Back in July when I wrote a post about Jakob Nielsen not liking blogs, I was not sue then if the title was appropriate. After reading this post on Practical eCommerce's site, Dr. Nielsen does like to reads them, at least the few mentioned.

By reading his blog list, it can be deduced he reads them as Web pages, especially as he suggests Search Engine Land should abandon the blog format. Where I will not argue his opinion, they could take his advice yet still offer its feed with no notice to current feed readers. This points to the value of RSS feeds, whether you are publishing a blog or not. RSS feeds can be added to any Web site to publish any content, including press releases, “what’s new” lists or even as a replacement or addition to email newsletters... such as AlertBox.

I have never been a fan of the term “blogosphere” as it suggests that blogs are on their own and separate from Web sites. The application of technology like RSS helps blur that distinction, and I think this is a very good thing.

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If you have perused the list of “Podcasts I Listen To” on the right side of The Hot Iron, you will only see a few podcasts, but it is a small but mighty list. My favorite is The M Show, a weekly podcast by John Wall covering business and marketing. John is a friend, and I have been fortunate to have been a guest on several of his shows.

As an avid reader of The Hot Iron, you may have heard of or subscribe to the spoken feed from Odiogo, a service that reads blogs and creates a podcast from the content. The link to my Odiogo feed is at the top of the right side of the Web pages.

In a shameless attempt to intro The M Show, I will use the Odiogo reading of this blog post to create a vocal intro for John. Without further interruption to you daily schedule:

Hello, this is the digitized voice of Odiogo at Odiogo.com that reads aloud The Hot Iron blog by Mike Maddaloni at thehotiron.com and you are listening to the best podcast ever, The M Show, with John Wall. I hope that sounded OK?

As I hear the podcasts of my posts after they are created, I don’t know how it will sound. Hopefully it will meet John’s strict quality standards!

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A civil debate has been hovering around the blog world for some time about whether full or partial blog feeds are preferred.

What am I talking about you may say? If, for example, you subscribe to The Hot Iron, you are subscribing to the feed of my blog. A feed is merely a file with the contents of each post. Your feed reader scans this feed file, and if there is something new, it is presented to you. If you subscribe to it by email, then you will get an email message when something new is written.

The full vs. partial debate relates to how much of what is written in a blog post goes into the feed file. For The Hot Iron, I use the full feed, so if you see one of my posts in your feed reader or email inbox, it is the complete text and images of what I wrote. If I had a partial feed, you may see the first paragraph or two, and a link back to the Web site to read the entire post.

I choose full feeds as I believe they work to the advantage of the writer and reader. A full feed is a standalone piece, and if it is forwarded to someone they see the entire thought and message. The reader gains as they have everything at once and if the introductory content does not entice them, they may not read it all, where if it is all in front of them, there is a better chance they will read it. My reader of choice is Google Reader Mobile on my Treo smartphone, and here I will see the entire feed formatted nicely on my mobile browser, where if I have to click a link to read more, the Web site that will load most likely will not format well on the small screen. For those who are visually impaired, they have the same benefit of reading the entire post in a reader that is best suited to them, where the resulting Web site may not be.

Using partial feeds requires the reader to view your Web site. I see the justification for that as you can better present your brand and other content, and of course advertising. Where this is an easy way to get people to your site, if this is your goal I recommend wording your posts and adding links that will get people to your site. You may publish separate posts for this reason. You can also add a footer or signature to your posts for this purpose.

Darren Rowse of Problogger has a poll and discussion on full vs. partial feeds and I invite you to participate. I am interested in reading both sides of this debate, though I doubt I will be convinced to change from using full feeds for myself or my clients. I also welcome the discussion here as well, after you read the full feed or course.

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Once again, I miss another date to send something, but in this case it’s not for a relative’s birthday. BlogDay was last Friday, August 31, and you can read about BlogDay here.

As I missed contacting 5 people – and nobody contacted me – here’s some link love for 5 blogs I enjoy reading on a regular basis.

The Lobby – Yes, this is a corporate blog operated by Starwood Hotels, but it gives great tips on vacation destinations and things to do in those areas. They have a team of great writers that give good, light-hearted information on different spots around the globe.

PSFK Trend – They cover international products, services, events and trends from a marketing perspective. This is another blog that has helped expand my mind about what is out there.

The Patriot Act – Surprisingly, it’s hard to get deep insight into what the New England Patriots are doing in the Chicago market. As I am not going to subject myself to the blowhard writers for the Boston newspapers, this blog helps fill the gap.

Spoofee – This is more of a feed from their forums, but as I have gotten some great deals on purchases they have mentioned, they get a mention here.

The Jeff Pulver Blog – The guru on voice over IP writes much on entrepreneurship and I always find it insightful and very relevant. Plus he throws great parties!

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I am finally introducing the world my very first blog, sourcegate.

This is an ongoing compilation project of technical tips, notes and Web sites I use and refer to in my capacity as an Internet consultant and entrepreneur. Rather than keep an offline record of these notes or store links as bookmarks, I am making this information – all non proprietary to Dunkirk Systems, of course – available for all. As I find resources or develop something of interest, I will post it there. I am also in the process of entering past bookmarks and notes and should be caught up soon.

As I said, this is my first blog. Long before I launched The Hot Iron, I started sourcegate using a different blog platform. When I discovered ExpressionEngine, I decided to shelve the old software and eventually migrate to the EE platform, and a little later than I had hoped it is now live.

You can subscribe to the feed or listen to it with the Odiogo feed. Commenting is also turned on, as I am interested if these tips are useful – or not – to you, or if you have any suggestions for a topic or category. If there is nothing of interest in sourcegate right now, check back later, as it will always expand as my mind expands!

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