After numerous requests, I finally created a video that shows you how I created the RSS subscription box on this blog.

Enjoy!

If you’re reading this via e-mail or an RSS reader that does not display YouTube videos, click this link to watch the video.

If you login to your AdSense account and try to create a new ad unit, you may notice a new link titled “AdSense for Feeds”.

Yup, you guessed it.  Now you can display AdSense ads right inside your Feedburner feed.

You probably knew this was coming because there were rumors about Google testing this out on certain accounts.

Well, now it’s available to all AdSense account owners.

Before you can activate this long-awaited feature, you need to migrate your Feedburner account over to Google by simply emailing adsense-support-aff@google.com the following details…

1) Your Feedburner username

2) The email address you used to sign up for AdSense

After this, Google will follow up with migration instructions (I’m still waiting on my e-mail.)

Once activated, you’ll be able to choose your ad type (text or image), frequency, post length and position of the ads.

This is pretty exciting.  It’s always great to have additional ways to monetize existing content.

Happy feeding!

As I wrote in another post, you cannot assume your blog readers know how to use RSS.

Even though you’re comfortable with it, the majority of web surfers simply don’t understand it.

So if you use Feedburner, make sure you also offer the “Subscribe by Email” feature in addition to your RSS feed.

This will allow people to subscribe to your blog with a more conventional, recognizable method.

Now, I personally think RSS is the best thing since sliced bread, but it’s not for everyone.

I have to admit. I just recently added the email feature myself. A lady was kind enough to suggest this on one of my posts.

To be honest, I’m not sure why I didn’t offer it at first.

I guess I just assumed my explanation of RSS would be enough. Apparently it wasn’t. Here’s a perfect example…

Read this comment posted by Bill last month.

I gotta say, Bill’s comment made me chuckle a bit, but he represents a lot of Web surfers today.

When I did add Feedburner’s email subscribe feature I immediately gained 200 subscribers in a couple of weeks.

More proof my audience is still not very comfortable with RSS. It took me much longer to gain 200 subscribers through my regular feed.

Unless you’re sure your audience understands how to use RSS, make sure you offer the Email Subscribe feature.

Of course you need FeedBurner’s service to do this. It’s completely free and easy to setup. You can export the email addresses to a local file if you wish. Plus, FeedBurner reports your subscriber stats.

And if you aren’t using FeedBurner and/or don’t plan on it, at least put a text link near your RSS feed explaining what RSS is and how to use it.

Remember, know your audience.

Getting ranked #1 in Google for those heavily searched, relevant keywords is the dream of every Webmaster.

And if you’ve been around for a while, you know that task is not as easy as it once was.

Years ago you could stuff keywords, hide content in your background and perform all kinds of tricks to get you ranked at or near the top.

Nowadays you have to work much harder to get that Google love.

And who could blame Google for making it more difficult to rank high? They are successful because they deliver useful, relevant results.

So why wouldn’t they protect their brand from tricksters and spammers out to make a quick buck?

While you probably know about the basic ways of getting a good ranking in Google (high-quality inbound links, relevant content, etc.) many people believe Google is using other tools to see how you measure up and help determine your rank.

And if you ask me, it makes perfect sense.

Your Feed Activity

In case you didn’t know, Google owns FeedBurner (an RSS feed distribution & reporting service.)

So if you have a blog that uses Feedburner to promote, track and manage your feed, wouldn’t it make sense that Google monitors those subscription numbers and feed activity?

This is why I think it’s so important that your blog lives on the same domain as your site. Make it easy for Google to make the connection.

Google is a Registrar

In 2005, Google outwardly admitted they use their Registrar status to help improve the quality of their search results.

So if two of your sites got banned from spamming and they were both registered under the same name, what do you think will happen when you try to promote a 3rd site in Google that has the same registration data?

On the flip side, say someone has 3 heavily trafficked sites that rank well in Google. Wouldn’t it make sense that additional sites registered by that same person could have an added advantage in the long-run since the other 3 sites have some Google love?

Hmmmm……

Google Owns YouTube

Say you’ve got a YouTube channel with 794 subscribers, 300,000 video views and your channel homepage links to your main site. A pretty active channel, I’d say.

Why wouldn’t Google take this into consideration in determining your site’s credibility?

I’ve been using YouTube since August 2007 and while I have no proof using it has affected my rankings, it only makes sense that having a heavily trafficked YouTube channel linked to my website helps show Google that I am a credible source in my niche.

Google Analytics

What better way to prove to Google you are worthy by letting them see your traffic data. If you have a Google Analytics account then Google now has access to your visitor information.

Now, if you’re site is new and your traffic is low don’t panic and feel you should remove the code until you get more traffic. I don’t think using it will hurt you.

But when your site does start to generate traffic from other sources, wouldn’t you want Google to see that?

Now, we all know you don’t need Google Analytics installed on your site for Google to see who’s linking to you, but what if 75% of your traffic is bookmark traffic?

That kind of traffic data is not taken into consideration with backlinks and PageRank. Wouldn’t you want Google to know that these loyal people are visiting your site regularly?

There’s No Concrete Proof

While there is no way to know how Google uses the above information, let’s be realistic here…

If there are two sites with relatively the same content but one site has an RSS feed tracked by FeedBurner with 2,000 subscribers, a YouTube channel with 30 videos and 130,000 views, and 10,000 visits per day tracked by Google Analytics, while the other site has no blog, no videos and fewer visitors…

Which one do you think Google will respect more?

Granted, the above items may not have a very large influence on a site’s rank (yet), but you better believe they play a role…. especially when it comes down to determining the value of competing sites with similar content.

Why wouldn’t Google put all these pieces together?

These days you’ve got to work harder than ever to prove your worth to Google, so why not make use of the tools they own and monitor?