RSS Feeds - What are they?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.
RSS is the format for syndicating news and other web content. When it distributes the content it is called a feed.
An RSS feed is not just for news. Pretty much anything that can be broken down into discrete items can be syndicated via RSS:
- recently changed pages of a website
- tech support updates
- product news
- announcements
- new listings for a realtor
- job vacancies
The list is almost endless. Every business has several types of content they can put in an RSS feed.
What goes in the RSS feed?
A feed contains a list of items, each of which is identified by a link. Each item can have any amount of data associated with it.
Most RSS feeds include a title for the link and a description of the content. When syndicating your content, use an eye-catching title and interesting description of the full content. This way you encourage your readers to click through and read the full article.
What do they do?
RSS feeds keep your audience constantly updated.
They allow people to see your content without having to go to the website. Now that may sound like a bad idea, but in today's fast-paced world, anything that saves us time and frustration is valued. How many websites have you intended to go back to and then forgotten about them? Even those we bookmark don't get visited.
With a newsreader and RSS feeds, the content comes to them.
Here is one example. Let's say you update your website with product news regularly. If a visitor doesn't come back to your site and see all those updates, she won't know about them. But with a feed she automatically gets the content updates. She may not purchase immediately, but at least she has seen each update. When she does want to buy, she will come to your site.
For a software company, tech articles or support updates get posted on the site. Unless the users remember to visit the site regularly, they could miss important data. Feed it to them and they get it every time.
News is perfect content for a feed. The Internet is now the number one choice for news in the 18 - 54 year old age group. There are so many sources of news that your visitors, and the journalists who cover your industry, won't come to your site every day. But if you offer an RSS feed of your news it pops right into their reader.
If the headline catches their attention, chances are they'll click through and read the article.
How do people read RSS feeds?
To receive an RSS feed, you need a newsreader - or content aggregator.
It's similar to using a radio. The station sends out programs and you need a radio set to be able to pick up their shows. You send out your content in an RSS feed and subscribers needs a newsreader to be able to read it.
There are Web-based readers like Bloglines and my Yahoo.
There are also downloadable newsreaders you can install on your desktop. Some, like Pluck, are free. Others, like NewsGator, have a cost attached.
Newsreaders offer a variety of special features, including combining several related feeds into a single view, hiding items that the viewer has already seen, and categorizing feeds and items.
Once you set up your reader with your preferences, it will collect the feeds you're interested in every time there is an update.
How RSS helps Search Engine Visibility
Because the feed is machine-readable, the search software doesn't have to figure out which parts of the site are important and which parts are just the navigation and presentation. Search engines take note of regularly updated content. A feed brings your site to their attention. By registering your feeds with the search engines it will increase your search visibility.
For more information read this excellent tutorial on RSS feeds.
Set up your PRESSfeed account > >