One of the greatest assets a publisher has is the attention and trust of their readers. It is something cultivated over time as a person or publication slowly becomes a trusted advisor for the things they write about, link to, and share. In short: my RSS Subscribers are my truest fans. They’re the ones who have volunteered to let me share ideas, links, and more with them anytime I want.

And this is much of what makes an RSS Sponsorship so valuable — the sponsor gets exposure to an audience who’s already paying attention.

Placing ads into RSS feeds is laughable. The ads often look horrendous (if they work at all), and offer a minuscule return on investment for both the publisher and the advertiser. Sponsoring an RSS feed however is a fine idea. It provides the promoter with a high-impact way of getting exposure, and allows the publisher to keep their feed clean from ad clutter.

On Monday I began offering sponsorships to this site’s RSS Feed. Yes, the sponsorships help me to continue writing here, but long-time readers of this site know what an advocate I am for the freelance designer, the 3rd-party developer, et al. I am not exaggerating or lying when I say that part of the reason I set up sponsorships was to offer a top-notch promotional channel for designers, developers, writers, and more.

And so good news: for those looking to promote their product or service, shawnblanc.net is not the only site offering Sponsorships for its RSS Feed.1

• Monday by Noon: a gem of the Internet. Jonathan posts a well-written, well-informed article on Web design and development every Monday. And now, just before his weekly article is published, you have the chance to be endorsed by Jonathan to his healthy readership of Web professionals.

• Minimal Mac: a site that has taken off like a rocket over the past year. Patrick Rhone is a trusted advisor to many a Mac nerds and minimalists. He is offering you a chance to sponsor his RSS Feed as well. You get a promotion on Monday and a thank-you post on Friday.

• The Brooks Review: regular, insightful writing about Apple, technology, and the Web. Ben Brooks is quickly becoming a must-read among many well-known technology sites.

Why am I promoting these other guys? Because sponsorship opportunities are a fabulous channel to promote you app, your book, your freelance business, and more. I get frequent requests from app developers asking me to check out and hopefully promote their app. I get emails from web developers asking me if I know any good designers, and vice versa.

There is certainly no shortage of top-notch products and services worthy of being made known. If you’ve got something you’d like to promote, book a sponsorship on this site. But I also recommend Minimal Mac, Monday by Noon, and The Brooks Review. I believe your promotion would do well there also.