At SitePoint Tribune, editor Matt Mickiewicz asks
RSS Feeds - Have you Tried Them Yet?

He clearly has not tried Quikonnex channels. He lists a number of downsides to the use of RSS feeds. Needless to say, the Qs don't agree, and refute these issues point by point:

"1. RSS was never intended to syndicate anything besides headlines with descriptions. People are now syndicating full newsletters."

Not only can you syndicate full newsletters with Q Channels you can deliver HTML, graphics, audio, video, in fact any interactive media you choose.

"2. Having an RSS feed can mean big traffic to your server as all subscribers will check your server regularly for updates. If you're on a shared account or your bandwidth is restricted, it can mean a big hit to your hosting bill. Imagine, 100,000 subscribers checking your RSS feed 4-6 times a day for updates!"

Q Channel publishers do not have to worry about bandwidth issues because their channels are hosted on the Quikonnex servers. It is part of the service, Quikonnex takes the hits.

"3. It's impossible to know how many people regularly receive and read your RSS feed."

Absolutely wrong! With Q Channels, not only do you have up-to-date statistics on how many people see your channel in a browser, you also have statistics on how many are subscribed to your channel using channel viewers and/or newsreaders or aggregators, in addition to item-specific click-thru rates. It is all part of the service.

"4. Advertising? What advertising? Besides simple text ads with no accurate impression tracking it's impossible. You can also forget about putting Google AdSense ads in your RSS feed to earn revenue."

Did you guess this one is wrong, too? Then you would be right. You can put any type of advertising you like in a Q Channel, and you can track it using the ad tracking component of the Quikonnex service.

"5. From a 'looks' standpoint, RSS is a step backwards for HTML newsletters. While images can be included, you have no control over their positioning."

In keeping with the theme here, not correct! Because Quikonnex channels are fully HTML-capable, with a little creativity, you can control placement of your media. Plus, Q Channels have a number of interchangeable skins in different styles and colors, so publishers can choose a look which complements their logo and/or company colors. Not only can channel items accommodate multi-media, each channel can display the publisher's logo at the top, and there is a large sidebar in which anything the publisher chooses can be displayed.

And finally, Mr. Mickiewicz wrote:
"As it stands, RSS is a big winner for the end-users but it needs to evolve further for publishers to take it seriously."

RSS has evolved, Darwin would be so pleased! Serious publishers will love the Quikonnex publishing service. Q Channels are media-rich, up-to-date statistics and ad tracking are part of the package and the Quikonnex server takes the bandwidth load. Not to mention the special subscriber link to help subscriber's easily convert to channel subscriptions and multiple two-way communications options in the Q Channels.

If you have questions, or would like more information, just click the QSupport link at the right of the bar at the top of this page to chat with a Qhead.