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RSS, XML And Feed Readers? Huh? Help! 
By Reba Collins (c) 2005

Have you seen them yet? The little orange graphics that say XML
or RSS? Have you ever wondered what the heck they are? Yeah, me
too. And, being as curious as a cat, I had to find out!

It wasn't hard to get most of the info I needed. All I did was
search for RSS at Google and a ton of resources came up. RSS
stands for Really Simple Syndication. Hmmm...really simple?
Yeah, it really is pretty simple and it makes keeping up with
news, sports, entertainment and business, well...really simple.

Basically, what happens is, say you read the Wall Street
Journal, CNN and ESPN everyday. You also read a couple of
business newsletters weekly or when they get delivered to your
email inbox and you read your niece's blog (short for weblog
[web-log]) that gets updated 'whenever'. Okay, so you go to
each of the websites each day and do your thing, right? Well,
if those sites offer an RSS Feed (which they do - look for the
little orange RSS or XML graphic) then you can have their
content or articles sent directly to your computer. No more
going through multiple websites, it's all delivered to you in
an RSS Reader right on your computer. And oh, there are also
web based readers as well, you just choose the one you prefer.

Now, what's so great about that? Well, let's take a one of my
websites, http://www.GiftBasketWholesaleSupply.com, as an
example. Let's say you set up all your news sites, newsletters
and blogs so you can read them in your RSS Reader and then you
find out that Gift Basket Wholesale Supply has a blog that's
updated whenever new items are posted to the site. AND...that
blog has an RSS Feed...voila!, you add Gift Basket Wholesale
Supply's RSS Feed to your RSS Reader and you don't have to
worry about checking the site for new merchandise ever again.
Now, you're notified AUTOMATICALLY by way of a posting to their
blog that is delivered to your RSS Reader. Isn't that wonderful?
How many of your suppliers offer this service? Well, if I were
you, I'd find out because your life could get a whole lot
easier! And what's so great about an RSS Feed is you don't have
to deal with any spam, you only get the content you ASK for!
Cool, huh?

Okay, so now what are you supposed to do? You want to start
reading your news and business reports in an RSS reader but you
don't know what to do or how to get started. Well, I did the
research...I found THE BEST resource for you to use to get
started. It's CNET, a wonderful techie site that takes techie
info and breaks it down for the rest of us. There's a page that
explains RSS, and there's a great video as well. You'll also
find links and reviews to all the different readers (be
careful, some are free, some are not). You've gotta go there
and check it out, here are direct links to both the pages
mentioned.

How To Read RSS Feeds:
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10088_7-5143460.html?tag=nav

RSS: Feel The Need For Feeds? Video (you'll have to wait a
second while the video downloads):
http://www.cnet.com/av/video/flash/rss_tutorial.html?tag=video

And lastly, I want to tell you what I use to read my RSS Feeds.

First, the desktop RSS Reader I use is called FeedReader. It's
very similar to an email program and even makes the same
tah-dah sound that Outlook Express makes for a new email when a
feed is updated. The best thing is...it's free, all you have to
do is download and install it. Here's the link:

http://www.feedreader.com

Second, I also like to use MyYahoo. To use MyYahoo, you just
have to sign up for an account at Yahoo.com, it's free. Most
people already have one anyway. If you use Yahoo Mail or
participate in Yahoo Groups, you already have an account. Just
go to Yahoo.com, be sure you're signed in and click the MyYahoo
button at the very top of the page.

MyYahoo will let you customize your page and pulls only the
information you want to read. To add an RSS Feed, click on the
Add Content link, when you get to the next page click on the
'Add RSS by URL' link that's right next to the 'Find' button.
On the resulting page you can enter the RSS Feed URL. (Don't
worry, the video mentioned above will tell you how to get the
feed URL, remember, there's a link above to CNET's video). It's
that simple!

Lastly, there is one other RSS Reader that I've heard great
things about, it's called FeedDemon. CNet has it as one of its
top rated readers and I've talked with a few friends that say
they couldn't live without it. I guess, it's worth looking at,
huh? Here's the link:

http://www.feeddemon.com/

So, I hope now you're as curious as I was about RSS! Believe
me, it's the way you'll be handling all the internet content
you read on a regular basis, so go get started now and get a
jump on your friends!

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Reba Collins has been making a living online for the last 7 years.
Visit her site at http://www.workingathomeinfo4moms.com to find
ideas, articles, & discussion on how to make a living online.
Reba's other sites ~ Gift Basket Wholesale Supply at
http://www.giftbasketwholesalesupply.com & Putting Up The For
Sale Sign at http://www.puttinguptheforsalesign.com .
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