I’ve heard a lot of people constantly struggling to increase their RSS subscriber count. But before complaining often people aren’t aware there are few very well reasons for such things happening. In this post I wanted to take a research on many different, design related blogs and investigate their best practices how to use RSS buttons, where to place them, how to stand out and make that RSS button easy to notice and use.
First of all you must write regular, valuable and unique content to get attraction! No one likes to read the same stuff over and over again, because they now how and where to get good information. Also don’t write one day about Windows media player and next day about tips how to attract women – have a clear focus, so you can attract people directly interested in your topic and would want to subscribe in return to get more.
Through investigating all those blogs I came to several tips what you could do to increase your RSS subscriber count:
1. Place RSS button above the fold.
Usually RSS button can be found on the top right area, which in my opinion is definitely the best practice. When I am visiting blogs I like, I always look on top right for RSS button and rarely I don’t find it there! Don’t forget about using catchy RSS icon or maybe use textual RSS subscriber count instead of default one.
Place RSS button somewhere near logo or above the header, so people would be able to recognize subscribe button right away!
2. Place RSS button in the sidebar
Yes, you’ve got one RSS button on the top right of your blog, but still there are people, who want some more advanced features or even they don’t know what the heck is RSS! Use words instead of just plain RSS icons in the more descriptive way. Offer people subscription through e-mail and it is great practice to also create separate RSS page, explaining to other visitors, what RSS stands for!
3. Place RSS button under the posts
This tip is one of the most important ones. You must think like new visitor- let’s say it’s the first time you visit blog, read some article you take interest in and after finishing reading it, you think about what to do next? You can scroll through related posts, read comments, but one thing you’ll notice will be RSS subscribe button – asking to you “If you enjoyed this article, consider subscribing to our RSS feed for FREE!!!”. For example, if I would be new reader on that blog, I enjoyed article I read through, I would definitely click on that button and subscribe! All you need to do there is ask and present proposal in eye-catchy way to grab that moment of attention!
I also like using word FREE, because some of the visitors don’t understand this RSS thing so well and word free definitely grabs attention!
Now scroll through all those many different practices and see how it looks on other popular sites. Of course, you always must think about your design and layout dividing accents and colors in smart, professional and good looking way. It is also good practice to use also heatmaps after some time when you change new design to see how design and placements works out for your visitors!
1. CSS Globe
2. Little Box Of Ideas
3. Problogger
Problogger website as professional it is, there are very good “Subscribe to Problogger” section. You have all the most important features there – Subscribe button, individual page explaining what RSS is, if you do not know it yet, Twitter button and subscribe via email field. Everything in one place and above the fold, very good example.
4. SpoonGraphics
Very good solution, subscribe background is in grungy orange color and above the fold top right placement. When you mouseover RSS feed you also can see textual message how many subscribers there are.
5. FreeLance Folder
6. PaintBits
I think this is one of the best solutions, where little RSS button is on top right section, which is easy to find. But also in sidebar you’ll find Updates section, where you can see how many RSS readers there are and again with option to subscribe.
7. SpeckyBoy
RSS icon in Speckyboy’s blog is extremely small, but on dark background that orange icon really stand out!
8. DesignMag
Very clear RSS message with different subscription options all in one place.
9. CSS-tricks
Top right and above the fold as expected – very clear message, for advanced options there are extra RSS buttons in footer.
10. Digging Into Wordpress
Notice how only thing in sidebar with dark orange background is RSS subscribe section, which makes it great, yet subtle accent since every article title is styled the same way.
11. Mac Appstorm
12. Ars Thanea Blog
Something a little bit different, though I think it would be better if at least mouseover would be in orange RSS descriptive way.
13. Phodana Media
Just mouseover RSS feed button and get advanced feed options.
14. Design Bombs
15. I Love Colors
Unique 3D RSS box and really nice rollover effect and good thing is RSS button is easily observable.
16. GoMediaZine
Here you’ll find RSS butons in two places as well – I think it’s a really good habit.
17. IconDock
Simply a little bit lifted out RSS button creating subtle and elegant accent.
