7 RSS Traffic Tips for Small Business Owners
03 2010 Wednesday
17
By Tinu AbayomiPaul in RSS
If you have a blog, you have an updates feed, most likely in the flavor of RSS feed, but quite possible in Atom feed. This is the file that’s linked to the weird-looking orange button you see on many frequently updated websites, such as blogs. These tips apply to both types of feeds.
Your feed’s job is to talk to other machines about your site on your behalf. Those bot to bot conversations increase your traffic and help more people see your site, either directly through feed reader subscriptions and listings, or indirectly by helping your search rankings. Do at least these basics to take care of your feed.
- No one loves RSS, okay? I never actually liked it much, but I always understood that it was necessary to grow my site. Stop trying to hug it, and start having a basic understanding of how it helps your business.
- If you don’t have a site newsletter, you can use RSS to make your blog posts into email newsletters, then put the email subscription box at the top right of your site, or otherwise unobtrusively remind people to subscribe. Aweber will create both the newsletter and the web form for you automatically.
- About once a week, make sure your feed is validating. Sometimes all it takes is a rarely used character in the title to break your feed. FeedValidator.org will help you with that for free.
- Submit your feed to the top RSS search engines and directories. There aren’t hundreds of them as there once were, but for the good ones remaining, like Syndic8, the links can’t hurt you.
- RSS is what helps your site speak to social media sites automatically, but what if you aren’t sure what is helping and how often? Try FeedBurner. It’s my opinion that the service has been on the decline since Google took it over a year ago, but before you judge by that, take into account the height it was at when the fall began.
It’s still does a pretty decent job of tracking your traffic, and there’s no need to direct ALL your traffic through FeedBurner if you don’t want to, just use it to track sites that you give permission to repurpose your feed, like Twitter and Facebook.
- Google Reader. Yes, that’s the whole tip. Of the minority of people who use a Feed Reader to follow blogs rather than email, Google Reader is the top choice. Stick the button on your site, glance over your headlines in Google Reader now and again. Wouldn’t hurt you to share some items over there too.
- Should you use full-feeds or partial-feeds? It’s a controversial issue. I won’t go into as much detail about how my private findings differ wildly from conventional wisdom, just suffice it to say this. My solution with new sites is to offer both, and let readers choose when they come to your site, and allow the short feed to be syndicated by anyone, with a link at the bottom of each short feed post letting readers know you offer full text as well.
Learning about RSS may not be as big a deal as it once was, but don’t forget that your site’s feed is instrumental in helping your site grow.
Tinu helps small businesses expand into new markets online via the power of their websites. if you need help getting online visitors to result in offline profits, come to Free Traffic Tips for more help and a free consultation.Pros and Cons of Using RSS Feeds
02 2010 Tuesday
2
By Sharon Housley in RSS
If you are struggling with the decision of whether to implement RSS feeds or not, consider the following pros and cons for webmasters who use RSS feeds as part of their content and communication plan…
Benefits (Pros Of Using RSS)
The benefits for a webmaster who opts to implement RSS feeds on their website are numerous:1. Saves Time
RSS feeds save time. RSS subscribers can quickly scan RSS feeds, without having to visit each and every website. Subscribers can then click on any items they are interested in, to get additional information.
2. Timely
RSS feeds are timely. RSS feeds will automatically update themselves any time new information is posted, so the information your subscribers receive via their RSS reader or news aggregator is timely.
3. Spam Free
RSS is free of spam. Subscribers don’t have to worry about wading through huge amounts of spam in an attempt to get to the information they are actually interested in.
4. Opt-In
The RSS subscriber chooses what they want to see, and what information they wish to receive. Knowing they have full control, and that they do not have to provide any personal information to subscribe, they will be more likely to opt-in.
5. Unsubscribing Is Easy
It is also easy to unsubscribe from an RSS feed. If they do not like information contained in an RSS feed, they can simply remove the RSS feed from their RSS reader or news aggregator in order to unsubscribe.
6. Alternate Communication Channel
RSS provides you with an alternate communication channel for your business. And the more channels you provide, the more opportunities you have to connect with your customers and potential customers.
7. Expands Audience Through Syndication
The very nature of RSS is that it is designed specifically for syndication (i.e. publication by others). And wide-spread syndication can expand a company’s reach and strengthen the company brand.
8. Can Increase Backlinks
When an RSS feed is syndicated, it can increase the number of links back to the original website. And additional incoming links will often help a website rank better in organic search rankings.
