Free Website Content
Monetizing Feeds
Publishers are evaluating options and determining how
they can profit from RSS feeds. The two obvious contenders
that publishers are considering using 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. Publisher
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.
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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