Get RSS Subscriber Count in Plain text
October 16th 2007
When I reviewed the new Freelance Switch design, one thing I noted was how they display their subscriber count as plain text, not using the little FeedBurner chicklet.
This trick isn't one that you usually see around the blogosphere, so I did a little investigating. The effect can be achieved using FeedBurner's Awareness API.
Unfortunately, I'm yet to find a guide as to how exactly...
However, there is good news for WordPress users. Francesco Mapelli has put together a very easy to use plugin that does all the heavy lifting for you. Install the plugin like any other plugin, then fill in a few options, and you'll end up with markup like this in your HTML:
<div class="feedcountdiv">
<p>
<span class="feedcount">
<span class="before">Only</span>
<span class="subscribers">9999</span>
<span class="after">subscribers!</span>
</span>
</p>
</div>
And with a little CSS magic, you can style it however you want. Eezy peezy, if you're a WordPress user... (Sorry guys! Having no luck with other platforms.)
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October 16th at 12:51 pm GMT
Comment #1
The RSS subscribe button and subscriber count on Freelance Switch (pictured above) looks great.
By the way, the link to the plugin is dead. Here's a Coral Cache mirror: http://www.mapelli.info.nyud.n.....d-count-12
October 16th at 1:44 pm GMT
Comment #2
Ah, looks very cool! Maybe one of these days my subscriber count will actually be up high enough that I want to show it.
I don't use WP either, so I'd be stuck trying to figure out the awareness API and I'm sure that would be tough.
October 16th at 2:59 pm GMT
Comment #3
The first person I saw doing this was Collis from FreelanceSwitch
You can read the method on his original post about the technique
October 16th at 3:39 pm GMT
Comment #4
Thank you so much!!!
I've been wanting to do this!
October 16th at 4:31 pm GMT
Comment #5
This is great. I just got over the 300 mark today, but I am not sure if showing it will encourage, or discourage, additional subscribers.
October 16th at 4:42 pm GMT
Comment #6
Thank god I use wordpress! I have been trying to do this for weeks now with the Feedburner awareness API, but I just couldn't get it to work properly. Thank you a million times for this =)
October 16th at 4:47 pm GMT
Comment #7
I think that's an issue which many will probably have Pinyo, especially if you're having to "compete" with other blogs in the same niche out there which have a higher amount of subscribers are you doing yourself that much of a favor with displaying it? Or is it like showing a counter on a site and just having had a couple of thousand visitors so far?
The custom way of displaying it though like mentioned above is really neat, rather of giving exact figures though but choose for your good old "sales-talk" you can pull subscriber figures more towards your advantage as well, let's say in case of your 300 mark you could opt to have it say something like "serving hundreds of subscribers already!".
By mentioning hundreds rather than 300 it suddenly seams a lot bigger without it actually being false info, of course you can choose for dozens and thousands for the lower and bigger figures but you could also make use of milestones like "Over 250 subscribers since {date}!".
These methods wouldn't require any really hard work to implant either, just be sure to make it be true ;).
October 16th at 6:26 pm GMT
Comment #8
Added to my 'to do' list. Cheers Michael.
October 16th at 7:45 pm GMT
Comment #9
ew another thing to add to the massive list.!
October 16th at 7:49 pm GMT
Comment #10
Yay, usability here I come. Thanks for the tip. I definitively will implement that for my own site, as soon as I fixed some of the other bugs that are still lingering around from the redesign.
Of course I do need to get some subscribers before I even think of displaying the feed count. ehm.
October 16th at 11:06 pm GMT
Comment #11
As is often the case, you've identified something I've been wanting to do -- but, sadly, TypePad rather than Wordpress.
Well, not really sadly -- just sadly in this instance.
I will go check that other link, though.
October 17th at 12:37 am GMT
Comment #12
Yay! I asked that question in your previous post. Thanks for doing the "googling" for us!
October 17th at 9:50 am GMT
Comment #13
Great find Michael. Gonna use it straight away.
October 17th at 3:27 pm GMT
Comment #14
Redwall - It's working for me. Must have been down at the time just. Thanks for the cache link any way.
Deron - lol - I wasn't too keen on playing with the API either! xD
Ben - I first saw the effect on Collis' sites as well.
Brian - No problem.
Pinyo - I don't think it will do you any harm at that point. I've been showing mine since about 200, and love it. If your site gets loads of comments though, perhaps it would seem bigger than it is if you didn't tell the RSS number? (Or vice versa, if you don't get too many comments, it could be really good to have the RSS button)
Alex - The plugin makes short work of all the hassle, doesn't it?
Slevi - I'm not so sure about that. How often do you buy into vague marketing jazz? Specifics are much more trustworthy.
David - Nice to keep ya busy!
Mommy Zabs - lol - sorry!
Dominik - Just keep at it and they'll come in time.
sbpoet - Sorry. If I have the time at some point, I'll take a look into the Feedburner API, but it's not likely. I'm not much of a coder. xD
Deaf Musician - Yep! So did Skellie in an email afterwards, and even I was always curious. Seems a popular effect.
Mohsin - Glad to hear it!
