I’ve been slacking a bit in the last few days, with the most quality coming from my lovely guest posters, so I thought it was the appropriate time for one that would actually help bloggers out there. 
This blog recently broke 200 RSS readers – with nearly half of them coming in the last month or so… as my buddy over at Serial Monetizer forcefully hinted me to do ( 
), I will be aiming for 1,000 RSS readers by the end of the year, a feat that will be pretty, pretty hard… not impossible though if I continue putting in the necessary hours, which I assure you I will do. Anyways, having a contest is fine; the $150.00 definitely helped with the increase, but what tips do I have on getting up your RSS feed count?
1) Be persistant
If you’ve read a few of my posts over the last few days, you’ll notice that most of them mentioned my subscriber contest… by constantly reminding the reader that it exists, people were pushed to subscribe then and there, rather than wait for a while before they did. As you might also notice, I have that annoying little line of text prodding readers to subscribe to the RSS… that’s a handy little Wordpress plugin called Subscribe Remind, and once again – it helps.
2) Be bold
Sure, I mentioned the contest many times, but we all know that most Internet users have a short time span – heck, most of the visitors do this website won’t even read a full post. By putting up a large banner advertising my contest at the top of the page, as well as making it easy to subscribe to RSS due to the links in the sidebar, quick surfers can have their interest spiked up enough to stay on a bit longer. As you’ll also notice, like in this post I have occasionally stuck the Subscribe via Email form right in your face… if people see it enough, they’re eventually going to do something about it.
3) Market it!
You can have the best contest in the world, with an amazing amount of prizes… if no one knows about it, your contest means jack all. This is perhaps the most important point – for this one, I left quite a few comments on various other blogs right after the contest was started… note, not spammy ones, but ones that showed a genuine interest in what the blogger had to say, and this sent a bit of traffic my way. I also promoted it through the various forums I was/am a member of; when you mention money, people are bound to be interested.
What if you want to increase your RSS count, but don’t have the necessary funds to start up a contest?
1) Write quality content
Not just once, but consistently… if people see you producing quality on a regular basis, they will sign up to read what more you have to say.
2) Link to other bloggers
Linking to other bloggers not just gets them to visit your website (whenever I see an incoming link, I check it out) but will also leave trackbacks if you link to specific posts. Be evil and use an appropriate evil anchor text and people will click through… just out of curiousity. 
3) Ask, ask, ask!
If you don’t have the money to buy your own prizes – you could always ask. In the first contest I held, a lot of the prizes were generated by other blogs – people that will often be happy to part with something, be it advertising, eBooks or even cash of their own in exchange for a backlink. I used to hand out free copies of the Wealthy eBook when asked… various other bloggers will be happy you took the time to approach them and will offer you their services 
That’s all for now. I do have a limit on quality production at a time, you know
Also, a mini-celebration for TUK; we’ve broken 2,000 comments, all thanks to you guys.
That rate is around 14 comments/post, not bad at all.
February 21st, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Nice post TUK,
Generating traffic is definitely a cheif concern of most bloggers. Your backlink strategy is definitely off to a good start.
You want to donate something to my blog? *wink wink*
Jim’s last blog post..GPT Reviews: Deal Barbie Pays
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Rahul Jadhav (10 comments) Reply:
March 6th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
@Jim lol that was funny…even i liked the backlink strategy. But the best thing that i found out was the Ask thing. I am a new blogger and i want to host a contest but i dont have the money to host a contest. Your idea has made me feel good. Thanks
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February 21st, 2008 at 5:33 pm
By commenting on relevant other blogs, you could increase your RSS feed count further. I, luckily, found your blog through another blog
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February 21st, 2008 at 5:46 pm
“Write quality content”, that is definitely the reason I subscribed and visit this blog every day. Keep up the great work on this site and all stats will continue to rise. Eventually quality content may be the only thing you have to work on!
egk’s last blog post..Mercedes-Benz S Class :: WINDSHIELD WASHERS???
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February 21st, 2008 at 6:04 pm
200 feeds not a big deal, DP user Ernesthemingway has already 70 within a week time and his Alexa dropped from no rank to 350,123 in a week, you have to award your readers with something, you have good blog too but
you are also making money out of readers while others are only trying to help members, and other users I know have 18,000 feed subscribers.
Pathan
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February 21st, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Everything above and a bucket full of luck.
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February 21st, 2008 at 8:06 pm
nice goal Jason! I am only aiming for 500 by the end of the year. But you will make it if you follow your steps.
Thomas Sinfield’s last blog post..Grow A Backbone. Who Cares What Others Think!
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February 21st, 2008 at 8:37 pm
I challenge YOU to a duel! Well, maybe not. But 1,000 is my goal for the end of the year as well… good luck!
And if you ever want to exchange links, let me know!
Jay
DatMoney.com
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February 21st, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Setting up goal is the very important and many bloggers do want to have many readers.
David Chew’s last blog post..Chivas The Worlds Local Drink
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February 21st, 2008 at 9:05 pm
@Pathan: Ernesthemmingway’s blog is nothing compared to Jason’s, and he’s doing grunt work just to get comments and subscribers. I could make a post on DP offering to pay $10 to anyone that subscribes, that doesn’t make my blog better than anyone else’s…
Sorry Pathan, but I think you’re wrong with everything you say, and I can tell immediately you’re the kinda guy I would disagree with, I’ve never been a fan of “ernesthemmingway” as it is..when you succeed online (and by that I mean you earn more than $1 this month) then you can start making comments like you do….
