YNOT – In the article “For the Novice: Structuring RSS Feeds,” we investigated the two types of RSS feeds as well as the advantages and disadvantages of full summary and partial summary versions.

The best technique to maximize a feed is to integrate the two techniques based on users’ technical abilities and desires. At least in the beginning, I recommend leaving a full summary of the new material within the feed. The advantages to this approach include:

• Creating a structure of loyalty: For the first few months of a new website’s life, the webmaster must focus his efforts on creating a solid base of loyal users who will visit the portal frequently and spread the word to their contacts about how much they like the site. A full feed will allow fans to forward interesting material, thus growing a widening user base much more quickly than using a partial summary in the feed.

• Strengthening the brand: The use of a full summary will allow your brand to become associated with quality content, and that association will spread beyond your user base as subscribers forward their feeds to friends.

Once your feed has attracted a significant number of subscribers, changing the format to a partial summary feed will produce two important benefits:

• Concentration of user visits: Users accustomed to receiving a full summary will need to visit the host website in order to get the full story once you switch to a partial summary. In addition, instead of feeding one new item at a time, you can incorporate several into each feed. As users make repeated visits to your site based on the need to finish reading, your traffic will soar and advertisers will be easier to attract, both for the individual articles and for the portal itself.

• Strengthening ties between users and the portal: Once users become accustomed to partial summaries, they will appreciate the more user-friendly nature of the medium. Those who are accustomed to visiting the portal will continue to do so as they always have, but you’ll make new “friends” of the curious who simply have to know what the rest of each article says.

So far, we have looked at the indirect benefits of using RSS feeds. Indeed, the flow of visitors that RSS can bring to a site presents a clear advantage to those considering displaying banners on your website.

But are there direct benefits of using RSS?

Professional feed creation services such as FeedBurner offer significant potential for feeds. Such services allow the placement of banner ads inside both full- and partial-summary versions. Be careful, though: The free version of these services often are offered with the understanding you will allow the service to place its own advertisements in your feeds. In order to insert your own specific advertisements, you must pay a fee.

The advantages and disadvantages of using banners within a feed include:

• Pro: You can monetize the feed itself as users click on the banners. However, it is important to consider the reason why a visitor follows a site that is using RSS: Feeds allow users to get information as quickly as possible. For this reason it is good to place advertisements at the bottom of the feed, not at the beginning. Advertisements on top interfere with the readability and “immediacy” of a feed.

• Con: Feeds become counterproductive when the presence of advertising annoys users — or worse, directs them to competitors’ sites (as may be the case with free feed services). In the long run, in-feed advertisements may cause a decrease in visits to our portal and could, at worst, cause a corresponding drop in visits to your website.

A good solution might be to pay for a feed-burning service, and then insert advertising for other sites you own, or at least for websites with which you have partnership agreements. In this way you will not advertise the competition and may even earn a small income.

Never lose sight of the fundamental purpose of an RSS feed: to bring traffic to your website.

This article was written for YNOT by Eng. Antonio Lodesani. For more information, visit ingoccupati.blogspot.com (In Italian).