Why Do RSS Feed Readers Unsubscribe?
March 1st, 2007Is your feed count decreasing while your great content is getting better? It is not unusual to see blogs with great content having low number of feed readers. Though you might get a spike in feed counts when your site hits Digg or Slashdot, retaining these readers is the key to success. So why do feed readers unsubscribe?
Problogger has compiled some reasons why people unsubscribe from RSS feeds from some of his comments. They are very valid reasons and I will just express my thoughts about a few of these points.
* Too many posts (the post levels are too overwhelming)
Very true. Is subscribed to some top feeds like CNet which had great content, but it was very difficult to keep the unread articles count down. Since I read using the river of news style in Google reader, I had no choice but to unsubscribe. A solution is to subscribe to category feeds, concise feeds, daily digests or weekly round up feeds such sites offer. Get their best content without overwhelming yourself.
* Infrequent Posting (or the blog is effectively dead)
A very common reason. Such blogs are the first to get unsubscribed when you go spring cleaning. Why read 100 feeds, 50 of which never update. A exception to this rules is official blogs of your favorite services, which often post occasional announcements only.
* Partial Excerpts Feeds
There is no end to this discussion. If your content is good, even partial feeds work. Its just an extra click!
* Blog Changes Focus (too much off topic posting)
Stick to your niche. Nothing offends dedicated readers more when a tech blogs starts talking about how you made coffee today.
* Too many posts that I see elsewhere (Redundant, Repeated or Recycled News)
Everyone is talking the same thing. Just visit Techmeme, or Megite and you know that original bloggers are scarce. We all republish official announcements too often. We all see what is popular and make it more popular. Are we simply multiplicating the same content?
* Uninteresting Content
No hope for you. You must have done something great to get them subscribed the first time.
* The Blogger’s Ego – Too much self promotion
Offer readers something useful. If you are blogging wonderful stuff – it will promote itself and you too.
* Too many posts that are too long
People don’t have time to read. You have to keep them motivated enough to read the whole 5000 word article. People are impulsive and impatient. Monitors cause eyestrain, tell them a reason to stay before they get a headache.
* Negative blogging
We want to stay happy and optimistic. Give me something useful to read and I will come back.
* Feed Errors – Especially when a Feed Reloads the latest 10-20 posts every time
Its a feed reader problem. Switch to Google Reader.
* ‘infomercials’ (too much selling)
How many ads can you sell on a partial feed. Keep a balance between content and earnings.
* Blog Titles that Don’t Tell what the post is about
Keywords are not only good for conveying your thought, but for SEO too. Guess this title 198.2
* No or Poor Formatting in posts, Too Many Grammatical Errors
Carelessness is not tolerated. Proofread. Proofread again.
* Change of Primary blogger
Every blogger has a unique style which keep people coming back. If I sell this blog, would you unsubscribe? Think about it…
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Thnaks for that! I am facing the issue no 2 on my blog on the other hand I generally unsubscribe for reasons a) Too many posts that I see elsewhere b)Too many posts or change of focus( may not be intentional, i might have subscribed reading couple of posts then I come to know that blogger posts on lots other areas)
very good article. Managing lots of feed is a problem. So everyone want only good feeds
Thank you very much for this eye opener why the feed subscriber’s, unsubscribe. The uphill task is to find a interesting topic for the blog. I agree with you that too many posts overwhelm the readers.
If your content is good, even partial feeds work. Its just an extra click!
I disagree. Informal surveys and research has shown readers do not click through or even tend to unsubscribe. Personally, I hate partial feeds and I have skipped reading at least 70% of your posts just because you don’t offer full feeds. In that case, everything boils down to your headline.
There are many Online RSS feed readers and selecting 1 according to your needs is a big task. This leads to the comparison of these feed readers.
I found a detailed comparison, including Pros & Cons, of some of the best Online RSS feed readers at – http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=971829