While many start blogs to make money of them, most understand that the way to reach that goal is to increase the RSS numbers. There are a number of ways that you can optimize the blog to gain extra RSS readers, though your absolute best bet is to create great content:

• use both RSS and Email Subscription links. Depending on the niche you’re in, you will see the readers use either one or the other more. I’ve seen niches with 3-5% email subscriptions and others with 90%. The more technical the niche, the better the chance that the reader knows what RSS is.
• put them above the fold in a place that can be seen easily. Don’t hide those subscription links. The reader shouldn’t have to go looking for them.
• put reminders in your posts. Probably better at the end of a post, telling the reader that if they enjoyed reading that article they can subscribe and get them regularly.
• create a page where you explain what RSS is and link to it from the front page.

Though WordPress is a superb CMS when it comes to blogging, you might find yourself looking for an alternative. There are plenty of options out there, as you can see below, so all you need is check them out and see if you’re interested in anything.

Before checking them out, you should know a few things that you need to look for:
if it’s secure. Look in forums and reviews, search with google for any information about hacked blogs that use that CMS
if it’s supported and still worked on
how active is the webmaster community behind it. New plugins and themes are made by the community, so you need to have an active group that support the software.
make a list of pro’s and con’s of the software when compared with WordPress
test it yourself on a sub-domain

Here are a few possible WordPress alternatives:
b2evolution
boastMachine
Dotclear
Eggblog
LifeType
Loudblog
Nucleus CMS
sBlog
Serendipity
SimplePHPBlog
Simplog
Textpattern
WB News
Wheatblog
WikyBlog
ZompLog

Enjoy the search!

New bloggers tend to believe that all they need to be successful is good content or plenty of promotion to become successful. However, for some reason people don’t actually do what they think it’s necessary to succeed. A good tip when starting a new blog is to choose a topic that you can blog about for years to come. If you’re not passionate about the subject, the chances that you’ll be able to write hundreds of posts on the matter are low. There are plenty of mistakes new bloggers do, but here are 5 that are more common: Not being original – repeating what others say in a different form is a common mistake for bloggers. That might happen because they either don’t put in the time to write original content, or because they don’t know enough of the industry to write in-depth articles. Afraid to speak their mind – this can come in hand with the lack of originality. Just because the majority has an opinion, it doesn’t mean bloggers should be silent if they feel different. As long as it’s based by facts, it goes hand in hand with what blogging is all about, conversation. Promoting a blog before it’s ready – a common enough mistake, where people start promoting their blogs before they have enough content to show. Having at the absolute minimum 5 posts (preferably more then 10), allows any new visitors to get a feeling of what the blog is about, and to subscribe if they enjoy the content. Not being focused – when looking to attract a certain crowd to your blog, it’s best not to overwhelm them with topics they’re not interested in. For example, with a technology blog, talking about cars can prove boring to some of your readers. So, instead of having the full potential to be interesting, you’re dropping the percentage. Growing a blog takes time – if you’re giving up after just 3 months, then you’ve wasted a good portion of your life. A blog can take a year or more to take off, so patience is the key, and consistent blogging. Mistakes are done by all new bloggers. What’s important is that you learn from them and you don’t repeat them.

1. Other blogs in your niche

Check out other blogs writing about the same topic as you, check their archives, see which are the posts that have the most comments or that are listed as most popular. It can give you a good idea of what people want to read. Read those posts, and write down some ideas on how you can improve on them. For example, if you draw inspiration from a post called “5 Ways To Gardening As A Hobby”, it can be improved by adding more ways, expanding on the ideas of existing ones, or simply starting from the partial title (i.e. 7 Ways To Get Started on Gardening and Live Stress Free). Careful though, don’t copy articles from others, just take inspiration, and quote them if you use some of their work.

2. The news

There are quite a few places that can help you get the latest news from your niche. You can subscribe to news on Google News, Yahoo, Technorati, Google Blog Search, by adding the RSS feed of your keywords of choice or subscribing by email. I do this for a few of the niches that I want to have the latest news.

3. Social Media

Places like Digg.com and Reddit.com are very good places to get a feeling of what people want to read. If you have a topic like gardening then those places might not be the best choice, but you can always look for niche social media sites that fit your blog.

4. Social Bookmarking

While Digg and Reddit are perfect to see what people vote up, StumbleUpon and Del.icio.us can be used to see what people bookmark and find interesting. You can search them by the tag of your choice, making it easy to find popular articles that relate to your topic of choice. What’s great is that they are used by people that have all kinds of interests, not just technology lovers, like the two most popular social media sites.

5. Life

All around you there are ideas that are just waiting to be found and written on whatever you have at your disposal. You just need some imagination to help you out. For example, seeing a mother and her little son holding hands can give you a title like “5 Games, Best Played With Adult Supervision”, if you have a gaming blog.

Whenever you have an idea, write it down immediately. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve lost an idea because I didn’t wrote it and forgot what it was. Carry a small notebook and a pen with you, and if you get the idea while driving, then better stop the car before you write it.