In a bid to attract more readers and boost ad revenue, business newspaper the Financial Times plans to let readers of its Web site, FT.com, read up to 30 articles free a month.

The Financial Times, published by London-based Pearson Plc, previously made most of the Web site only accessible to paying subscribers.

By opening up its site a bit, FT could increase its appeal with bloggers looking to link free content.

Readers who go over the 30-story limit will be asked to become paying subscribers.

The change, set to take effect in mid-October, comes two weeks after the New York Times decided to stop its TimesSelect service, which charged a fee for online access to most of its columnists.

Rupert Murdoch also has talked about the possibility of making The Wall Street Journal’s wsj.com free when his company, News Corp., completes its takeover of the newspaper and its parent Dow Jones & Co. News Corp. owns The Post.

By opening up more of their Web sites, publishers are trying to increase the number of readers and advertising in order to offset lost subscription revenue.