RSS Feeds: Blog Review: California 2 Puerto Rico
I'm way behind on blog reviews. I think "California 2 Puerto Rico" is the perfect blog to get my reviews jump-started again.
Why aren't you offering RSS feeds by email?
If you're the least little bit concerned about your RSS feed subscriber count, then why aren't you offering RSS feeds by email? Unlike feedreaders, RSS email subscriptions count toward your total feed count every day until the subscribers go through the act of unsubscribing, whether the email is read or not. With feedreaders, your subscribers actually have to open their feedreaders every day and let them pull in the feeds. Now, I could end this as a soliloquy right here, but I don't think I'll get my point across. Instead, I'll give you a brief history of my problems and what I'm doing about them.
How to Expose Fake RSS Feed Subscriber Numbers
It seems like every where I go (as far as blogs are concerned), I seem to come across RSS feed subscriber numbers that look a little odd. They're odd because there aren't a whole lot of comments to coincide with the high subscriber count. That's almost impossible.
If you think what looks like an official FeedBurner chicklet showing the RSS feed subscriber count couldn't possibly be faked, guess again. How many of you check the source of the page? Where's that chicklet coming from? I can tell you with utmost certainty that I could make a chicklet like that and even make it look correct in the source of the page in under 2 hours, and that's with me being out of practice in coding. It would be even easier for me to fake a FeedBurner plain text feed count for all my feeds since I'd only have to edit the widget in the sidebar.
Should There Be Advertisements In Blog Feeds?
Advertising via feed articles is a reality. Services now exist that will allow blog authors to publish advertisements in their blog feeds. If you're a blog author, should you jump on the bandwagon and publish them in your own feeds? If you're a feed subscriber, would something like this cause you to unsubscribe?
If a blog's feed is set up with FeedBurner and the blog meets their conditions, the blog author will be presented with an opportunity to join the "FeedBurner Ad Network" (FAN). Their advertisements are placed at the tail end of each feed article.
The Yahoo Publisher Network (YPN) is still in beta status but is accepting applications. With their service, blog authors can not only replace or augment Google AdSense advertisements, they can have feed advertisements as well.
Blog authors can also include advertisements from text and image-driven sources (not JavaScript) by using a plugin such as the Feed Footer WordPress Plugin from Blog Clout. They can even create their own custom advertisements with it.
On the positive side of things, another potential source of income is opened up. On the negative side, the people subscribed to the feed may not like seeing the advertisements and unsubscribe.
I have applied to both the FAN and the YPN. I applied to the FAN to see how it works. Whether I decide to actually display advertisements through them is another story. With the YPN, I intend to offer an alternative to Google advertisements. In fact, I'm writing some code so that ads from Google appear on odd days while ads from Yahoo appear on even days. Of course, I won't be using the YPN unless I'm accepted.
Now it's your turn to talk.
As a blog author, would displaying advertisements in your feed articles be something you'd be willing to do? Do you think doing so would cause you to lose subscribers? If you do think you'll lose subscribers, do you think it will be temporary or permanent?
As a feed subscriber, how obtrusive would the advertising have to be in order for you to make the decision to unsubscribe?
Tweaking My Theme
Yes, I've been tweaking my theme. I moved the search box and the Feedburner subscription links to the header. I moved recent posts to the left top of the sidebar.
Yes, I know I'm missing some of the popular doo-dads that seem to be on a lot of blogs. I'll get around to it (and don't you dare send me a round tuit or I'll publicly humiliate you).
Let me know what you think of the changes, okay?
Oops! Forgot to mention that I added the plugin to remove the "nofollow" attribute for comment links. You can get it at: Semiologic