9. Increases Productivity
RSS increases productivity, allowing people to quickly scan new posts and headlines, and only clicking through and spending time on the items of interest.
10. Competitive
Whether you decide to implement RSS feeds or not, your competitors likely will. So one way to remain competitive is to implement RSS feeds and other web 2.0 technology, and not allow your competition to get ahead of you.
Negatives (Cons Against Using RSS)
1. Not Widely Adopted Yet
Outside of technical circles, RSS has not yet been widely adopted. While it is becoming more and more popular, it is still far from being a mainstream technology.
2. Content Can Easily Be Copied
Content contained in an RSS feed can easily be copied and replicated, regardless of whether you want it to be or not. Few aggregators respect the copyrights of content contained in an RSS feed.
3. Tracking Subscribers Is Difficult
It is very difficult to accurately track the number of subscribers who read an RSS feed or the items contained in an RSS feed. This is due in part to the fact that at its heart, RSS is all about achieving the widest syndication possible.
4. Source Origination Difficult
It is sometimes difficult to discern the origin of an RSS feed item. When an item is syndicated, the source is not always indicated. The metrics available are not always reflective of the traffic received.
Weigh the pros and cons of implementing an RSS feed as a communication channel, and determine whether the benefits outweigh the risks in your own situation.
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.Publishing Your RSS Feed Internet Wide
01 2009 Friday
16
By Ed Duvall in RSS
So you’ve created an RSS feed and it contains current cutting edge information in your field of interest. Now how do you get the word out to other webmasters who might be interested in putting the content from your RSS feed on their site?
Just how easy, or hard, is it to publish your feed and have other webmasters pick it up and publish it on their site?
If you’ve created your feed and validated it then most of the hard work is complete. Now you’re going to get the word out about it being available.
So what should be your first step?
I think I would first give the search engines the easiest path to find your feed and index it. To get the search engines to do this you should add this short piece of html code to between the tags on the webpage that has a link for your feed.
Be sure to replace http://www.yourdomain.com/rss.xml with the URL to the RSS feed.
Next, I would be sure to display the Feed on your website using a graphic. The basic RSS or XML graphic in bright orange rectangles, will lead people visually to the feed.
Here’s an RSS graphics tool that will allow you to customize a graphic for your site:
http://www.feedforall.com/public/rss-graphic-tool.htmNow that you have it on your site I would begin submitting your feed to all of the RSS directories and search engines you can find. The last time I reviewed them there was well over a hundred (that I could find).
There is a large list of RSS directories located here:
http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-submission.htmBy submitting to directories and search engines you will be helping to increase the link popularity of your feed and your site.
You can also use email to promote your RSS Feed. Simply include the feed url in your sig file on all outgoing mail. If you have an ezine be sure to include it in each issue. I would also go so far as to provide a link to a either or both a desktop RSS reader and a website reader for those webmaster who may want to use your content on their site.
Another way to promote your feed is to include the feed on a personal my.yahoo or my.msn home page. This is probably the fastest way to have your feed spidered by Yahoo and MSN. If you don’t already have an account and a personal webpage go to each site and create one. After you have created your account add your RSS Feed. In Yahoo, go to your personal page click on Add Content, then add the URL of your blog RSS feed into the Find Content box.
A good point to keep in mind is to have content available in your feed before you add it to either of your personal webpages on the SE’s above.
To keep the search engine spiders coing back you can implement a simple strategy to let them know you have posted new material and it’s time to come back. This strategy is simply called ‘pinging’.
You can let the main RSS/blog directories know you have placed new material by “pinging” them. Now you could go to each of the directories individually or you could automatically ‘ping’ all of them at once by going to this site:
http://www.pingomatic.com
You type in your rss/blog URL, Click Submit and Pingomatic will send your ping to all of the large directories available on its page. Doing this will bring the spiders back to your site almost immediately!
Be sure to add relevant content to your RsSS feed as often as you can as the more often you add new content the more likely you will be to develop more traffic.
Once you’ve started implementing these ideas and strategies you should be well on your way to getting more recognition for your RSS Feed.
Ed Duvall is webmaster for http://www.cashway.com and http://www.instantnettraffic.com providing internet marketing tools and resourcesto help you with your online business.
RSS Revisited – Why You Still Need RSS On Your Site
08 2008 Friday
8
By Titus Hoskins in RSS
One of the very first articles I ever wrote on Internet Marketing had to do with RSS and it was entitled “10 Reasons To Put RSS On Your Site.” That was in 2004 and RSS was somewhat new and many webmasters were just beginning to place blogs and RSS feeds on their sites. If you do a search in Google, you can still find that article on around 2,000 sites.
