RSS Count: The New PageRank For Advertisers?

If you did not heard of it before, a new paid service is offering to increase the RSS count of blogs. The service was using John Chow name but used another email address and fake testimonials. That's stupid but raised another issue for advertisers.

Can a blogger do it?

Sure, a blogger just need to create a few hundreds free emails(Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail...) and thus be able to raised the RSS count at no cost. A blogger could create a few domains and also do the same. A blogger will also have to request the RSS feed for each email everyday and that will take a little time. The thing, it is not ethical at all and may bite the blogger in the butt.

It's something that advertisers will have to be aware now.

Is the RSS count the new PageRank for advertisers?

Google PageRank was often seen as ranking that showed popularity. Buying a few paid text links and you will be able to get a high PageRank within a few months. It's harder now with the last PageRank update. So now, advertisers might be tempted to look at the RSS count to determine if the ROI(return on investment) might be a good indicator. Depending on the overall goal, it may be the only solution to grab the readers attention. Many readers don't visit sites everyday and so it's the only way to advertise to them.

If you are dealing with a top blogger, it may be safe. I wrote may because a RSS contest could artificially raise the count and them fell after the contest. For example, you can get a RSS feed with FeedBurner via email or a RSS reader(normal way). The contest may ask for people to get the email version so that the blogger can pick a winner. The reader will then count for 2 readers for a short while.

But what is your RSS goal?

If your goal is mainly for traffic(show your blog, exposure...), it could be a real bargain for the first few days. Your cost per visitors will be low because people know that it won't cost them nothing except time. After the first big wave, it will be the new readers and others that will visit your site.

If you want to sell something, then from my own experience, it's a whole new ball game. Your goal is to convert visitors to buyers. Your cost per visitor will be higher and the return maybe very disappointing like zero return in my case from 8000 RSS readers.

If your are looking at the potential traffic to a blog by looking at the RSS count, the above stills whole true.

Conclusion

A RSS count is another ranking that can be easily manipulated like Google PageRank, Page views, Visitors, Alexa or Technorati. I would recommend to look at the overall reputation/rankings and for advertisers (mostly those who want to sell) to know the blog first before investing in any advertising. There are no perfect solution but that's what we got now.

Being a seller of a great service, I'm still searching for new ways to turn visitors into buyers.

P.S. I show my RSS count to show that I don't fake my counter.

Correction: The email does not need to be requested and so, it much more easier to fake one. My bad :p Thanks Frank C