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!
Thanks for publishing this, Tom. Hope you are having a great time in Canada!
Hey Charles,
All I can say is, Thanks.
An awesome post. Yes it is all in how you think. If you’re blogging to make money, then you need to think like a marketer. If you’re blogging for fun, then think like a blogger.
I am headed over to BigIdeaBlogger.
They WERE important in the first quarter of 2008, but then lost it’s taste to me after everything counted as a +1 on the counter…
-Mike
Definitely agree with you when you say that the average Joe doesn’t know a thing about RSS. It’s very confusing to new-comers! I’ve tried to teach my friends who don’t spend that much time on the internet… there still confused!
Enjoyed the post, while RSS Reader are a more efficient use of your time most people are more likely to check e-mail daily many times a day. Where as going to their Reader might be a less then daily active. Me for example I check me e-mail all the time too much. Where as I go to my RSS Reader maybe 1 a day if that.
You are most welcome Rasheed, I’m glad to have made your visit at StandOutBlogger worth your time while Tom is away :-)
Awesome article, I knew that the mailing list was important but haven’t got around to building my list. Working on a eBook to give to build my mailing list.
Great to hear that Deneil, I’m looking forward to it.
Charles, you hit the nail on the head about RSS known to bloggers and not the average person. I myself took time to get to grips with it. Now my question is…I see aweber and icontact preaching that you nave to bride people to subscribe to your email list, what if you’re using email feedburner, which is free of charge, as opposed to these premium email distribution facilities?
Great article this is very true. Frank Kern knows what he’s doing.
Mailing lists are so important to ones success online. I’m also creating an eBook to start building my mailing list.
Gotta get on it quick.
@CSS – Many of my friends too
@Jared – Looks like we have the same habits
@Muzi – I’m not sure whether feedburner email service has autoresponders. Premium email services like Aweber have the autoresponder technology which sends your emails in sequence automatically to every new subscriber.
The main reason why I got Aweber is because of it’s ability to follow-up on new subscribers automatically.
In the beginning you could try out the free email feedburner and send emails manually, but eventually after you have built a sizable list of subscribers, you would want to let Aweber do the work for you.
@Muzi – I just saw this and came back here to tell you about it. Feedblitz offers the autoresponder service with a great pricing structure. The pricing is so much more affordable than Aweber. How I wished I had known of Feedblitz earlier.
Go here to find out more – http://www.feedblitz.com
I work on both….both aspects can help different facets of your business. But when push comes to shove, your own list is where the profits are at.
That’s great Caden, looks like many of us are on the rush to produce free reports :-)
Woo… You just send a spike in my mind, I just realize how different a blogger and a marketer thinks and work, thanks for sharing, you just got me into more ideals for writing…
Great post. I have been thinking about this issue for a while. The thing is, regular readers matter. It doesn’t matter where they come from or if they subscribe.
I think Email list is the best ones to collect subscription, because we can send them email whenever we want. thanks.
At first, I was hesitant to read it because I’ve seen titles like this even before I started out two years ago. Yet, charles didn’t dissapoint. The ideas where fresh and highly useful.
As Bad Blogger puts it, it’s kind of enlightening. Makes people think of the thin line that sperates bloggers from marleteers.
Email is probably the better medium for managing subscriptions because more people use it and are familiar with it.
However, RSS has other uses too;, like for distributing content.
Why not give your readers a choice of RSS and email, and they will select the one they prefer.
Not having subscribers is like not asking for a email. You will be kicking yourself down the road if you don’t do it. If you have Feedburner, check your stats. How many clicks have you had? I’ve gotten tons, and there is no way I would delete that stream of visitors. Return visitors are often the best kind. They make orders, comments, and tell others about your site. Crazy to not encourage this.