Comments on: My FeedBurner Feed Count Experiment http://www.askshane.org/blogging-basics/my-feedburner-feed-count-experiment.php Sound Strategies for Building an Online Business You Can Retire On Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:37:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: You’re faking it and we can tell, Bloated RSS Feed numbers http://www.askshane.org/blogging-basics/my-feedburner-feed-count-experiment.php/comment-page-1#comment-34626 You’re faking it and we can tell, Bloated RSS Feed numbers Wed, 09 Jan 2008 21:47:49 +0000 http://www.askshane.org/blogging-basics/my-feedburner-feed-count-experiment.php#comment-34626 [...] How did that ugly little site get so many RSS subscriptions you say?  Well its easy, they faked it.  Many people believe readers will only subscribe to blogs they think are popular, thus the [...] [...] How did that ugly little site get so many RSS subscriptions you say?  Well its easy, they faked it.  Many people believe readers will only subscribe to blogs they think are popular, thus the [...]

]]> By: Reasons Why NOT to FAKE your Feedburner Count | Ian Fernando http://www.askshane.org/blogging-basics/my-feedburner-feed-count-experiment.php/comment-page-1#comment-11408 Reasons Why NOT to FAKE your Feedburner Count | Ian Fernando Wed, 12 Sep 2007 13:25:05 +0000 http://www.askshane.org/blogging-basics/my-feedburner-feed-count-experiment.php#comment-11408 [...] AskShane.com did an experiment on this issue to see if more readers would join his feed if he faked his feed count. His conclusion: What I found really surprised me. Over the next few days, my traffic was consistent with the days before it, but so was the subscription rate. Advertising a huge subscriber base apparently had absolutely zero effect on how likely new visitors were to subscribe. [...] [...] AskShane.com did an experiment on this issue to see if more readers would join his feed if he faked his feed count. His conclusion: What I found really surprised me. Over the next few days, my traffic was consistent with the days before it, but so was the subscription rate. Advertising a huge subscriber base apparently had absolutely zero effect on how likely new visitors were to subscribe. [...]

]]> By: Shane http://www.askshane.org/blogging-basics/my-feedburner-feed-count-experiment.php/comment-page-1#comment-1438 Shane Fri, 27 Apr 2007 20:55:55 +0000 http://www.askshane.org/blogging-basics/my-feedburner-feed-count-experiment.php#comment-1438 That's a great point, Chris. Not only would the particular reader demographics make a huge difference here, but so would whether they had been to the site before or not. Funny thing is, I actually took it down right before a huge influx of new visitors. Missed my chance to have tested that, too. Of course, I'm glad to have tested it on a smaller scale. I wouldn't have been comfortable signing up a significant number under false pretense. That’s a great point, Chris. Not only would the particular reader demographics make a huge difference here, but so would whether they had been to the site before or not. Funny thing is, I actually took it down right before a huge influx of new visitors. Missed my chance to have tested that, too.

Of course, I’m glad to have tested it on a smaller scale. I wouldn’t have been comfortable signing up a significant number under false pretense.

]]> By: Chris Stark http://www.askshane.org/blogging-basics/my-feedburner-feed-count-experiment.php/comment-page-1#comment-1437 Chris Stark Fri, 27 Apr 2007 20:47:21 +0000 http://www.askshane.org/blogging-basics/my-feedburner-feed-count-experiment.php#comment-1437 Interesting results Shane. I'm actually surprised that it didn't result in more of a quick influx of subscribers. What would be an interesting follow up to this would be to try putting the 2800 subscriber widget up, then get one of your articles on the front page of Digg and see how many of those new "random" readers subscribe. I think the majority of people who really take subscriber numbers to heart when deciding to subscribe to a new blog are the ones that visit because of a single article (on digg, through google, from del.icio.us) and aren't taking the time to read the rest of your content. They're the ones that need a number to tell them whether your site is good or not. You probably didn't get many new subscribers in this experiment because most of your readers throughout the test were regulars and/or came in smaller numbers (smaller then digg would bring) from your content showing up on other sites or through google. That's just my thinking out loud though. I think this matter requires further study at AskShane.org :) Interesting results Shane. I’m actually surprised that it didn’t result in more of a quick influx of subscribers.

What would be an interesting follow up to this would be to try putting the 2800 subscriber widget up, then get one of your articles on the front page of Digg and see how many of those new “random” readers subscribe. I think the majority of people who really take subscriber numbers to heart when deciding to subscribe to a new blog are the ones that visit because of a single article (on digg, through google, from del.icio.us) and aren’t taking the time to read the rest of your content. They’re the ones that need a number to tell them whether your site is good or not.

You probably didn’t get many new subscribers in this experiment because most of your readers throughout the test were regulars and/or came in smaller numbers (smaller then digg would bring) from your content showing up on other sites or through google.

That’s just my thinking out loud though. I think this matter requires further study at AskShane.org :)

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