I have a confession to make: I am a hypocrite. On numerous places on my blog I ask readers to subscribe to my feed. But do I subscribe to the blogs that I visit on a regular basis? As of today, the answer would be NO. Although I am a loyal reader to over 60 blogs, I bookmark them instead of subscribing to them. I really can’t explain why I don’t like browsing blogs in a reader, as they are a more efficient way to view new posts. Perhaps it is that I like to observe changes in sidebar ads, themes, and other design features. No matter what is causing my brain to avoid blog readers, I am not doing a major disservice to these blogs.
Subscribing to a blog helps that blog in many ways:
1. Helps attract more readers. When I first visit a blog and notice that it has a large number of subscribers, I am much more likely to explore the blog to see what has made it so popular.
2. Increases advertising rates. If you enjoy a blog, why not help it make money and increase the chances it will remain active.
3. Gives the blog credibility. Subscribing to a blog is like giving them your seal of approval and yields credibility. For instance, if a blogger uncovered some kind of scandal or broke a major story, but only had 22 subscribers, it would be viewed with much more skepticism than if the blog had 2000 subscribers.
So, after I finish submitting this post to a couple of social bookmarking sites, I plan to subscribe to all the blogs that I read regularly. Atlhough, I will still visit them via my bookmarks, I will be “casting my vote” that their blog is worthy of being read and I might even be motivating them to continue blogging.
How do you visit your favorite blogs? Leave a comment to let me know as I am very interested in the results.
As for subscription management, well, it isn’t intended to manage your subscriptions really. You can add or delete a subscription wherever you see a post from it or from any website with a feed, so it is easy to decide to stop rovr from fetching a feed you’ve gotten tired of.
Rovr isn’t a feed reader like google reader. It is very lightweight to have feeds fetched from, and change ones mind when one doesn’t care for the content anymore.
Thanks!
I made a page which includes business feeds I like. Otherwise, I just go to the sites I like from memory.
I use FeedDemon 2.7 RSS reader to read my subs. I find it easier to navigate than a standard web browser. It still allows me to drop and EntreCard, leave comments or click on interesting advertisements if I want.
Great responses. I have now subscribed to over 75 blogs and am using Google.
I will have to check out Feed Demon 2.7 though. . .
I have to say that I am just as bad about subscribing. I like to see the pages also and not just the posts. I know I should because of the efficiency and every other reason you gave above but I haven’t done it yet. I suppose it would be time to start doing it and seeing if it works well for me. Thanks for the info.
Janets last blog post..Junie B Jones by Barbara Park
What I do is make a list of all the blogs I like. When I find an interesting blog, I add it to the list. Then, I will occasionally pick out a blog from the list and go through the archives for that blog. While doing that, I will put my favorite posts from that blog in a Google Docs document.
I enjoy the google reader also. It seems like it is the easiest, most intuitive reader. It’s a good way to quickly read many blogs everyday, without visiting them.
i agree with this i think Google reader more preferable cause Google reader is a good way to to read blogs any where
It still allows me to drop and EntreCard, leave comments or click on interesting advertisements if I want. I use Google Reader, but I never actually *read* the blog posts within the Reader interface
I will occasionally pick out a blog from the list and go through the archives for that blog… While doing that, I will put my favorite posts from that blog in a Google Docs document… I had problems at beginning with some bad readers and i almost quit until i tried google’s reader…
I agree with this message, I think the penalty is WAY too severe. Losing 38 spaces for going a little overboard on the chocolate is clearly excessive. i t seems like it is the easiest, most intuitive reader.It is this type of thinking that leads to millions of Americans developing eating disorders every year. Plus, here is the first example of the contradictory messages that Chutes and Ladders sends to our youth. . I just use it to scan headlines quickly and then I go to those that look interesting.