Do You Have An RSS Pitch?

[Fred Sanford]

Have you written an RSS pitch on your blog? Or do you link your visitors somewhere else explaining what RSS is?

My niche is sports, and I realize the possibility of my audience not being super tech savvy, therefore I want to ensure things are crystal clear. I'm looking for something concise yet thoroughly explains how subscribing is achieved and the benefits it provides.

I've briefly looked around online for RSS descriptions to link to, but none have met my liking so far, I figured maybe you guys knew of some.

[ses5909]

I can't think of anything off the top of my head and will let you know if I do. What I might do if I were you is instead of mentioned RSS, just put, subscribe to my blog and also add a way where people can subscribe by email.

[splitbrain]

I have a "learn more" link next to my RSS icon which links to this blog entry (http://www.splitbrain.org/blog/2007-04/24-are_you_subscribed_to_my_feed_already)

[TVs Worst Adverts]

The BBC News site displays the following link next to its RSS icon:

BBC NEWS | Help | RSS | News feeds from the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3223484.stm)

I still think that most people (i.e. not us bloggers/web folks) don't really know what RSS is or how to sign up ("But that link just takes me to a page with code on it?" etc).

I'm debating whether to add an e-mail subscription just because I think more people will 'get it' and sign up.

[Jeremy]

I use the Richard K Miller / WordPress plugin: What Would Seth Godin Do (http://www.richardkmiller.com/blog/wordpress-plugin-what-would-seth-godin-do)

Basically, you can word the pitch however you want, but by default, when a new user visits your site, they see a little box at the top or bottom of the post that says if they are new here, they might want to subscribe to the RSS feed to stay up to date.

Plus, it is based on a cookie, so your regular readers won't even see the message.

[chrispian]

I use the Richard K Miller / WordPress plugin: What Would Seth Godin Do (http://www.richardkmiller.com/blog/wordpress-plugin-what-would-seth-godin-do)

Basically, you can word the pitch however you want, but by default, when a new user visits your site, they see a little box at the top or bottom of the post that says if they are new here, they might want to subscribe to the RSS feed to stay up to date.

Plus, it is based on a cookie, so your regular readers won't even see the message.


Great plugin! I just installed it and hopefully it'll boost some RSS subscribers. I've already jotted down some notes so I can contribute some code to the plugin to help add the features people have been requesting. Richard did a great job on this plugin.

[ses5909]

Jeremy turned me on to that plugin a few months ago as well. It's a great one!

[Michael Martin]

Darren has a great explanation (http://www.problogger.net/what-is-rss), and some links at the bottom. :)

[ClutterCubed]

I have a little blurb explaining what RSS is. I read a large number of other 'What is RSS?" pages in order to determine what I thought worked best and then I wrote my own.

Darren has a great explanation (http://www.problogger.net/what-is-rss), and some links at the bottom. :)

I second this one! I also really like one of the ones linked to by Darren; How to Explain RSS the Oprah Way (http://cravingideas.blogs.com/backinskinnyjeans/2006/09/how_to_explain_.html).

That one explains RSS in very simple terms, and even provides a nice graphic for those who are really clueless about how RSS works and how it can help them.