Most people now refer to RSS as “Really Simple Syndication” – although it originally stood for “Rich Site Summary” and was a very simple way of summarizing and syndicating your content in real-time to all interested parties.
RSS had its early beginnings with Netscape in 1991 which introduced the first version of RSS (RDF Site Summary). Later versions would be introduced and made popular by Dave Winer of ScriptingNews and Userland fame who is considered by many to be one of the major founding fathers of RSS.
Most people today associate RSS with blogs and blogging. You can read RSS content by using an RSS feed reader or “aggregator” which can be desktop or web-based. Some common feed readers include FeedDemon, My Yahoo!, iGoogle and Firefox (Live Bookmarks). You subscribe to your favorite RSS feed by clicking the small icon on your favorite blog or site and then when fresh content is published via RSS your reader can immediately retrieve and display it for you.
RSS is a very simple way of keeping up to date and in contact with your favorite site or topic. It makes staying informed easy to do and it provides site/blog owners a simple way of distributing their content.
One can’t but wonder has RSS lived up to all that early hype?
Perhaps that question can only be answered by looking at the popularity of blogging and the role it now plays on the web. No one can deny blogs and their accompanying RSS feeds carry tremendous weight, no matter which way you measure it. Can anyone now imagine the World Wide Web without blogs?
But the importance of RSS goes beyond just blogging, we tend to forget how important it is for all the new social media sites like Digg, Technorati, Reddit… and not to forget fast growing applications like Twitter.
People also forget RSS feeds play a major role in online retail and affiliate programs. For example, you can get an RSS feed of all the latest Amazon products to place on your site. Many major online companies now have these product feeds to help promote and sell their wares.
XML and RSS have blended so seamlessly into many browsers and operating systems most users are blissfully unaware they’re even using RSS. Maybe that’s how things should be; with RSS, the ever-present workhorse, quietly doing its job behind the scenes.
RSS is just as important now as it was five years ago – actually its influence and presence has only grown stronger over the years. If you have not fully embraced RSS and placed it on your site and in your online marketing you’re missing out on one of the best opportunities to spread your message on the web.
RSS is here to stay and even has its own advisory board to help with the technical and programming side of RSS. They also list a very handy “RSS Best Practices Profile” for any webmaster wishing to create their own XML-based RSS documents. http://www.rssboard.org/
Why should you use RSS?
Well, the list of reasons is quite long but RSS can help you: syndicate your content in real-time, sell your products, build your list, gather fresh content, promote your company and boost that one vital element everyone needs more of on the web – traffic. For those who have taken full advantage of RSS it has delivered in more ways than one for it has truly turned into that Golden Goose with the Midas complex. RSS has simply proven beneficial to those users who have fully embraced it.
Now, you still don’t really need 10 reasons to put RSS on your site, do you?
To add RSS to your Site within minutes – download this simple RSS Guide: http://www.bizwaremagic.com/RSS/Lead_Capture_Page.htm Or try this more technical RSS Tutorial: http://www.bizwaremagic.com/RSS_Tutorial.htm 2008 Titus Hoskins.
Use Social Marketing Sites To Give Your Internet Marketing Start-Up A Helping Hand
06 2008 Thursday
26
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By David Hurley in Jerry Bader's Blog
Sure, social sites give you a lot of interactivity and allow users to personalize their sites, compile a list of favorite links, videos, music, photos, documents and share it all with friends and visitors, but how exactly does that help you develop your Internet marketing start-up business?
The first thing to understand is that there are two basic types of social networking sites, so you will need to be clear in your own mind about what it is you want to do – bookmark or network?
Social Bookmarking Sites
Social bookmarking sites allow you to build and organize your favourite links (i.e. bookmarks) AND you can choose to restrict them to selected friends or make them public and share them with everybody on the Internet.
The big advantage of social bookmarking is that your favourite links are no longer tied to one specific browser accessible from just one computer in one location.
Social bookmarking services enable users to save bookmarks on a remote web server which can be accessed anywhere where there is an online connection.
Social bookmarking sites usually categorize links with a “tagging” system which allows users to choose keywords with which to “tag” their bookmarks. Sites can then be retrieved via the tags.
You can encourage others to bookmark your articles, blogs or webpages by adding a Digg, Stumbleupon, TwitThis or other button on your page.
However, there are so many social bookmarking services, that if you added all their buttons you’d end up with more buttons than content on your page! Instead, use a service like addthis.com, which places one button on your site for a wide range of social bookmarking sites.
