moneybeagle said:

Melissa, can you provide a little more background on how this worked for you? 

 

I have been flatlining at a paltry 170-180 subscribers for awhile.  I now have the budget to start doing some giveaways.  Maybe a dumb question, but how do you provide incentive to subscribe in the form of a giveaway?  The only way I've been able to figure that this would work is that they would have to sign up as an e-mail subscriber because RSS subscribers aren't seen with their e-mail addresses or other ways that I could include them in a giveaway.    Oh and congrats, by the way :)

 

Thanks!

Hi.  I rarely require them to subscribe to my site to enter.  Usually, the sponsor requires something (often with no obligation) such as check out their web page and leave a comment on my blog stating what other product they would like that the company offers.  That way the retailer gets traffic and exposure to their site.  I offer following me on Facebook, Twitter or RSS feed as additional entry methods.  Many people enter using all of the additional methods possible.  I figure if they are subscribing voluntarily instead of being forced to, they are more likely to come back to my blog.  Having said that, I am not very particular about checking the RSS.  My blog got exposure, the company got exposure.  That was what we were after.  If I was giving away a very expensive item, I would be stricter about this, but usually it is something worth $25 to $50.  Let me know if you have any other questions.

Do you use Google Webmaster Tools to track your RSS feed readers? This is obviously harder than the email subscribers to track and just recently began doing this.

Melissa, can you provide a little more background on how this worked for you? 

 

I have been flatlining at a paltry 170-180 subscribers for awhile.  I now have the budget to start doing some giveaways.  Maybe a dumb question, but how do you provide incentive to subscribe in the form of a giveaway?  The only way I've been able to figure that this would work is that they would have to sign up as an e-mail subscriber because RSS subscribers aren't seen with their e-mail addresses or other ways that I could include them in a giveaway.    Oh and congrats, by the way :)

 

Thanks!

Hi.  I rarely require them to subscribe to my site to enter.  Usually, the sponsor requires something (often with no obligation) such as check out their web page and leave a comment on my blog stating what other product they would like that the company offers.  That way the retailer gets traffic and exposure to their site.  I offer following me on Facebook, Twitter or RSS feed as additional entry methods.  Many people enter using all of the additional methods possible.  I figure if they are subscribing voluntarily instead of being forced to, they are more likely to come back to my blog.  Having said that, I am not very particular about checking the RSS.  My blog got exposure, the company got exposure.  That was what we were after.  If I was giving away a very expensive item, I would be stricter about this, but usually it is something worth $25 to $50.  Let me know if you have any other questions.

I have been flatlining at a paltry 170-180 subscribers for awhile.  I now have the budget to start doing some giveaways.  Maybe a dumb question, but how do you provide incentive to subscribe in the form of a giveaway?  The only way I've been able to figure that this would work is that they would have to sign up as an e-mail subscriber because RSS subscribers aren't seen with their e-mail addresses or other ways that I could include them in a giveaway.    Oh and congrats, by the way :)

Thanks!

Wow, that's awesome, good work. I've got to get more proactive and start contacting some companies directly about giveaways. Do you usually try to contact a company's online marketing department or do you just send a general inquiry to their contact email?...if you don't mind sharing your approach.

I usually just contact them with a general inquiry.  Most that I contacted didn't openly have a marketing department.  I also paid attention to what other bloggers were giving away; if it was something good, I tried to contact that company too.

That's awesome Melissa! I have a goal to raise my subscriber numbers fo 1,154 by April. It's good to know that it's entirely possible!

 

Well, I just got you 1 closer to your goal. At first, I was thinking it was an odd number for a goal, but then realized you're looking for a 1000 increase.