Five reasons to offer full posts in RSS and five reasons not to

Disclaimer: I am writing this post as a blogger, an RSS layman and an amatuer RSS user. These tips, reasons and justifications are from the perspective of someone who isn't an RSS expert but loves RSS like nothing before! I am an RSS addict and subscribe to tons and tons of blogs and websites that I read daily. I emplore you to tell me that I am wrong, give me better options and let me know what you think.I have recently been very interested in the RSS/Blog debate.In case you didn't know that there was a debate, there is. It's in my head for the moment and I think I'm on to something here.The traditional argument when it comes to RSS and blogs is whether to display your full content in your RSS reader or to display an intro from the original post. This is definitely a good debate. Here is what I think:5 Reasons to provide full RSS feeds:1. Keep the reader happy - Many people don't use RSS in SA. That's a fact (I think). Those that do use RSS readers do so for a reason. I like to view all the blogs in one place, quickly and easily.2. Your readers aren't stupid - They know that you are shortening your content on RSS so they will visit your site. Don't mock them and don't confuse them with badly written intro's that don't explain the post.3. RSS is a challenge - The challenge is this: Offer a full post via RSS and still get readers on your blog. It's not that hard... write something interesting. Refer to another blog post of yours and link to it, refer to a photograph. They will follow the links or choose to read the post in your environment if the post is good enough.4. Full post = comments - If your post is good enough it doesn't matter if the readers has access to the whole thing, they wont be able to comment unless they are on your blog. Get them there.5. Build up a stable network - Many of the top blogs in the world have hundreds of thousands of subscribers. There is a reason for this. If you have 10 000 subscribers you are almost promised that at least 60% will read the post, that means that if 10% of that 60% comment and visit your blog you are set. Without this RSS subscriber base you are fighting every post to get people to read, visit and comment.5 Reasons to provide partial RSS feeds:1. Full posts get no love - There is a strong possibility that providing full posts in RSS will take visits away from your blog.2. Splogs - Splogs use RSS feeds to gather the content that they copy and rip-off. Limit your posts, stop the sploggers.3. Write a good post - If you are a good writer or good blogger you know your audience and you know how to write for them. This means that providing an intro to them via RSS should entice them to visit. Therefore full posts are redundant and intro's better.4. The SEO effect - Believe it or not splogs affect your SEO. If you offer a full post on RSS splogs can take your post, duplicate it and mess with your Google pagerank and Technorati ranking.5. Reminders - Partial posts can act as a reminder that your blog exists. Many RSS subscribers have tons of blogs they read. Your intro post could spark a memory of your blog, get the reader interested and send them over for the whole blog experience. While a full post will let them read and move on, never returning to your blog.Knowing that some of the top blogs in the world have hundreds of thousands of RSS subscribers, I would love to know what the top RSS blog readership count is here in SA? Anyone have any ideas? I don't but I am almost sure that I will knock myself out with a potatoe in a sock if any SA blog has more than 10 000 subscibers.

Things to remember when redesigning your blog

I have recently done an overhaul on SA Rocks with the help of Vince.Some very specific things came out of the redesign. I know that the following thoughts/tips/ideas wont be shared by everyone but this is what I learnt and think should be remembered:1. Content is king (Cliche, i know)... always.2. Design sometimes gets in the way of content.3. Colours are not always good. Muting the colours could help your readers.4. Sometime all a reader wants is a black background, a white page and some text.5. Sidebars need to be cleaned out, much like a closet. Be ruthless, delete all the services, bars, tools, widgets and extras that are cluttering your sidebar. Sometimes your blogroll might even be the issue.6. Slick design is good, but don't think your readers are stupid. They know what is hot and what blows. If you are missing the point, call in for assistance.7. Outside assistance might be hard to come by but is worth finding. A second perspective on your blog should always be welcome and is often needed.8. Don't screw with your CSS too much. SIMPLE IS BETTER.9. K2 is not so shit hot, make sure to choose your template/theme carefully. Ensure that you can work with the CSS and the basic theme setup.I think that is it. I tried to get to 10, but fell short. Alas, what can one do!?I hope this helps and I hope that everyone has some thoughts on the SA Rocks template.