Social Networking Sites
Social networking sites offer a convenient method of connecting with people who share similar interests to you.
Sites like Facebook and MySpace allow you to post your advertisements and promote your products, as long as you do not simply (and stupidly) send out spam. A good site with regularly updated original content will attract traffic.
MySpace or Facebook?
It has recently been noised abroad that MySpace is no good for Internet marketing, but that is not so. It was simply a case of too many Internet marketers not knowing who their audience was.
The point is that MySpace tends to attract a younger age bracket with less money to spend than does Facebook. Get to know the sites and adapt your content to each one, don’t simply post the same stuff to both.
Another reason why some people don’t think social networking sites are good for business is that they do no more than set up a profile. Then they get stuck, don’t know what to do, do nothing. Merely being there is not enough! Find ways to communicate with the people who are there on their terms, not yours.
Go careful, though, that you don’t go overboard with the crazy applications and the “late night partying confessions” stuff if it is not the sort of thing you want your clients to see!
Whereas social bookmarking sites are simply sites for you to collect and organize your favorite links, social networking sites, being more sociable, require more time and regular fresh content updates. With social networking sites you have to work on your image!
Search Engines Love Web 2:0!
Another reason why Internet marketers should build a presence on both social bookmarking and social networking sites is because search engines LOVE them!
Search engine spiders regularly follow links posted on these sites. So, by building up your links on these sites, your website backlinks will grow, and so will your search engine rankings, which is what you need if your Internet marketing start-up is to survive, grow and thrive.
If you found this article helpful you might like to visit http://grasp-the-nettle.com for more free articles on Internet marketing to help you master the net. You might also like to sign up to my FREE Internet Marketing Start-Up newsletter, which comes complete with a library of Internet marketing ebooks (worth a total of $136.75) for you to download free of charge. David Hurley lives in Japan, where he works as an English language consultant, editor, and Internet marketer.Increase Website Visibility Using RSS
05 2008 Wednesday
14
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By Rob Emmerson in Jerry Bader's Blog
Using RSS helps to streamline the communication between publishers and their readers. RSS has had a surge in popularity, so webmasters have started to experiment using RSS to deliver their content in new and creative ways.
RSS feeds usually contain a headline and a summary of the content. The summary of the content contains enough information get the attention and interest of the reader without overwhelming them. If the reader wants more information, they can simply click a link in the feed and access the website that has all the details.
RSS readers combine the information from multiple feeds. This makes it easy and convenient for individuals to quickly browse the information from many sources. Feeds are generally themed, which allows readers to subscribe to feeds that interest them.
One of the biggest benefits of RSS, is the ability of individuals to opt-in only to feeds of interest. This gives total control of what information is received to the user. If the quality of a feed goes down, or they simply are no longer interested, a user could just remove the feed from the RSS reader. There is no subscribing or un-subscribing to deal with, when the feed is removed no further information is received from that feed. An RSS reader also compiles all the information from multiple sources to one area. this allows the user to quickly view many content streams without having to go to multiple locations or emails.
RSS is a great tool for publishers as well. It frees the publisher from maintaining lists, worrying about privacy rules, spam or age guidelines. At the same time it provides the publisher a vehicle for communication to a highly targeted audience.
Publishers can use RSS to deliver keyword rich, themed content. This will help establish trust and build the publishers reputation with new and established customers.
Here is a sample of what can be delivered with RSS:
Blogs, many blogs utilize a RSS feed. Each blog post is summarized and broadcast as a feed item. This makes it easier for interested readers to scan blog posts for specific items of interest.
Articles, many articles are placed into RSS feeds and sent to readers informing them of new content. Generally, the feed consists of the article title and a brief summary or introduction of the article. RSS users can then decide to follow the link to the complete article.
Forum Feed, some forums are now allowing users to get new posts through RSS feed. The feed will usually show the latest topic of discussion. If users are interested in posting replies, or reading more, they can simply click to go directly to the forum discussion. As the forum discussion continues the RSS feed is updated and readers see the latest updates on the topic.
Organizations Schedules, many clubs, schools and groups use RSS to communicate everything from meetings to events that are coming up. The feed used to publicize these events also notify the community.
Retail Sale or Special Feed. Both online and traditional stores have started using RSS feeds to deliver news of special offers and sales to customers. Some online marketers have stepped this up by allowing users to customize a feed with keywords or phrases that they choose.
