Wednesday, July 12, 2006 4:00 AM
As I add in more and more blawgs over the course of a year, occasionally I run into a streak where a number of new additions don"t offer a feed. And, I then feel compelled to write a short post admonishing anyone and everyone who has a blawg to make sure they include one.
Why? Mainly, because very few readers of blawg content tell me they spend hours a day bouncing around from blawg to blawg. Instead they simply subscribe to blawgs they find interesting or valuable. After subscribing, the content comes to them (via Outlook, via their Blackberry, etc.). And, that is how they prefer it. Note that they may click through a particularly interesting post to your actual blawg site, but that is much different than taking the time to visit your site each day in hopes of finding something interesting.
Moreover, it is much easier to spread your content webwide if it can be pulled/aggregated/disseminated via a news feed (typically in RSS, RDF, Atom). And, it seems logical to assume that is what you hope happens to your blawg content. The more people who see your content, the more people who may subscribe, the more people who may be interested in seeking your counsel.
So, make it easy on your potential audience. Give them a feed.
By the way, most of the commercial weblog software automatically create a feed for you. You may just have to look for it in your software"s control panel to "turn it on." Also, you can visit a feed service like Feedburner to find out more or to "burn" your own unique feed while adding useful features like subscriber counting.
If you have any questions, please feel free to send me an email, I will be happy to try and assist.