While it is a good idea to stick an RSS button on the front page of your site, you need a central location where your visitors can see all of the ways possible to stay in touch. People spend time on social networks, plain and simple, and if they see your website or blog there they will be more likely to remember you. The more subscribers you get, the more traffic you get, which translates into a successful website or blog.
Subscription Options to Offer
Any social network that will allow you to create a page for your website or blog and have followers is a subscription option that you can offer. I have currently narrowed my subscription list down to 6 options that I feel are the most popular. They are:
- RSS Feed – Many people start their computer time on their favorite feed reader, scanning updates from their favorite websites and blogs and deciding what interests them. Wouldn't you like your site to be there? Then offer RSS feed of your site. If you don't know how to add RSS to your blog or website, get the details here.
- Email Subscription – Bascialy the same thing as RSS feed, except they get the updates in their email rather than in a feed reader. Feedburner offers this option for you.
- Twitter – Many people love to follow websites and blogs that interest them on Twitter. It is way for them to keep up to date on what is current on that site, and get to know the person behind the scenes.
- Facebook – It seems that just about everyone has a Facebook account these days, so creating a fan page here is a must. From your personal account simply click Ads and Pages located in the left column, then click Create a Page. Alternately, you can find a link to create a page on the front page of Facebook before you login. Once you have created your fan page, read the Get Started section within your page to create a 'like' box to put on your website or blog. When people click 'like' they become a fan of your page and see the updates your place on your fan page.
- Networked Blogs – This option is for blogs only, and is actually affiliated with Facebook, so you can find it by typing NetworkedBlogs into your Facebook search. Basically, you sign your blog up with this application, then you can choose for it to syndicate to your Facebook wall. All of your Facebook friends will then know when you have updated your blog.
- Kindle Subscription – This option is only available for blogs as well. It is a good way to increase your readership, as Kindle users don't have to be online to read your blog. Don't know how to add your blog to the Kindle Blog Directory? Find out here.
Once you have these subscription options up and running on their very own page, visitors will know for sure how to stay in touch. Don't forget to manually update your Facebook page and Twitter status when you make site updates. The others update automatically.
Angel Chavis - Angel Chavis lives in NC with her husband, daughter, and various pets. She is a Christian, wife, homeschool mom, writer, student, and ...
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