Last updated on October 18, 2011
Let me break the fourth wall for a moment and ask the following question: How do you read this blog?
I am asking because even though I get a good number of page views every day that I post new content for a nine-month old blog, the number of subscribers to my RSS feed strikes me as extremely low relative to the number of page views I get every day.
I thus presume that people mostly come here via Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or directly via Google or by entering www.marcfbellemare.com in their browser’s address bar. The problem with any of those methods is that you’re likely to miss new posts if you don’t constantly monitor your Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ feeds.
I now offer two considerably more efficient ways of not missing a post: email and RSS.
If you would like to subscribe via email, the second item in the column on the right allows you to subscribe to this blog via email. You can choose to receive text or HTML versions of either previews of my posts or the posts themselves. After entering your email address, you will receive an email asking you to confirm that you want to receive updates via email.
Up until this week, the RSS button was not clearly highlighted. That is now fixed. If you look in the upper right corner, you’ll see an orange button that says “Click Here to Subscribe via RSS.” If you are the type of person who uses Google Reader (or any other reader that allows subscribing to RSS feeds), or if you would rather keep your inbox free, this is the best option for you.
Of course, I welcome each and every tweet, retweet, and Facebook “Like” that readers care to send my way. And if there is a topic you would like to hear my thoughts on, I always welcome new topics.
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I’ve been using RSS for your site since I started reading. If you just enter in a web address w/o an RSS link, Google Reader is generally pretty good at finding the relevant RSS feed.
Thanks for your comment and for subscribing, Matt. You seem to be the exception rather than the norm. Few people who read this blog appear to use RSS. And I agree with you that Google Reader is great at finding RSS feeds, but it seems like few people use Google Reader to begin with. Too bad, too — RSS really is an excellent tool to decrease the time spent reading blogs.
I too use RSS and Google Reader – I used to just visit individual websites (I ran PDTglobal’s twitter feed), but ended up with an unholy number of tabs and was missing things, so RSS has made my life considerably easier.
Thanks for your comment and for subscribing, Claire. I agree with you — the day I discovered RSS was the day the number of blogs I followed went from one (Marginal Revolution) to about 50 if I include tables of contents for the academic journals I am interested in.
Hi Marc,
I am also a BIG fan of RSS and Google Reader, and I have (almost) no words to explain the difference has made in my readings of blogs. Of course I follow yours using RSS, although some times I get it faster via twitter (do you know about the discussion that some people have about changing RSS for twitter? It´s not my case!)
But I would like to ask you a techie question: I see you are using wordpress to manage your blog. If you are using wordpress.com (and not .org), it is the same case that in my blog. But I can´t find the way to know how many people are subscribed using RSS!
I only can see those subscribed by email, and those susbscribed by wordpress (because they have a blog). And I can see how people arrive to my blog.. But I wonder how do you know the number of those using RSS for reading your blog?
On the other hand, if they read your blog in Google Reader, for example, you will count less visits in your site, won´t you?
Thanks!!!
Thanks for your insights and for subscribing, Pablo. To answer your question, if you go on Google Reader and click on a given feed you subscribe to on the left-hand side, you can then go on the right-hand side and click on “Show Details” to see the number of subscribers. You’re right about RSS subscribers: I guess they tend to visit your blog less often. But since I don’t intend to make money off of my blog (UPDATE: This is no longer true as of May 24, 2015, at which point I joined the Amazon Affiliates program), that’s fine. What matters is to get the posts read one way or the other. Of course, if the goal is to make money via advertisements, then you don’t want people to read through Google Reader.
Fantastic input, Marc! So close to me and I didn´t notice! So, I have just subscribed to my own blog, and I have the same impression you mentioned: very few subscriptions for a good number of visits…
Just after reading your post, I read (in G.Reader, of course) another post of a bloguer who is amazed why RSS is so slow adopted. If you can give a try to Spanish, go here: http://www.enriquedans.com/2011/10/la-paradoja-del-lector-de-feeds.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ElBlogDeEnriqueDans+%28El+Blog+de+Enrique+Dans%29
Ah, and I also sent you a link in Twitter of some changes to come soon in GReader… That´s all for today!