William Montanaro’s last blog post..#6 – Judge Software
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February 22nd, 2008 at 12:01 am
@William, so I am grunt ah? I pay people to come and spam my blog? I put banner ads to make 20$ a month from my readers? You know I do not need to pay anyone or tell anyone to spam my blog, I am a programmer in a day I can code a script to get thousands of RSS readers and thousands of comments and at same time make my Alexa better. You do not know me. So do not talk about me. Its good that you are a genius and I am grunt. But don’t call me names. I am not a kiddie like you that goes in every forum and every blog and leave a comment with a backlink. Next time watch out before you talk about me.
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February 22nd, 2008 at 1:41 am
Nice post.
Well I will try them out and see any new results.
Thx.
Usman’s last blog post..Sicks Days just suck
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February 22nd, 2008 at 2:56 am
Nice one mate, I love this article. Thank`s for sharing with all us… I will try them out soon and will post my results here…
Aleks’s last blog post..Starbucks, Juan Valdes…
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February 22nd, 2008 at 3:11 am
The ideas / methods that you presented in this article can be used for other types of websites as well, not just blogs. Thanks, I will reference to them when I need to.
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February 22nd, 2008 at 4:10 am
Hey Jason,
Great list. I wrote a post on this topic a while back here: http://www.winningtheweb.com/ways-maximize-blog-subscribers.php
Yours adds some very useful points as well. Very nice work.
Gyutae Park’s last blog post..5 Easy Ways to Generate Content – Repackage Existing Ideas
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February 22nd, 2008 at 6:38 am
@ernest
Why is your name ernest hemingway when your english is so poor? I have seen you on DP all around, I’ve even read your ebooks (have you ever heard of formatting?) sorry to burst your bubble, but I don’t worship you because you have a load of posts on a forum, you are in fact a massive hypocrit….
William Montanaro’s last blog post..#6 – Judge Software
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February 22nd, 2008 at 11:42 am
Nice tips Jason.
I still don’t understand what is this RSS but hey I will probably figure it out soon
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February 24th, 2008 at 7:39 am
I applaud you for giving yourself a goal for the end of the year! You can’t reach your goals unless you set them! Good luck. You included some great advice in here for other blogs looking to increase their feed readers. Thanks!
Erica DeWolf’s last blog post..Email Marketing Effectiveness: Link Love
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February 24th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
[...] Boosting RSS Feed Count – TheUniversityKid writes about how you can boost your RSS feed count with some simple [...]
March 4th, 2008 at 11:20 am
[...] Boosting RSS feed numbers [...]
March 14th, 2008 at 8:21 am
I really need to work on my RSS subscribers.. so im reading this article. gah.
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March 15th, 2008 at 10:05 am
[...] talking about boosting RSS feed count, increasing Alexa/visitors to your website, getting more linkbacks. You know what? Hundreds of [...]
March 19th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
There days contests are becoming an easy way to boost the count.
meethere’s last blog post..Steps For a Successful Web Conference
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March 22nd, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Wow that’s a very nice amount of comments in a small number of posts.
Mike’s last blog post..Tip: Synchronize Your Office Docs With Google
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April 3rd, 2008 at 4:47 am
Just asking, I wonder how’s the subscribers after the contest ended? Do they remain around the number during the contest?
Louis Liem’s last blog post..PageRank Update – HomeBiz Resource Rakes 4 from N/A!
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April 4th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Nice stats there. 4 times more comments than post. Its inverse on my blog, 100 posts and 10 comments only.
I will follow your steps.
Tech blog’s last blog post..Technology and Travel
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July 4th, 2008 at 5:41 am
How many comments are there since this post?
EmmaB’s last blog post..Thou Shall Blog
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July 17th, 2008 at 6:47 am
This is a great post. I definately need to boost my RSS performance. I have a massive RSS readership of 0….that’s right….none.
But I am marketing my blog by commenting on many other blogs and by writing top quality content. I want to write content that adds to the life of my reader, not that is a waste of time.
Just a quick question. How do you go about asking for sponsorships and how large do you think your readership needs to be in order to run a competition?
Ryan McLean’s last blog post..5 Great Ways To Get Money Fast
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July 27th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
your comment average is quite good but you are grossly under rated.you should do something to get the word out about ur blog.
anyway your pretty much summed up all the gud points in this post and according to me content is the best point.examples of great content making blogs and bloggers popular are TUK and mixed market arts.
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August 15th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
[...] take a decent blog post from The University Kid. It’s about increasing RSS feed subscribers, and you can see that it’s got more than 15 [...]
September 8th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Great stats.I have never seen such high stats.Great jason.keep it up.I guess this will increase a lot in future.
Harish’s last blog post..My Future and Present aims in Blogging
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September 12th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Those are some pretty cool techniques. But what are the contests you hold or what are they about?
ways to earn online’s last blog post..Earning Money Online: Factors To Consider
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November 1st, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Nice techniques you got here, I do notice there are always a lot of comments in your posts meaning your readers are returning which is great to see
Just out of interest how much traffic do you typically get each day?
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December 6th, 2008 at 12:43 am
I wrote a post How To Get More Subscribers quite sometime ago. I think having good content is still the main attraction that your subscribers will look for. Thanks for sharing.
Peter Lee
work from home ideas’s last blog post..How I Got Google Index New Wordpress Blog In 3 Hrs
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January 15th, 2009 at 6:17 am
Unique content is good, but writing them is a hard part
TutorialCompiler’s last blog post..Color Overlay
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