Everyone loves FeedBurner. And to be honest, FeedBurner is closely becoming a judgmental metric that has the equivalent weight as having a high PageRank. If you visit a blog for the first time and see that the site has a PR5 or higher, commonly most people think to themselves, “Wow… this site is a PR5, that’s cool! This blog must be hot!” and the same is becoming true when people stumble on blogs that have high FeedBurner subscription numbers.
I am very ProGoogle; however, even I must admit that I can better judge a book by its cover when the cover of the book advertises the number of books that have already been sold.
In other words, I can better judge a blog by its home page with the number of subscribers listed in their FeedBurner Chicklet. I can do this more accurately than I can judge the blog by its cover based purely off PageRank.
Do you see what I mean on that?
Let me explain further, just in case…
When I visit a blog for the first time, I quickly scan two items. The blogs PageRank and the number of subscribers in FeedBurner. I am sorry… anyone that tells you that they “DON’T” judge books by their covers are telling you a bold face lie… Everyone does, I have no shame in admitting that!
With that being said, PageRank doesn’t tell me how much authority the blog has. PageRank really doesn’t tell me how popular or accepted the blog is. However, when a blog has a high volume or RSS subscribers… that my friends, whistles a complete different tune.
High Feedburner subscription numbers tell me that the blog is big or small. Having high Feedburner subscription numbers tells a pretty good story, if you are one who judges books by their covers.
Are You Done Talking Yet?
Yes! On with the tip!
As the title suggests, here is a tip that will help you dramatically increase your Feedburner subscription count. 30 days ago, my subscription count was around 125. Today it is 426. I would say that isn’t bad work within a 30 day period!
There are many things I have done to increase my Feedburner subscription numbers is such a short period of time. However, in this post, I’ll offer you just one of the things I did to achieve such an aggressive growth in the numbers. If you would like for me to follow up with a second post, drop me a comment and let me know.
Tip #1 of ?? | Increase Feedburner Subscription Numbers
I enjoy reading blogs. Secondly, I enjoy dropping comments and sharing my thoughts and opinions after I read articles on other blogs. In the process of leaving a comment, it is standard to fill out the form and include my website address. However, most WordPress blogs by default have the REL=NOFOLLOW tag assigned to links in the comment form. This means that you get absolutely ZERO credit for the link. Many backlink hungry bloggers feel that it is a waste of their time to drop a comment because they don’t score a machine readable backlink to their blog.
You are not at an entire loss here… instead of submitting your website URL, replace that with your FeedBurner URL. Because you don’t get credit for the link, you might as well make the best of it and promote your FeedBurner instead. Doing so will definitely increase your FeedBurner subscription numbers. It did for me, so I totally speak from experience.
If I comment on your blog, you will notice that I DO NOT leave behind my,
http://www.garryconn.com/ URL.
Instead I leave,
http://feeds.feedburner.com/successful-blogging.
This is just one out of many different things I do to continuously help increase my FeedBurner subscription count.
Drop me a comment if you enjoyed this tip. I noticed that my Technorati Authority is dropping slightly. If you really enjoyed reading this post and feel that it is something your readers will enjoy, take a moment to blog about it on your own blog and provide a link back to this article. By sharing this article with your readers you help me continue to grow as a blogger.
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Date/Time: 12-13-2007 04:46:27 Comment #7387
hmmm…. As an another reader of the blog somebody leave feed’s URL instead of homepage, I would consider that almost a fraud. That field there is meant to give opportunity for commenters to introduce themselves. I do keep do_follow on my blog because I think it is a nice thing to reward people who comment with a linkback, but it is not a place for promoting feeds. And if I would click the like to see who the person behind the comment is and went on feed subscribing page, I wouldn’t bother to find my way to the blog, let alone to actually subscribe.
Date/Time: 12-13-2007 05:42:12 Comment #7389
I’ll have to try that out for a little bit and see how it does, one thing I’ve been trying to focus on lately is increasing my Feedburner count, if this worked for you I’ll have to try it.
Date/Time: 12-13-2007 06:35:18 Comment #7391
Garry, how much of that 301 increase in readers can you attribute to this particular tip?
Date/Time: 12-13-2007 08:47:12 Comment #7398
Thank you for the info I’ll test this out. Maybe you could drop a Technorati faves link as well.
Date/Time: 12-13-2007 08:59:22 Comment #7399
Good idea. But I am not sure how many of them will subscribe to the feed. Anyway I am going to try it.
Date/Time: 12-13-2007 10:08:25 Comment #7402
Wow that means you have written over 400 comments !
ROFL
alex
Date/Time: 12-13-2007 10:13:35 Comment #7403
I am going to try using my feedburner link starting now.
I also visit blogs that use commentLuv and focus on my niche. I’ve noticed that when comment love goes out to get your blogs first post and link to it that my Feedburner Smth plugin would return the feedburner url to my first post.
