Kickstarting RSS: How to Make the Right Decisions to Reach Your Target Market
How Often Should You Update Your Feed Content?
While RSS feeds were at one time primarily associated with blogs, today’s feeds have become a key component of mainstream media publishing because of their efficient delivery method and because they do not rely on the subscriber to proactively seek fresh content. Based on surveys of our vast subscriber base, we at FeedBurner have learned that the majority of users subscribe to between 20 and 50 feeds and that this number is increasing along with the prevalence of RSS feeds.
We have found that the most popular feeds, whether published by popular commercial media publishers or by blogs, post content updates frequently, often with multiple updates each day. As a result, subscribers have an expectation that they will receive new content on a regular basis. Although not every feed publisher can deliver several new posts per day, stale content can result in audience attrition. Marketers finding that they have too many feeds to update them all on a regular basis may want to consider consolidating them so that they can deliver fresh content more often.
Make Sure Your Website Visitors Find Your Feeds
Marketers have come to understand that their websites must be designed to be highly navigable and intuitive to provide the best customer experience. Design decisions include the orientation of primary and secondary navigation links and the location of search boxes and contact information. As website development has matured, these design elements have become more standardized.
We are often asked what the right location is for entry to an RSS feed — usually an orange button commonly called a “chicklet” labeled “RSS” or “XML.” Bloggers typically locate their feed link(s) above the fold, with a combination of text and an orange button, while many media publishers have relegated RSS feeds to the bottom rail. Based on FeedBurner’s experience with thousands of RSS feeds delivered to millions of subscribers, we have identified that feeds with the best subscriber growth use an orange button for a visual queue in a location that’s squarely above the fold.
Feed Management Services are Essential Tools for Collecting and Analyzing Marketing Statistics
Effective marketers use analytics to help them evaluate the effectiveness of their various marketing communications. Feed management services are an essential tool for marketers to gain insight into the performance of their feeds and the demographics of their subscribers. Feeds offer marketers tremendous flexibility to change content and delivery in response to analytics.
For example, if a marketer identifies attrition in the subscriber base, content can be refreshed more frequently. Different headlines for feed posts can be tested and evaluated for effectiveness by measuring clickthrough rates. In addition, analytics can be an important tool for marketers to evaluate return on investment and dollars saved by utilizing feeds vs. more traditional marketing methods such as direct mail and email campaigns.
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