I was wondering if it was a good idea to publish that one and finally came to the conclusion that I had to share this so everyone can understand how easy it is to fake the feedburner subscriber’s count and win any subscriber contest, anytime…It’s ridiculous. I’m posting this more so that everyone realize that it’s important to trust the person you are competing against or you could end up losing for stupid reasons.
I’m not posting this for people to do it, go out there and win contests or whatever: It’s not worth it because it is a FAKE subscriber count and won’t give you more readers, so don’t think about more traffic. I’m posting this because I’m sure you’ve asked yourself in the past: how the hell can that website have 100, 200 or 500 subscribers? How the hell did that website beat me in that contest? How the hell did that website increased its subscriber count by 100 overnight? Well folks, it’s easy as hell and that’s why the RSS subscribers count can really be BS.
You will also find some packages on DigitalPoint like “500 subscribers for 50$”. You can do shit alone, no need to pay. In fact, you don’t even want to do it alone because there really are NO ADVANTAGES and here’s why.
The Dumb Way
This is the easiest way to fake your RSS subscriber count and it is really dumb, but it works. The trick is to replace your feedburner chicklet with the one of a bigger website. For example, here’s the code I would have to put for frogstr.com:
<p><a href=”http://feeds.feedburner.com/frogstr”><img src=”http://feeds.feedburner.com/~fc/frogstr?bg=99CCFF&fg=444444&anim=0″ height=”26″ width=”88″ style=”border:0″ alt=”" /></a></p>
Now, what if I change http://feeds.feedburner.com/~fc/frogstr for http://feeds.feedburner.com/~fc/TechCrunch ?
Oh look, I now have 967K readers! See how easy it is to trick it this way? Of course it would be really, really dumb to put the TechCrunch feed chicklet as people wouldn’t really believe you have 967K readers, but you could easily put the chicklet of a less popular blog with 200 subscribers when you really just have 10 readers. The downside is that you always have to use that chicklet and you don’t have much control over it.
The smart way
Here’s the smart way: how I would do it if I “had” to. This is a little more work, but you have a huge control over the amount of subscribers. That method is called email subscribers. I’m sure you all thought about this one once in your blogger’s life, subscribing fake readers with fake emails, but you thought is was too much work to create a hundred Gmail accounts, then logging into these 100 email accounts one by one to confirm your subscription. No, no, no…It’s way easier than that!
Most of you running a blog and paying for your hosting have access to a little web app called CPanel to control the settings of your web server. Through that CPanel, you can create email accounts fairly easily, but then again, are you going to create a hundred different email accounts and face the same problem? No you’re not. Why? Because you’re smarter than that!
On most hosts, you will have in the “Mail” section of your CPanel an icon called “Default Address”:
What’s the default address? By setting a default address, you can tell your host to forward EVERY invalid email @yourdomain.com to a valid email address of your choice. For instance, I could decide that every invalid email be forwarded to feedburnerhack@frogstr.com. This way, I can subscribe with feedburner with emails such as: fake001@frogstr.com, fake002@frogstr.com, fake003@frogstr.com, etc. and all confirmation emails will be sent to feedburnerhack@frogstr.com! Of course, feedburnerhack@frogstr.com has to be a valid email address, but you only have to create one email address instead of 500.
Now, some hosts have disabled the feature and you could see that message:
You can always enable the feature by contacting your host, you just have to find a decent reason. Otherwise, here’s what you would get:
Final step is just to login to your account feedhack@yourdomain.com and confirm every single subscription. It’s much easier and a lot quicker than having to log in into every single email account to confirm the subscriptions.
Of course doing a hundred subscriptions per days can be quite boring, but 5 daily isn’t too much of a pain and you end up with 35 more subscribers at the end of the week.
DON’T DO IT
Aright, now don’t do it. Why? It’s frickin’ not worth it. I mean OK you’ll win every contest out there, you’ll have 1000 subscribers but NO TRAFFIC. OK, you’ll be able to sell your ad spots a lot more, but don’t think the advertisers are dumb, they’ll notice that you’re NOT SENDING ANY TRAFFIC! OK, you’ll have 1000 subscribers, but no one commenting on your blog which is a little weird usually with 1000 subscribers.
There are really no advantages of doing it and I strongly discourage the practice. I just want every single one of you to think about it the next time you get into a subscriber contest. You better really trust the person you are competing against or you could end up being ****ed.
Some persons on Digital Point are selling packages like 100, 200 or 500 usbscribers for like 50$. Don’t buy that, you can do that shit alone. No need to pay 50$ for that crap. You don’t want to pay for it and you don’t want to do it anyway.
What a great post Ben! I recently had a guru tell me how common it is for bloggers to “fake their subscribers.” Prior to that, I had no idea anyone would do this. I’m also somewhat disappointed how easy it is to do.
So first of all, I agree with you that it’s not worth it. Sure, it might give you more credibility in the eyes of your readers but far more damage is done once they find out the truth.
Plus, why do it anyway? I think it’s better to be upfront with where you’re at- it says a lot about you, and helps readers to relate to you as a newbie, an intermediate, a pro, etc. I say let it roll! Take pride in where you’re at, no what level that is.
