A couple of weeks ago, I added Feedburner to the sidebar of my ActiveRain blog. If you aren't familiar with this 
service, it allows you to syndicate your blog via email without the requirement of a specific feed reader. In other words (simpler words), someone can sign up and receive all of your new "public" posts by email. My wife and mom were my first guinea pigs, and I signed up myself just to see the format, which I really like, since it seems to keep both the formatting and images intact.
I have been watching the stats page at Feedburner, wondering if they were working properly. Later, Darren Rowse (Problogger) mentioned on Twitter that he heard they were stuck, which I think may be true, since I know that I am not showing up as a subscriber there, nor is my wife. Wow - the first two sentences of this paragraph managed to make me feel both smart and connected and pretty geeky. But I digress...
The cool part about Feedburner is that I do have 2 subscribers whose names I don't recognize. They aren't members of ActiveRain, and they aren't in my immediate group of friends or family. Instead, these are actual CONSUMERS who chose to subscribe to my blog. As such, I am very pleased to see them on the list. I only have their email addresses at this point, but I know that their names are Brenda and David, and I love them both. Sorry - couldn't help myself.
I have been blessed with a large following here on ActiveRain, with 938 subscribers as of this writing, but David and Brenda (and hopefully many others which will follow) hold a special place in my heart.
Recently, I began to get an inkling of just how much "reach" my blog actually has, when my wife saw a friend who it turns out regularly reads my blog, then later met a random lady who also claimed to be a reader of mine. Of course, they never comment on anything to my knowledge, so I had no way of knowing this. It made me feel great.
A few days ago, a neighbor of mine who is an agent emailed me to ask some questions about joining AR, and she mentioned "It is funny that you live just a few doors down the street and I find out more about you from your blog than anywhere." Again, I had no idea that she even knew I had a blog, much less that she was regularly reading my posts.
I would definitely recommend setting up Feedburner if you haven't already done so. I only wish that I had done it sooner.
If you are curious about how to add the Feedburner subscription form to your blog, you can visit Justin Smith's post on this topic here:
How to SuperCharge Your Activerain Blog With Feedburner (Part 2)
Have a great week!
If you enjoyed this post, why not connect with me elsewhere or subscribe via email?
If you're looking for a home in the Austin area, you can also visit my primary Austin real estate website at www.austintexashomes.com. If you're interested in social media training, visit 210 Consulting. Thanks!
Thank you for that tip. I am getting a lot of feed back from my blog. This would be a great tool to add.
Jason - Is feedburner free?
Jason
Reach is cool. Friend of my son's at college was researching the new Aman Resort, Amangiri, and came across both of my blogs. Called Joseph and said "hey look, this lady has the same last name as you". Joe had to reply, 'good thing, she's my mom"!
Jason,
Thanks for the post and early morning tip. I am on the "Feedburner" site now!
Feedburner. Thanks, Jason, I'll check it out.
Feedburner you say? I guess we'll find out elsewhere how to add it! :-) Thanks for sharing JAson...it would be nice to know who of the general public reads our material.........they don't get points for reading, so ummm they must have another reason? lol(your fav i know) :-)
Thanks for sharing. Im going to experiement with it myself now!
So MANY new toys and tools to try! It looks like this one would be maintenance-free once I set it up, right?
Burn Baby, Burn! Feedburner is great.... so many things out there to promote our efforts.
Thanks for the suggestion Jason. I think I'll check it out.
I have looked at it before but I dont use it. I amy revisit it. Im not the best of writer's so i don't think my blogs would get much subscription.
Thanks Jason, glad you are on activerain, all the ideas and tips that you share are wonderful.
Jason - Thanks for the tip ! I will be setting mine up as well. I left you message in response to yours, did you receive it ? Sorry I couldn't get to the phone..fever checks etc etc. Will talk soon !
Thanks for the good tip, Jason. I've just signed up on Feedburner.
Jason - I submitted to Feedburner a while ago and forgot about it - THANKS for the reminder!
Hey Jason, I have had feedburner on my blog for a while now and I don't think the numbers are right either...
But I'm wondering. How do you know the names of the people that subscribe? Did you pay for the upgraded service? I have not been able to find that kind of information, although I have wanted to. :)
Just wondering. Feedburner is a great tool.
Jason, I had it on here for a long time, then the code got messed up, so I started over. I am interested to see who subscribes, now that it is working. I run into people all the time, that say they are reading but I have no clue.
Ok, we figured it out and added to our blog for users to sign up for subscription, see how it goes, thanks again Jason for the tip.
Oh Jason Now I gotta do something else but I will add this right now even though there are 10 ideas waitng on the sidelines that I can't get to. This one seems quite valuable. Thanks my geaky friend (I say that in the kindest of ways)
Jason, this certainly speaks to the power of blogging. I am so new that i am still learning the basic mechanics but Russell in our office (You wrote about him previously) has been most helpful in assisting people in our office! You two seemed to have hit it off and it looks like a profitable connection for you both!
