Real content posted regularly on a blog can get good exposure through feed readers, because in a feed reader the most recent posts move right to the head of the class. Are you a new site that bites badly at the heels of search result 101? That doesn’t matter to RSS readers like Google Reader, because their world is sorted in reverse chronological order. Once you’re in there, all it takes to get the top spot is fresh content.
Of course it’s not that simple. I’m not talking about search traffic, and I am convinced that over 90% of the world does not use feed readers or even know what they are. However, the 10% that does subscribe to feeds is potentially a very dedicated audience, the kind of people who would consider reading fresh material from something they like every single day. Think about that. Every single day. Every single day at spot numero uno, and all you need is good, fresh content for willing eyes.
Those willing eyeballs are the same kind of audience that won’t consider subscribing to a blog lacking some sort of original content, especially if it is not updated regularly. Without something good to read it doesn’t matter how on top of the Google/Yahoo/Ask heap you are. No results. Nada.
This is completely upside down from the old school SEO ideal of search ranking leading to return on investment, or even that ROI comes from search ranking plus a site that has the usability to convert. Once you make contact with real people via your feeds, for those people search engine rankings are virtually out of the loop.
Communication is personal. Day in, day out, the relationship-building and audience-considering that builds feed subscriptions is personal. Down the line, statistics may show big numbers, but no matter how big they are those numbers reflect one person at a time tuning in.
Seven Things Scraped Spamblogs Can’t Do
- Get subscribers
- Build trust
- Inspire loyalty
- Hold interest
- Make friends
- Hold a real conversation
- Succeed at Value Blogging
Seven of the Reasons Real People Rock
Real people behind quality blogs, that is!
- Smiling at 2am when seeing a repeat hit from Rimouski (you know who you are)
- Their blogs can stir cravings for roasted mushrooms and improving the web in one fell swoop
- A 14 word post can become a 47 comment conversation
- You can tell that they think
- And they make you think, about everything from getting return visits (from Rimouski) to ritual and beer
- “They” becomes “we” as people come together around causes
- They do the work, over and over again, to offer readers something good to dive into