Debate is raging in our household at the moment as to the possible effect of encouraging people to subscribe to the RSS feed on the APT blog.
Hubby is confident that by highlighting the possbility of subscribing to the feed and incorporating a headline animator into the signature lines on our APT e mails we will increase our exposure.
APTSec is worried that if people subscribe or only click on the headline animator in the e mail signature they will only get the recent posts via the feed page and miss out on any new features or widgets placed on the blog.
All you bloggers and blog visitors out there; what do you think?
Signed
A slightly nervous APTSec
I'm no computer expert, but it appears that there are various ways of "subscribing" to blogs via an RSS feed. Having all new blog posts fed into your email Inbox risks causing it to overflow. I subscribe to various blogs via RSS and have the feeds in the "Bookmarks Toolbar" of my browser. That way I can hover the mouse over each blog's feed icon and get a drop-down menu listing all (recent) blog posts. This allows me to see what's new and click to see latest posts if I choose. Easy, convenient, non-distracting and user-friendly. So I'd recommend subscribing - at least in this way.
ReplyDeleteI find RSS feeds invaluable; preferably summary entries only, not the full entry.
ReplyDeleteI've been relying on RSS feeds for about 5 or 6 years now as I simply don't have the time or inclination to 'click-through' to all the blogs I like to follow. In fact if a blog chooses not to publish an RSS feed the likelihood is that I will probably almost never read it.
If a particular entry as high-lighted in an RSS feed is of interest to me I will probably 'click-through' to the blog to read it in full and perhaps comment, just as I did this evening.
I like to have lots of 'widgets' in my blog page, too, and for my blog page to be aesthetically-pleasing from a design point of view, but I never forget that what is important is contained in the articles and the rest is, ultimately, just 'window-dressing'. Good writing will attract a readership, however basic the blog layout is. Personally I am also 'turned off' by tedious over-long blog entries which I simply don't have time to read; pithiness and clarity of expression are features I welcome.
Hope this helps :)
I have just started using the bloglines service. I find it handy to keep up with the local blogs. I have used google reader in the past for reading all sorts of blogs but subscribed to too many feeds and couldn't find the time to keep up.
ReplyDeleteI tend to agree with Bill, it is the content that pulls readers in. If they like what they see they will return and also inform others.
As Bill says, for people who follow posts on many blogs, there just isn't the time to individually check each blog for new posts. It's then invaluable to be able to subscribe to the RSS feed to have the content "delivered direct to your door" - and then "click-through" to comment on the post, if you so desire. Including other "publicity" - using headline animator, putting your blog address in your email signature and the like can only increase the "reach" of your blog.
ReplyDelete