18. MonoFactor
19. Line25
20. EPaper Central
Dark background and three bright buttons easily approachable and understandable!
21. Pro Blog Design
22. CopyBlogger
23. Design Disease
24. Viget Extend
25. Coda Blog
26. Creative Briefing
27. Oliekav
Dirty grunge style design with interesting approach, where RSS subscribe button is sort of combined together with logotype.
28. Viget Labs
29. Vectips
One of the rare examples where RSS buttons aren’t in above the fold section, but somewhere middle. Different approach also not by using classic orange color, but green one.
30. Cats Who Code
Very good example with two RSS buttons, where first two links on the top are in orange color, describing RSS and also there is counter to see how much people actually have been subscribed.
31. Catalyst Studios
32. Gisele Jaquenod
33. FreeLance Switch
34. Kohette
Scroll down the page, but RSS button always hang on top right welcoming new readers to subscribe.
35. Kultur Banause
36. Sparklette
37. Natalie Jost
38. Veerle’s Blog
39. Web Design Ledger
There are two RSS button placements on this site as well. Above the fold and in sidebar!
40. Blog What Design
41. N.Design Studio
Sometimes with such small RSS icon can be enough.
42. PSD Rockstar
43. Branded07
Everything in this site is really gorgeous and professional, but I really think they should create those RSS, Twitter buttons more appealing in order to get more subscribers. I like rollover though.
44. Adii Rockstar
On the left side Adii keeps the most important things like logo, description, projects and welcoming RSS subscribe button which is light grey standing out on the dark background.
45. Macalicious
46. NorthxEast
47. We Function
48. Digital Photography School
49. Just Creative Design
50. SmashingMagazine
51. NetTuts
I consider this as good RSS displaying way – simple options and button above the fold and scrolling a little bit down, you’ll get to expanded RSS options, explanation link what RSS is and actual subscriber count!
52. Noupe
53. Tutorial9
Thanks for giving the tips on attracting visitors for RSS subscription
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In my opinion rss should be place after the post and in the sidebar. Which is very often display and more visible to readers.
chris´s last blog ..RedEye turns iPhone into a universal remote
Excellent. This Post is put together well. I think the simpler the better for RSS buttons. If it is “over designed”, the link could be missed as it won’t be identifiable
kisanak´s last blog ..Free Wordpress Template: Sang Saka
Thanks for sharing that list !
Waheed Akhtar´s last blog ..Best Wordpress Themes Websites Every Blogger Should Bookmark | Smashing Share
Impressive and cool. I like the designs of buttons. Thanks
Julia Andreson´s last blog ..The Art of SEO
Very good tips! They actually gave me some pretty good ideas about rearranging my blogs RSS icons. Thanks!
[...] 53 best practices on how to attract RSS subscribers – Link. [...]
[...] 53 Best Practices How To Add RSS Subscribers [...]
i don’t have any word to thanks you this is very use full information collection.
adobe basics´s last blog ..Business Home Logo In Adobe
Great article. I really do need help getting people to subscribe to my RSS feed.
Orange County WebDesign´s last blog ..Search Engine and User Friendly Web Design Guidelines
Just making the RSS subscription easy for the reader to see is very important. Nice tips and examples.
Lol, how did you manage to turn a guide into a roundup?
Great tips, the most annoying thing in the world is to find a great blog and then to have to hunt around the whole site for the RSS feed. This happens a lot more times than you would think.
Thanks for putting the importance of RSS Feed in such a way and it was a fun to see unique placement of RSS icons on famous blogs. This post is making me reconsider the placement of RSS icon on my blog….do you think it should be replaced?
Graphic Design Blog´s last blog ..23 Impressive Graphic Design Logos – Creative minds at work!!
Nice collection! Thanks for sharing
I have never heard of Noupe, but it really looks interesting. Any other methods that work?
[...] 53 Best Practices How To Attract RSS Subscribers [...]
My god man, this must have taken you quite some time to write.
