I’ve Hit 1,200 RSS Readers!
January 21, 2008 Posted by Tyler CruzA couple days ago I refreshed my blog to discover that my RSS readership made a rather large jump from 1,175 to 1,222 overnight – an increase of 47 which is pretty unusual since I didn’t have any strong plugs or backlinks going on during the past few days.
It’s hard to believe that it was exactly one month ago when I hit the huge milestone of 1,000 RSS subscribers – that’s an increase of 200 within a month. And almost exactly a month before that, I was at 900.
However, while I worked hard on increasing my RSS numbers in order to break into the 4-digits, and while I still check my numbers everyday and love to see it increase, the truth is that I’m actually more focused on increasing my Technorati ranking and unique daily traffic. This is because compared to my RSS numbers, my Technorati and website traffic numbers are out of sync and quite low.
At the same time though, continued higher RSS numbers means a constantly growing readership.
Now that I’m in the 1200’s, Feedburner is labelling the Y-axis in increments of 500! I wonder how long it will take for me to see the 1500 there 🙂
At the rate my RSS has been growing over the past 12-months, I should be able to hit the 2,000 milestone before the end of the year. It will be interesting to see if it continues to have such a great rate of incline.
As is always the tradition when I post a new RSS record, I set a new RSS goal and see if the prediction I made on my last one was correct. My goal when I hit the 1,000 milestone was to hit 1,200 RSS subscribers and average 1,000, and I predicted that I’d do so by sometime in early Spring, around March or April.
Fortunately, I was wrong, and managed to make it only 1 month later! My new goal is to hit 1,400 RSS subscribers and to average 1,200. My prediction is that I’ll make this goal sometime around mid-March to early April.
And to celebrate this new RSS record and continued growth? Why, a Rice Krispie’s cake, of course!
Below is me, of course, happy with the new record:
Ah, the likeliness is uncanny, isn’t it?
Hey Tyler,
I think there’s something wrong about this. From my computer, your feed count is 1161 only.
Maybe there’s some problem with feedburner. 🙂
Anyway, mind mailing a pack of those krispie cake to malaysia? haha… just joking
Yes, it’s currently 1161 as it updates once a day and is almost always lower on the weekends. I was at 1222 then 1216 for the past two days though.
It will climb back up to 1200 within a day or two I’m sure 🙂
I can vouch that it was at 1222 🙂
Yes, I’ve seen it at this level myself and am convinced that the numbers will rise again within the next couple of days.
Alan Johnson
hmm I didn’t know that’s how feedburner updated. I initially thought it was real time.
Congrats Tyler. I’m sure you’ll reach 1,400 before April 🙂
I guess its not completly updated yet. 🙂 Shows 1175 to me. Anyway – really good work with your subscription numbers!
Cheers.
Staale aka Vikingblogger
WOOHOO! Congrats Tyler, that’s a big accomplishment! Love the cake:)
With the topping, it kind of looks like raw hamburger. Delicious.
Wow, Congratulations, Tyler. I just subscribed to your RSS Feed. You are an awsum web master!
Congratulations on getting that many readers. That is a awesome milestone to hit. I hope you feed keeps growing and you hit your goal for 2008.
Bud
congrats then dude… good job
Congrats Tyler! Those rice krispies are a little freaky though.. 😛
-Gyutae Park of Winning the Web
great site, some of your advice helps me a lot.
http://www.money-on-blog-easy.blogspot.com
it is less than 1200 now lol. what happened?
It always goes lower on the weekend. It will rise back to 1,200 soon now that the weekend just ended.
Congratulations Tyler! I actually found your site through John Chow’s blog which I read about in this month’s Entrepreneur Magazine. I hope your subscription base continues to grow.
Mark
Ironically, Chow just had a guest article on his site: http://www.johnchow.com/successful-blogging-5-tips-for-writing-with-confidence/
The tips tend to revolve around not making a big deal of small successes as it makes your authority dip if you get excited about the small things.