My initial reaction was to turn that plug in off during times of commenting, hoping to get direct incomming links, but the nofollow got me. Even on blogs claiming to be nofollow I do not pick up any incomming links. So I just leave the Feedburner Smith plugin active and let CommentLuv pick up my feedburner url.
I think for getting backlinks the best way is to write an article and submit it to article directories and let others pick it up and republish. type “by travis clemens” (that is a pen name I use on http://www.best-fishing-tips.com). You will get about 2,470 pages and that number keeps going up. Unfortunately the site only ranks well for “Fishing Tips” which is a non profitable keyword.
Ok, I am getting side tracked now. Thanks for the tip on using the feedburner url, I am definately going to start using it.
Date/Time: 12-13-2007 10:33:31 Comment #7404
One thing I would make sure you do though, and I forgot to mention this in the post….
Make sure that you have your FeedBurner set to “BrowserFriendly”. This will put your blogs home page and hyperlinkable title on the very top of the page. People can easily either click to your home page or subscribe to your feed in their favorite RSS reader.
Without using the “BrowserFriendly” feature on FeedBurner, you cause your readers to click on one of your posts pages to get to your site, and they might not necessarily want to do that.
The key for me, is using “BrowserFriendly” on FeedBurner. That way it basically creates just one little “Hop Page” where readers can quickly decide to subscribe or just move on to the home page.
Date/Time: 12-13-2007 11:48:53 Comment #7414
That is a good tip Gary, and i’ma give it a try.. I just wonder how many of the subscribers ’stick’ ?
Date/Time: 12-13-2007 12:12:34 Comment #7415
That all depends on how well you capture their attention in your posts.
Date/Time: 12-13-2007 14:05:54 Comment #7418
Now that’s a great idea! Never even crossed my mind to do that. I will definitely test it out for a while and see what happens.
Date/Time: 12-13-2007 14:28:53 Comment #7419
Hi!
Nice article and definitely a nice tip to fill in your feed adress as URL. And I also agree with you that blogs with more feed subscribers enjoy a better ranking (or are visited more often). I won´t suggest you looking at my blog as I only have 15 subscribers
See you,
Querblogger
Date/Time: 12-13-2007 15:59:03 Comment #7424
I am also going to try it Garry. Just love your creative ideas.
Date/Time: 12-13-2007 18:11:26 Comment #7433
LOL I saw someone leave a comment on my site today with the feed. Very first time I have ever seen that!
Date/Time: 12-13-2007 18:46:54 Comment #7434
Ooo! I see almost everyone is using Feedburner feed now when replies to this post… Me too! Me too!!! Another great advice from You, Garry, Thanks! As from now I will always use my Feedburner feed for comments.
Date/Time: 12-13-2007 19:20:46 Comment #7437
Sounds like a great idea! I’ll try it on a few of my blogs.
Date/Time: 12-13-2007 20:01:44 Comment #7439
Actually this is a very good tip.
The person can than click to the site, or just see a few of you last posts. Very nice!
Date/Time: 12-13-2007 20:03:09 Comment #7440
Thanks Garry. It’s amazing you never run out of useful tips. I’m gonna try this one too.
Date/Time: 12-13-2007 20:09:50 Comment #7441
Man, I love the look of that comment form you are using in the picture! *drools*
Good tip too!
Date/Time: 12-13-2007 20:11:52 Comment #7442
I’m waiting for your second post.
Date/Time: 12-14-2007 00:34:36 Comment #7449
Garry,
isn’t that cheating ? I meen every time you insert a comment with your feed url you add a reader in your feedburner counter, but that aren’t true readers, only comments you posted. I think that on the long run you need readers, not a hacked counter.
ciao
alex
Date/Time: 12-14-2007 02:13:58 Comment #7451
I re-read the post and think I got it wrong. Help me to get it right.
First I understood that entering the feed in the comment url would AUTOMATICALLY add 1 as a subscriber to your Feedburner counter. This would be a fake, as long as it would be counting your comments, not how many real readers you have.
Now I think to understand that it works this way: a reader sees your comment, clicks on your (feed)url, comes to your Feedburner BrowserFriendly home page, aknowledges that you have awesome content, cannot resist to immediatly subscribe to your feed (which is just a click away).
Is it the latter how it works ?
ciao
alex
Date/Time: 12-14-2007 06:09:51 Comment #7456
Great article Garry. My only hesitancy with using this approach is turning off readers. They expect to be taken to your homepage, not a feedburner page. Maybe I am being too sensitive.
I wrote an article titled 35 Guaranteed Ways to Increase Your RSS Subscribers. I thought that your readers might like it.
http://newestonthenet.com/35-guaranteed-ways-to-increase-your-rss-subscribers/
Date/Time: 12-14-2007 11:44:27 Comment #7467
I totally consider this page as a home page of mine. Here is the thing about my FeedBurner Page… this page remains the same no matter what. My blog can break, hackers can destroy it, my hosting company could go out of business, etc…
No matter what happens to my blog, my server, or my hosting company, one thing remains the same:
http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/successful-blogging
What if I forget to renew my domain name? See what I mean? No matter what happens to my blog, I have my feedburner addy, and this URL is the center to over 430 people that read my blog.
