Question of the Week - Week of 7/16/2007

July 16th, 2007 by Matt Huggins

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

When you come across a new blog, what factors encourage you to subscribe to its RSS feed?  If you don’t subscribe to RSS feeds, then what influences you to return to the blog in the future?

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12 Responses to “Question of the Week - Week of 7/16/2007”

  1. sapheyerblu Says:

    I always read several posts on a blog before I make a decision. If I find interesting information that can help me learn more, then I will subscribe to the RSS feed.

    If it’s a blog that I don’t see myself reading on a daily basis, but is a place I’d like to check out from time to time, I simply bookmark the site into my favorites.

  2. Jay Sewik Says:

    When I subscribe to an RSS feed, I’m looking for consistent, relavent content. I don’t want to waste my time on numerous off-topic articles. That is the number one reason why I unsubscribe.

    Also, I don’t subscribe to websites that just link content from other sites. I’d rather get it straight from the source.

    If I don’t subscribe at first, chances are I won’t find the website again, and I won’t ever subscribe.

  3. Trevor Nowak Says:

    I usually subscribe to anything that catches my eye. If it sicks then happy days if not it gets unsubscribed.

  4. Danielle Says:

    Usually if I find myself returning frequently I will subscribe to the blog via RSS. Or if there are a few posts that I really liked, I will do so.

    I think that I am inclined to return to a blog for the following reasons:
    1) The blogger visits my blog.
    2) There is something I can learn from the blog.
    3) There is something that I cannot name or put a finger on, but it catches my attention.

  5. Lifesperspective.com Says:

    - consistent & regular quality post history
    - quality content

    My 2 most important considerations :)

  6. Matt Huggins Says:

    All good points, and I agree with many here. With regards to your response, LifesPerspective, I think consistency is something I need to work on a little bit. I’ve been trying to do a bit better, but I know I don’t hit the post frequency I really would like to have. But I’d rather have quality content that is more sparse than less quality content that is more frequent.

    The primary things I usually do or notice that entice me to subscribe to an RSS feed include:

    1.) Finding multiple sources of quality content within a blog that demonstrate a fundamental understanding of a topic I’m strongly interested in (typically some form of making money online),
    2.) Having a strong community that reinforces the author’s authority on the topic (including number and type of comments, FeedBurner subscriber count when provided, etc.), and
    3.) Having somewhat frequent posts (at least 2-3 per week).

  7. Erik Karey Says:

    I’m not too picky about which RSS feed I subscribe to. Usuaully if I find an article that I like at a specific blog I will add it to my google reader. I have a lot of blogs in my reader currently and I like the 100’s of articles I can browse through per day. I will occasionally remove any blog which goes inactive or has a lot of articles I don’t like.

  8. Axil Says:

    Matt…

    Just an FYI…the images for Ads by AuctionAds under your Top Commenters plugin on the left sidebar are not showing.

    As to your question, I don’t use RSS as much as other folks. I experimented with it, but I just like visiting sites “the old fashioned way”. I keep an extensive set of bookmarks in Firefox/Foxmarks and visit various places from time to time. This obviously prevents me from seeing “everything, everyday” like an RSS feed would allow me to do, but reading a feed just doesn’t give me the same feel. I like to see the site, and the plugins, and the comments, and yes, sometimes the ads. I like to see, for example, who came by to visit via MyBlogLog — sometimes I’ll discover a new site that way, and then that’s added to my bookmarks.

    I don’t bookmark everything I come across, so what causes me to bookmark? I dunno. Content I want to come back to read. A blogger with a little “spice” that rocks the boat a bit. Active and insightful comments. A “decent” design (so I can learn more and get ideas). Creative use of WP plugins.

    But I need to get on the RSS train. I realize this is where things are going.

  9. Vincent Chow Says:

    When I like the content. An “Add to Google” button would be a big plus as I am quite lazy to click for a few times before really getting the feed subscribed.

    I sometimes do blog jumping, visiting blogs that I have visited in the pass, provided I remember the URL — just like what I’m doing now visiting Matt Huggins.

  10. Tina K Says:

    This might be considered bad by bloggers, but I don’t use rss feeds.

    I bookmark like crazy. I try to browse through my list every day or every other day.

    If the page never updates or I didn’t like it was much as I thought I would, I delete.

  11. Rachel Says:

    When I find a new blog, I’ll normally read over the titles of the articles shown on the first page and if any of them draw me in, I’ll read the posts.

    So long as the information is interesting, helpful, and/or written in a way that’s appealing to me (I love bloggers who are humorous, for example) then I’ll most likely subscribe.

  12. jeremy Says:

    I usually subscribe to blogs with well written and relevant information. Not just someone using a paragraph from a news post on reddit, and then linking to it. Nowadays it’s less news for me and more just people with insight into the industries I’m interested in.

    I’ll unsubscribe if they don’t update regularly.

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