An open letter to bloggers who only offer partial feeds.
Partial-feed blogger:
I am this close to unsubscribing to your blog. This close. Why? Because your partial feed sucks. It stinks to high hell.
I use a newsreader for many reasons.
Itā??s not like Iā??m using a newsreader for fun. I do have my reasons:
- Itā??s easier for me to follow all my feeds.
- It saves me time from visiting all 152 sites that I follow.
- It helps me stay organized/on top of things.
- It makes it easier to scan posts.
- It helps me learn more and become exposed to new information
Do I need to go on? Cā??mon, you must know this.
Follow the pros.
But donā??t just take it from me. Here are some more reasons:
ā?¢ Problogger just released a survey of reasons why people unsubscribe to feeds. Just about 25% of respondents said that itā??s because of partial feeds. Right behind too many posts and not enough of them.
Your posting habits? I wouldnā??t know ā?? your teaser text isnā??t enough to get my attention. Sorry, but itā??s true.
ā?¢ Every single blog-coach/blog-designer blog that I subscribe to ā?? from the above mentioned Problogger to Andy Wibbels, Debbie Weil, Mike Sansone, and Peter Flaschner ā?? offers full feeds. Thatā??s 100%, no exceptions. If a blog coach offers a full feed, there must be some good reason for it. Maybe you should follow their lead. These arenā??t exactly lightweights Iā??m referencing.
ā?¢ Robert Scoble did this a long time ago. Consider his position. He subscribes to over 1,000 feeds and he reads them. Thatā??s a lot of posts. Minus yours. Because he fired you a long time ago. (Think about it: if heā??s not reading your stuff, heā??ll never link to it either.)
Hereā??s the deal.
So hereā??s what Iā??m thinking. Iā??ll give you some time to get your ducks in a row. Call your programmers, ask your experts. It shouldnā??t take long, but youā??ve got a month. Itā??s March 1 today. No full feed by April 1 and youā??re out. Gone. Deleted. Unsubscribed.
Please understand, itā??s nothing personal. I like you enough to have subscribed in the first place. Itā??s just that I want to get to know you better. But I canā??t, not without more of a commitment from you. Donā??t hide within the walls of your blog. Put it all out there. Let me get to know you ā?? and everything thatā??s going on in your head.
So do the right thing. Offer a full text feed.
In return, I promise my loyalty. That is, if your content is any good.
Sincerely,
Mark
Related stuff:
ā?¢ Blogs on notice: Adrants, AdFreak, Search Engine Roundtable, Search Engine Watch, Search Engine Land, ERE Blog Central, The Editors Weblog, Press Think, Pop Candy, Greg Verdino.
(UPDATE: Great, turns out I messed up. After Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable corrected me about their feed, I rechecked all of them. So there still are a few partials on my list (plus all the magazine subscriptions I didn’t enter). The lesson: sometimes you’ve got to dig a little deeper to find the full feed, but it may be there. Lesson #2: If you’re going to call someone out, make sure they’re deserving. Pretty obvious one to miss. I regret the error and apologize for making it.
However, I don’t think it changes the core message here: partial feeds still stink.)
ā?¢ More on the debate: Problogger, Syndicative, Marketing Studies, 33 Rockers, Danny Wirken.
(Update 2: Greg Verdino just left a comment indicating that he’s now gone to a full feed. You can pick up Greg’s full feed here.)
March 1st, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Couldn’t agree more, man. That drives me crazy!
March 1st, 2007 at 8:05 pm
Um, the Search Engine Roundtable has a full feed. It is described at http://www.seroundtable.com/subscribe.html#full
Please let me know if you have more questions or need anything else.
March 1st, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Paul: Thanks for the feedback. Nice to see that the Hee-Haw man himself reading.
Barry: Bad miss on my part. I’ve corrected the post and offer a full apology. (No pun intended.)
March 1st, 2007 at 9:01 pm
No apology needed. The old design, it was hard to find. I am hoping the new design makes it clear what feed and subscription options we offer.