RSS feeds have been adapted to many industries and the usefulness of RSS is growing every day. RSS is now being used to market, promote and communicate to a variety of audiences. The ease of use and user friendly make up of RSS has helped many organizations to expand their reach to new audiences and customers. RSS is fast becoming the communication vehicle for many businesses and with the increase of popularity will come ever more creative uses for this communication vehicle.
Rob Emmerson is a leading expert in SEO and has written extensivly on the subject in articles and eBooks. He offers a free SEO Course for individuals interested in improving their websites. in addition he writes a daily Blog on SEO where he shares tips and tricks.Top 10 RSS Promotion Tips
02 2008 Thursday
28
By Andy MacDonald in RSS
Creating a feed is not enough – not if you want people to read it. You need to let people know that your feed exists and try to get them to subscribe to it. Promoting a feed is similar to promoting a Web site or an e-mail newsletter. You have to work at it a bit. Luckily, some easy-to-use tools are available to help you, and im going to show you each, and how to use them effectively.
Registering Your Feed with Directories
The number one way to let people – those outside your usual range of contacts – know that you have a feed is to register it with as many directories as possible. This concept is similar to registering your Web site with Web-site directories such as Yahoo!
Of course, you should also promote your Web site content itself. When you get people to your Web site, if they like the content, they may look for your feed so that they can keep up to date on any changes that appear on your site. Check out this article for more tips on promoting your website/feed. Online Marketing Techniques.
RSS is a relatively new technology that’s causing a lot of excitement, and many people want to get in on the act – so they start directory sites.
Some sites hope that you’ll come for the free feeds and stay to buy customized, specialized feeds or other RSS-related services.
So, you need to do the legwork and register with as many directories as you can. To get you going, checkout Kevins article, a post where he has listed the best and most valuable sites and directories to submit your blog/rss feed too.
If your feed is based on a blog, you can still register at all the RSS directories, but you should also register at blog directories. Blogging is a whole world onto itself. In fact, more blog directories exist than RSS directories. Do a Web search using the keywords blog and directory, and you’ll find what seems like millions of listings.
To reach those who aren’t as RSS savvy or as motivated to find feeds, read on, as we look at other ways to promote your feed.
Linking to Your Feed
Of course, when people do find your site, you want your website visitors to subscribe to your feed, so you need to put an RSS or XML button on your site. I recommend you stick with the universally known orange rss button.
Add a hyperlink to the button, linking to your RSS feed’s file. To add a hyperlink to a button, select the button, and use your web creation software’s hyperlink command. In the HTML code, the result looks something like the following:
<a href=”autocad_tips_newsletter.xml”><imgsrc=”images/rss_btn.gif”></a>
Now visitors can easily subscribe to your feed.
You need to make clear what the RSS feed is about. If you have a page that includes many different types of content, label the RSS button with the name of your feed. If you have a place on your site for visitors to sign up for an e-mail newsletter, that’s a good place to put your RSS link. Then people can choose which way they want to receive information from you.
Getting Auto-Discovered
Some RSS readers can automatically find RSS feeds on a Web page. This feature is called auto-discovery.
You can ensure that this auto-discovery works by using the link HTML tag and the code on any web page that contains an RSS feed. You place this code in the head section of your page, which means between the <head> and </head> tags. Here’s the code:
<link rel=”alternate” type=”application/rss+xml” title=”RSS” href=”http://www.your_URL_here.com/feedfilename.xml”>
You can put anything you want for the title attribute, but it should relate to your feed, because some browsers display this text. If you have more than one feed on a page, create a separate link tag for each feed, giving each one a different title.
For an Atom feed, the type should be “application/atom+xml”.
Explaining Just What RSS Is
Let’s face it – not everyone knows what RSS is yet. Unless your clientele is very geeky, you need to explain it to them. Most sites don’t, but some do.
When explaining RSS, keep your explanation simple and appropriate for your audience. You don’t really need to explain the technology, just what it means for them and how they can subscribe. If you want, recommend some RSS readers to make the process painless or refer them to a browser-based reader.
Helpful text next to the RSS button can say something like “Subscribe to My RSS Feed on Widget Technology.” Here are just a few phrases that you could use:
- Get regular updates about widget technology
- Keep informed about widget technology
- Don’t miss the latest news about widget technology!
More people are finding out about RSS every day, so even if they don’t sign up right away, they may the next time they visit. Having an RSS feed shows that you’re “with it.” The implication is that if you are up to date enough to have a feed, you’re similarly up to date in your field – and that’s what your visitors want.
So evangelize a little, strut your stuff, and brag about being on the RSS bandwagon.
