Bloggingtricks

Take a look at the right side navigation on this blog. You'll notice that right under the search bar is the title "Subscribe Free." Following that is a list of chicklets and a tutorial on RSS, followed by an invitation to join the BloggingTricks.com Email list.

Making it easy to subscribe to your blog is an important first step to attracting readers. While a great many people are familiar with newsreaders, RSS, XML and the notion that "subscribing" is something that's usually free in the Blogesphere, the majority of the population is not familiar with any or all of these.

So it's your job to make it easy to understand.

Notice I put the words "Subscribe Free" above the chicklets. Many bloggers just use the chicklets and assume that everyone knows what they mean. But for those who don't, the two simple words "Subscribe Free" are both an invitation and instruction.

Don't forget that attracting readers is at its core, simple salesmanship. And the number one rule for any good salesman is to ask for the order.

So ask your readers to subscribe and make it easy for them.

UPDATE: Blog templates don't translate for every RSS reader the same way so some of the information I am describing in this post may not be available to you unless you enter my blog from the root URL, i.e., www.bloggingtricks.com. For that reason, I'll add that it's probably a good idea to put your RSS information in each post so everyone can find it. Thanks to Glenn from PublicityShip for pointing out this problem to me.

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Subscribe Free at http://www.bloggingtricks.com/atom.xml
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Technorati Tags: blogging, Weblog