J...nice post. You know I've been so active in the dissolution of our little new government that was created about 1 year ago. I, too, like you, have a great outside following. I think that this is just awesome. Especially when you hit the consumer directly. It's so powerful.
Thank you Jason. I have clients already reading my blog but I will have to set this up thank you!
Uggh. My thirst for new stuff outpaces my capacity to understand how to add it all. Went to feedburner, set up and account, haven't figured out how to add it.
Another thing on my "to do" list.
It's getting crowded!
Thanks for writing,
Ken
Humm I will follow all this buzz to the feed burner site. hope it installs easy! Thanks...Sharon
Jason - Thanks for the information! I'll have to check this out... :)
Jason- Yet another tool to consider adding to my already jumbled toolbox. I think that feedburner is an excellent tool for real estate agent. Sounds like you are keeping up on technology and using it to generate more business for you.
Best,
Scott
Hi again Jason.
I think I have successfully entered my email subscription widget as well as an RSS feed. Learning by trial and error.
Thanks again,
Ken
Hi Jason
Great insight, on how to syndicate your blog, thanks for sharing the information.
Good luck and success
Lou Ludwig
Jason,
Thanks for posting a how-to link. Feedburner looks like it could be a great tool. Now I just have to get back to blogging. Thanks!
Hi Jason - thanks for putting it in "simpler words" as I needed them! Nice to know you were a star w/your neighbors & strangers. Obviously they believe you have some great information to share, what a compliment! I am bookmarking to add later. THanks for sharing this great tool. KM
Hello Jason, make it 939, you know when I get to TX, I'm stopping by. Thanks for all of your great input here.
Jason- Thanks for the information. I haven't been blogging enough, recently, so I don't think it's the opportune time to try to subscribe new readers I've bookmarked Justin's post, for future use.
Thanks for the reminder to go check my feedburner stats...aren't ya glad now I mentioned setting it up?
Okay, I am convinced! I am on it.
Thanks
Bo
Jason - Crazy to think that probably 95% of the people that read your blog won't ever comment and unless you have a tracking mechanism, you won't know how many people actually view your blog.
It reminds me of the voice over when I work out at LA Fitness. "What gets measured, gets improved." Just like blogging if you measure the progress and the activity, you can better find out what people enjoy, what they read, what they want to learn more about and you can make your blog better.
I just wish that I was as interesting as some of the bloggers around so that I could receive as much traffic as they do. I have a hard time coming up with good information. It is the analytical side of my brain working far too hard and the creative side getting pushed into the deep recesses of my mind. Oh, well! Best of luck.
Jason - I started adding Feedburner about a month ago and for some reason was getting an error message!! I finally figured it out today and so far I love it. ~Rita
JOE - Yes, it is free.
LIZ - I added a link to a tutorial on how to add this to your blog.
JOETTA - Yep, it is utterly maintenance-free.
STEPH - Actually, I just got that info from their actual email address, which begin with their first names.
thanks for the tip and I am going to get it. I hope I am not disappointed with the results and burst my bubble
Dave Woodson
thanks for the follow on twitter
I have that on my blog, but haven't really done anything with it. I haven't really taken the time so I think I will now.
Jason- I am working on putting Feedburner on my blog and should have it up soon. People follow that are consumers just by going to our blog. I don't know how they remember, because I sure could not remember all the blogs I like to read without putting them in a reader. Some sellers follow us for months before they call us to list their houses. Pretty amazing!
Jason - It's nice to know our blogging efforts are extending beyond the reaches of Active Rain.
I'm always surprised when a consumer mentions my blog. At my most recent open house I invited a couple to see the newly staged patio. The wife said, "I've already seen it on your blog." The husband nodded and told me they read it all the time.
I think I read Justin's post, thought I should do that and then didn't. Thanks for the encouragement. I'll go back to his post, and try to follow the instructions.
Would it be a good idea to add feedburner to your own personal blog on your own personal website?
Great idea Jason. Thanks!
Feedburner has been great, it helps (among many things) streamline feed subscription analytics, providing a single view into your subscriber base.
I have feedburneer on my typepad blog but never was able to get it on my AR blog. Will have to try again. I have never checked the feedburner stats. Will have to do that.
So Jason, how do you see the names of the subscribers?
Thanks for the recommendation. I am going to try it today.
Jason - I looked at this a few weeks ago and put it on my to- do list! There's something new on it everytime I read AR! Thanks for your input :)
Jason - thank you SO MUCH for that!! I was literally JUST lamenting the fact that all of my subscribers were activerain peeps. Not that I don't love my activerain subscribers, it's just that I want to know if there are actual consumers out there reading what I write... have a great day!
