Use Full Text RSS
Not everyone will agree with this tip, especially those people that use advertising programs like AdSense to make money from their blog, but in my opinion it’s better to leave full text on for your RSS readers.
In case you are confused when I say to leave full text on for RSS readers I mean that for any user that subscribes to your blog through an RSS reader such as Bloglines, or Google Reader, or NewsGator or RSSOwl they can read the full text of your articles (read this article - What is RSS and How Do I Use It? - if you have no idea what RSS is).
The other option is to only provide a summary or concatenated sample of each article. Subscribers have to click through to read your blog if they want the full text and consequently be exposed to your advertisements and other money making initiatives that may not display within a feedreader.
Arguments Against Full Text RSS
The obvious issue is of course loss of revenue if your readers never visit your site and only read your RSS feed. Depending on why you are blogging this can be a good enough reason not to switch RSS to full text.
Another issue is that your content may not format correctly in an RSS reader. Often images won’t align neatly within text and dynamic content such as forms and tables may not display correctly. Given the variety of feedreaders out there it’s next to impossible to account for all possibilities and if you use full text RSS you just have to live with the fact that your articles may not appear exactly how you want them to.
What’s Really Important To A Blogger?
My argument for always switching RSS to full text is a simple one - you want to build an audience. In my opinion building and retaining an audience is more important for a blogger than making sure your ads are exposed. By limiting what you give to your RSS readers you stifle your communication and risk loosing readers that are frustrated by seeing only samples of your writing.
Blogging is about establishing a dialogue and relationship with your readers. The larger your readership the greater your potential for benefit. Even if in the short term your advertising income suffers as a result of less page impressions, your contacts network, your reach and your potential for future income will far outweigh the short term “losses”.
Even Probloggers Should Use Full Text RSS
I argue that even those bloggers focused on AdSense (etc) should also leave full text on. By providing full articles in your RSS feed you ensure that your audience reads your content and is not turned off. As a result they will be more inclined to help spread the word about your blog, possibly by linking to your article in their blog (bringing web based referrals by the way - more page impressions), sending email to friends or adding your content to a social bookmarker such as del.icio.us. The result is more readers, some of which will no doubt visit your blog outside of a feedreader.
Your focus should be on increasing readers, not increasing advertising dollars. Income opportunities abound when you have a critical mass of readers. Don’t stifle your blog’s growth by focusing on short term monetary gain.