The evolution in online publishing has made it really easy not only to post regular updates, but also to keep track of your favorite websites and blogs, without having to check each source individually. Thanks to RSS you can subscribe to specific content feeds and aggregate thе information in one place where it is available to be read at your convenience. By using feeds people also ensure their privacy because they don’t need to join each site’s email newsletter.
On the other hand, feeds enable both large and small website publishers to distribute their content. Thus, feeds have been viewed as part of the overall online marketing and promotional strategy. Thus, RSS proves to be another channel that should be included in traffic reports alongside of search and email.
What is RSS and where do you read your feed?
Feeds are also known as RSS which stands for 'Really Simple Syndication'. In essence, the feeds allow you to see when websites have added new content.
Once you choose to subscribe to a site, the feed (content) goes to your Feed Reader or a News Aggregator. This is a piece of software that checks the feeds and lets you read all new articles that have been added.
Today, there are more than 2,000 different feed reading applications, some of which are accessed using a browser, and some are downloadable applications. Amongst the most popular feed readers are Amphetadesk (Windows, Linux, Mac), FeedReader (Windows), and NewsGator (Windows - integrates with Outlook), as well as web-based Google Reader, My Yahoo, and Bloglines.
So, the question is why should you have RSS feed on your blog? How can RSS be used as a marketing tool?
1. RSS is a content delivery channel for communicating with subscribers, customers, prospects and partners free from spam filters and blacklists. You can get all of your online content and marketing messages delivered to your audience.
2. RSS feed surely drive fresh traffic to your website and also increase your natural search engine rankings.
3. RSS is a strong advertising channel that can generate advertising income for you.
4. RSS can serve as a brand development tool and a sales platform for your own products.
5. RSS can be used to increase your sales by sending your subscribers new and special offers, updates and products that may be of interest for them, and develop profitable customer relationships.
6. With the help of RSS feed you can get your content published on other sites, generating more visitors and exposure for your business.
In conclusion, RSS is a promotional and visibility tool which help you increase your traffic by improving your search engine rankings, generating traffic from new RSS specific sites and getting your content published on other sites. Each of these activities brings new visitors to your site. In addition, improved visibility enforces your brand and generates more credibility for your company.
Stay tuned. The next installment will touch on the different ways to gain RSS subscribers.