I was pleased to note today that Dan Gillmor's blog has switched to full RSS feeds, rather than truncated versions of the original posts. Even before, at least Gillmor provided more than a few words of his posting in the feed. Some blogs only provide part of the lead to grab your interest.
Sorry, most of the headlines and leads I read just don't succeed in teasing me to click through. I sometimes wonder what an item might have been about as I quickly scan past it, but if I can't read more in my RSS aggregator, I find I rarely click through to read the whole item.
Oddly, I often find myself clicking through from a full-text feed in order to read an item in context, and see what else is on the blog.
I suppose that runs counter to the prevailing theory that the only way to force people to visit your site is to provide teasers, rather than your full content.
I think the best way to get people to visit your site is to produce compelling content, and make them feel like they want even more.
Allan Jenkins writes about his tendency to unsubscribe from blogs that don't provide full-text feeds. B.L. Ochman responds in the comments section, saying her site is her main marketing tool.
I'm not militant about it, but I find I eventually unsubscribe from most blogs that provide a severely truncated feed, just because I don't find myself getting much out of the subscription.
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