RSS Pad - Really Simple Syndication ... Really!

Feed Magic

Well for some time we have been talking about how advertising in RSS will be a growing concern as well as how there will be more tools to block RSS advertisements.  Well I don't know how I missed this, but it is not to late to share it with you.   Feed Magic introduced a new auto-responder service that utilizes RSS technology to deliver messages that cannot be blocked. Businesses can now distribute their personalized newsletter or special offers without having to rely exclusively on email, because FeedMagic lets subscribers choose between email and a personalized RSS feed for delivery.

So not only do they tell how they can get around the spam filters but they go on to say how they have solved the blogger / marketers problems.    "Blogs are great tools, but they lack several key features that every expert marketer wants," notes Kent. "One is that you can't personalize messages, two is that you can't send timed messages, and three, you can't send test messages to a small group of subscribers. These are must-have's in the internet marketing world."

Feedmagic solves all three of these problems by giving each subscriber their own unique RSS feed, which allows publishers to control exactly what is sent to a given subscriber.

While there is not anything truly new here it just goes to show that the power of RSS is not going unnoticed and that it has spawned a lot of further development in related technologies.  No doubt the sum total of the daughter technologies could be more far reaching than RSS its self.

Google, RSS and Advertising

There is no doubt that Google is an industry phenomenon that has long since eclipsed the industry expectations in terms of public acceptance and financial success.  So with that success there is the opportunity for Google to continue to help shape the industry.

From what I read on ClickZNews Google is positioning itself to supercharge Advertising in RSS.  While they are not the first to consider this marketing opportunity they may hold instant potential to open up huge online opportunities.

While many folks appreciate finding advertising that is relevant to their search topic I hope Google provides an option for those that wish to receive their RSS feeds advertising free.  Of course if they don't somebody will be the next dot.com techno billionaire by providing the service that filters out all of the advertising on behalf of those who may be annoyed.

100 Blogs in 100 Minutes??

Check this out.  Blog-zilla, King of Content... as if waiting for a powerful monster to arise from the sea, bloggers and entrepreneurs have been lining up in great anticipation of a new web-based multi-blogging service called Blog-zilla. When Blog-zilla steps ashore later this month, bloggers will no longer be bound to one or two blogs, rather they will enter an age of multi-blogging where with nominal extra effort, running 100 blogs might become the norm.  This new technology allows a person to update up to 100 blogs at a time.

Now this is a really cool tool idea if your idea is to turn your blog into an advertising or marketing machine.  Of course the charm of blogs has always been how they can be whatever you want them to be.  In some cases they are used as a page where companies post announcements about services and events and those following the company news can automatically be updated via an RSS news reader.

In most instances the blogs are more personal or at least show the personality of the author who may comment on everything from the weather to sharing his  or her opinion on a book they are reading.  While that is cool it is no surprise that commercial interest in blogs is  on the rise.

Of course while the Blog-zilla technology is useful if properly employed it does not reduce the need for a strong adoption of the RSS that is available.  The RSS is where legitimate interest in the blog can be followed on a daily or for that matter a moment by moment basis.

Who knows what the next cool concept will be regarding RSS, blogs and Podcasting?  I for one am excited to find out.

Dear Google, Leave my feeds alone

OK, so this actually came out a few days ago.  I was hoping that it wasn't really so.  It appears that Google is ready to sell adwords into RSS feeds.  I hope that they do it right.  Actually they may be just the right people to get it done right.  I worry more about the newer services that will follow. 

Feedster to RSS Advertise

Feedster Introduces RSS Advertising but provides no details.  OK, I admit it.  Advertising does serve me at some level.  Advertising has improved my quality of life in many ways.  I just don't think I need them in my RSS feeds. 

It presents a host of problems for the blog owner and/or webmaster as well as the advertiser.  One for example is inclusion of RSS feeds in blogs and on Web sites.  Am I going to be required to maintain the ads in place when including the RSS feed?  It would concern me as a PPC advertiser too.  RSS feeds included in blogs and sites are generally not updated  each time a  page is pulled.   They are usually cached.  As a site owner am I expected to cache the ads too?  As an advertiser am I expected to continue to pay on cached ads.  How does Feedster, for example, limit my impressions?

RSS Advertising -- Good for RSS? Good for the consumer?

Pamela Parker examines the effectiveness of RSS advertising Lessons from the Cutting Edge: RSS Advertising.  Rather than debate the effectiveness of RSS advertising the industry should spend more time debating the ultimate value to the user.  Do we really want RSS to become the new container for SPAM and PPC ads?   There must be other ways to make money from this medium.  Let's keep the feeds clean of advertising.  If they are included let's have some industry standards for their inclusion so that they can be identified excluded by news readers at the discretion of the user. 

The quality of RSS will suffer the same fate of search engine results.  Personally, I find it annoying when search engines mix sponsored and non-sponsored results in the SERP.  (Until Google starts mixing the two they will remain my search engine of choice.) I would hate to see the same mixing of sponsored links within my RSS feeds.  Please convince me that I am wrong.  I will discuss anything with an open mind.   I already have enough e-sorting to do in my daily life.