...teaser copy in the RSS feed and readers haveto purchase a subscription to see the content in its entirety.The New York Times was the first to introduce the subscriptionmodel. Initially the NY Times faced some resentment from userswho had become accustom to free RSS based content, butultimately consumers realize that businesses must achieveprofits in order to continue. The greater the value of the content contained in the feed andthe uniqueness of the content will determine th...

...e success ofsubscription based feeds. Simply put, if readers can obtain thesame quality and quantity of content from an alternative freesource they will. Not unlike magazines, if the content thepublisher is providing is unique and valuable, the subscriptionmodel will flourish. Advertisements. The web has undergone a number of revisions toonline advertising models. Banner ads, once an effective way togenerate valuable leads are screened or filtered by most noviceusers. Text ads have become common place and are far lesseffective than they once were, advertising in RSS feeds was anatural step for online advertisers. Contextual advertisements or advertisements that relate to thewebpage or RSS feed's content, achieve the highest rate ofsuccess. As a result both advertisers and content providersshould critically evaluate advertisement placement systems todetermine which system produces the highest relevance incontextually based advertisements. Google AdSense provides contextually relevant ads while Pheedoprovides related category feeds. Publishers need to determinewhich model will produce advertisements that are relevant to theRSS feed's content and actionable by feed readers.Hybrid Advertisements. Other hybrid alternatives for profitingfrom RSS feeds include optionally giving subscribers the choice.A small fee for many might give subscribers the option to payfor the feed ad-free or view advertisements in the feed. Thebusiness model is reminiscent of adware in its infancy whereusers could use software for an unlimited amount of time. Thesoftware had imbedded advertisements and publishers werecompensated for ad impressions or click-throughs. If userspreferred an ad free version of the software they could purchasea registered copy that would remove the imbedded advertisements.More on Advertising in Feeds with a comparison of ad servingtechnologies. http://www.feedforall.com/advertising-in-rss.htm Advertising online is constantly evolving. Both contentpublishers and advertisers are adapting and evaluating newadvertising models. RSS feed subscriptions and advertising aremerely a step in the evolution of online advertising. Knowingyour audience will help publishers determine the most effectivemodel for profiting from content contained in an RSS feed.Publishers are evaluating options and determining how they canprofit from RSS feeds. The two obvious contender publishers whoare considering to profit from their RSS feeds are: subscriptionRSS feeds and RSS feed advertisements.