Hasta La Creative!

Most bloggers find they have a tough time with making their blog sticky plus getting people to return. That’s right; having repeat traffic should be one of your main aims when blogging. Traffic generation that does not stop is essential, and then people will realize you have a lot of devoted readers. You have to take advantage wherever possible, and in this case do not overlook the power of RSS subscribers. What we want to do is clarify some of the RSS strategies and things to avoid.

One great way to get people to subscribe to your blog is to keep it as focused as possible. That’s right; if you write about ten different topics, then it’s obvious that you won’t see the kind of results that you’re looking for. People that subscribe to your RSS feed want to receive updates they’re interested in. If you’ve got people subscribed to a feed based on technology, is it really a good idea to start talking about dog training? This is why you need to stick to the main topic of your blog. Your readers want information that is both relevant and easy to use. This helps them feel like they are really a part of your blog and appreciative of the fact that you’re giving away information that is relevant for them.

One of the most important factors for your visitors to see before they subscribe to your blog is consistency. If you publish new posts frequently and bring in consistency, you’ll automatically get people interested in your blog. Now, when we talk about frequency of your posts, it’s about publishing a high number of posts per week or per day. In this situation, consistency refers mostly to sticking with the frequency of your posting schedule as well as you can. That’s how you prove to readers and subscribers that your blog is an active one. If your visitors see a high amount of activity on your blog, they obviously will want to subscribe so that they can stay up to date on what you publish.

Make it as easy as possible for people to subscribe to your feed. People are lazy by nature and they don’t want to go through a lot of steps. Keep the process as simple and quick as possible.

You need to keep the process simple so that your visitors won’t find it very intimidating. Put in the effort reduce the number of clicks that are required to subscribe to your feed. You need to make sure that your readers have a wholesome experience. You need to keep your blog as targeted and to the point as you possibly can.

Every blogger wants a readership who is loyal. If you don’t make it as easy for your readers to stay up to date through your blog, it is going to be hard both to get and to keep them. So by putting RSS to use, you can make sure that you get the absolute best from your blog because you’ll be growing your readership. It could take some time before you notice that your subscriber numbers have started to climb. But if you keep inching towards your goal each day, you’ll find that pretty soon you’ve got a large number of RSS subscribers on your blog. Just focus your attention and effort on bringing in as much targeted exposure as possible.

Google and Twitter, rumored to be meeting late last week, were huddling to discuss: a) new applications, b) mergers, c) acquisition, d) monetizing strategies, or, e) “We didn’t huddle, we didn’t even talk!”
The answer, much to our curiosity’s disappointment, was “none of the above,” and we were left, yearning, with no juicy story. Until that is, we looked a little deeper: There it was, a story, neatly nestled inside the rumor…our dusky jewel, ripe for choosing.

Whether Google buys Twitter, doesn’t buy Twitter, or marries them is not news…it’s a forgone conclusion. Some company, (probably Google), is going to purchase Twitter. But, it could also turn out to be MSN, Yahoo!, AOL, NewsCorp, or even Verizon.  The real content, the actual tale to be told is this: Whenever Google acts, we, the denizens of the Internet, pay attention. We sit up, sign in, and search for news. Once found, like kids with secrets, we repeat it. Discuss it. Argue about it.  Text it. Blog it. E-mail it. Tweet it. Opine it. Feed it. Post it. Which leads us to face it: Google is more respected than Bill Gates, Jack Welch, Bono, and Perez Hilton, combined. Google is the Internet’s darling, the sweet Lindsay Lohan before she was arrested. Twice. Google is young and beautiful, the little girl from Disney that won our hearts. Google is the online business’ shining star. In December 2007, FastCompany had this to say about Google:  

“… Its performance is the envy of executives and engineers around the world … For techno-evangelists, Google is a marvel of Web brilliance … For Wall Street, it may be the IPO that changes everything (again) … But Google is also a case study in savvy management — a company filled with cutting-edge ideas, rigorous accountability, and relentless attention to detail … Here’s a search for the growth secrets of one of the world’s most exciting young companies — a company from which every company can learn.”

Which is not to say that Google is perfect, or has not made mistakes; they just don’t make many. As a highly respected company, with the starlet flair, Google is in the spotlight, the subject of speculation, rumor, innuendo, and gossip. So, as in the case  of the Twitter reporting last week, online and traditional media sources, thirsty for being credited with announcing Google’s next venture, often print rumors before the facts are known. Although it’s shoddy journalism, many of the online sources probably don’t care about being wrong, as long as they’re first. Headlines and copy can be changed in seconds. The take-away is simple: Not only does Google play an important part in our lives, but we spend a lot of time and energy making Google important to society.

Google’s other major foray into Social Media, YouTube, is expected to lose $470 million dollars in 2009. But, it’s not all bad news: Revenues are expected to increase by 20% YOY (Google will only lose 80% of what they could have). Not asking for government handouts as of yet, YouTube’s major challenge is no different from that of  Twitter and other Social Media sites: Monetization. In the short-term, Google has signed a deal with Disney-ABC Television Group and ESPN to provide “professional” content, driving advertiser demand “through standardization of ad formats and improved ad effectiveness.”  Or, to restate it clearly, YouTube will provide better videos to reel in bigger advertisers. It remains to be seen if having Disney on YouTube will provide the revenue needed for YouTube, but the main question is how the users will react to the site “incorporation.”