Over the past few days many of us have seen a significant drop in our RSS subscriber count in our FeedBurner account.

The FeedBurner help group – if we can call it that way, as no one ever seems to answer – is filled with messages from users who have “lost” even thousands of subscribers overnight. What’s the answer these users get? The silent treatment. And it’s not the first time users report these drops and get no answer.

OK, we’ve seen a pattern in these drops and it involves the Google Reader subscribers. With Google Reader being probably the most popular feed subscription tool worldwide, there’s no wonder that the drop percentage ranges from 30% to 70% in some cases.

So, just for the sake of remaining optimistic about this situation, let’s presume that Google is working on a way to better integrate these two services (FeedBurner and Reader) to provide better statistics to us users.

Even so, this does not explain the lack of updates on the FeedReader Status blog or the lack on a 2 line message on the help board that would definitely calm down the spirits. And as the case is not singular, and the lack of communication seems to turn into a habit, I cannot help but thinking that ever since Google took over FeedBurner, the relationship between the project team and the users has gone from good, to bad, to worse.

A change of attitude is required in this age of instant communication, otherwise even if Google is running the service, competition will eat it up. “All this has happened before, and will happen again” as they used to say on my favorite TV show, Battlestar Galactica.

Update: After 3 or 4 days of madness on the boards, a Google team member addressed a short message confirming that the issue is related to Google’s Feedfetcher and has been reported to the responsible department. It took a while…

Update 2: An acknowledgement of the issue is finally made official on the FeedBurner blog. 3 to 4 days after users started to ask questions about it.

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How to blog? How to promote content? How to attract readers? How to keep them coming back? The are hundreds of blog offering blogging tips, and Blogsessive is only one of them. But, while running back and forth through the abundance of information, most times we forget about the basic principles of blogging.

Most times, we focus so much and invest too much of our time doing only one thing (ie: writing, promotion etc.) and we forget that blogging is actually a 3 step process, and all 3 steps should get the same level of attention.

These 3 primary steps of blogging are what I call the 3 C’s of blogging, or the 3C process:

1. Create
2. Communicate
3. Collect

Step 1: Create

There is no choice but to create something new, when starting from scratch. Without it, there are no other steps.

Invest everything you’ve got in this single moment in time. Focus on creating something valuable, timeless, helpful.

Create content. Create relationships and connections. Create resources. Create a brand around yourself.

Step 2: Communicate

There’s no point in keeping secret what you have just created. And obviously, no results (or ROI if you wish) from it. Are you proud of what you created? Then let the people know about it.

Communicate. Use the relationships you built to communicate. Communicate through them to those further away (just like the Twitter retweet). Use social media. Be proud and secure about the quality of your work, but don’t go over the top. People love successful people, but hate boasters.

Step into the conversations on your blog. Encourage them. When the 3 step cycle is complete, they’ll help you create again.

Step 3: Collect

If you’ve did everything right, now it time to collect the results. It’s time to collect awareness. Time to collect feedback, to collect income.

The better the creation and communication processes, the better the results.

Not a matter of ‘OR’, but a matter of ‘AND’

Remember:

• There no point in hoping for results without creating anything;
• Without creation, there’s nothing to communicate;
• Communicate well and attract better results.

With blogging, the 3 C’s process is a full circle. You cannot choose what to do better. You must do everything, the best way you can. Start to finish.

Photo credits: SXC.hu and altemark

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When it comes to speaking, there are three types of people:

• those who speak so that other people can listen;
• those who speak only to hear their own voice;
• those who speak because they just can’t shut up.

If you want to be a better blogger, you’d definitely want to be in the first group.

But what does it take to be a good orator? You’d probably say it takes good communication skills, ability to adapt from audience to audience and a spontaneous character.

Some people have these skills written in their DNA, others train them. If you’re looking to speak or write better you should first consider listening and reading more and better.

“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak”
Epictetus, Greek philosopher

Advantages of being a good listener

Why and how should listening improve our communication skills? First of all, by paying attention to our audience we can observe and analyze the level of interest, which would make it a lot easier to adapt from a situation to another. Therefore, a better blogger is a blogger who listens to his community is more likely to provide real answers and help to real questions. Solutions make people happy.

