Have you ever noticed the majority of visitors to your blog only comment on your most recent post? Even your loyal readers aren’t digging to find more of your writings.

If they are, they often don’t comment.

Why is that?

Today’s Lesson

As bloggers we’re continually publishing new posts.

As our new posts are pinged, our RSS feed readers/visitors come on over, may leave us a comment, and leave.

Many may not take time to read more than the current post, leaving our older posts buried in our archives collecting dust.

Much of what may actually be our best writings gets forgotten.

When I look at my blog, I’ve written over 300 posts.

The ones that are most popular (based on comments) are listed in my sidebar under “What Others Are Reading”. I also include my recently written posts, related posts and most recently, random posts (lower left sidebar).

I try to make it easy for my readers to find previous posts, however, it’s rare I get a comment on an older post. When I do, it’s often the result of a search engine “find” or an inbound link (to an older post).

With that being said, I’ve come to the realization if our current post doesn’t hold value, we could lose visitors.

What if your most recent post isn’t your best, or even most popular post?

Might a reader show up, and never come back?

I believe sometimes they do.

Today’s Assignment

If you look at your current blog post from the eyes of a visitor, what do they see? Keep in mind, RSS readers are not necessarily coming in on your home page. Often they are only seeing the “post” page.

How easy would it be for them to find older posts of yours if they chose to “dig around” your blog?

Are you seeing this trend too? Visitors comment on your current posts, but your older posts go untouched?

How do you entice your visitors to “dig”?

Today’s Lesson

If we read posts in a feed reader, we don’t “see” the actual blog, nor do we see any ads.

Although you can monetize your feed reader, that’s another subject.

So, the question becomes, “How can I turn my feed reader readers (that’s not a typo) into actual visitors, and possible ad clickers?”

Insert a link.

If a feed reader reader clicks on a link, it will take them off of the reader and onto the linked site.

So….insert a link to a post of your own.

Find an older post that adds value to the current one. Make it enticing for the reader to want to click on the link.

This will bring your RSS feed reader reader directly to your blog.

If you have ads, they may be tempted to click on one or two.

If you want your links to open in a new browser (window), a must read is: How To Create A Link In A New Browser

Today’s Assignment

Do you click on post links in your feed reader?

Do you mind that by clicking the link, it takes you off of the reader?

If you land on a site, do you find yourself exploring the site and reading more than one post, and/or checking out the ads?

Today’s Lesson

I believe a good blog starts with a solid foundation. A foundation that is the result of research, a good theme, writing ability, knowledge of your chosen blogging platform, and a little bit of HTML code.

But soon after we start blogging, we want to “be found”.

We read how we should form communities, network, comment on other blogs, add blogs to our RSS feeds, join StumbleUpon and Digg posts.

All of that takes time.

Lots of time.

But we want growth, so we spend countless hours on these activities. Often too many hours.

What happens during this process, is we begin to neglect our own blog.

The rock solid foundation we built, begins to crack.

When visitors do show up, the “cracks” are apparent.

The great blog that was once a favorite of many, is showing signs of deterioration.

Soon our loyal visitors move on. Traffic and RSS reader counts plummet. Comments decline. Stumbles and Diggs soon stop.

We sit there, shaking our head, saying “What happened?”

What happened is that you didn’t set priorities.

For me, my blog comes first, just as yours should.

I answer my comments as soon as time permits, do maintenance behind the scenes, then proceed to work on my next post.

Usually at the end of the day, I have free time to visit other blogs, comment, and do some Stumbling.

With a full time job/home office, my blogging schedule often changes, but I try to follow the same order. If I run out of time by day’s end, visits to and comments on other blogs must wait.

There are exceptions to the rule. I visit my UK bloggers early in the day, due to the time change, and if I see a fellow blogger needs help, support or encouragement, I will change my schedule and pay them a visit.

Today’s Assignment

Do you find yourself spending too much time away from your own blog?

Do you have a blogging schedule you follow?

Do you have “old favorites” (blogs) that are showing signs of deterioration?

No offense to my loyal RSS readers, but it’s time others know that claims of having thousands of RSS readers is a farce.

Today’s Lesson

Often, on big name blogs they will post or brag that they have 15,000 +/- RSS readers. No, they don’t. They have that many subscribers to their blog.

