Did you know that you can use a blog RSS feed to help promote and build traffic to your blog? An RSS feed is a great way to get your blog content in front of more readers. It also allows readers to subscribe to your blog content so they can have it automatically delivered to them. In this blog post, we will discuss the benefits of using an RSS feed, what it is, and how to use it. We will also list some of the best RSS feed plugins for WordPress. So let’s get started!
What is RSS and how can it help you promote your blog content
An RSS feed is a great way for readers to let readers know when new posts have been published. It also allows readers to subscribe to your blog content so they can have it automatically delivered to them.
An RSS feed is a file that contains information about recent blog posts from a blog or website. When someone subscribes to your RSS feed, they will receive updates whenever you publish a new blog post. This is a great way to keep your readers updated on your latest blog posts.
There are a number of different ways to use an RSS feed. You can include it on your blog or website, in your email signature, or in your social media profiles. You can also use an RSS feed reader to subscribe to other people’s RSS feeds. This is a great way to stay up-to-date on the latest blog posts from your favorite bloggers.
Naturally, your blog RSS feed can be included in other websites (where your content would then be displayed).
Using an RSS feed to your blog
Now that you know what RSS is and how it can help you promote your blog content, let’s take a look at having an RSS feed for your blog.
WordPress comes with an RSS feed built in. For example, this blog’s RSS feed is: https://www.bloglogistics.com/feed
The basic settings are somewhat limited, but in my opinion, the “no fuss” approach can work well, especially when you make sure you cross-link (internally) your posts. Naturally, you can extent functionally through plugins.
How to use an RSS reader to subscribe to other blogs’ feeds
RSS is a blog’s blog post list. You can use RSS to see blog posts from your favorite blog without having to visit their website, unless your posts have links to click through to related content.
If you want to subscribe, you will need the blog’s feed URL and an RSS feed reader. A few of my favorite are Aggregator (it’s a mobile application), Feedly, Flipboard, and Google Reader.
Once you have the blog’s feed URL and RSS reader, add the blog’s RSS feed to your reader, and the reader will do the rest for you.
You can now read the blog’s latest posts without having to visit their website!
Why using an RSS feed is a great way to build traffic to your blog
There are a number of reasons why using an RSS feed is a great way to grow and build traffic to your blog. Here are some of the benefits:
- An RSS feed allows readers to subscribe to your blog content so they can have it automatically delivered to them. This is a great way to keep your readers updated on your latest blog posts.
- An RSS feed can help you promote your blog content on websites, social media profiles, and elsewhere.
- An RSS feed is a great way to stay up-to-date on the latest blog posts from your favorite bloggers.
- An RSS feed helps you build traffic when people use it to steal your content (for their website). This is beneficial when you add a lot of internal cross-linking between your posts. Often the stolen content can retain your cross links, which drive readers back to your blog.
Key strategy: While not related specifically to RSS feeds, I use LinkWhisper to automatically create lots of valuable cross-links between all my blog posts. These links are preserved in the blog RSS feed.
WordPress plugins that help improve your RSS feed
If you use WordPress, there are a number of different RSS feed plugins that you can use. Here are some useful ones:
WP RSS Aggregator: This plugin allows you to aggregate content from multiple sources into a single RSS feed. It also includes a built-in caching feature to improve performance.
FeedWordPress: This plugin allows you to import and export RSS feeds, as well as convert posts from one blog format to another (e.g., WordPress to Blogger).
Category Specific RSS feed Subscription: This plugin allows you to create a custom RSS feed for any category on your blog. It also has the option to create feeds based upon tags used throught your posts.
RSS Redirect & Feedburner Alternative: This plugin helps better funnels your readers to return to your posts, which makes it a more effective solution for monetized blogs.
GN Publisher: The plugin solves common RSS compatibility problems that publishers run into when using the Google News Publisher Center.
Tips for creating content that will be of interest to readers and encourage them to subscribe to your RSS feed
When creating blog post content, there are a few things you can do to encourage readers to subscribe to your RSS feed. Here are a few simpler tips:
- Write blog posts that are of interest to your readers. (Research your niche).
- Write blog posts that are timely and newsworthy. Timely is key (it encourages readers).
- Write blog posts that are valuable and provide insights or helpful tips. Not only will readers subscribe, they may share!
- Write blog posts that are entertaining or humorous. People like to be happy, when you entertain them, they’ll want more.
- Write blog posts that are well-written and easy to read. This says “Here is a good blog RSS feed to subscribe to”.
The benefits of using an RSS feed (Summary)…
When you use an RSS feed to subscribe to a blog, you’re able to keep up-to-date on the latest blog posts without having to visit the blog’s website. This is a great way to stay informed on the latest blog content without having to spend a lot of time visiting different websites.
Additionally, an RSS feed can help you promote your blog content on your website, social media profiles, and elsewhere. An RSS feed is also a great way to stay up-to-date on the latest blog posts from your favorite bloggers.