Telling Others All about Your Feed
To market your Web site, you do more than just register it and hope that people come. You probably proactively tell people about your site in many ways. Web-site marketing is a huge field.
Some common ways to market a Web site also apply to marketing your RSS feed. These methods are:
- Cross-link with other sites: Ask sites that link to you to add a phrase about your RSS feed. Using the phrase “RSS news feed available” may be enough.
- Send out press releases: Because RSS is new, you can send out press releases about your news feed. That’s right; the feed is news in itself.
Tip: When marketing your website or RSS feed, be sure to avoid the most common Internet Marketing Mistakes
RSS feed links in your e-mail signature
A signature is text that automatically appears at the bottom of every e-mail you send. Almost all e-mail programs let you create a signature. You can often add links to this text. Your Web-site URL should be there. Why not a link to your RSS feed as well? Think of it as an RSS button in every e-mail!
Writing articles for other sites
A great way to get links to your site is to write articles for newsletters and sites that cover your field. The way others pay you is to link to your site. You probably don’t want to substitute a link to your RSS feed for the link to your site (but then again, you may). However, other sites can also give you a byline. You can mention your RSS feed in the byline or perhaps even in your article.
Telling everyone you know
“Hey! Guess what? I have an RSS feed! Pass it on.” Wherever you go – conferences, business meetings, and so on – or whomever you talk to – friends, colleagues, and customers; let them know about your new RSS feed. They’ll probably say, “What’s an RSS feed?” and you can tell them all about it. It’s a great way to break the ice at a party.
Tip: Why not put the URL for your feed on your business card, stationery, or brochure?
Keeping Your E-mail Newsletter
If you have a successful e-mail newsletter, I don’t recommend giving it up. E-mail is still the way that most people get their news. But you should definitely mention your RSS feed in your newsletter as an alternative way to get the same information, with a link to your site’s explanation about RSS.
You can – and should – update your RSS feed when you update your Web site. If your newsletter is monthly, for example, and covers updates on your site throughout the previous month, people who subscribe to your RSS feed receive the news before your newsletter subscribers. You can plug this advantage to your readers. One of the major advantages of RSS is to notify your readers of changes as soon as they happen. By comparison, an e-mail newsletter is old news by the time you get it published.
Branding Your Feed
You probably hired a Web designer to make your Web site look beautiful, if you’re not a designer yourself. You carefully use your logo on your site, your letterhead, your PowerPoint presentations, and all your publicity materials. Why not brand your RSS feed as well?
You can probably think of more ways to publicize your feed. Remember that publicizing your feed also publicizes your website and your business. If you know of any more please feel free to comment or leave your feedback.
Author: Andy MacDonald, CEO of Swift Media UK, a website design & search marketing company. For daily tips on Blogging, Marketing, SEO & Making Money Online, Checkout our SEO & Marketing Tips for Webmasters blog or Subscribe by RSS.
Why RSS May Be The Email Killer – Part 1
01 2008 Friday
18
By Peter Lenkefi in RSS
According to online statistics from eMarketer, less than 20% of internet users intentionally read content with the aid of an RSS reader.
Indeed, even frequent internet users have no idea what that little orange RSS square represents and certainly don’t realize that there is a big shift brewing in the bowels of online publishing and marketing.
But, that may change more quickly than we all used to think for 3 very potent reasons.
There are advantages to RSS that will compel most, if not all, internet users and content consumers to “learn” to use an RSS reader and start managing RSS subscriptions.
In the same way email eclipsed snail mail for content delivery, RSS will eclipse email as the consumer’s choice for opt-in messaging.
If you are an email marketer, the time for you to get engaged to RSS has come, because, whether you like it or not, the wedding bells will be ringing soon.
Here’s why…
RSS = EMBEDDED VIDEO(and audio)
I recently was asked to help a small business embed video into emails they wanted to send to established clients.
Their vision was clear:
1. Create a quick video email with a webcam, stick it right into their corporate Outlook email with a Youtube style preview.
2. The customer gets the email, clicks the Youtube-looking video preview and the video start playing.
3. No landing page, they wanted everything to happen right there inside the email client, whether it was Outlook, AOL, Gmail, Yahoo or otherwise.
Simple right? Nope…
This is simply not possible with email.
Many brilliant companies have tried various tactics to embed video into email in a way that doesn’t consistently get blocked or stripped by the various email providers.
With email, the best that can be done is mimic the embedded video look by putting a video preview image in the email which opens up the web browser and plays the video there when clicked.
