real blogging tips

Most bloggers are always, even if only in the back of their mind trying to find an effective and honest way to increase their own RSS subscription numbers. While this may prove to be one of the hardest aspects of writing and maintaining a blog I have decided to add a few extra ways to help you raise those numbers and meet your goals.

Today I am going to show you ten ways that you can easily and honestly raise that rss number. Keep in mind for the most part blog readers can be in a way very lazy. This is not to say the ones that have you book marked instead are worth any less than the ones which recieve your content via email or even rss. We all like to see numbers and equate success via our own personal goals so hopefully this will help you get over your latest rss number woes.

1.) Stay Focused.

By staying focused to your normal content you will be keeping your reader enticed and interested.  Stray far off the beaten content path and you may lose your regular subscriber.

2.) Make It Obvious!

Often time more than not most bloggers will not make it incredibly easy for their reader to sign up with them. I too was guilty of this, and as you can see now It is incredibly easy to get my posts via email or rss depending on your prefered flavor. Make sure you make it so easy that you think its borderline stupid. A big flashing sign is not a bad thing as long as it is in line with the rest of your theme.

3.) Offer A Bribe

No this is not against the ethical bloggers rules. Infact this can jumpstart any blog that is suffering from a dip in popularity or jumping your next traffic/rss hurdle. This can come in the form of a contest, an ebook or even a free product/service from your network of sites.

4.) Landing Page

Those of you who are avid affilate marketers or marketers in general will know the value of an ppc campaign with a well done landing page which prepares your vistor or in this case your potential reader to subscribe to your content or purchase your product. I highly suggest everyone to have one of these with keywords or keyphrases which work for your blog. A ppc may be in order depending on the niche you have chosen. Always a word of caution to not lose your shirt this is an advanced method and I highly recommend you search my site or the blogosphere in general before attempting this. In short a landing page which gives an enticing outline of what your blog offers will surely help reader retention and of course your rss numbers in general.

5.) Guest Blogging

While this can be a hot topic most will agree that their is no other better and google friendly way to promote your blog. Always make sure before you agree to guest post to let the blog owner know you want a by line for you blog somewhere in the post. This is the cheapest and most effective way to gain new readers who may otherwise never had known you existed.  Make sure your not using recyled content, bring your “A” game. If you do this you should net new exposure, new readers and open many more doors of oppurtunity.

6.) Use available Media Effectively

Podcasting and video blogging are still a big hit in the blogosphere and using these to be listed in new places while making note of your blog will most certainly raise those rss numbers for you. Thier are many effective strategies which can open doors to your blog from many places which you may have never expected before. For instance being listed for your niche in Itunes can be very eventful. After all people are always in search of information and most certainly would prefer the easiest way for themselves to absorb it. Interactive media such as Ustream is also an effective means of raising your subscription levels. This allwos you to promote your content and site live with user interaction almost in a TV show like sense of things. While this may not be the most appropriate for everyone when they first start out this is definately something I suggest to everyone to try.

7.) Forum Posting

If you like higher rss numbers and have already implented everything we have discussed so far this will be of paramount importance. Most popular forums are indexed regularly, this works in your favor. Post often and about your niche. Giving advice, offering up meaning otherwise not given before positive and productive content. Search engines eat this up and so do people searching for answers to what you to this point have proclaimed to be an expert about. This works two fold in many cases as these forums are a place where many people which are like minded will hand out converse and what not. This plays into out next section.

8.) Networking

I know I have whole posts dedicated to this throughout my blog, but I can not relay how important it is to network inside your niche and anywhere else in the blogosphere that is applicable and or possible. The more your name or blog is out the better chance you have of reaching your goals. In this case you can directly impact your rss numbers through networking inside your niche and on sites which are inside the same universe of content. Often times more than not I find great sites which can help my readers but are not directly associated as affilate marketing, news, reviews, or even tips about blogging. Things such as tech related sites. You get the point. Get off your but and start networking this is one thing which you will have tangible results quickly with.

9.) Cross Promoting

Cross promoting is in essence like sharing adspaces or content or even projects with others you reguard as trustworthy or dependable. Honestly I will warn you to be careful and to make sure you establish a very good relationship with someone before you start working with them. While not everyone is out to use people for their ideas or content be weary just in case so you do not end up being hosed in the end by a bum deal.

10.) VIral Marketing

Viral marketing for most will seem out of bounds in the ethical bloggers realm. This is so untrue for the most part. Having others promote your blog for you is an outstanding way to gain a new and higher foothold with rss numbers and reader loyalty. Be honest, Produce content with integrity, and promote. Use EVERY tool available and in my opinion stay whitehat.

While these are not new methods. They are however underused. I would like to hear back from everyone on how these methods are working for you or if you have found some better way of raising your numbers without going blackhat.

Happy Blogging!