Just Imagine that you tried hard to increase your feed readers but suddenly you see that the subscribers count is gradually decreasing. At first, you think it would be some problem in Feedburner or any other feed carrier but later on you came to know that people are really unsubscribing your blog feeds.
It is a fact that subscribers will help your blog to stay alive. This is because they are your regular readers and it takes a lot of hard work to build a good subscriber base.
There could be many reasons for readers unsubscribing your blog, all you have to do is think deep into your mind because it could be your own mistake which is resulting into this.
Here are 5 Reasons, which I think could be the cause of readers unsubscribing your blog:
1. Your Blog Focus Gets Diverted
Your feed readers could unsubscribe your blog feed if the “thing” for which your blog is known for is not being fulfilled. I am not saying that you should not talk about something else than your blog topic but posting about irregular topics consistently than posting something on your actual blog topic could result in loss of readers.
2. Too Long and Boring Post
Time is very essential for every human being. You should try your best that your “Long Post” should not take more than 10-15 minutes to read otherwise it will become boring, which probably most readers hates and they will skip the reading and could also unsubscribe your feed if you do it on regular basis. If you writing a long article then try breaking it into proper paragraphs with highlighted points, use a list of points for quick understanding etc.
Your blog must have an audience. No audience, no reason to run your blog. If you put out boring content that has no importance to anyone, you will not get any noticeable traffic and you will slightly see decrease in your subscribers count.
3. You or Your Blog is very Inconsistent
If you choose a particular blogging frequency say every other day, be sure you can maintain of at least close to it. Remember that subscribers are followers and if you make them impatient for your next blog post, then they will leave without saying goodbye. Sudden increase of blog frequency and blog posts each day which is not wished looking at your blog popularity can also be annoying especially if they do not open their mails everyday.
Take example of TechCrunch, if they do 10-15 posts everyday, there readers won’t hate it because it’s a big authority and it’s an obvious thing from them. But suppose you are a readers of a blog xyz.com having 55 feed readers and 1500 hits per month and the owner suddenly starts posting 10 article every day. Just imagine yourself as a reader of that blog and then what you will do.
Consistency is one thing readers like from us.
4. Same Kind Of Articles Again and Again
On your blog, one should not consider it as an article directory and just keep on submitting on the same topic again and again. It is not like a good movie that people want to see again and again. People will dislike this kind of stuff again & again and will unsubscribe to your feed.
If you want to talk about an old topic, be sure to make it more interesting to read than the first and provide sufficient time gap. Adding some new ideas about it or updating your readers about the topic can be very interesting to follow.
5. Negative Blogging & Bloggers Ego
Creating an atmosphere of negative blogging will cause loss of readers. You should be positive with the majority of your posts to keep your readers happy when they come to your site.
Also, just because you run a successful blog and giving yourself a pat on the back is seriously what your readers won’t like. Nobody wants to listen to an egotistical blogger. If you consistently pump out good content your blog will speak for itself .
Other than that there could be few more reason like annoying feed errors, poor English, bad language while replying to comments etc which could result in loss of readers and so this brings us to the end of this article.
Tell Me You Opinion! What do you think could be the cause of readers unsubscribing your feeds? And what can we do to avoid it. Waiting for your Comments…
[Do Read an Article from Daniel Scocco of DailyBlogTips Titled as “What to Do When People Unsubscribe“. This will surely help you in bringing back those unsubscribed readers]
Sushant i agree with all your points above, but i feel the main reason my most people unsubscribe is when you don’t post frequently, many net addicts subscribe through mail only to keep up with your posts and once if they feel that there is nothing to miss out there, they press the unsubscribe button. I truly have no idea on what others think but in my case that is true.
Regards,
Vishal Sanjay
.-= Vishal Sanjay´s last blog ..Link wheels: an effective seo strategy =-.
Yes, I agree the fact that readers unsubscribe because of inconsistent posting without even notifying the blog readers through any medium(mainly through blog)..If you at least inform that you won’t be able to post due to blah blah reason, they will at least try to stick with your feed for that period of time..
I think the main reason people unsubscribe is because you have changed from when they first subscribed. This may or may not be a good thing – it really depends on the direction you have planned.
Yup, that could be valid reason..I think mostly people will unsubscribe only if the blogger have changed in a bad way…
I’m not getting any Idea or example when readers will unsubscribe due to some change which is good..You know any example?
If the change is good, of course there will be no decreasement of subscriber. Do you think there is a people who only subscribe to see current themes? :P, so if we change it, even it’s more good themes, their will unsubscribe? LOL
.-= akira07´s last blog ..Quick report – My Smartbloggerz Commenting Idol 2 Participation =-.