Lastly, using an RSS feed can help you build traffic when people use it to steal your content (for their website). When you add a lot of internal cross-linking between your posts, the stolen content often retains these links, which drive readers back to your blog.
RSS Feed Traffic: How to Track, Get, and Increase Your RSS Generated Traffic
RSS feed traffic is a great way to get your website seen by more people. It’s a little known fact that RSS feeds account for around 20% of all web traffic. If you’re not using RSS feeds to generate traffic, you’re missing out! In this section, I’ll focus a bit more on how to track your RSS generated traffic, how to get more traffic from your rss feed, and where to submit your rss feed for even more exposure. I’ll also give you some tips on how to make the most of RSS feeds and generate even more online traffic.
RSS Feed Traffic Tracking
First, let’s talk about how to track your RSS feed traffic. Google Analytics was a great way to keep track of your RSS feed traffic (if you were using the now retired Universal Analytics). Simply creating a new “profile” for your RSS feed and then adding the RSS Feed URL into the “Feed Address” field. Once you did this, you were able to see detailed statistics about your RSS feed traffic including:
- The number of page views generated by your RSS feed
- The average time spent on your site via your RSS feed
- The bounce rate for your RSS feed traffic
- The number of unique visitors who come to your site via your RSS feed
This information was valuable because it helped you to understand how effective your RSS feed was at generating traffic. If you saw that your RSS feed traffic had a high bounce rate, for example, it might have meant that your RSS feed wasn’t relevant to your audience. Alternatively, if you saw that people are spending a long time on your site via your RSS feed, it was a good sign that your RSS feed was valuable to them.
The problem, today, it the newer version GA4, in the most general term, focuses on Events. And I’ve found no significant, meaningful feed tracking in using GA4 fo self published RSS feeds (which WordPress does). However, this video should help:
RSS feed Traffic Analytics Using Third Party Services
Google Analytics isn’t the only way to track your RSS feed traffic. There are a number of other options available including:
- Follow.It: This is a service that allows you to track your RSS feed traffic. It also provides some other features such as the ability to see who’s subscribed to your RSS feed and what content they’re interested in.
- Feedly: This is a popular RSS reader that also allows you to track your RSS feed traffic. It gives you some basic information such as the number of people who have subscribed to your RSS feed and how many people are viewing your RSS feed content.
- FeedBlitz: This is another service that allows you to track your RSS feed traffic as well as manage your RSS feed subscribers. It provides some basic information such as the number of subscriptions, unsubscriptions, and bounced emails.
- FeedPress: This is a premium service that allows you to track your RSS feed traffic in detail. It provides information such as the number of page views, unique visitors, and the average time spent on your site.
You can also leverage plugins to help track stats. In WordPress for example one plugin would be: Simple Statistics for Feeds (SFS).
With SFS, you can track the following data:
- The number of times your RSS feed is accessed
- The number of people who have subscribed to your RSS feed
- Which items in your RSS feed are most popular
- Which countries your RSS subscribers are from
- And much more!
In order to get the most out of tracking your RSS feed traffic, it’s important to choose a service that provides the information that you need. If you’re not sure what information you need, consider what would be most useful to you in terms of understanding your RSS feed traffic and improving your RSS feed strategy.
Getting More Traffic From Your RSS Feed
Now that we’ve covered how to track your RSS feed traffic, let’s talk about how to get more traffic from your RSS feed. There are a number of ways that you can increase the amount of traffic that your RSS feed generates.
One way to do this is to submit your RSS feed to directories. This will help to ensure that your RSS feed is seen by more people and that it’s included in search engines. You can find a list of RSS directories at: RSS – Blog Directories.
Another way to increase your RSS feed traffic is to promote your RSS feed on your website and on social media. Make sure that you include a link to your RSS feed on your website and that you share links to your RSS feed content on social media. You can also use paid advertising to promote your RSS feed.
With social media for example, you could take advantage of tools like dlvrit. Dlvrit is a platform that helps you to promote your content and to increase engagement with your audience. It provides a variety of tools that make it easy to share your content on social media and to track the success of your campaigns.
Explore using QR codes with your RSS feed link!
Build RSS feed Traffic Using Syndication
WordPress automatically pings the Pingomatic service each time a post is published. You can include your RSS feed link in each post, with an invitation to subscribe. This way readers you can include readership when they subscribe, and see something of interest. Also, when people forward you post to their circles, your RSS feed link gets sent as well.
Increasing RSS Feed Traffic Using Email for Marketing
Finally, you can use email marketing to promote your RSS feed.
You can also include a link to your RSS feed in your email signature and you can send emails to your subscribers that include links to your RSS feed content.
Conclusion
Your blog RSS feed is a great way to give your content more visibility and help it reach new audiences. Not only can you use them on social media, but they’re also available for syndication in other places like email newsletters or the blogroll of another site.
You can learn much more about rss feed traffic, by visiting our Blogs and Blogging posts. As well as find out further about Blog Finding Readers in particular.