Advertising has always been part of our society. Online it's no different, and the number of ad options seems to increase daily. The latest target of advertisers is Blogs/RSS.

A Blog is similar to an online journal where daily or weekly rantings by the publisher are posted. RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication" and is a way to distribute your Blog or Web page updates via the Internet. Anyone can subscribe to your RSS feed, which they'll do using a "news reader," and be notified of any new updates or postings.

This new type of advertising is still growing and evolving and the majority of ads being served are not graphical but text-based in nature. Advertising in Blogs and feeds has a slow growth area, as Blogs still have not reached the mainstream, primarily due to the fact that readers are not yet included within a browser's interface. In the future, browsers will come with this option built in.

One difficulty with RSS feed advertising is the number of different software packages (news readers) available. Instead of one or two standards, there are hundreds of options to choose from.

As a publisher, you can earn cash by selling ads on your Blog yourself, or you can use a third party ad service and run their ads on your site.

So what are some of the benefits to Blog/RSS advertising? Well, unlike email ads, there is no problem with filtering/blocking and this format is 100% opt-in, so delivery of your messages is assured with no S-p-a-m complaints. You're also not competing for attention with hundreds of other messages in an already over crowded inbox of the end user.

Let's take a look at some of the options and trendsetters in this new advertising arena.

1) Simple Ad Feed Management & Server: http://pheedo.com/publishers/

Service that allows you to place ads into your RSS or Atom feeds. Easy to use turnkey system, they have a large pool of advertisers or you can send your own advertisers to sign up thru their site. All ad activity is trackable and reports can be generated showing click thrus and ad views.

2) TypePad: http://www.TypePad.com

An online Blogging service starting out at only 4.95 a month. Typedpad has recently partnered with Kanoodle to integrate their contextual ads into their Blogs. This is an add on option for users and is not mandatory or forced on subscribers.

3) Blogger: http://Blogger.com

Owned by Google, this free online Blog service allows its users to sign up for their AdSense Program. By displaying their contextual ads on your Blog, you'll be paid for every click thru. For more on Adsense see http://www.tinyurl.com/4uakh

4) Overture: http://Overture.com

Overture has partnered with Feedburner.com to deliver ads into several feeds, including mobiletracker.net. Overture's contextual ad technology is relying on Feedburner's processing expertise for help in delivering the ads.

5) Feedster: http://www.FeedSter.com

Feedster has started placing sponsored links in their feeds and recently started offering Kanoodle's context ads. Users of Feedster who want "ad free feeds" will have to pay an annual fee.

6) MoreOver: http://MoreOver.com

Moreover can deliver ads thru RSS, but the publishers don't make the money; Moreover does. To see a listing of their free RSS news feeds, go to http://Moreover.com/RSS

They also offer free "ad supported feeds" that non-commercial websites can display on their websites. For more see http://FeedDirect.com

7) SimpleAds.net: http://www.SimpleAds.net

A free ad network for Bloggers to promote their Blogs via other users Blogs. You can create your own ad that is rotated across their ad network.

8) BurstMedia.com : http://BurstMedia.com

BurstMedia recently launched their own Blog advertising service. Currently they have over 22 Blogs in their network that all together generate over 9 million pageviews a month. Advertisers can choose to target by location or content.

Anytime you see the Net's "Big Boys" involved in a new technology, you can bet there's money to be made. Blogging and RSS feeds advertising is indeed the wave of the future, so if you don't want to be left behind, catch a ride while there's still room on this trendsetter train.