? Will they be in the right frame of mind to buy? You got to push the promotion to them. You got to notify them via email. And preferably tell them a little about what you are promoting before directing them to your blog.
4. Bloggers vs Marketers mentality
Here is where it’s not really just about RSS or emails. The difference originates from the thinking behind bloggers and that of marketers. Bloggers treat their blog as their baby. They have spent their lives raising it up.So their blog is the only thing on their minds. All their traffic-building efforts are designed to build up their blog. RSS included.
But marketers have a bigger picture in their minds. They know that their blog is just a piece of their business puzzle. They know that “the money is in the list”. All their traffic-building efforts are designed to build up their list. They know that once they have their reader’s emails, they can both send them great content AND promote to them as often as they like, so long as they don’t abuse the privilege. When they need feedback, they just send their readers to their blog to comment.
That’s where Frank Kern gets his 80-100 comments on every post, despite doing absolutely nothing to get RSS subscribers. He builds his email list instead. As a result, he works less hard, but gets more followers and makes more money than most bloggers.
You should read The Blogging Wealth Gap by David Risley, as recommended by Tom. David does a great job explaining why the difference in results between bloggers and marketers.
Having said all that…
I’m not against RSS, and I’m not against the advice to get more RSS subscribers. Displaying a huge number of readers in your feedburner chicklet does add lots of credibility to your blog, so I’m all for it. But you need to start thinking bigger like a marketer and start building up your email list.
As the saying goes, “the money is in the list”.
This has been a fantastic guest post by Charles, who blogs at Big Idea Blogger. You can connect with him via his blog or follow him on twitter @ BigIdeaBlogger. Please comment below with your thoughts!
It is just 3 days until I marry the most amazing girl and we head off to Canada for 2 1/2 months! So right now I am thinking of the best way to take StandOutBlogger to the next level when I get back. So today I want to look at Podcasting.
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