Full Text or Excerpts – What’s Best For Corporate Blog RSS Feeds?

If you are putting together an RSS feed for your corporate blog, you may be wondering what way is the best way to deliver that RSS Feed. Should you use full text so that your subscribers can read the entire post in their feed reader without having to click on any links, or should you use a post excerpt so that readers are forced to visit your corporate blog for the rest of the story?

If you subscribe to RSS feeds that relate to blogging or internet marketing subjects, then you will probably discover that the full text feed philosophy is the one that wins a lot of debates on the subject. On the other hand, you may have noticed that many popular news sites like ESPN, AP News and CNN are using the excerpt method instead. Some of these news sites only display the headlines in their RSS feed and do not show any of the story until you visit the actual website. So which method is the right method for your corporate blog?

The real answer to this question is that the best method is whatever best suits your business model.

For example:

Major news websites and sports websites have the same business model that they have always used. The more people they have reading their articles and content, the more they can end up charging for advertising. For this reason, their primary objective is simply to drive people into their websites so that they can retain the highest readership numbers possible to reach the highest possible advertising rates in the process. By offering only a short excerpt or only a headline forces the reader to either click to come in and read more, or to move on.

Is this how you want to regard your readers?

One of the number one goals for most internet marketers and bloggers is to gain the trust of the largest possible audience. Your readers are not only potential customers, but they are also your supporters. Because it is so difficult to obtain high readership numbers, doesn’t it make sense to try to retain your readers at any cost? Most people like to read all of their websites in a single place which is what RSS aggregators are really all about. If you make reading easier for your readers, they will appreciate it more than you realize.

Does the monetization strategy for your corporate blogging effort depend on attracting viewers to your website? The excerpt feed method may be best if you depend on people actually coming to your website, but it takes a lot of traffic to make a living in this manner so you should not necessarily depend on it.

Another consideration to make is this:

Does your website have enough authority to draw people in just based on headlines or small excerpts alone? Even if you are an authority in the field, it is unlikely that your blog has gained enough experience, credibility and exposure to rival the attraction websites like CNN can generate. You should not hold anything back from your readers, so give them everything that you can in your RSS feed. If you give your readers exactly what they subscribed to, you will benefit from an increase in RSS subscribers, more posts getting bookmarks on sites like Digg, Delicio.us, Technorati and StumbleUpon, more viewer comments, and more viewers talking about your blog in theirs.

Photo Credits: 1

Originally posted 2008-10-28 05:35:31. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Blog Traffic Exchange Related Posts
  • To make a first impression of your blog turn out great get the right person to do the job.Corporate Blogging Made Easy One of the best ways for a company to reach out to their customers and build a strong brand is corporate blogging. However, there are a lot of misconceptions out there and a lot of room for error. Let’s take a look at some techniques that you can use to......
  • competition5 Musts You Should Be Doing When You're Not Blogging Unless you are writing hundreds of posts a day, the amount of time you spend posting on your corporate blog should be minimal. In fact, that is why so many decide to start their own blogs, since everything can be automated and you can sit back and relax. However, there......
  • Do you digg it?How to Start Promoting Your Blog If you are completely new to corporate blogging, it can be pretty confusing to get started with everything. Once you’ve got your blog set up and you’re posting regularly, it’s time to really start promoting it. Here are some easy ways that you can promote your blog and get great......
  • Press all the right buttons with your blog.Corporate Blogging Issues and Concerns If you have never blogged before and are interested in starting a corporate blog, there are a few issues and concerns that you need to be aware of before you ever get started. These can be treacherous waters at times and if you are not prepared, it is all too......
  • teddyIdeas for Blogging Content Pt 1 Business blogging is rife with benefits for those who utilize it properly, as it adds significant value to a company's web presence, increasing search engine visibility and encouraging excellent and meaningful interaction from readers, driving an increase of traffic to your website in the process. But blogging for business is......
Blog Traffic Exchange Related Websites
  • blog traffic exchangeCan anybody help me display my rss feed on my website? I need someone to give me a BRIEF explanation of exactly how to display an rss feed on a page of my self hosted site. I do understand how complex/difficult it would be for someone to explain the full process, I am just a bit confused and need a few......
  • readers1Turning Blog Visitors into Blog Readers Bringing traffic in the form of blog visitors to your website is really only the beginning when it comes to creating an effective blog. Many of these visitors may only be stopping by once, never to return again. There are a number of different little things that can be done......
  • blog traffic exchangeBlog Traffic Secrets There are no blog traffic secrets. Sorry! However, there are plenty of proven ways to get website traffic. Why do you want more website traffic? Sounds like a stupid question especially if you are trying to make a living online. Not everyone is! Some folks blog to just blog. No......
  • blog traffic exchangeThis Week's Personal Finance Blog Journey Welcome New and Returning Readers Welcome to the weekend.  If you are new here, you might want to take a minute and read why I write hard truth about money and personal finance.  Also, please sign up to receive the latest hard truth by RSS feed reader.  You can also subscribe......
  • respondsignIncrease Blog Traffic Today, pt2 Here is part two in our series for learning how to increase blog traffic today. 7 - Sign It With Your Blog - Add a link to your blog website in the signature file for your e-mail accounts as well as forum accounts and other accounts where signature files are......
audience blog blog entries blogger bloggers blogging blogosphere blogs business owners carnival comments section company news consumers controversy customer base different ways e mail few minutes google inspiration job little bit many different ways marketing mistake money next level niche page views platforms popularity readership relationship relationships risk search engine search engine optimization search engine rankings search engines seo social bookmarking sites social networking target traffic word of mouth