@akira07
its surprising and confusing me…
is there people who subscribe only to see current themes?
.-= Deepika´s last blog ..My Favourtie Posts@Which I Have Read =-.
I think one of the biggest reasons is simply a lack of time/interest. For example, I used to eagerly await each blog post from one internet marketer until I realized…he’s rehashing stuff I learned years ago myself.
Never be afraid to evolve.
.-= Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach ´s last blog ..Today’s Humor – do NOT push the big red button! =-.
Ya, re-writing articles is popular on internet..But I think It’s not bad if you present it in absolutely new way with some new ideas from your side.
Great tips there! I see it over and over again that consitency is being recommended, so that’s probably not a bad idea 🙂
.-= Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..Woopra – Live Visitor Statistics For Your Blog =-.
Yup That’s right..Being Consistent could help you in many ways not only it will maintain the readership but also will help you in building traffic,backlinks etc.
All good points. I’m guilty of going way too long on my posts which can get boring. Something I need to work on along with more consistent blog times.
.-= Brian D. Hawkins´s last blog ..News Related AdSense Site – First Month = One Hundred Dollars =-.
Writing Long Posts is not a kind of bad thing but making it look interesting is the thing on which blogger should have knowledge on..
I believe that the most common mistake of bloggers falls under the 1st, 2nd and 3rd reasons. For the 2nd reason, if you’ll try to check some blog directories, you’ll definitely find unupdated blogs in the list. The most common reason for this is that the blog owner itself lost interest with his/her blog.
There could be many reason when a blogger can’t update his blog and the major reason is mostly he lost interest in the blog..There could be other personal reasons also but at least notifying through a blog post telling why you won’t be able to blog will help a little bit in making the readers stick to your blog till next update..
If your RSS subscribers go away, then the first thing you must do is to reconsider what caused that. You must react fast to not loose too much subscribers. Maybe you write a post about this issue to let them know that you care. As Chris Brogan said at BlogWorld Expo, community is privilege. Perhaps saying that you care will not bring back all old subscribers but you will get more new subscribers.
.-= BlogInterface.net´s last blog ..How To Get An Unique Domain Name =-.
Yes, I agree to that Chris Statement..We should take care of our community as it takes time to build up a good community and you won’t be willing to loose it..
By the way, are you at Blog World Expo?
No, I didn’t attend Blog World Expo, I watched a video from the session called Internet Marketing for Smart People on John Chow’s blog.
.-= BlogInterface.net´s last blog ..How To Get An Unique Domain Name =-.
Agree with you, reaction and action should be done immediately. Yes, there is always a second chance to get your subscriber count increase again even it’s not old subscriber, because the most important thing when you get it is : Don’t do the mistake again.
.-= akira07´s last blog ..Quick report – My Smartbloggerz Commenting Idol 2 Participation =-.
Great points you make and I totally agree that consistency and being positive are important. I usually unsubscribe when a blogger is plugging products to much. I will be adding this post to my “Sunday’s Best” series.
.-= Tycoon Blogger@Make Money Online´s last blog ..VOTE now for the Rookie Blogger of the Year =-.
Thanks Tycoon for your opinion..Also thanks for adding this post to your Sunday’s Best List 😉
I agree with you, I’ve experienced some unsubscribe to my blog too, luckily it was just a little. Another reason would be if someone subscribes your blog because of the free e-book, if they don’t get the e-book after subscribing your blog, they will unsubscribe in some days later, it happens to me due to excessively subscribers in a time and I would miss out any, perhaps I need Aweber to do that for me.
Regards,
Lee
Even I have faced readers unsubscribing the blog and most of them were those who subscribed only for my email subscription contest and unsubscribed when they saw that they didn’t won it..but I don’t care much for them as I think they just subscribed as a greedy person…
I’m also hate those kind of subscriber. Is there any solution? I think it’s hard…
I just remember Slyvision subscribe contest which feel that things happen.
.-= akira07´s last blog ..Quick report – My Smartbloggerz Commenting Idol 2 Participation =-.
So, it’s better to not offer e-book as way to attract people to subscribe. Make the more requirement to get the e-book but still useful and easy for reader just like :
Subscribe and make 10 useful comment, and get E-book…!!!
.-= akira07´s last blog ..Quick report – My Smartbloggerz Commenting Idol 2 Participation =-.
Nice post, however a blog should not be on both extremes of ”too much” and “infrequent” posts. I am subscribed to a few blogs that post frequently and it can be overwhelming atimes, i usually scan the headlines until I find something that interests me.
.-= Biodun @ Webmaster Forum UK´s last blog ..Hello Everyone =-.
Even I do the same thing when a blogger post too many updates each day..I just check the title and if it attract me then I read it….