Are Blog RSS Subscribers Making a Comeback?
| By Jessica Miller-Merrell | Social Media
As part of my mission in training and teaching people on how to leverage social media for their business including human resource professionals, I’m writing several foundation social media topics over time. This is one of those posts for the ToolBox HR resource site.
Blog RSS Subscribers Increased?
Over the last few weeks, I’ve seen a dramatic increase in not only the number of RSS subscribers I have on my blog but also the website traffic that is being driven from my blog RSS feed. For those of you who are not aware, RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It is an easy way to aid in the distribution of your blog. Essentially, readers opt into receiving your blogs either directly to an RSS reader like Google or via email. Readers no longer need to go directly to their favorite blog or website, the new content from their favorite sites that they choose comes to them. (Learn how to set up an RSS feed here.)
The universal RSS logo is normally a little circle with stacked half circles smaller in the center with longer and larger lines further from the middle. Orange is the most common color for the button, but is not always the case.
Uses for a Blog RSS
RSS is a great way to reach your audience on their terms especially for those of us who spend our days reading hundreds of blogs and articles from various places. An RSS feed organizes all your content in one nice little place. When I developed HR Blogger and most recently Mommy Blogger, I used RSS feeds to organize the site making it easy for visitors to read and find interesting human resources related content. The process of navigating blogs and finding content takes time and can be overwhelming to new users. In fact, an RSS subscription often keeps people from missing out on the blogs and content that makes sense for them.
As my number of social media contacts grows, I find even more value in RSS which is why for me and possibly also for my readers, it’s making a comeback. Until recently, I used my social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook solely to provide me with relevant and interesting content. But as my network widens and as my business grows, I find that RSS is a great way to help organize and manage my day without missing out on relevant information either typical news, industry bloggers, or people that I enjoy keeping up with. With a growing family and business, I am working hard to find ways to manage my time effectively.
RSS Feeds & An Increase in Traffic
Aggregator publications that comb the internet for top content also use RSS feeds which is one reason my blog has seen an increase in traffic. Opt in publications like SmartBrief use these RSS feeds to share information, resources, and articles to their readers quickly and easily. RSS feeds can also be to distribute content to social sites savings you time. For example, I use a Google tool to share my content as soon as it it published to my Twitter. RSS distribution tools can save you time and keep you from being tied to social media or your blog.
The Future of the Blog RSS Feed
As the internet and use of social media grows in popularity, blog RSS will continue to be an effective way for web surfers to effectively manage their time. That being said, your RSS feed might not be the leading source of traffic for your blog, but it is still important. Make sure to include it throughout the pages of your website or blog, making it easier for your loyal finds to find time to read, engage, and learn from what you whatever medium they prefer.
How can RSS feeds make a comeback when they never really went away. This has to be the most pointless article ever. But congratulation on learning how to get people to sign up on your rss feeds. If you don’t want haters than put on something with substance.
Thanks James for a thoughtless comment on what you consider to be a thoughtless blog post. The point is that RSS is still useful, and until recently I had seen a decline in its usage because people were relying solely on social media to drive them to their favorite blogs and content.
JMM
P.S. This is a basic description blog post for reason, the audience it is intended for is newbie social media peeps. You’d be surprised at how many questions I get about it.
I absolutely love RSS readers and I think that they may have seen an uptake recently. I am still surprised how often I have to explain to people what RSS readers are, so I think this is completely relevant, since many people still aren’t aware of them.
Thanks for the comment Miss Lissy. I’m learning to love RSS again.
JMM
Thank you for this post. Making the button for RSS so accessible like you have is an easy choice to subscribe. If I have to search more than a second for the RSS, it’s likely that I won’t subscribe.
Agree, Mark. We need to make it easy for our reader. It’s a busy world and readers don’t want to waste time searing and scouring through a website for the RSS.
JMM
I didn’t know that RSS had ever gone away. I love my feed. I read it every day!