RSS stands for 'really simple syndication' but that may still mean little to you but it's basically for syndicating content online. You may well have seen the RSS feed logo before and had no idea what it was, many websites have them, It's an orange icon with a dot and a couple of quarter circles beside it. If you've ever clicked on one of these you will see a list of what has been created and outputted by that website: blogs, articles, news and even podcasts and video podcasts. You can use this not only to view like this in your web browser though: the URL for the feed can be used by various programs and other services. For a start iTunes can be setup to use your feed to find podcasts you have added to it and make them automatically available on iTunes. RSS feeds can also be read by other RSS readers though: a piece of software that presents the latest from any RSS feeds you have added to it or 'subscribed' too. What this means as a user of RSS feeds is that you can have a one stop piece of software with the news from all of your favorite sites whose articles and other content you find interesting.
So as a website owner how can you use RSS? Well to start you need to be creating plenty of fresh content ideally every day and then you need to make sure it's good enough that people want to read it. If this is the case then if people like your content and you make it clear you have an RSS feed available then they will be able to take the link and put it into their software or you can manually make it available through the reader. This way when you post new articles they will be able to read them through their software. Now at this point many of you will be thinking that is no good as they wont be reading them on your website; the chances are that if they weren't reading them through the RSS reader they wouldn't read them at all though and wouldn't visit your site just to check if you have anything new. By reading your articles they are being reminding you exist and if you mention your products and services they may choose to visit your website when they do need whatever you offer as they already know you know what you are talking about and what you do.
If you use your RSS with podcasts or video podcasts consider it in the same way pretty much, places like iTunes will have people both subscribing to your content and finding it through their search feature of course.
RSS feeds are especially well suited to those who are basically selling knowledge including those selling books including eBooks who can show off their knowledge and understanding, almost like giving away something for free as a sample in order to sell more. Also those that are selling a service where their USP is their knowledge should use RSS feeds to show off they know what they are talking about; as a marketing consultant you might have people reading your marketing insights on a weekly basis who then already know that you are a great marketer when they come to choose a marketing consultant.
The Benefits of Using RSS Feeds What Is RSS? Or What Does That Orange Radar Thingy Do? Choosing an RSS Reader Tracking News Through RSS Feeds
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