There seems to be a perception in the blogosphere that RSS feeds present severe limitations for advertising and promotion. In reality, as with any other form of communication, there are many different ways to approach feed monetization.
MarketingStudies.net has a quick, informative overview of some of the many options:
- Insert ads in each feed item (usually contextual like Google's upcoming network)
- Insert an ad that is a feed item itself (apparently these generate high clickthrough rates)
- Promote yourself or your service (duh!)
- Insert your own graphical ads (perhaps technically challenging for some publishers)
As the post makes clear, it's very short-sighted to believe that your choices are limited, when in fact the opportunities are endless -- if you know how to market your service. It's all about your approach and execution. When RSS tools increase in ease of use and usefulness, we'll likely see even more methods emerge that will change the game.
The post also argues for the use of partial-text feeds over full-text feeds, as a way to drive visitors to your site. I'm not sure about this one, and there are pros and cons on both sides. Again, it depends on how you monetize, your audience's preferences and the service you are promoting.
MarketingStudies.net:
Monetizing Your RSS Feeds.
