Today's post is brought to you by the ever-popular and knowledgeable Jordan from Momma Blogga. She has graciously agreed to guest post for me all week while I bask in the glory that is a family reunion. Welcome Jordan (as you always do) and leave her many comments so she's come back!

The easiest way to find out how many RSS and e-mail subscribers you have is to use a service like FeedBurner.  FeedBurner integrates fully with Blogger, TypePad and WordPress.org (self-hosted WordPress, not to be confused with WordPress.com).  WordPress.com users can also use FeedBurner, though it may not "catch" all of your subscribers.

To integrate with FeedBurner, first you ahve to set up your feed with FeedBurner.  It's pretty easy to do and quite self-explanatory, but if you'd like step-by-step instructions, see the MamaBlogga post 5 Steps to Getting Started with FeedBurner.

Once you've set up your feed with FeedBurner, you'll need to make some changes on your blog to indicate that your subscribers shouldn't use your default feed (which still exists on your blog and is the source for your FeedBurner feed).

Integrating your FeedBurner feed to your Blogger blog

After Google's recent acquisition of FeedBurner, Blogger has more fully integrated with FeedBurner.

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Go to Settings>Site Feed.  In the Post Feed Redirect URL box, type the address of your newly burned FeedBurner feed (http://feeds.feedburner.com/WhateverYouNamedIt).  Save your settings.

Integrating your FeedBurner feed to your self-hosted WordPress blog

Use FeedBurner's own FeedSmith FeedBurner Replacement Plugin, which directs your subscribers to your FeedBurner Feed automatically (again, youíll have to enter your FeedBurner address).  Once your plugin is installed and activated, you enter the address under the Options>FeedBurner FeedSmith tab.

Integrating your FeedBurner feed to your WordPress.com blog

You can still use FeedBurner (which is owned by Google), but there's a chance that people will subscribe to your blog using your "regular" WordPress feed instead of your FeedBurner feed.

Integrating your FeedBurner feed to your TypePad blog

Go to Configure>Feeds.  Find the FeedBurner section and click on the button to connect your feed with your FeedBurner feed.  You'll have to enter your FeedBurner login information, then youíll be given the options to choose which of your FeedBurner feeds you want to associate with your blog.  Save the changes (twice).

FeedBurner numbers are only updated once a day, so you won't begin to see accurate numbers right away, but soon you'll be able to track how many subscribers you have.

Fluctuations from day to day are normal, so don't worry or think that individual posts are necessarily turning off your readers.  As with all stats on your blog, feed subscribers aren't the be-all and end-all of your blog, but it's nice to have some idea where you stand.