A recent study by the Catalyst Group shows that users couldn't distinguish a blog from a standard site and also points at some other common blog mistakes.

A full summary of this limited study, which only took a look at one blog (the Well Spent blog from BusinessWeek) and studying only the reactions of 9 people, can be found here. [link via WebProNews]

Here are the key points you should understand and learn from ...

"1) The participants looked at the site and were surprised to find out they were on a blog. Whatever "fuzzy ideas" the participants had about what blogs are, they didn't match what they found. "

This point really isn't that important, but it does show that no one really cares that much if they're reading a blog or not, since they're only looking for information. Basically, what matters is the source and the content, not how it's called.

And why should they care?

"3) Participants didn't understand what would happen when they posted a comment, whether all posts appear or just an edited selection. It was not clear why the subjects might want to post."

Just goes to show that adding a nice little explanation above the comments form really wouldn't hurt, unless of course you're only using your blog to communicate with other bloggers. You're probably not ...

"4) The concept and mechanics of RSS "failed utterly with test participants," the executive summary said. While frequent blog users see RSS feeds as a central part of a blog's value, the test participants didn't understand that at all."

This is the one field where most blogs and other sites, with the exception of larger media sites, fail the test.

The lesson is simple - create an RSS presentation page, on which you explain:
- What RSS is
- How the visitor will benefit from using RSS
- Where they can get a free RSS aggregator (recommend one yourself!)
- How they can install it (provide step-by-step instructions)
- How they can subscribe to your RSS feeds
- Why they should subscribe to your own RSS feeds

"5) XML and RSS buttons, even brightly colored ones, didn't attract the subjects' interest. Terms more common to newsletters and e-mail (subscribe, update, etc.) would be more easily understood."

And for the final key points, which I've been trying to make for a few months now:

a] Blogs also need e-mail newsletters / e-zines. RSS is a great content delivery channel, but if you're using it instead of e-mail, as opposed to using it as a supplementary channel, you're wasting your visitors and subscribers.

b] Even for your RSS feeds, bring them closer to your visitors. What this simply means is promoting your RSS feed directly below your e-mail newsletter subscription box, telling people they'll be subscribing to your newsletter delivered via RSS.

And for the final piece of direct marketing advice ...

A visitor that visits your site and does not subscribe (either via RSS or e-mail) is more or less lost to you, as they will quickly forget about your site and move on.

One of the key functions of e-mail and RSS is to bring people back to your site, to remind them that you exist and bring your content directly to them. Without this, you're wasting your visitors.

Consequently, each website (including a blog) should strive towards generating subscribers.

But how can you expect to achieve that, if you're generating subscribers with a little XML button at the bottom of your page where no one really looks, and that by not giving a compelling reason to subscribe?

Make your RSS and e-mail subscription options visible "above the fold" and use compelling copy to get visitors to subscribe.