Ironically, even this comes at a significant cost because of the technical knowledge needed to make it happen.
So why is this a less than perfect solution?
Primarily because none of us like to be bounced around, we want to view video instantly, seamlessly.
After all, we have been trained to expect this level of immediacy by seeing it everyday on Google’s “universal search” and countless blogs.
The good news is, embedded video and audio are part and parcel (fundamental elements) of RSS.
Adding video (and audio) that can be instantly viewed by someone receiving an RSS feed is as simple as adding text.
Readers get what they have come to expect and corporations, as well as small businesses, can provide dynamic, highly personal content without paying a coder or webmaster thousands of bucks.
RSS = 100% DELIVERABILITY
I was shocked to see the stats on email deliver ability rates for the typical business. The fact is, even if you have come by a person’s email honestly (that is – you did not buy a bootleg list of emails from some guy in a dark virtual alley) the likelihood of them actually receiving that message from you is 60% or less.
So, let’s say you have a list of 1000 customer emails – which you have worked hard and paid real money to acquire. When you send a message, 400 of them (on average) don’t get it. It either automatically lands in their Spam Folder or gets deleted even before it reaches them.
Even companies like Aweber who make a living sending emails for other people and have intimate agreements with email providers like Gmail, AOL and Yahoo, only get a 90% deliverable rate – on a good day (they claim %99.4 but I use Aweber and when I factor in the whole opt-in and email management process, at least 10% of my emails are undelivered).
RSS is quite different. If someone has opted-in to your RSS “feed”, they will get 100% of your messages. No doubt about it.
This is obviously good for the company but how is this also an advantage for the customer?
Well, have you ever had the frustration of opting-in to something that you were interested in only to find (after searching for a few minutes) that it was buried in your spam box.
Have you ever had to “white list” an email address so that each email that was sent wasn’t immediately deleted?
Doing this takes TIME… the most expensive commodity any one of us owns.
Once consumers realize there is a simpler way to get 100% of what they want, 100% of the time, and 0% of what they don’t want, RSS will start to look like a (pardon the old expression) “no brainer”.
RSS = SPAM-FREE
This may be the “tipping point” that triggers the general masses toward RSS.
Yes, spam is annoying… it takes time to delete… it contains inappropriate messages which make parents steaming mad… and it is the constant burden of corporations and email providers.
Especially due to the last reason, email will not be free forever. You may not have to pay if you send just a few emails to your friends and family each month but if your sending out a significant number of messages… you will pay.
This will be the email manager’s final attempt at curbing the clever spammer.
In fact, email providers are already debating and tweaking a platform similar to cell phone companies where you will have a sending quota.
This will only push spamming into a “higher” art form and challenge the surprisingly intelligent geeks behind this modern phenomenon to new technical heights.
All of this will only serve to highlight the value of RSS even more and compel the average folks into opening up a Google Reader account or using the one they goofed around with more often.
However, before RSS eliminates email as we know it, a few things have to happen…
We will cover this in Part 2 of “Why RSS May Be The Email Killer”.
Author: Peter Lenkefi publishes social media marketing and blog promotion tips at Web2Center.com.
Create Professional RSS Feeds
11 2007 Thursday
29
By Sharon Housley in RSS
More and more companies are using RSS as a means to communicate, so having an RSS feed that is professional and well polished will help differentiate your company from your competition. What makes an RSS feed professional? Follow these simple steps to polish your RSS feed and take it to the next level…
1. Feed Image
Add an image to your RSS feed. The image will be displayed by many feed readers each time your feed is displayed. This will help build and reinforce your brand or image in the minds of people who read your RSS feed. Adding an image to an RSS feed is relatively easy, and adds a level of professionalism.2. Images And Links
Add images and links within the RSS feed. The process of adding images and links to the description field of an RSS feed is really quite simple if you are using software to manage your feed, while it may be somewhat complex if you are hand-coding your feed. Incorporating images or hot links in the feed’s content will allow your readers to explore further and dig deeper into your content. The added benefit, of course, are the additional web links back to your site from any sites that choose to syndicate or display your feed’s contents.3. Validate
Properly formed code is important, in order to ensure that all RSS readers can read and display your feed. But it is also very important for another reason… nothing is more embarrassing or unprofessional than an RSS feed that is broken or stops working. Use software to manage your feed creation, and validate your feed on a regular basis.4. Easy To Subscribe
Make your RSS feed easy to subscribe to. Include the traditional RSS icon, or an indicator site-wide, so that website visitors can easily locate and subscribe to your RSS feeds. Include basic directions on how website visitors should subscribe to your RSS feed.5. Auto Discovery