By taking time to listen you’re more likely to have something interesting to say after. Think about how that could come in handy when trying to write a follow up or an opinion post.

Have you ever listened to people around you; not only to those talking specifically about things that you blog approaches, but purely mundane topics? You’ll be amazed how many interesting ideas can be generated from simple, friendly chats. Satisfying the most basic needs can make most people happy. A good orator knows what masses what to hear.

Listening is also a great way to gather more knowledge. Knowledge gives you more opportunities and also allows you to explore fields where no one has stepped. If you take 2 hours for your daily writing, take at least as much to read. It keeps you fresh, inspired and why not, original.

“Most of the successful people I’ve known are the ones who do more listening than talking.”
Bernard M. Baruch, American Economist and adviser to US presidents

The emotional factor

Take a real life example: women are especially attracted to men that know how to listen. Also, it’s a know fact that women tend to act more on instinct and emotions. So, for them enjoying a good listener is an emotional factor.

Listening can create an emotional bridge between you and your audience. Showing interest in what other people have to say qualifies you as a caring person, and for a blogger that wants to be helpful that is a big plus.

To summarize

In order to be a better blogger you need to be a good listener and reader. Why? Because you only have to gain from it:

• You’ll learn new things;
• You’ll be more insightful;
• You’ll be more interesting;
• You’ll be more original;
• You’ll be more helpful;
• You’ll adapt and connect easier.

And just for the fun of conversation, share with Blogsessive’s community a situation when being a good listener made your day. That could come in handy for some of us.

Photo credits to Sophie.

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Sometimes, having a great idea to write about can give your blog posts a boots, but most time it’s not enough. In order to establish a good, effective level of communication with your readers you should consider a few essential factors that could improve your writings and clear their path to your readers’ minds.

When blogging on a certain topic, you’ll be automatically considered either a specialist, or an enthusiast. While enthusiasts have more premises to write using a natural tone, specialists tend to overuse industry specific language which could make it hard to spread ideas through a general audience.

In terms of communication, William Butler Yeats – Irish poet and dramatist – said it best:

“Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.”
William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1939)

We’re talking about your blog, which means it’s about your thoughts, your advice, your skills, but if you don’t manage to get your ideas past the screen, they can be totally brilliant and still won’t get you anywhere.

Get to Know Your Audience

Spend some time learning more about your audience. Read the comments, visit their blogs, and ask questions. By getting to know your readers, you will find it easier to talk to them as they would expect you to.

These days, you have no excuse to say that you don’t know who your readers are, what they think and what the want. With so many free tools waiting to be used, you only have to want to communicate better.

The Value of Website Statistics

Take a look at your statistics:

1. Check out the entrance and exit paths.
2. Analyze the search terms that got your visitors on your blog and see which ones offered a better conversion from visitor to reader.
3. Check your referrers and study their content and audience.
4. Find out which posts are your most popular and most commented.
5. If you’re using Google Analytics, make sure you check you Navigation Summary (on the right side of the page under the “Content” tab)

Statistics can provide a lot of useful information about your readers and their activity on your blog.

One Way Communication Tools

Consider running polls one your blog. Readers love to feel involved, it what makes a group become a community.
WP-Polls is a wonderful and easily customizable WordPress plugin, that you can either include in your sidebar as a widget, or in the content of you blog posts. It’s the one I’m currently using on Blogsessive’s sidebar.

Two Way Communication Tools

Are you using Skribit? Skribit is a great online application that can ease the blogger-reader communication. As they call it, it’s a “social-suggestion” tool that goes in your sidebar just like a widget, allowing your readers to suggest future topics for you to blog about. Of course, you can add your own suggestions and let the readers cast their vote on them.

Alternatively, you can create a series of “Questions and Answers” posts, insuring not only a good communication level between you and your readers, but also gaining a bit of traffic through having people submitting questions by commenting.

Keep You Readers Close and Your Visitors Even Closer

If you’re looking to grow your community, learn how to talk to everyone, including your newcomers. Don’t complicate things, let your ideas speak for themselves, and on this thought, I’ll close with another great quote from the Greek philosopher Epictetus:

“Be concise in your writing and talking, especially when giving instructions to others.”
Epictetus (50-120)

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