Over to the right you see a little icon from FeedBurner that tells you how many readers are currently subscribed to ClickNewz. Up until now it has been completely wrong, mind you... and that's my fault. (Read on and learn from my mistakes!)
Since the numbers fluctuate (and I am in the process of 'fixing it'), here is a screen shot of how it looks currently:
When I switched to the Presscut Theme a little over a month ago, I neglected to update my Feed URL and make sure that it was pointing to my FeedBurner Feed URL. Costly mistake, as the feed is the most accessed URL on this domain (with over 20,000 hits last month) - and I have no way of knowing exactly how many readers are subscribed to it...
Why do you need to know how many
readers are subscribed to your feed?
The number of people that subscribe to your feed is just one of a number of statistics any blogger should be tracking. On the most basic level, you should know the number of feed subscribers for the same reason you want to know the number of unique visitors that land on your blog via a browser.
Tracking your overall growth and the habits of your readers helps you to continuously improve as a publisher.
And of course - If you sell any type of advertising, or ever plan to, these statistics are necessary in attracting advertisers and to determine ad rates.
Feed Advertising is becoming more and more popular too, as a separate source of revenue for publishers than on-site ads. It would pay to make any necessary changes now to keep your blog in a good position for future opportunities.
Why use FeedBurner?
- They have tons of cool tools & features, most of which are FREE
- It creates a user-friendly RSS experience, instead of a code-filled page that makes your visitors eyes bug out and click the back button
- They provide you with usage statistics that are invaluable to you as a content publisher
Just go to www.feedburner.com and sign up for an account. If you arent already using their services, you should be! 😉
The Double Feed Dilemma
You sign up for FeedBurner, they 'burn your feed' and give you a new Feed URL... and you paste the code into your blog and begin promoting it. But guess what? Not everyone that visits your blog is going to click that icon and subscribe via FeedBurner.
Many people will just use your website address (www.clicknewz.com, for example) instead of your feed address to add your blog to their Feed Reader of choice. Most Feed Readers automatically detect the blogs Feed URL and make the process easy for their users.
The problem? They are detecting your original feed - the one that comes built-in to your WordPress or other blog platform. In my case this is www.clicknewz.com/feed/ instead of the FeedBurner URL which is http://feeds.feedburner.com/wp-clicknewz .
Now you have people subscribed to your feed using two separate Feed URLs... making your FeedBurner statistics innacurate (uh - like mine).
The first thing you should do is scan your template for any references to the Feed or RSS. You may find links in the header, the sidebar or the footer. Change these to your FeedBurner URL. Of course, you still have the problem of various readers automatically detecting your original Feed URL...
A little redirect is in order. Instead of outlining the whole process here, I'll point you to the write-up for the fix at: The Feed Redirect Fix (that's the FeedBurner Forum). All said and done, you are setting up a redirect for your original feed to point to your FeedBurner feed.
NOTE: Scratch that - you'll pull your hair out. Just use the FeedSmith Plugin
THEN you will have accurate stats, which is the ultimate goal 😉
If all of this is so important...
I know - why did I neglect my feed fix, right?
(long pause - I am trying to think of a good excuse...)
If you ever notice me doing something totally screwy, or neglecting something so obviously important, feel free to send me an email (or even leave me a public comment) and give me the well-deserved kick. Or even a nice "heads-up" note will do 😀 ...
Best,
P.S. I do have "the fix" in place now, so the stats are finally accurate. I know... "Yay, Lynn!" 🙄 - Now, go check on yours 😉
Technorati Tags: feedburner, feed stats, blog stats, rss subscribers, blog readers, blog subscribers, blog optimization, feed optimization,
About Lynn Terry
Hi Lynn,
I wondered why SO many marketers used feedburner.
I used to, but stopped because of the built in feeds.
And your the VERY first person that pointed out
that a feed subscriber statistic might be useful.
Duh! (embarrassed)
Anyway, a small question comes to mind here.
What about the subscribers to the original feed?
If the feed url suddenly changes, the reader
won't just detect the new one.
Instead, won't you need to find a way to alert the subscribers?
I'm thinking that the last post to the old feed
just needs to be the announcement.
Then if nothing else, when they don't notice
anything new for a while from a site.
They will probably look at it in wonder,
and notice at least the title of the last post they got.
Does that sound right?
Anyway, as always girl.
You put out the stuff that people can really use.
Your one of the most valuable "feeds" I have!
Thanks Lynn!
(and yes, I checked on which feed I view 😉 )
Chat later!!
Brad.
ps
hmm...
Are the "comment feed" and the "post feed" considered?
Does feedburner take care of that?
Because it IS 2 separate url's in wordpress.
Probably in other cms as well.
Just an after thought.
🙂
Thank you, Brad - and thanks for raising these questions. Actually, the point of the plugin I mentioned in this post is to combine all feeds. It actually redirects readers of your original feed to the new feedburner feed - so that FB can track ALL readers combined.
And yes, you can create a feedburner feed for your comments feed as well - and the plugin works on it too.
Go for it 😉
Thanks for the info! What a timesaver...whenever I run into a roadblock which seems like EVERY day, I just click on you and amazingly, I find my answer or at least a way to get my answer fairly quickly. You're awesome.
By the way, I went out to lunch with my daughter earlier this week at Chili's (she's 3 now) and couldn't help but recall our meeting in TN...she was only 6 months old at the time. Boy, how time flies!
Oh, dont remind me! I have one in high school and one starting middle school - and I have NO clue how THAT happened LOL. They were 5 years old (starting kindergarten) and 5 months old when I started my business... sheesh! LOL
That was such a nice lunch though. I look forward to another opportunity to get together again. I hate that I missed you the last time you passed through!
Glad you found this post helpful, too - its nice to know that the information is useful! I cant stand to get stuck on something for hours (which I often do *sigh*)... so I at least try to prevent it for others if at all possible!
~ Lynn
Note: It may take up to 48 hours for your stats to update with FeedBurner.
Hello Lynn,
i forgot to click YES on "track my links" when i signup to FB, is there a way to get it enabled in my FB control panel?
I'm not sure what you're referring to. You can log in and look - and also check out their support forum.
OK, i will check in.
Another question: have you ever tried (and used) the FeedBurner email subscription service?
No, I use Aweber - and talk more about that and why and the original list of criteria to consider on this post:
http://www.clicknewz.com/21/blog-email-notification/