Pheedo’s Bill Flitter on the state of RSS advertising: “Consumers believe ads are ads when they are not relevant to them; otherwise it’s called content or information.”

I think the best bet for companies thinking of advertising in feeds is to publish a feed yourself. It’ll be more effective in the long run. Ads in feeds are not working for me as a feed subscriber—I aggressively tune them out. The same goes for companies who want to show up high in Google results (which is everyone): Publish a blog that’s worth reading. You’ll do better in Google. It’s a matter of determining what’s more cost-effective and realistic: advertising elsewhere or publishing your own. Publishing no longer costs anything but it does require manpower. For overall impact in this environment though it can outdo advertising when done right.