Add “auto-discovery” code to the HTML header of your website. Many RSS aggregators include an auto-discovery feature, which allows them to automatically detect when a website offers an RSS feed. So, if your website visitors are using one of those aggregators, they will instantly know that an RSS feed for your content is available from your website.Instantly create auto discovery code – http://www.feedforall.com/autodiscovery.htm
6. Favicon
Add a “favicon” to your website. Favicons (short for “favorite icons”) are typically a tiny version of a company or Web site’s logo, and appear in the URL bar of the user’s web browser. When a user bookmarks a specific Web page that includes a favicon, that Web page loads the customized icon into the user’s browser. Because the favicon is usually displayed next to the web site address, it can act like a small logo or an icon that visitors can use to remember the web site or the site address. Feed directories and RSS Search Engines will often use a favicon beside an RSS feed’s listings. So be sure that you have one on your website; otherwise, you’ll have nothing but a generic icon beside your feed. Webmasters can establish branding by creating a favicon for their website. Here is a free service from HTMLKit: http://www.html-kit.com/favicon7. Subscribe To Your Own Feed
Always subscribe to your RSS feed, so you can see what your website visitors are seeing.While it is not essential to incorporate the above elements in your RSS feed, the additions will result in a more professional and polished RSS feed that stands apart from competitors in news aggregators and RSS directories. Spending a few extra minutes here could easily draw more attention to your feed.
Author: Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.
RSS Publishing – Is It A Replacement For Email Marketing?
11 2007 Wednesday
28
By Heris Yunora in RSS
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) has been referred to as a “pull” technology rather than a “push” technology. Similar with autoresponder, this technology allows people to keep up-to-date with new information without having to visit the site that provides the information every day. However, the capabilities of RSS technology have made many people believe that RSS publishing will replace email marketing.
Nowadays, people have realized the importance of using spam filter to catch spam emails. Thus you need to think about avoiding your email messages from getting caught by spam filtering software. With RSS, there is no risk that your messages will end up in spam folders. RSS is a much less intrusive way to communicate with potential or existing clients and customers.
RSS can help you drive traffic to your website too. This is done by submitting your feed information to RSS directories and search engines. Moreover, some webmasters might use your RSS feed to provide dynamic contents on their websites. Allowing others to publish your contents will drive more visitors to your website.
Without RSS, if a webmaster find your article and wanted to display it on his site, he would need to copy that article and integrate it into his template file. With RSS, this time consuming and tedious process can be eliminated. Publishing contents which are created by others can be performed automatically with software like Carp.
However, although RSS enables you to perform various marketing tasks which cannot be performed by using email, there are times where email marketing tools such as autoresponder come into play. It is arguable that email marketing will still be around for quite a long time. Even many successful marketers today still market their products on the internet by utilizing autoresponder.
Until today, autoresponder is still used for sending out follow up messages. This marketing tool allows you to personalize your messages with subscriber’s name and other personal data. Personalizing your autoresponder messages will most likely improve your response rate. Research has shown that personalized emails are opened more often, and people are generally more receptive to the contents of the email message. Although possible, it is still uncommon to perform such activity with the ordinary RSS technology.
Many autoresponder services and software also enable you to setup a thank-you page easily that can be utilized to perform something likes displaying a One Time Offer to new subscribers. Thank-you page is a good place to recommend other similar products or services. There are many sales that have been made by using this marketing technique.
When someone places an order through your website, autoresponder enables you to immediately acknowledge the purchase. This email marketing tool also gives you chances to ’speak’ to him/her in the future. For instance, to let him know about other products that work well or similar with the one that he purchased. If you have a good relationship with your customers, they will be anticipating your new offers.
So far RSS has proven itself as becoming the preferred method of distributing news and information online. This technology has been widely used to deliver headlines, links or virtually any other piece of information to news readers. In addition, submitting RSS feeds to directories and search engines has become a popular way to drive more visitors.
In summary, there are times when RSS is a preferred method to perform particular tasks. On the other hand autoresponder is still an important marketing tool. Modern autoresponders provide various controls which are needed for marketing or sales applications. Although many marketers claim that email marketing is dead with the increasing of spam complaints, the reality is many companies, even the reputable ones, still use emails to perform various marketing tasks such as to develop a relationship with potential customers.
Author: Heris Yunora ImmediateReply.com – Tips to find a reliable automatic responder to perform permission based email marketing.
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