Full-text RSS feeds preferable to excerpt feeds

April 17, 2007

Dennis Kennedy has a nice post about the advantages of offering a full-text RSS feed, as opposed to a RSS feed with just an excerpt of your blog post.

…Excerpt feeds require that a reader click-through and visit your blog. Full-text feeds let your readers read the full post without going to your blog.

Over the years, people who use newsreaders to consume RSS feeds often reach a point where they feel that they have subscribed to WAY TOO MANY feeds. They then decide to prune their list of feeds. Historically, one of the easiest ways to cut the feeds you subscribe to is to delete those that offer only excerpts of posts.

The reason should be apparent. You save yourself the time and effort of clicking through to see the rest of the post. If you read feeds offline with a stand-alone reader, as I often do, then you will prefer full-text feeds because you can read everything in the post.

I’m a convert to full-text RSS feeds. Being the small minded lawyer I am, I began blogging with excerpt feeds wanting users to come to blog. My logic was that readers would read more about me and what I did – like they cared.

When I switched to full text RSS feeds more people read my blog posts and more people, other bloggers and the media, cited my blog posts in their writings. My reputation as an authority on lawyer blogs grew and LexBlog’s business increased.

LexBlog’s law firm clients, thinking traffic and stats is the goal, want people coming to their blog to read their posts. However, I’m going to advise full text feeds going forward. Stats is not the goal – enhancing one’s reputation as an authority in a niche practice area and a growth in business are the real goals.

Amazed that I’m a convert Jesse? ;) (Jesse Newland is our IT director and had been telling me of the lameness of excerpt feeds.)

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Blogging and RSS & Syndication