RSS (or “Really Simple Syndication”) is an awesome tool any blogger can use to increase subscribers and improve reader experience. Basically, any new content you put into your blog will automatically be sent to subscribers through an RSS feed reader (there are many to choose from), and any one subscriber may be getting RSS feeds from a number of different blogs through the same feed reader. Therefore, using RSS feed readers allows people to keep up with the latest from all their favorite blogs without having to spend the time checking in on each separate blog site. That’s why RSS is a great advantage for your readers, and ultimately for you and your blog, and it should be the best you can make it if you want to maximize those advantages. Here are some tips for how to improve your blog’s RSS feed:
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In a previous post, I argued that getting attention was crucial to having success as a blogger. I want to be more specific about that point. Obviously, you have to earn the attention of your target audience. It’s also a good idea to get the attention of the other bloggers in your niche. This is especially important for new bloggers with a small reader base.

If you’re a new blogger and you don’t have a lot of traffic, how will you find more readers? You can focus on search engine rankings but those take time to improve. A more effective method is gaining the attention of other bloggers and hoping they will link to you. Fortunately, most bloggers are helpful and will gladly link to you as long as you provide value in some way.

In this post, I’ll talk about practical ways to get the attention of bloggers. And then I’ll close with 4 important principles.

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I just read a great post from Seth Godin (via Problogger).  His post was about the power of recommendation. 

He wrote about posting excerpts from his new book last month and also giving a recommendation for a book by author Garr Reynolds.  He built a Squidoo page about that book with an affiliate link to Amazon. 

Guess which book has gotten more sales?  His book or Garr’s book? 

Seth checked his stats and it shows that he’s sold more of Garr’s book than his own book.

What people say about you is much more important than what you say about yourself.

There’s a lot of talk about self-promotion but it’s a lot more beneficial and effective when other bloggers promote you.

When people talk about you and especially when they recommend you, you gain credibility, mindshare, and exposure.

So, how do you get other people to start talking about you?

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About 2 weeks ago, I wrote about marketing without spamming. One of my points was that networking is an essential part of marketing. If you don’t have a relationship with the bloggers you’re marketing to, then you could be classified as a spammer. For example, if you promote your content to a blogger out of the blue, they might wonder, “Who are you?” and “Why are you spamming me?”

Blog commenting is a great way to presell yourself and your content while also building friendships with other bloggers. Here are a couple tips to consider.

Comment early. Try one of the first 5 to comment on a post because those commenters get noticed more than the later commenters. You’ll get more traffic to your blog. The blogger will notice you over the other commenters if he receives many comments per post.

Leave an insightful comment. Too many comments are short and don’t add much value. It’s okay to leave a comment like “Awesome post. Thanks for sharing.” However, most of your comments should add value to the post and directly engage the post in an insightful way. By leaving good comments, you will brand yourself as someone who knows what he’s talking about.

Pick a blog that you enjoy reading. It will a lot easier to leave good comments if you comment on a blog that you enjoy reading.

Comment on posts that are closely related to your blog. If you have a Ford Mustang blog and want to comment on a general car blog, leave comments especially on the Mustang related posts. Also, other Mustang car blogs like this one are great places to leave comments.

Watch your stats. If you’re not getting a lot of traffic from your comments, it may be time to target another blog. Don’t just look at unique visitors. Check out the bounce rate and pageviews, too. Blog A may send less visitors than blog B. However, blog A’s visitors may actually be visiting more pages than blog B’s visitors. More pageviews can translate into subscribers and a higher conversion rate.

After a couple insightful comments especially if the blogger responded to them, feel free to contact the blogger directly and promote your best content. Make sure your content actually relates to his blog. Also, link out a couple times to the blogger to increase your success rate of getting a link and a positive mention.

Which blogs should you comment on? Our blog directory can help you with this. We have a lot of blogs and they’re ranked by 3 metrics: overall, strength, and momentum. For more information about these three metrics, check out our about page.

I personally like using the momentum metric, because you can find blogs that don’t have a huge readership base yet they are growing quickly. The problem with networking with bloggers who have big audiences is they are often hard to befriend because of their fame. It’s hard to get noticed in midst of their many comments and emails. However, blogs with a high momentum metric are often times smaller blogs that are on the rise. What better time to network with a blogger than when they have a relatively small audience, but at the same time, are growing their readership very quickly?

For example, if you are a celebrity blogger, check out the top momentum celeb blogs. Then, pick one like Pop Crunch and begin leaving comments. If you are a tech blogger, check out the top momentum tech blogs. You can then scan the blogs on the list and pick a blog to target like The Techdirt Blog.

Also, don’t forget to submit your blog if you haven’t already. Other bloggers are browsing the directory for other blogs in their niche. If you haven’t submitted your blog, those bloggers won’t be able to find you.

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Feel free to share your favorite blog commenting tip.