If you deliver full RSS feeds to your readers, you really don’t need to read this!
Feeds were originally invented so that people could keep track of their favorite blogs without having to manually check them for updates. When publishers choose to keep RSS Feeds partial, it does not serve the purpose, which in most cases can be read as ‘you end up with lesser subscribers’.
Publishers choose to deliver partial feeds for two reasons:
Thinking that partial Feeds would bring them more comments and more Page views.- To protect their articles from Content Scrapers.
The second part can be solved by installing the RSS Footer plugin for WordPress. It adds a link to the original post to the RSS feed. So blogs that re-publish your articles gives you a backlink. Scrapers are harmless until they rank higher than you in the SERP. (Got lots of Scrapers? Install the plugin and watch your Technorati Authority Grow!)
In the long run, partial Feeds are not gonna bring you more visitors. Unless you have the highest quality, ultra-unique content, people are not going to come back over and over.
From the point of view of the reader, the next quality information source is just a click away, why bother subscribing to a partial feed, when (s)he can get the same from a blog with full feed?
Readers usually have dozens of blogs in their RSS readers. So your blog is just one of the hundred blogs they have chosen to read. They would put-off reading your blog till they complete the full feeds. Eventually, those who added you to their RSS readers would delete you off when they find it hard to catch-up. So you end up with fewer readers.
On the other hand, the service-first attitude would help you build a loyal reader base, which converts into a loyal community.
For a comparison, you are more likely to visit a Gas Station that cleans a dusty windshield even if you have other Gas Stations on the way, with the same quality of fuel. It’s the quality of service that pulls us in.
In His book, “The Magic of Thinking Big”, David J. Schwartz describes how important is the Service-First Attitude in getting rich. His advice is to “Grow Service-First Attitude and money takes care of itself”.
I guess, now you know what is to be done. Deliver Feeds in full and serve your readers better. Write good stuff. Rest will take care of itself.
I am a WordPress product developer and creator of Image Attributes Pro. I am passionate about solving problems and travelling the world.
This is something that really needed saying. Partial feeds are a pain. Unless I am a very big fan of someone with a partial feed, I will definitely not subscribe.
Same thing here. Unless I know the author really well, I never read a single post. I cant even complete those full feeds these days, then reading partial feeds is out of question 🙂
Thanks for the retweet!
Amen, amen I say to you, partial feeds are no good. It is so infuriating to me to see partial feeds.
I don’t know if that’s a setting in Feedburner/Google that is set by the blog owner or not, but it feels like a cheap ploy to make the reader go to the blogger’s site.
Did I mention I hate them? Yes? Good.
Its usually set by the author, the default settings are for full feeds everywhere. Partial feeds are a result of ignorance or poor thinking, one of the mistake newbies make.
I guess there wont be anyone out there who can go with partial feeds, I am with you, hates partial feeds 🙂
Nice and helpful post, Friend.
Cheers man, Take the lessons 🙂
another quality post.reader should always be delivered full stuff not mere reflection.
Yes, respect to readers should start from feeds 🙂
Cheers…
I always recommend Full RSS feed, no discussion , what you have just stated above is absolutely true.
Cheers mate. Many fail to realize the importance of full feeds, if atleast one person makes a change, then this post was a grand success..
Thanks for dropping by 🙂