The Bloggers Desktop

Never send out a partial feed

You know, it is easy to tell which bloggers out there actually read other people’s feeds.  I am not going to point any fingers, but I am convinced that if you knew what it was like to get a sentence and a half from a post in your feed, you would never do that to your subscribers.

Let’s be honest about this.  It is time somebody said this loudly and clearly.  Stop being selfish and hording your feeds and let me see the whole thing!

Which of these looks more like something you would enjoy reading? 

(notice if you can, the “…” at the end.  I’m not bothering, would you?)

Note: I obscured the text in the image above so as to not bring undo embarrassment upon the blogger who I personally admire.

Or our second snap shot:

This second shot is from the feed of ClickNewz.com by Lynn Terry, an excellent business woman and someone I am happy to call friend.  But more importantly, she clearly knows the importance of feeding out good content!

So why the shortened feed?

I know the logic behind it, hell its extremely logical.  You want them to come to your web page, so you give them a little taste with the hope that they will click through for more.  The problem is, you are really only going to upset people and make them remove you from their feed reader.  If you really think about it, this is actually more logical.  There are some good reasons to send out a full feed.

Reason 1 - People read their feeds in their free time.

I like to go to my google reader in my free time (what little of it there is) and browse through my feeds.  From there I can keep up with what I care most about, and when it is especially well written or engages me, THEN I will click through to comment or see the discussion.

I don’t have the time to click through just because your first two sentences were compelling, and if I do, you had better engage me!

Reason 2 - The web is mobile.

Let’s face it, most people these days take their blackberry or their iphone out with them.  If they find a few minutes waiting for lunch, then they can browse their feeds.  If you use a mobile data service, you know what it is like to constantly be tripping across pages.  But in most good readers, you can read the content all in one place without waiting on pages to load.

Please know, If I see you on my PDA, and your feed is cut off, I will not be visiting that link - EVER!

Reason 3 - it is just courteous. 

I have written before on the importance of being considerate of others.  These days, we all know if your feed is cut off it’s because you want traffic to your site.  If all I am to you is a statistic for your traffic counter, then I really don’t want to read your blog.

I am a visitor, treat me with generosity and hospitality, give me your best service.  And If you do, I will tip generously.

A word of compassion

For those of you new to blogging - First, understanding RSS might be helpful for you.  Second, subscribe to your feed so you can see what it looks like in a reader.  I understand that many blogging platforms default to a truncated feed.  This is easy to change.  It is in “settings” in Blogger, and “options” in WordPress.  If you use another one, go find it.  It is important to be familiar with some of these things you can do from your respective blog dashboard.

And for those of you who are shortening your feed for the sake of traffic.  I know why this is tempting, but please understand that it is essential that you serve up good content generously.  If you do this, I can assure you that you will see a higher payout in the long run.