What makes an ideal web feed subscriber?
Originally when I thought of this question, it seemed quaint, possibly silly, maybe even unimportant. But realizing how much as I use, benefit and subscribe to web feeds, I figured why not come up with a short list of the traits of a loyal, and happy feed subscriber.
Ideal Web Feed Subscriber
Would an ideal subscriber have some or all of the following traits?
- (Assuming you provide a full text feed) Clicks the link to view the original post on your website even though they read it in their feed reader anyway
- Subscribes to your feed in multiple feed readers
- Syndicates your feed by placing it in a feed display widget on their blog/website
Gaining an Ideal Web Feed Subscriber
- Provide useful content (and often if appropriate)
- Provide full text feeds (no excuses to do otherwise unless you want to be stingy)
- Ofter simple ways to subscribe and consider offering a widget of your own, or use another service to do so easily (iGoogle, Netvibes, Bloglines)
- Make iPhone app or Facebook app that provides a feed (good for further engagement)
These are a few humble ideas; that I plan to implement further and experiment across various websites that I create and manage.
Parting thought: Services like X (formerly Twitter), completely change the game on this. (For example, I follow @TechCrunch on X, but do not subscribe to the RSS feed. Mostly as an experiment to see how often I’m drawn to TechCrunch.com via X as opposed through a feed reader.)