I have feedburner. I set it up one night through a great blog post and kinda forgot about it. Your blog made me revisit it and I realilzed I have subscribers. Thank you for posting this to make me revisit the issue.
I've had a couple of clients make comments about my blog posts. One even told me he was writing a testimonial I could use in my blog since he had read a post I wrote about a client's testimonial. It made me even more aware of the reach of AR. Thank you for the info about Feedburner. I will set it up today.
This is great information! It's definitely something I'll keep around for reference in the future!
DM
Sounds good Jason. Good information to point out that I keep meaning to look more into.
Thank you for this post, the information on Feedburner that you share here is very intriguing and I will be looking into it!
Jason - you big geek, and I say that very affectionately! Love it and thank you for sharing - going to add that to my list to do. How awesome it is to be discovered isn't it? Funny, I have received many calls and emails recently and been found on some of the social networking sites you mentioned in your other post and it's amazing the reach you can have. Hope we can catch up soon. ~Anne Marie
Hi, Jason! Thanks for this great tip! I have actually tried Feedburner before but was a little confused once I got past the initial set-up. I have gone back and tried again - still confused. What I want to find is what you have under your photo on the right side:
Enter your email address to subscribe to my Austin Texas real estate blog via email:
Delivered by FeedBurner
That's what I want to find...but can't. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance if you have time to answer!
~Maura Neill
Hi Jason, I did add it awhile back, but I messed up somewhere and it didn't work - my husband subscribed and heard nothing - might try it again.
Another thing to check out, thanks for the information. On my way to feedburner. I LOVE free!
thanks again for some great info
I think we all feel the way you did with your first two subscripers. Congrats on the great posts!
We have feed burner on our blog site, but are not getting the responses and activity we are looking for. Not sure how we can increase traffic to the site. I guess just keep blogging away. I do appreciate your suggestions though. Keep it up!
Hi Jason,
Thanks! I thought that i was doing good to link to my blog to my email signature. There's always a new trick.
Feed burner is great for the widget tools- you can link it anywhere you advertise so people can find your blog.
Thanks for the kick in the butt Jason. I've been meaning to work on syndication as we have a few blogs that could benefit from it. ;)
•:*¨¨*:• Joe & Colleen Lane •:*¨¨*:•
Our ActiveRain Blog
Jason - Feedburner sounds like a tool I need on my blog so I'm bookmarking this post. Thanks
Jason-Thanks, I will check this out.
JASON! Whew -- it took me 1 1/2 hours following the steps from "Supercharge Your Web..." just to get the widget on my blog - BUT I DID IT! I am challenged in this area - most of this (feeds, RSS, etc.) is a foreign language to me - but I took your advice and here I am! THANK YOU for all the help and insight! -- Gabrielle
Jason, thanks for your insight into Feedburner. I had heard of it but didn't really know anything about it.
Thanks Jason. I added the email subscription html.
Mike Haltman
http://politicsandfinance.blogspot.com
Jason,
If I give you access, can you just do this for me and not make me have to bookmark this post, absorb the information and do it myself?
(The delegating Julie).
I am wrapping up my blog training and just learned, today, the power of Feedburner. What an awesomely powerful tool. It's an exciting world we're in!
Jason,
Thank you for the great advice! I look forward to doing some research.
Don't forget me if you learn of anyone moving to "The OC!"
Michael
(949) 753-7900
Thank you for sharing.
I've already joined feedburner + hooked up my five blogs.
www.SoCalIndustrialRealEstateBlog.com
www.SoCalOfficeRealEstateBlog.com
www.SoCalMultiUnitRealEstateBlog.com
www.SoCalInvestmentRealEstate.com
www.SoCalGreenRealEstateBlog.com
www.SantaMonicaLandmarks.com
www.SantaMonicaPropertyBlog.com
You made my world a better place.
Best....
Jodi Summers
The SoCal Investment Real Estate Group
Sotheby's International Realty
jodi@jodisummers.com
**
Joy is what happens when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.
- Marianne Williamson
Jason,
As always you inform us here in the Rain about great tools for promoting our business! Feedburner...just another way to track who's interested in you and what you have to say...which for you is A LOT! ;)
As always - very informative and helpful - thank you.
I have the same question as Maura. I set it up, but am still confused. It looks like it goes to someone's yahoo page, not an email signup. I think I'm doing it wrong.
wow...so much information...will add this to my to do list...thank you for sharing!
I love new gadgetry -- thanks, Jason! Just another one for my growing list. :-)
Jason, we appreciate the information, those of us who want to get up and running with out blogs have no idea where to go to get them noticed. Your post helps a lot. Thanks again.
Antonio