Switching back to Full RSS Feed
As a new blogger, I am trying out all different things in order to see what works best when it comes to the flow of my blog. And eventhough many changes in a short period of time can be very offsetting for regular visitors, I believe that a blog should be something dynamic and alive.
The hard part for me is actually finding the balance between attracting new readers or have them coming back because of new content and actually driving away readers by continously changed layout thus not recognizing the blog anymore.
So during one of my little experiments, I decided to start cutting of my posts with the “read more” feature, this way making the front page show more post titles at one glance, without having to scroll down too much.
At first I did not really think about what this change would mean for the people who have subscribed to my RSS Feed (thank you for doing so!) and had been reading the full posts through their feeder.
This morning however, I decided to subscribe to my own feed to see what it would look like outside of my blog. And to be honest I have to admit it totally annoyed me having to actually go back to the blog in order to read the full post.
So, I started looking for more information on the Full versus Partial feed and eventhough I can understand the underlying reasoning why many out there offer partial feeds (forcing people to actually visit your blog in order to read the complete post, and by doing so achieving more interaction), I decided to swith back to offering Full Feeds anyways.
Why you might ask… well, it is pretty simple, I hated the feeling of being forced to leave my inbox in order to read the rest of the articles.
So, my sincerest apologies to those readers who are subscribed, from now on my RSS will remain Full RSS!
OUCH!
Tagged with: full rss • partial rss • readers
Filed under: Blogging
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I totally agree. Just when i got to the point of trying to read too many blogs, then I susbscribed in bloglines, only to find out that most only did partial feeds and I had to still visit their sites anyway. My own way of finding out the same thing as you. I haven’t changed it yet though.
Owen’s last blog post..Line cutting in France
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Mirjam Reply:
February 19th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Hey Owen!
Thank you for taking the time to comment, glad to see you agree with me.
One thing I have learned over the last years I have been online, is that internet audience usually is pretty “fast”… we don´t like too much hassle, nor having to wait for a long time to find what we are looking for. And with so many other sites available, it is so easy to lose the interest of readers or “tick them off” …
Hope to see you around!
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Hi Mirjam,
Don’t feel bad for changing your approach often. Moreover, this move is good for you.
It is good because the subscribers will love it, because that’s one of the benefits of subscription: reading new content from many sources in one place.
Furthermore, you will not loose anything. People think that they will loose traffic if the subscribers don’t click through to go to your site. Bu the truth is that this traffic is so small (relative to your overall traffic) that it is worth loosing in favor of more subscribers.
ok…
take care
Alex.
p.s.
, hope you don’t mind
I’m changing my signature in my comments
Alex at Net-Entrepreneur.com’s last blog post..3 Answers to Expect From a Good Header
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Mirjam Reply:
February 19th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Welcome back Alex
That is exactly why I changed it back to full feed, not making the readers having to go to another place while they could be reading from the comfort of their own home…. ehm preferred feeder.
Changing your signature? … not sure what you are referring to??
[Reply]
Alex at Net-Entrepreneur.com Reply:
February 19th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Hey,
My signature used to be: Alex
Now it is: Alex at Net-Entrepreneur.com
Alex at Net-Entrepreneur.com’s last blog post..3 Answers to Expect From a Good Header
[Reply]
Mirjam Reply:
February 19th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
hahaha you sure are getting a lot o´linkluv for your “money”, never mind, I don´t care, you can pay me on the way out
Mirjam:
Not to worry about th full RSS Feed. I alwasy come to your post and read the full story.
I don’t really like to read the plain text in the Feed reader sometimes. I like to visit the blog will the layout, if they give me some great feeling.
Smiles That Made My Day’s last blog post..Sweet Smile – A very talented happy face that made my day
[Reply]
Mirjam Reply:
February 20th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Hi Terence
thanks for visiting me again, you know I love your presence here
I was thinking about another thing yesterday aswell, … this way, with sending out the full rss, I´d better make sure my posts are good to inspire people to come out of the RSS and leave a comment
Smile and take care!
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That’s what annoys me about some of the feeds as well. It even got to the point now where if the feeds weren’t all there I won’t subscribed because I can’t stand having to go the site to finish reading whatever it was I started out with. That was the whole purpose of the RSS feed and my phone doesn’t handle some sites fully well which is why I read it all via RSS.
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Very nice article. I definitely agree with you here. I recently made a switch back to Full RSS Feed myself.
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Mirjam Reply:
February 21st, 2008 at 8:53 am
Thanks for the comment, did you notice any change after switching back to Full RSS?
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I’m joining the chorus of folks in agreement with you — I truly despise partial feeds and usually unsubscribe when I stumble across one. High-five to you!
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Mirjam Reply:
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:53 am
Hi Carolyn, welcome to my blog and thanks for the feedback
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Hi Mirjam,
I’m definitely a full post person. I read very few individual blogs with partial feeds. Of course, you can alway offer both full post and summary feeds using my DualFeeds plugin (for WordPress)
Stephen Cronin’s last blog post..New WordPress Plugin – LocalCurrency
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Mirjam Reply:
February 26th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Nice plug for you plug, Stephen
Will definately have a look at it, thanks for recommending it!
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I often wondered about offering a partial feed as like yourself I have always offered a full feed. I think I will keep it that way.
Sire’s last blog post..Prince Harry The ?Bullet Magnet? Fighting In Afghanistan
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