BrilliantJENIs last blog post..Joel Comm Live, News
Thanks Jenni! Exactly, there’s no point to do it whatever the angle you look at it. It’s OK to be a “new” blog, I mean no blog starts at 200 subscribers and I think earning these subscribers is the fun part!
Bottom line is it’s dead easy and it’s a shame really.
Who cares?
Someone fakes it – his blog is probably lame enough for that to not matter anyway.
I found RSS count really weird stat, it’s impossible to make any conclusions from it alone.
Rarsts last blog post..Weeding dead RSS feeds with processing OPML
I agree who cares…Except when you compete against another blogger for a subscribers contest and you lose! hehe
The RSS count is really weird I agree. I think your blog is a good example, you have a very very good subscriber count but you say it doesn’t have a direct impact on your traffic. I guess it really depends on the niche!
There are a lot of cheaters that could cheat much better if they read this post. I see it all of the time. Just like your said, no comments and a huge feed count. Here’s one I found just a little bit ago. Edit out the URL if you are worried about calling someone out. pinklatexblog.com using an image hosted on their own site http://pinklatexblog.com/wp-content/themes/box-tube/images/feedsburn.gif They have an Alexa rank of over a million and very few comments. You kind of feel sorry for someone that desperate. It’s like a thirty year old telling Vietnam war stories. Just pathetic.
Brian D Hawkinss last blog post..Customer Service, Retention and Damage Control
@Brian: Man this is ridiculous! I just had a look at the blog and hosting an image is probably the worst technique! Thanks for sharing this
@shaxx: Yes exactly, when you can’t get readers, I guess you’re ****ed
Definitely don’t do it. It’s just a waste of time. So what you got awesome number of subcriber. But take a look at your traffic stat.. Is it awesome? Nah!
BTW, this is a new hack. I mostly see the image hack. Fresh idea! But I won’t do it
Husseins last blog post..WordPress Theme Weekly: Helium
Glad to know I’ve found a new hack and also glad to know you won’t exploit it
I have been wanting to do this kind of the article myself on my blog but I’ve decided against it for the simple reason that those who are not the right mind might still attempt to do (read:fake) so and damage the whole credibility of having feedburners stats.
Still, you are letting the cat out of the bag….anyway, I usually judge the popularity of a blog not by the no. of subscribers but by the no. of comments on each post instead.
Yan
Blog for Beginnerss last blog post..Stop! Step Back and Think! by Miss Gullible
That’s also why I wasn’t sure if it was right to publish it. But you know, if I didn’t talk about it, someone would write about it eventually so it was only a matter of time! Also, I don’t think people faking the subscribers count are there to stay so again it’s just a matter of time before they stop blogging
The number of comments is also my metric for a blog’s popularity. Some blogs have 10,000 subscribers but only 10 comments per posts…It’s weird!
Unfortunately it’s not easier, but it surely is a better strategy!
@Master Dayton: Thanks mate! I agree it’s counter productive as you screw the metric completely! Welcome to the blog, I don’t recall seeing you commenting in here
The big problem is they don’t think of the long term if they are still around….they now have to keep the fake number up there FOREVER.
Dennis Edells last blog post..As Promised – More Link Love for Knowledge Link Love #1 Participants
Good stuff, Ben!
I like how you ended the article…DON’T DO IT!
Great suggestion! My biggest grip with such things is simple. It isn’t honest. I don’t want to be the type of person that cannot bare to look at himself because I am dishonest. You may fool everyone else, but the man/female in the mirror always knows when you are cutting corners and BSing.
Freddies last blog post..Goal Setting Sunday: Week 7
@Dennis: Yep, once you fake it, it’s hard to stop faking it. Will you go from 600 subscribers to 68? That would look a little weird!
@Freddie: Thanks mate! It really is dishonest that’s true and being honest with your readers is important these days. Transparency is the key, really.
Ben – I don’t have anything more to add about this post that hasn’t already been said. I just want to comment that I am impressed that you respond to all the comments. There have been many blogs I comment on that don’t bother to respond. I realize that I then tend not to comment any more on those sites. The feeling, that my comment is of no interest to that blogger. Maybe they are just so busy and popular – what ever. I also enjoy seeing your responses to the comments.
Thanks.
Ben,
I hate people that do this because it makes us good guys look bad. I mean I have been struggling hard to gain subscribers and it is finally starting to take off. I am up to 44 and damn proud of every one of them. I just hope people take this article to heart, but it is never a good idea to show people how to do it when you are discouraging it. I mean it is like showing a bank robber the best way to rob a bank and then saying don’t do this.
Either way good post I enjoyed it.
Adam
LOL @ ZK, “4 comments and 2 of which are by the owner.”
Freddies last blog post..Goal Setting Sunday: Week 7
I had always wondered how people did this, for some reason I was thinking of a much more complex solution. Damn my programming brain, unable to think of the obvious!!
Clog Moneys last blog post..The Story Of Sally.
@ZK: Yes exactly and there are just so many of them! I mean, wtf, 300 subscribers, 4 comments? Doesn’t make sense. I average 10-20+ comments per post here and I am nowhere near 300 subscribers.