Subscribing to a blog and reading the posts is two different things.

Case in point. I subscribe to approximately 40 blogs. Do I read them all? No!

Why did I subscribe?

1) I have a handful of blogs I subscribe to that I read and comment on religiously.

2) I subscribe to my “New Blogger Of The Week” blogs, so I can follow their progress.

3) If I like an article on a particular blog, I will often use RSS as a “bookmark” so I can go back later and read the post.

4) I subscribe to a couple of the big named blogs, but do not read every post they write. I scan the titles, and read what interests me.

5) I often forget to unsubscribe to blogs that lost my interest, but on their site, I am still being counted.

Why others subscribe or want high numbers

1) Some, will use RSS full feeds to plagiarize a whole post. This, however, should not stop you from providing full feeds to your loyal readers.

2) Some will use your post as the grand schema for a post of their own by putting a slight twist to it….not plagiarism, but sometimes they walk a fine line.

3) Others will subscribe so they can say, for example, “I subscribe to John Chow’s blog”…an ego thing? Or following the “herd”? Peer Pressure?

4) Big name bloggers have been known to have contests to “get the most subscribers”. This gets them a big number in their “RSS Reader” box”… a boost to their ego, but not necessarily any more actual readers to their blog.

5) Advertisers apparently love to advertise on sites with large RSS “numbers”, and, for those high numbers, the author will often receive more money. Should we tell them the truth?

And, lastly, RSS feed numbers can also be manually manipulated.

So the next time you see a blog claiming they have 10,000+ RSS readers, remember this post. And for goodness sake, (did I just say that?), don’t ever let those numbers intimidate you and make think you’re not doing a good job with your blog.

Although you may not understand all there is to know about RSS feeds, I highly recommend installing a feed on your site. Many will only read blogs via a feed. Install one and learn the details later.

For those who are confused about RSS feeds, I highly recommend an article written by Hunter, where he explains this subject in great detail. His article is titled:Using RSS To Manage Information Flow

Today’s Assignment

Do you have a RSS feed on your site?

If so, have you tested it to make sure it works?

Why do you subscribe or unsubscribe to blogs?

Do you use full or partial feeds?

Can I provide a reader with an answer, to their search string, within 30 seconds of entering my site?

Today’s Lesson

Since blog statistics provide tons of information, I check my blog’s stats on a regular basis.

If I check my AWStats (visit duration) or Google Analytics (length of visit), I can see how long a visitor stayed on my site.

I know that online searchers are on a mission. They don’t want to waste time.

My stats prove that.

I have, what I believe, is a high percentage(66% +/-) of <30 seconds (under 30 seconds), or <30s. visitors.

This tells me, one of five things:

1) Someone may have clicked on my site (by accident, or they didn't like it), only to click off

2) Someone clicked on my site, found the answer they were looking for, in less than 30 seconds, and left

3) Someone clicked on my site, didn't find their answer, in under 30 seconds, and left

4) One of my regular visitors stopped by, but didn't have time to read my new post(s), and will come back later.

5) Or, a new visitor clicked on my site, liked it, was in a hurry, subscribed to the RSS feed, or bookmarked it, and became a loyal reader.

Ideally, for clicks under 30 seconds, I hope I am either providing readers with what they are looking for, or inspire them to subscribe/bookmark my site, and visit often.

To test this <30 second theory, I am using some of the search strings that were used to find my blog. I will enter my blog via the search engine, set a timer, and see if I can get the search string question answered, in under 30 seconds.

To some degree, I will have failed as a blogger, if I am not giving some of those <30 second readers what they are looking for.

Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing, if we were able to help the <30 second reader, or if we converted them to a RSS reader.

We do know that some visitors will not be impressed with out site at first glance...no matter what. They will just leave.

Since we can't please all of the people all of the time, we can concentrate on pleasing some of the people, some of the time.

My hope is that my blogs provide answers to the all visitors who enter with a question.

For those visitors who enjoy exploring my site and reading more, and/or take time to comment, I say a big thank you!

Today’s Assignment

Have you checked your “visit duration – length of visit” statistics?

What are they telling you?

Can you find an answer on your blog in under 30 seconds?