Tuesday, January 03, 2006
RSS Explained
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or it's sometimes referred to as Rich Site Summary. It's an XML-based content format for distributing news, headlines, articles etc. Many news sites such as CNN.com and USAToday.com now provide their headlines in RSS format for web surfers. So if you have a free RSS reader you can get the headlines from these sites without even having to visit their homepage. You can also do the same for your website by publishing your own news feeds in the RSS format.
Advantages of Creating RSS Feeds
More Traffic
For webmasters this is an excellent way to bring repeat traffic to your site. Think about it....every time a web surfer opens their RSS reader to get the headlines for all the sites they monitor, they'll also see your site's updates. Instead of relying on them to bookmark your site and return at a later date, their RSS reader keeps your site fresh in their minds.
So when they open their reader to check the headlines for CNN, Yahoo or any other feeds they subscribe to, they'll also get the latest updates from you!
Avoid Email Spam Filters
Many webmasters are now dumping their newsletters and switching to this method of content distribution because you don't have to worry about dodging the spam filters.
I don't think that RSS will completely replace email newsletters, but I can see them definitely being used as an alternative more and more.
When you send an email newsletter more than 40-50% of the people won't even receive it due to spam filters or because of the fact it gets lost in all the junk mail your subscribers receive. With RSS feeds, you don't have to worry about that because you're not sending an email, your simply sending out a news feed for all the readers to pick up.
Export Your RSS Feed
The cool thing about these feeds is that other people can use them as content on their site. So if you have a feed that is of particular interest to another webmaster, they can post your content on their site with a simple javascript code. This is another great traffic opportunity!
Announcing Your Feeds on Your Website
Now that your feed has been uploaded to your website, you need to tell your visitors how to subscribe to it. First, you'll want to get one of the RSS or XML buttons to add to your site. This lets people know you have feeds available. Go here to select a button.
Once you are displaying the button on your site be sure to add the XML link to it so a person can retrieve the link to the feed.
If you click the button notice it opens my XML feed. Of course, you don't want your visitors to link to your feed this way. You want them to put this link into their RSS reader so they can subscribe to it and it will display like a regular news feed.
So what you would do is instruct them to right-click the button and "Copy Shortcut" (for IE users) or "Copy Link Location" (for Firefox users). Have them open their RSS reader and start a "New Subscription". Now they can paste the XML link into their reader and Voila! they are subscribed. It's that easy!
Now every time they open their reader and refresh their news items, they'll get the latest and greatest from your website.
RSS Technology is Still New
Even though RSS has been around for a while, it's just now getting introduced to the casual web surfer. However, as time goes on, it will become more and more popular, especially since email spam has gotten out of control and become a real pain.
Still Confused?
For a more detailed and time saving option check out the Complete Blog and RSS Starter Kit
link on the right column.
Advantages of Creating RSS Feeds
More Traffic
For webmasters this is an excellent way to bring repeat traffic to your site. Think about it....every time a web surfer opens their RSS reader to get the headlines for all the sites they monitor, they'll also see your site's updates. Instead of relying on them to bookmark your site and return at a later date, their RSS reader keeps your site fresh in their minds.
So when they open their reader to check the headlines for CNN, Yahoo or any other feeds they subscribe to, they'll also get the latest updates from you!
Avoid Email Spam Filters
Many webmasters are now dumping their newsletters and switching to this method of content distribution because you don't have to worry about dodging the spam filters.
I don't think that RSS will completely replace email newsletters, but I can see them definitely being used as an alternative more and more.
When you send an email newsletter more than 40-50% of the people won't even receive it due to spam filters or because of the fact it gets lost in all the junk mail your subscribers receive. With RSS feeds, you don't have to worry about that because you're not sending an email, your simply sending out a news feed for all the readers to pick up.
Export Your RSS Feed
The cool thing about these feeds is that other people can use them as content on their site. So if you have a feed that is of particular interest to another webmaster, they can post your content on their site with a simple javascript code. This is another great traffic opportunity!
Announcing Your Feeds on Your Website
Now that your feed has been uploaded to your website, you need to tell your visitors how to subscribe to it. First, you'll want to get one of the RSS or XML buttons to add to your site. This lets people know you have feeds available. Go here to select a button.
Once you are displaying the button on your site be sure to add the XML link to it so a person can retrieve the link to the feed.
If you click the button notice it opens my XML feed. Of course, you don't want your visitors to link to your feed this way. You want them to put this link into their RSS reader so they can subscribe to it and it will display like a regular news feed.
So what you would do is instruct them to right-click the button and "Copy Shortcut" (for IE users) or "Copy Link Location" (for Firefox users). Have them open their RSS reader and start a "New Subscription". Now they can paste the XML link into their reader and Voila! they are subscribed. It's that easy!
Now every time they open their reader and refresh their news items, they'll get the latest and greatest from your website.
RSS Technology is Still New
Even though RSS has been around for a while, it's just now getting introduced to the casual web surfer. However, as time goes on, it will become more and more popular, especially since email spam has gotten out of control and become a real pain.
Still Confused?
For a more detailed and time saving option check out the Complete Blog and RSS Starter Kit
link on the right column.
