3 Unfortunate Consequences of Poor RSS Feed Management

September 26, 2007

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1. Readers will POOP on your Headlines-Only RSS Feeds.

This renders your RSS Feed completely useless. It’s also false advertising to allow that cute little orange button announce to your tech-savvy users that you have a Feed. Oddly enough I only see this technique used on ultra-popular sites with large amounts of traffic. The reason given for the is usually to prevent content scraping, but it only puts a big moldy cheddar cheese wedge between you and your smartest readers. Dup content has solutions, including link building, which shouldn’t be a problem with such large amounts of traffic.

Besides, dup content is primarily a Google issue. Your blog should only receive a max of 30% of its traffic from the Goog. Blogs should get most of their traffic from social media. When you prevent content from being distributed through RSS, you’re making it harder for loyal readers to share your stuff, which by the way, could result in more links and help with that pesky dup content problem.

2. Bloggers will STOMP all over your Partial Feeds like they’re a sombrero.

I get it. I do. You want people to click through to the site. You need the traffic numbers in order to sell advertising or boost your ego. The problem is you better be more compelling than Nick freakin Hornsby if you want those click-throughs.

And what if your second bullet point is the thing that grabs a reader’s attention? Oh, but it didn’t make the feed. Too bad. They moved on to the next item in their newsreader because web users scan - they don’t read unless they feel a burning desire to do so. Like they couldn’t go on with their day unless they read this oh-so-important post.

Problogger Darren Rowse got curious about the matter and conducted a poll with his readers. 75% of them prefer full feeds. And bloggers are experiencing increased RSS subscribers and increased earnings once they’ve switched to full feeds.

3. Potential subscribers will VANISH like a stain on a white t-shirt when it’s faced with the miraculous powers of a Tide Pen or Shout spray, when they can’t find your RSS Feed!

Finding the RSS Feed on your web site should not feel like a scavenger hunt. Unless it’s some wicked awesome piece of linkbait. And even then I should be rewarded with more than just your RSS feed - something like an iTunes gift certificate, Blackberry Pearl (sorry, I’m *still* not a Macgrrrrrrl), digital camera, HDTV or a BMW should be the gold at the end of this rainbow.

But it doesn’t have to be that complicated - or expensive. Slap an RSS icon above the fold. The hip places to place it are on the sidebar or top right corner. And usually it’s orange, but you could always be bold and try one of these beauties:

Prevention is key when it comes to avoiding poor RSS Feed Management. Avoid poop, sombrero stomping and large stains from that chili you had for lunch! Examine your feed today and make sure you’re on the way to increased subscribers and income. Booyah!

Technorati Tags: rss, blogging

Posted in Blogging by Nathania Johnson