11/20/06
Jumping Into The Present With Syndication
My ex-husband taught me to drive a stick shift. We got in the car, I started the engine, let out the clutch and stalled. “If you give it more gas, it won’t stall.” So I started the engine again, let out the clutch and stalled. “If you give it more gas, it won’t stall.” This went on for a few times before I managed to have some margin of success and we called it quits for the day.
For the next day or so, I took the car solo and stalled alot. Finally, on the third day, I came home beaming and told him “guess what? If you give it more gas, it won’t stall!” Luckily we were newlyweds.
Today I’m home beaming and telling Chris Cree SuccessCREEations and Mike Sansome ConverStations “guess what? Syndicated feeds are the way to go!”
Traditional email subscriptions were the first thing to catch my eye and, well, old habits sometimes don’t even notice something new is on the block. Actually, the email sub life was so time-consuming I couldn’t consider anything else.
Last Sunday, in Business Blogging 101, Chris discussed feed syndication with a link back to Mike and, between the two of them, they sold me. Sold me so well that I spent the better part of the afternoon and evening switching almost all of my subscriptions to RSS. It might have taken so long because my computer was contrary or because I subscribe to a bunch of blogs. Regardless, it was time well spent.
Yesterday, when I wanted to refer to an article, it took some hunting. Today, it takes a whistle. Gotta love that. Thank you both, Chris and Mike.
Oh. Where is the button here? Frankly, my dear, I’m to exhausted to attempt it tonight.
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12 comments:
Chris and Mike did do a fantastic job in those posts. You'll find the time switching over well spent. Feeds are so much easier to deal with. We'll wait patiently for you to allow subscriptions. ;-)
Oh, Rick, you're so right about the ease. No promises on when I'll get my bearings with subs; uncharted territory, you know.
Carolyn
Feeds will save you SO much time.
It's incredible, Easton. It's the difference between walking and flying.
Carolyn
The beauty is that your feed is already there in the background even without the link visible. Most readers have some sort of optional "Subscribe to the feed on this page" function. With Bloglines and Google Reader it is in the form of a toolbar button that you can install.
If I find something I want to subscribe to and I can't find a link, I usually try my "subscribe" button on my toolbar to see if there is a feed in the background. That's how I subscribed to Thoughts & Philosophies a while back. Great job Carolyn! :)
Thank you, Chris! I've seen the icon staring at me from my toolbar, but never thought to click it. There. Now I'm subscribed. :)
Chris, you just relieved a lot of pressure. Thanks.
Rick, don't feel bad. I did the same thing.
Rick, don't get me wrong. I like the steady traffic when folks like you (were) actually come to the site everyday.
The thing is operating that way isn't in your best interest. Reading the feeds is. And I see blogging as being about you the reader.
Chris,
It looks to me that, while the feeds allow for more reading, they certainly don't preclude comments.
Carolyn
Carolyn, my eyes thank you for the new theme. This is much easier to read.
Chris, I usually use feeds as a replacement for a bookmark in my browser. I'm one of those odd ducks that, as often as not, will still click through to go to the site to read the article.
Do you see a falloff with visitors as the number of rss subscribers increases?
Rick,
The change was my Thanksgiving gift.
How can a community spirit be maintained without click through and comments? I thought the feeds were meant to be a bookmark.
Carolyn
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