Thanks for your efforts in compiling this huge list :)
Theme Digital´s last blog ..WordPress Travel Theme – Traveler Magazine
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favSHARE´s last blog ..Trendsetter by Paul Hollingworth
[...] 53 Best Practices How To Attract RSS Subscribers (1stwebdesigner). El artículo hace una investigación sobre las mejores prácticas sobre cómo utilizar los botones de RSS, dónde colocarlos, cómo sobresalir y hacer que el botón de RSS sea fácil de notar y usar. [...]
thanks for the info…I have now added another more visible button since my main button is a little hidden for a new blog reader to recognize.
Gabriel Scofield´s last blog ..11 Ways to transform PLR into cash! STEPS 2-5
Great list! Also don’t forget to place the rss icon in the address bar! I ALWAYS look for it there first!
website laten maken´s last blog ..Dropdown navigatie in webdesign: Usability Killer
Instead of showcasing the RSS Feed positions it would be good if focused on “How to attract visitors to subscribe”.
But I enjoyed the post.
Decent Discussions´s last blog ..Only 3 Words
I have also kept my RSS big Orange button on my sidebar .. Its a perfect place .. Let it be big Big BIG ..
srivathsan.GK´s last blog ..Showcase Your Creativity and Win Rs.50,000 Plus Laptop – Dell Studio Contest!
amazing interesting article thanks for share
Oes Tsetnoc´s last blog ..Youth Pledge For Indonesian Nation
[...] 53 Best Practices How To Attract RSS Subscribers [...]
[...] 53 Best Practices How To Attract RSS Subscribers [...]
Hey Dainis,
a. great post!
b. too bad you missed our new feeds offer! Don’t knoww hat i am talk about ? :) Have alook at the footer : http://sharebrain.info
Greetings,
thomas
thomas´s last blog ..45+ great looking free Wordpress Themes
Great collection, no. 2 & 4 are my favorites.
Tobbi´s last blog ..Akinator kann Gedanken lesen
I have seen a lot of creativity for the subscribe button. Thanks for this exhaustive list.
John Samuel ´s last blog ..Save more with j.mp to Write more
Very useful. I love the examples:) Thanks!
Ben l Awesome Wallpapers´s last blog ..Space/Fantasy Wallpaper Set 15
My 2 cents also try to add RSS feed before post, use wp greet wordpress plugin to welcome your readers…. and let them subscribe to feeds :-)
A nice article which reminds me I must get on with my grand RSS plans!
Very nice article. I love seeing how each blog integrates their feeds into their specific designs!
Shane Jeffers | Three Styles´s last blog ..An In-Depth Look into CSS’s Background Attribute
Excellent. This Post is put together well. I think the simpler the better for RSS buttons. If it is “over designed”, the link could be missed as it won’t be identifiable.
I like the detailed design.
Albert´s last blog ..Several aspects you should notice about promoting shopping cart
kool. i guess my blog following it perfectly XD
Do you think it is necessary to show the no. of subscribers on blog?
Because if ones blog has only few subscribers it will give a wrong impression to others that his blog is not active, or not interesting…etc.
I have heard of Noupe and Smashing Magazine before but not many of the others.
BunnygotBlog´s last blog ..12 On Blogging: Katie Clemons, “Making This Home”
There are many, many ways of configuring an to look and feel of your rss subscription button for maximum appeal. You have given me a lot to consider in that regard and indicated a ton of ways it may be done citing some great examples.
Jay Zuck´s last blog ..Witch Cypress Concept
Really good find. Lot of work there. Added to bookmarks.
And it`s one interesting thought about “get more RSS subscribers through off-site means”, worth to think of.
Paldies.
Not quite sure this qualifies as 53 best practices, versus 50 examples of how people link to their RSS. ;-) Regardless, I enjoyed it. Hoping you’ll have a follow up about how to get more RSS subscribers through off-site means (I mean how to drive them to your site by doing things not on your site). You could have the most awesome RSS button and placement but if readers don’t get the extra push to subscribe or have some sort of call-to-action then it kind of falls flat.
Paul Stamatiou´s last blog ..How To: Build a Microsoft Windows 7 and Intel Core i7 PC (Part 1)