Personally, Tyler, I think it’s amazing that you hit that many subscribers. Honest to God. But I can’t help think “Chow has over ten times that amount”…so why should I visit your blog at all when I can get advice from someone so many more people respect (solely from looking at the RSS, that is).
I’m sorry, this article seems like a great example of a “don’t” from that guest post. I’m personally excited for you, but hopefully it won’t make you look “small time” to be making cakes boasting about a small success…
Generally, following the crowd is not something all that recommended (one should read a blog because it is worth it, not because it has a high subscriber count) and I strongly believe that the quality of the posts should play a much more important role than RSS count or Alexa rank.
Alan Johnson
I didn’t say I was following the crowd. I’m just saying it’s there in all walks of life – those that can confidently show 10,000 satisfied customers are simply more authoritative (thus ‘better’) than those with only 1,000.
Which would you rather drink? Pepsi or Supermarket-Cola? Why? I bet you couldn’t even taste the difference – it’s all in the marketing. Pepsi don’t go “Whoo! We just sold another whole truck-load to a warehouse!”. They don’t boast their small successes (though they are still successes and nothing should be taken away from them) and so appear more authoritative in order to gain HUGE successes.
If you show off every little success (growth of 200 subscribers, though 20% to you, is still only 200, which is nothing compared to the more authoritative Chow), you’ll eventually be seen as small-time. If you keep the little successes quiet and simply slot them in at the end of a huge success post, ala:
You’ll look big-time as those small successes don’t appear to matter ‘so much’, though you are still putting them out there for recognition.
I’m just saying don’t make a whole post about it. Unless you are going to show a step-by-step outline of how others can make that same success yourself.
Boasting about the small things without saying how you got there is not only going to make you seem small-time but will also eventually show you as non-helpful to those same subscribers you are currently boasting about.
Just some things to think about.
Like I said, I’m personally happy for you, but having taken that guest post on JohnChow.com in, I can see that you are falling in those same traps and was merely trying to help you out. Sorry if it came off as a personal vendetta – I like your blog at the moment and if you’d take my points into consideration, at least, before deciding to dump them, I’d like it even better. If you decide “to hell with it” and ignore your readers, expect your subscriber count to fall just as much as it has recently grown.
lol i really can’t believe you made some rice krispies treats. Congrats on the milestone though. I just hit my high of 45 today.
Congratulatiuons buddy, I hope to hit 500 subscribers before the end of the year.
You gonna eat those Rice Krispies all by yourself. All the excitement got me hungry 🙂
Why don’t you register myrssstatsdiary.com and move this blog over to it. Sheesh, is there ever anything of ‘any’ value whatsoever on your blog Tyler?
What’s going on with your other sites? Fill us in on these and how you are able to support yourself off of them. Share some knowledge or insights it you want real readers.
A little messy on the food there don’t you think? 🙂
-Mike
Congrats on breaking a new record! Its too bad that Feedburner is a bit inaccurate and likes to fluctuate around all over the place. Nevertheless you have hit some great strides with the blog and quality continues to improve.
Congrats on reaching the target especially, with the growth related to the blog and the quality is improving too 🙂
Congratulations Tyler …
How were the cakes …. they look a bit weird ….
Lex
looks like you were right. I see 1200 now.
Congratulations! I’m craving rice crispy treats now, lol.
Congratulations on the RSS achievement. RSS subscribers are hard to get and that is quite an accomplishment. What is your average gain each day?
Congrats Tyler! Rice krispies…. yum!
Congrats. Good job.
[…] I appear to be gaining 200 new RSS subscribers each month. It was only been one month prior that I hit 1,200 RSS, which was a month after I hit the the huge milestone of 1,000 RSS subscribers. If my RSS continues […]
Tyler i really like the food idea when you hit a new number. Keep it up!
[…] I treat myself to a little something. It all started at the 1,200 milestone when Lisa and I made rice Krispie treats to commemorate the occasion. At 1,400 RSS we made gingerbread cookies, and at 1,700 we bought an […]