We even have a mobile version at seroundtable.com/m
March 1st, 2007 at 9:08 pm
Thanks for replying, Barry. As I mentioned to you privately, I’ve been a long-time subscriber to your blog ā?? and some of the others I named. While it doesn’t excuse the error I made today, it could describe my having missed it in the first place.
March 2nd, 2007 at 6:08 am
Great points! Everyone should read this (and share it). Thanks for listing me with some heavyweights:-)
March 2nd, 2007 at 7:10 am
Mark, I found you via Mike Sansone over at ConverStations and I couldn’t agree with you more. You touched a nerve of mine. I do not like partial feeds either.
The recent update of WordPress changed the default to push out partial feeds when it sees the <!–more–> tag. (Some of us more verbose posters use that tag to keep the front page of our blogs from being outrageously long.)
As soon as I my own feed had gone partial I ran out and installed the Full Feed Text Plugin to fix that.
March 2nd, 2007 at 8:00 am
Mike: Thanks for sharing the story.
Everyone else: check out Mike’s post here: http://www.converstations.com/2007/03/truncated_conve.html
Chris: Thanks for sharing the tip with everyone here. Hope to see you back.
March 2nd, 2007 at 1:49 pm
What a great post…so bold to put bloggers on notice (ha!). I’m glad I’m not in the danger zone–I always want to give readers a great experience :-).
March 2nd, 2007 at 1:55 pm
You in a blogging danger zone, CK? Never!
March 2nd, 2007 at 6:33 pm
Mark - I’m pushing the full feed now. I’ve been agonizing over this for weeks and actually spoke about it with David Armano over the weekend. So, um, cross my name off your list. G
March 2nd, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Thanks for letting me know, Greg. I’ve updated the post and am now pointing readers to your full feed. Cool.
March 2nd, 2007 at 8:40 pm
Look at your results buddy! Greg Verdino has too good a blog to miss out on. He walks the perfect frank-but-fair line.
March 2nd, 2007 at 8:43 pm
oh, and becuz I’m a particularly ‘mouthy’ marketer today let me explain why I like this approach: you could have just un-subbed (that’s what customers do). But what you did was to (1) explain why there should be change and (2) gave everyone a 2nd chance to show them you don’t want to lose them (or have them lose you as the case may be). Good stuff. You get extra credit.
March 3rd, 2007 at 12:21 am
CK: Love that 1-2 punch of an explanation you give. Well stated.
March 5th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
[…] Is this about partial or full RSS feeds? I don’t think so. Honestly, I prefer the full feed, but I’ll click through on a partial if the story interests me. Mark Goren had an interesting post on that topic if you’re interested. For me, it’s more about not taking in the personality of the blog author in the feed reader. […]
October 25th, 2007 at 6:33 am
Guy Kawasaki switched to partials, does he lose his link?
October 25th, 2007 at 9:26 am
JM: Nah, he doesn’t lose his link. He’s lost my subscription. Here, I’m pointing people to valuable resources, in this case, Guy’s website. It’s up to you to decide whether to follow him online or in your reader.
As for me, I find partial feeds hugely frustrating. I’ll check his blog from time to time, but if something he writes is especially noteworthy, I’ll be sure to find it through the other blogs I read, or links posted to del.icio.us, Facebook, Twitter or elsewhere.
What’s your position on partial feeds?
October 26th, 2007 at 9:09 am
Partial feeds are a complete waste of my time, I won’t go near a blog that doesn’t give me a full feed. Who subscribes to a feed and then clicks on ads anyway?
I’m operating under the assumption that getting me to see ads is the only reason to send me to your site because if you are not running ads and then you are making it hard for me to read your content I can’t even imagine what your motivation might be.
get read, get linked, get googled, get ad revenue — that’s the forumla, right?
Google is how I got here and you have accomplished your goal, I am now aware of your business and services - a full feed will not reduce that awareness going forward but it will keep me subscribed, reading and maybe one day emailing out/linking to you.
PS: Since launching Truemors his blog has turned into complete rubbish anyway, I’d take away his link on those grounds! ;)
October 26th, 2007 at 10:53 am
JM: Great insight there and I’m sure many people feel the same way.
As for the blogroll, it’s due for a cleanup and update. Keep checking in!
Mark