Your complete guide to RSS – Part 2 – Why should you offer a RSS Feed?

Let’s get straight to the point shall we? When people subscribe to your RSS Feed, they simply get all the things that they need from your blog right to their RSS reader. And they will sometimes never visit your site again. So if subscription costs you a hell a lot of page hits, why do you bother giving out a Feed on your blog?

The answer is simple. Would you have a person checking out your blog content a day in his life and never again or would you have that person checking your blog content everyday? When some one finds out your blog, he/she will get the much needed ideas from that great post and forget you for the rest of their lives. But when you have a RSS Subscription option, they will subscribe to your blog and they might come back to your site someday; again. Yes, there are ways in getting those RSS readers to visit your blog.

If I need to be more convincing,

• You can monetize your RSS feed.
  

  Well, maybe not as well as your site itself but somewhat closer. You know, certain monetization processes consider the number of your RSS readers in deciding their rates. More RSS readers you have, more money you will be making.

• Every RSS reader represents a loyal reader.
  

  When you have a RSS subscription, it gives you a loyal reader, a person who will read your blog almost always when you post new content. Even in a time when your inspiration had taken a serious blow and your posts are not so useful to go around, most of your RSS readers will forgive you.

• Every loyal reader gives you a purpose.
  

  There are a lot of people I know who discovered their life’s purpose through blogging. When the subscription goes over like 1000, you’ll say to yourself, “Wow! I have the power to influence 1000 people on earth”. And let’s face it; at least our own egos give us a purpose in that to work at our best! J

• It is able to give you sudden traffic surges when needed.
  

  Suppose you have 1000 RSS subscribers and 100 page hits every day, there are ways to get these RSS-bunnies (I mean it in the sweetest way possible!) out of the bush(Yes, we’ll be discussing that in the coming weeks). When you utilize those methods, at least half of that 1000 will visit your blog, increasing the number of unique visitors by 6 times!! A great way to boost that limited-time-affiliate-give-away!

• If you don’t offer one, then your blog is as good as dead!
  

  Seriously, if you think about all the downsides of offering a RSS Feed, and think of not offering it – don’t! Your blog will just die out. Almost all the other blogs which make it big time has one. And you’ll just lose yourself in the competition between the blogs that have a loyal reader-base and you that has got-none!

So there goes why you should offer a RSS Feed. I believe that those of you who offer a Feed anyway, without really knowing what you headed into, does not regret it. And I hope the rest of you who hasn’t really started a blog are convinced that you should indeed offer one.

Tomorrow’s post is about “How to build and promote your RSS feed”. And tomorrow’s the day we stop beating around the bush and start beating the bush. (Yes, I love prison break!!!) Stay Tuned!