Blogging Just my two cents RPG

Feed the Reader

No, this post is not about RPGs, but about blogs, the RPG Bloggers Network and feed readers. I’ve noticed that the vast majority of my readers are referred to my blog by our network’s main site. And only a few have subscribed to my RSS feed. So, why should you subscribe?

  • You won’t miss any articles
    When you check out rpgbloggers.com irregularly you probably miss most of the articles. When I go to our network’s main site I usually skim through the topmost articles and check out if there are any new posts in the “featured” category. If it’s a very active day in the network a lot of interesting posts have probably been pushed to the second page already. 
  • But I’ve already subscribed to the RPG Bloggers Network Feed! Why should I add yours too?
    Reading the rpgbloggers.com feed is like drinking from the firehose. When you subscribe to my feed and the feeds of other RPG blogs you like, you not only get the full posts in most cases, you also get to read posts that are NOT related to roleplaying games. Some of the network’s members write about a lot of other interesting things that you’ll miss, when you just read the rpgbloggers.com feed.
  • But don’t I need an expensive feed reader software?
    No, of course not. Although they are quite a few commercial feed readers there are a lot of free alternatives. There are several web-based feed-readers available. You can for example use Google Reader or Bloglines. Or you can add a feed to you personalized Google page or to your NetVibes page. If you prefer a desktop application, use FeedReader3 or search on your favorite search engine for “Free feedreader”. Or, if you use the Opera browser, you can use the excellent built-in feed reader!

I hope I have you convinced by now. So, what’s the next step? Subscribe to my blog’s RSS feed using the method of your choice! If you need the feed’s adress it’s

https://www.stargazersworld.com/wordpress/?feed=rss2

If you have any more questions to this topic, feel free to ask! Post your thoughts in the comment section below!
Stargazer

Michael Wolf is a German games designer and enthusiast best known for his English language role-playing games blog, Stargazer's World, and for creating the free rules-light medieval fantasy adventure game Warrior, Rogue & Mage. He has also worked as an English translator on the German-language Dungeonslayers role-playing game and was part of its editorial team. In addition to his work on Warrior, Rogue & Mage and Dungeonslayers, he has created several self-published games and also performed layout services and published other independent role-playing games such as A Wanderer's Romance, Badass, and the Wyrm System derivative Resolute, Adventurer & Genius, all released through his imprint Stargazer Games. Professionally, he works as a video technician and information technologies specialist. Stargazer's World was started by Michael in August 2008.

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6 comments

comments user
Stargazer

I fully agree with what ChattyDM wrote as comment on my “Drinking from the firehose” post:

Promotion of your bloig will be through content and you pushing your readers to subscribe to your feed.
The network is there to remind people that you are there and to bring in new readers…
Keeping the traffic is now your job, like it is mine.

And reminding people that they should subscribe to my RSS feed is just the first step to promote my blog further. I am currently thinking about a few more things I can do…
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comments user
Micah

As a reader, not a blogger, I have to say that the incentive to sign up for individual feeds is pretty low. I had some RPG feeds before I started using the Network’s feed, and now I’m going through and removing them in favor of the Network alone.

It’s just much easier to scan through the Network’s feeds. Plus, I can scan the first 3-4 lines and know if it’s worth my time to click through. Having the full post in the reader would be nice, but not all blogs do that, and it’s not worth it to me to find out which ones do.

My $0.02

Micahs last blog post..The Awakening
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comments user
Jonathan

HERE HERE! While RPGBN has boosted my traffic (which is a great thing), I haven't seen my RSS feed subscriptions go up that much (which is a strange thing). "Drinking from the firehose" is spot on!

<abbr><abbr>Jonathans last blog post..My Players Just Won't Die!!!</abbr></abbr>

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comments user
Scott

It's a good idea to put an RSS icon in a very visible place on your page. (I have mine in the upper right, at the top of my first sidebar. On a narrow screen, when my theme wraps the second sidebar beneath the first, the feed icon remains at the top of the column.)

As readers go, let my plug Brief, a plugin for Firefox. It's pretty light, fast, and does exactly what I want it to.

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comments user
Stargazer

@Scott: Check out my shiny new RSS Icon! 🙂
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comments user
Scott

Very nice.

It's a little strange that it should make a difference, but putting it front and center can never hurt…

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