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Monetizing RSS Feeds
Publishers are evaluating options and determining
how they can profit from RSS feeds. The two obvious
contenders that publishers are considering to profit
from their RSS feeds are: subscription RSS feeds
and RSS feed advertisements.
Subscriptions.
Subscription feeds are designed so that subscription
fees are charged for unique quality content. Publishers
include teaser copy in the RSS feed and readers
have to purchase a subscription to see the content
in its entirety. The New York Times was the first
to introduce the subscription model. Initially the
NY Times faced some resentment from users who had
become accustom to free RSS based content, but ultimately
consumers realize that businesses must achieve profits
in order to continue.
The greater the value of the content contained in
the feed and the uniqueness of the content will
determine the success of subscription based feeds.
Simply put, if readers can obtain the same quality
and quantity of content from an alternative free
source they will. Not unlike magazines, if the content
the publisher is providing is unique and valuable,
the subscription model will flourish.
Advertisements.
The web has undergone a number of revisions
to online advertising models. Banner ads, once an
effective way to generate valuable leads are screened
or filtered by most novice users. Text ads have
become common place and are far less effective than
they once were, advertising in RSS feeds was a natural
step for online advertisers.
Contextual advertisements or advertisements that
relate to the webpage or RSS feed's content, achieve
the highest rate of success. As a result both advertisers
and content providers should critically evaluate
advertisement placement systems to determine which
system produces the highest relevance in contextually
based advertisements.
Google AdSense provides contextually relevant ads
while Pheedo provides related category feeds. Publishers
need to determine which model will produce advertisements
that are relevant to the RSS feed's content and
actionable by feed readers.
Hybrid Advertisements.
Other hybrid alternatives for profiting from
RSS feeds include optionally giving subscribers
the choice. A small fee for many might give subscribers
the option to pay for the feed ad-free or view advertisements
in the feed. The business model is reminiscent of
adware in its infancy where users could use software
for an unlimited amount of time. The software had
imbedded advertisements and publishers were compensated
for ad impressions or click-throughs. If users preferred
an ad free version of the software they could purchase
a registered copy that would remove the imbedded
advertisements. More on Advertising in Feeds with
a comparison of ad serving technologies.
http://www.feedforall.com/advertising-in-rss.htm
Advertising online is constantly evolving. Both
content publishers and advertisers are adapting
and evaluating new advertising models. RSS feed
subscriptions and advertising are merely a step
in the evolution of online advertising. Knowing
your audience will help publishers determine the
most effective model for profiting from content
contained in an RSS feed.
Publishers are evaluating options and determining
how they can profit from RSS feeds. The two obvious
contender publishers who are considering to profit
from their RSS feeds are: subscription RSS feeds
and RSS feed advertisements.
About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll
http://www.feedforall.com
software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds
and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing
for NotePage http://www.notepage.net
a wireless text messaging software company. |
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