As a blogger, one of your top priorities should be to get people to sign up for your RSS feed. This way they will be able to access your content without having to go directly to your site. The main benefit of RSS is that it provides another distribution channel where readers can enter your site. Display the RSS button near the header on your entire page and give users multiple ways to sign up.

Here are some additional ways to increase your RSS subscriber count.

1. Prominently display the RSS icon. Make it big and catchy and place it above the fold on every page. Take a look at the examples here for new ideas.
2. In addition to using RSS feed icon, use persuasive language and calls to action to get people to subscribe (i.e. “Subscribe to the RSS feed for updates”).
3. Write a post asking people to subscribe. Ask and you’ll receive (maybe).
4. Using the FeedSmith plugin to redirect all of your feeds to one location.
5. Offer email subscriptions. This is how 90% of the people in the non-tech related niches sign up for feeds.
6. Encourage readers to subscribe to your feed at the bottom of every post on your blog. If they like what they read, they’re more inclined to subscribe.
7. Make it as easy as possible for people to subscribe. Reduce the number of clicks necessary to get to the subscription page.
8. Use icons to offer subscription to the most popular RSS readers including Google Readers, My Yahoo, Bloglines, etc.
9. Use your RSS feed link when commenting on other blogs.
10. Run a contest where readers are only eligible to win prize if they subscribe your RSS feed. You can see who subscribed to your feed using Feedburner by email.
11. Explain what RSS is. Most people in the non-tech related industries still aren’t fully aware of what RSS is. Educate your readers and they’ll thank you by subscribing your feed.
12. Create a dedicated “Subscribe” page that describes the benefits of your blog and includes links to all of the subscription options. You can then promote this page to gain more subscribers.
13. Write an e-book and give it away free to people who subscribe to your feed.
14. Launch an email newsletter using an email service like Aweber. You can then use the Blog Broadcast option to send your email list summaries of your posts. Newsletters Subscribers will be added to your RSS subscriber count.
15. Offer a full feed. Many people are irritated by a partial feed and refuse to subscribe because of it.
16. Use social proof. If you have a good number of subscribers already (at least 500), place the Feedburner chicklet on your site to proudly display your stats. Many people will subscribe solely based of how popular your blog already is.
17. Mention that subscribing to your blog is free. Everyone loves to get free stuff and as long as your blog has a high perception of value, the word “free” will urge visitors to jump in on the deal.
18. Use pop-ups to encourage subscribers. They work extremely well but are very intrusive to your visitors so be very careful.
19. Email first time commentators with link to your RSS feed. You can accomplish this automatically by using a WordPress plugin call Comment Relish.
20. Ensure that the RSS auto-discovery features is working for your blog. Most browsers are able to obtain your feed and place an icon next to the address bar. In order to set this up for your blog, all you have to do is include the following code in the head section of your blog template. Of course you’ll need to replace the URL with the address to your own blog feed. <link rel+”alternate” type=”application/rss+xml” title” RSS”href=http://feeds.website.com/YourFeedTitle>
21. Recover unverified email subscribers. Some people will subscribe via email but fail to click on the confirmation link for whatever reason. Occasionally re-email the unverified subscribers to remind them to confirm. You can do this within the Feedburner control panel.
22. Leverage other resources and properties. If you have a related blog, plug your new one and urge readers to subscribe. Skelliewag used this strategy to launch a new blog and received 1,100 subscribers in just 5 days
23. Exchange feed links with other bloggers. If you cover a similar topic to another blog, it’s a good idea to cross promote feeds and help each other get more exposure.
24. Include testimonials on your subscription page. Ask loyal readers to write a short review of why they like your site. You can then leverage the quotes to act as social proof and bring in more subscribers.
25. Write series of posts. Readers are more inclined to subscribe if they’re interested in your content and want to get the next part of the series as soon as possible. Build anticipation and people will never want to miss out on your content.