October 17th at 6:00 pm GMT
Comment #15
The Feedburner Awareness API is actually really simple to use. If you aren't using WordPress and the above mentioned plugin you can just hit the following URL:
http://api.feedburner.com/awar.....m/franzone
Of course this will give you my feed stats, but you can just substitute in your personal feed URL. If you want you can also use the id of your feed instead as in ?id=826548. This returns a small piece of XML with all of the information you are looking for, and it looks to be very simple to parse using whatever method you choose.
October 17th at 6:45 pm GMT
Comment #16
"I’m not so sure about that. How often do you buy into vague marketing jazz? Specifics are much more trustworthy."
Tell-Sell still is booming business so bringing things in a nice way still works ;). And personally I wouldn't say hundreds is any less trustworthy than 361 or something, since it is hundreds :P.
October 17th at 6:48 pm GMT
Comment #17
Nice tip Michael .
October 17th at 8:20 pm GMT
Comment #18
Jonathan - Thanks for sharing that with us! Seems a lot easier than I pictured.
Slevi - "Tell-Sell still is booming business" - Not on the internet, it's not.
Madhur - Glad ya liked it.
October 18th at 6:04 pm GMT
Comment #19
bleh, I'm showing mine even though it's never more than 15 and quite often below 10.
I guess my readers aren't RSS savvy. hrmm.......
October 19th at 11:08 am GMT
Comment #20
I had actually wondered how ChrisG and FreelanceSwitch had that text count rather than the now standard counter.
I Googled for a couple of days, but to no avail and then gave up.
And now this - thanks!
October 19th at 2:37 pm GMT
Comment #21
Michael,
Could you please find a similar hack for blogger blogs?
October 19th at 5:36 pm GMT
Comment #22
goldfries - Loud and proud of it.
Sumesh - No problem.
Techlicious - I'll have a look, though I had no luck when I first wrote the post. That WP plugin was the only one I've found so far.
I'll email ya if I can find one.
October 20th at 1:29 pm GMT
Comment #23
Even on the internet exact figures aren't always given, some examples:
Lunarpages customer page - "We have paid over 3 million dollars to our affiliates." : Over 3 million, gives a nice ring to it even if it's not an exact figure
Last.fm help section - "Millions of songs are scrobbled every day." : Millions of songs, yet again not an exact figure but it does give a nice ring to it plus it prevents competitors from seeing too much real-time data.
Firefox - "Choose from over a thousand useful add-ons that enhance Firefox." : Over a thousand useful add-ons, yet again real-time data isn't present.
Wordpress codex [version 2.1 page] - "the 2.0 series was an unparalleled success, with over 1.8 million downloads" : Not an exact figure, but over 1.8 million sounds like something you'd go for right?
I can keep on adding to this list from just about every major site I can come up with. Real-time figures just aren't a thing used in all cases, so why should it be such an issue for bloggers to do this too when it comes to subscribers? The entire tell-sell way of marketing things in nice words is done all over the net already and people do buy it, so why shouldn't a blogger be able to do so as well.
October 20th at 1:42 pm GMT
Comment #24
But 1.8 million is an exact figure, and even 3 million is quite precise! Even 1000 is a pretty accurate number.
Those figures put you in the right region. To a reader, what's the difference between 1.8million and 1,812,523? And "over 1000" immediately makes me think of about 1000-1300.
As a number gets larger, the exact figure becomes less useful, so why would you use it? Sticking to 1 or 2 significant figures is easier to read. But dozens, and even hundreds to a certain extent, are small numbers.
Readers aren't stupid when it comes to online advertising. They know the difference between when they're being given a useful figure, and when the site is trying to pull a fast one on them.
October 22nd at 7:14 pm GMT
Comment #25
I was just thinking of how to pull this off. Thanks Michael, you saved me a lot of headache.
October 22nd at 10:46 pm GMT
Comment #26
Glad to hear it Brown Baron.
October 28th at 3:23 pm GMT
Comment #27
Woah! Just what I was looking for!
Excellent tip mike! Thanks a Bunch!
October 28th at 6:57 pm GMT
Comment #28
No prob.
November 10th at 6:19 pm GMT
Comment #29
Hi Michael,
Thanks for stopping by at my blog and commenting! You're the first official "commenter", you will not be forgotten!
I actually had no idea a plugin for text only feed stats existed, glad I stumbled upon the news on your site.
Will be installing it on my blog too!
November 10th at 6:43 pm GMT
Comment #30
Hey Gia - I can guarantee it won't be my last comment either. Your blog looks promising.
(And I've downloaded the ebook sample so I can check it out later on. 
)
Glad you liked this post as well. The plugin is definitely underknown.
February 6th at 6:09 am GMT
Comment #31
Looks cool, thanks for the write up man!
February 12th at 9:28 pm GMT
Comment #32
In our new layout upgrade I'm hoping this cool trick can be implemented :)Thanks for the API link...
February 12th at 11:01 pm GMT
Comment #33
Lipton,
Sounds great. If you work out how to use the API directly, we'd love to hear how you managed it.
February 18th at 7:15 am GMT
Comment #34
Thanks for the tip, I was actually looking for something like that.