Date/Time: 12-14-2007 19:07:42 Comment #7488
What a great way to increase feed subscribers
-Mike
Date/Time: 12-18-2007 22:36:04 Comment #7621
Great idea! I’ll have to try this. I also added the seth godin plugin on my blog today.
Date/Time: 12-19-2007 01:25:17 Comment #7629
Thanks for the tip
Date/Time: 12-19-2007 15:40:54 Comment #7639
Interesting. I am trying it now. Let’s see if it actually works.
Date/Time: 12-20-2007 16:09:54 Comment #7675
LoL kinda cheating, but I’ll give it a go..as I get a constant 50-80 visitors a day but only 3 feedburner subscriber at the moment (used to be 7 lol) – it’s a 3 months old blog
Date/Time: 12-3-2008 14:24:57 Comment #27521
I did try this and had negative response that it was more of a cheating method, as Michael stated.
After trying this, I have to say that having good content is more of what I am looking for and want that to trigger people to sign up for my feeds.
Date/Time: 12-20-2007 21:20:49 Comment #7682
I love the idea of putting my feed in the website part.
Thanks a million….. again!
Date/Time: 1-19-2008 09:20:58 Comment #9362
Hi Garry!! Nice blog!! I have soooo much to learn.
I have one question though???? Can I make it where when people subscribe to my blog and I post a new one, that they have to click on a link to take them to my website INSTEAD of just getting an email of the post?? Do you know what I mean??? I want to change it and I just can’t seem to figure it out. I would SOOO appreciate your help! ~Tiffany
Date/Time: 2-8-2008 05:28:15 Comment #10759
Well, I am trying it right now, so why doesn’t everyone of you just click on my link and subscribe to my feed?
Date/Time: 4-5-2008 19:57:52 Comment #13236
ok.. nice idea. I am starting to test this from your site… i mean from this post of yours.
Date/Time: 4-7-2008 21:33:42 Comment #13292
That’s a great help!! thx!!
Date/Time: 4-29-2008 04:54:35 Comment #13794
This really is a fantastic idea. And you’re right. No matter what happens to your blog, your feed will always be there. Very innovative!
Date/Time: 4-30-2008 22:36:22 Comment #13822
What a great idea! I’m currently working on a site redesign intended to gt me more subscribers for my feed and my newsletter. As soon as we’re done, I’ll be implementing this idea!
Date/Time: 5-24-2008 00:26:15 Comment #14431
Good thought Garry
Date/Time: 6-12-2008 23:37:34 Comment #15512
great idea!! thanks Garry. Most of ur commenter use feed url.
Date/Time: 7-5-2008 00:43:09 Comment #16566
Yeah it is a new guide.
Date/Time: 7-5-2008 00:44:52 Comment #16567
My comment not added yet
Date/Time: 8-11-2008 07:58:59 Comment #17988
I think I am so late to comment on the post. There are mixed comments given here. but I feel this is not a bad idea, because I have attempted to comment on posts at several sites, but in return nothing. Therefore just I would like to test it for time being. Subscribed your feed and I will try to become a regular visitor to your page. Thanks.
Date/Time: 8-28-2008 15:29:38 Comment #19962
I think it is a good idea, so I am going to try that out starting now and right here. For some reason, my feedburner reader count doesn’t grow. I don’t think my content is boring, I still think it is traffic or something simple that I am over looking.
Date/Time: 10-13-2008 01:00:00 Comment #24005
Even I don’t think its a good trick. Nice brains BTW.
Check out Ashfame’s last blog post..Programming Contests, Challenges and Online Judges
Date/Time: 10-25-2008 01:23:37 Comment #24864
Thanks that is a nice idea.
Check out Keral Patel’s last blog post..Automatic Email Marketing
Date/Time: 10-31-2008 12:53:05 Comment #25489
Gary,
Very nice tip. However, Your feedburner address took me to the following page:
HTTP Error (Code) and Message: (404) Feed not found error: FeedBurner cannot locate this feed URI.
!!!!
Check out contrariwise’s last blog post..By the time I get to Phoenix…
Date/Time: 10-31-2008 13:38:26 Comment #25491
Yeah…. and somewhere i read that all good goes to feedburner.com….
Check out IngaOz’s last blog post..Halloween Special at Hostgator!
Date/Time: 12-2-2008 12:50:50 Comment #27478
Hi and thanks for the advice, i never really though of adding my feedburner url, but now whenever I’m on a nofollow blog I will take your advice and use it instead of my blogs URL
Check out Karen’s last blog post..Top EC Droppers for November