I love using Bloglines. This is a web-based news aggregator and RSS feed reader. I used to use Firefox for this purpose, but this method of tracking blogs has many disadvantages.
Why you shouldn’t use Firefox (or any web browser) to subscribe to blogs
The disadvantages of using a web browser instead of an RSS feed reader:
- You have to check the bookmarked RSS feed for any new posts manually, by yourself.
- If there is an error in the RSS feed, your browser won’t alert you.
- You aren’t considered a subscriber by Feedburner.
- If your system crashes, if you can’t boot your computer, you lost all of your bookmarked RSS feeds too. If you are reading many blogs, you have to subscribe to them all over again, if you still remember all of their URLs.
The benefits of using a a web-based news aggregator/RSS feed reader
I am a big fan of Bloglines. That being said, any web-based feed reader is ok, and much better than a browser or even a desktop-based RSS reading application. Here’s why:
1. Your chosen feed reader will alert you to any new posts by itself. No checking on your part is needed.
2. The feed reader will instantly recognize any possible errors, like a bad RSS feed, a feed address that isn’t valid any more, etc.
3. One of the most popular web-based tools used for tracking RSS feeds, Feedburner, has a nice feature which displays the number of subscribers to your blog. This is often used to show how popular a blog is. Below is a screenshot of the number of subscribers to DoshDosh, a popular blog about making money on the Web.
Why is this important? Well, if you agree that this is a nice way to attract both new readers and advertisers, you should support this by not using a web browser to subscribe to any given blog. Here’s what Feedburner says about people who track your blog via a browser “subscription”:
Although Firefox can be used as an RSS reader with its “Live Bookmarks” capability, these hits represent users clicking on your feed using the Firefox browser and do not contribute to your subscriber numbers. (emphasis added)
So, if you want to have more real subscribers, use a web-based feed reader or a desktop one and encourage others to do so. This benefits everyone. I have almost twice as many readers that are subscribed to my blog using a web browser!
4. If your computer ever crashes, gets damaged, etc, you can always log into your web-based RSS reader from any other computer. Now you see why a web-based feed reader is even better than a desktop RSS reading application. You can access the blogs you are subscribed to from anywhere in the world and have them all in one place.
Here are some of the most popular web-based feed readers:
Keep in mind that MSN, Yahoo! And Google have this capability also. So, if you are a fan of any of these three and have an account there that you use extensively, subscribe to your blogs via their RSS services.
If you enjoyed this post, consider subscribing to my RSS feed or leave a comment. Share and bookmark:
2 responses so far ↓
1 Memnoch // Feb 21, 2008 at 23:53
LOL… Subscribe to your blog through Bloglines. Have been an avid bloglines user for years. Love their new redesign and functionality. Have it set as my home page. Could not get through the day without coffee and Bloglines…
Nice to see someone promoting it. Thanks
2 evernerve // Feb 22, 2008 at 1:48
Yes, I agree - Bloglines save me so much time and they are so easy to use. They rule!
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