@Adele: Thanks for the comment, answering most of my comments is really the core of this blog. Blogging is a two way thing and it’s important for me to show I care about my readers…And I really care! I appreciate the fact that people take 2-5 minutes of their precious time to drop a line in he.
@Adam: 44 real subscribers is a good number and it’s something to be proud of because it means these readers (which include me) really like what you do!
@Freddie: haha so true
@ClogMoney: haha I know how you feel, I also have a programmer brain
I thinks It’s just a waste of time and i so agree with what Adam is saying.
Salwas last blog post..Avoid These Network Marketing Mistakes
@Salwa: Can’t deny that!
Frankly, no one should ever look at a subscriber account and assume anything, especially people who want to advertise. So many subscriber counts are inflated that a person’s subscriber count is nothing but a throwaway statistic.
Wills last blog post..Your Ad Here
Nice to have you here Will, love the cartoons
I agree, I’m preparing my next article on RSS subscribers and that whole thing is BS. As you said, this shouldn’t be considered as a metric!
Now I’m startin’ to like that idea
I look at comments also anyway….although you also have millions of “lurkers”
Dennis Edells last blog post..Guest Post: DaBlogger Tells His Experiences with Social Bookmarking
@ZK: I agree for the comments and stuff. But I don’t see me selling advertisements on my blog for 100$ because I have 1000 fake subscribers. The advertisers aren’t stupid, they’ll notice the site isn’t driving traffic.
@Dennis: haha! I will post a little something fairly soon that will probably change your mind
I’m not sure what you mean by changing my mind…lurkers aren’t a myth lol, but it should be interesting to see
Dennis Edells last blog post..Guest Post: DaBlogger Tells His Experiences with Social Bookmarking
Maybe I misunderstood, I was talking about the fact that you started to love the idea of faking your feedburner count for more comments…
Glad you like the comic, Ben.
ZK, it’s sad to think that an advertiser would view a subscriber count as the primary metric. I think that will change as people keep pointing out how easy it is to manipulate the feed count. Of course the big blogs get a free pass. Techcrunch doesn’t include a disclaimer about how inflated its subscriber count is due to partnerships. When you sign up for something and become a Techcrunch subscriber by default, that sort of undermines the importance of Techcrunch’s chicklet. So if you’re going to manipulate your subscriber count, you’d just be following in the footsteps of the big tech blogs. It doesn’t really matter how or why something is inflated at the end of a day. Is a fictitious subscriber any better or worse than someone who doesn’t read Techcrunch at ALL but is subscribed to it by default and just too lazy to unsubscribe? (Not picking on Techcrunch, just using them as an example).
Wills last blog post..Your Ad Here
Ben – oh no no no, I was starting to like the idea of using the subscriber count….mine is shooting up LOL
Ranked – and yet TC gets 10k per month with a 2month minimum for 125×125 ads…zeezaloo lol
Dennis Edells last blog post..Guest Post: DaBlogger Tells His Experiences with Social Bookmarking
@Dennis: Aright I see now!
@Will: The effect of the subscriber count is completely ridiculous. I mean, TC was at something like 967K readers when I wrote this and now it’s 1173K. All inflation is obviously to increase advertising costs and this is crazy.
@Ben
Fluctuations are perfectly normal for large feeds. It depends on day of week, lots of people don’t check feed daily and FeedBurner stats are very bugged. Actually I should have put FeedBurner reason first.
Rarsts last blog post..Why is spam better than spam-filter
It’s true, but there are some very strange fluctuations…
It’s ok to be a new blog with 60 subscribers, nothing wrong with it
People won’t be there reading your blog again once they know they’ve been cheated.
Norhafidzs last blog post..Promotional Items – Use Your Imagination
@Norhafidz: Totally agree with you, it’s ok to be a new blog and you’re better off with 60 real subscribers than with 500 fake ones because people will notice one day!
@Downloadic: No problems mate!
@Armen: I’m pretty sure, as you mentioned, that it’s doing more damage to a site than benefit. At least in the long term…
@Shannon: Yep, contests in the MMO niche is pretty popular to attract subscribers! But I think it’s becoming too common though…
This post was truely useful, thanks!
Great post….. I love the disclaimer… just common sense. Do not do it. Its always good to know what is out there and how people can manipulate the FeedCount but not worth it all to do it. Not if you are a serious blogger.
-Laura
Whateverebays last blog post..Welcome to FeedBurner
Hmmm. Nice trick this can be good for all sorts of social experiments. Most of like the monkey see monkey do effect. Like fake new blogs feed burner account so that more people subscribe or something. Things like subscriber counts tend to get peoples attention you know. Perhaps I will pull one of these experiments someday but if I do I will warn my current readers in a post so that they do not feel tricked.
—-Archie (Luis)
Hey Ben,
Yup, It's working. It seems pretty cool. Till now i had a doubt about few blogs that how these guys are getting these many readers in such a short time. It seems all those are using this simple trick to show that they have good number of readers. Thanks for letting know about this.
Thanks
Sankar
great post, I agree!
But I still think feedburner is important to my site, because it gives a means for my readers to subscribe in the first place!