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Create Professional RSS Feeds

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/favicon

7. 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?

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.

Understanding RSS and Its Effect On Viral Marketing

By Seomul Davis in RSS

Viral marketing is one of the most creative ways of promoting a business. It can work wonders for any business although there are certain principles that play a lead role in making viral marketing for business websites so effective. Different businesses use different techniques while applying viral marketing to enhance their visibility and here are some of the best and time-proven techniques that can help your business too.

One way is to create content and share it with other publishers. RSS makes the transfer of content a lot more simple and hassle free. With this ease in sharing content make sure you have a signature in your content so that your link spreads online virally as well to boost your link popularity.

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and it is one of the most valuable technologies available for webmasters, administrators and users. In spite of RSS being such a valuable technology only 12% of users know what RSS is while only 4% have used RSS. So let us try and understand what RSS really is and how it can help you or your business.

RSS is a type of feed that internet users can subscribe to. RSS feeds are updated on a regular basis and mostly distributed in XML format. This helps in creating custom tags. There are quite a few websites which show the RSS logo in orange and, if you click on the icon, you will get connected to the website’s feed.

As far as the content contained in a RSS feed is concerned, it depends largely on the feed that you might be viewing. Most of the RSS feeds consist of a title and a brief portion from the article. RSS is becoming overtly popular with bloggers because in this the headline format comes in automatically.

There are many reasons why bloggers and even regular users are choosing RSS. One of the primary reasons being that using RSS can save time especially on an everyday basis. Let us take an example to understand how it saves time. If you are a technical expert and you visit at least 6 websites on a daily basis to collect information then you probably open each website on a separate browser to look for news items. So in a way, you are visiting them one by one as you can’t see all of them together.

On the other hand, if you have RSS, then all you need to do is visit a RSS feed reader or a RSS aggregator and this will help you to instantly identify the websites that have added new articles and these websites will be separated from the ones that don’t. Another salient point is that you can see all the past entries using RSS.

If you are visiting only one website but on a regular basis, then there are times when you will miss a new article added on the website on one of those days when you didn’t visit the website. This is where the RSS fits perfectly. Let us for once imagine that there are 20 websites for which you want to keep tabs then RSS will prove to be truly indispensable.

In order to use the RSS, you will first have to find a feed that you can use. If you are using Mozilla’s Firefox then you will be able to find out with ease if a particular website has an accessible feed or not. You don’t even have to go through the entire webpage looking for an RSS icon. When you open a website using Firefox, you will see an orange icon on the right side of the navigation/URL bar. If you see the icon, then it means that the website has RSS feed.

Click on the orange RSS icon in your Firefox browser and it will ask you where you would like to save the feed. Firefox treats RSS feeds as live bookmarks. Once you have saved the feed, go to the particular folder. The folder will have an expand arrow and you can click on the arrow so that it can show all the new entries that has been added on the website in an ascending order with the latest entry on the top.

There are times when your browser may not find a particular website’s feed as not all of them have RSS feeds. This is where you will have to search through the web pages to find any items related to feed. There are some websites that have FeedBurner feed, which normally displays the current feed subscribers for that website. If you find a FeedBurner feed icon then click on it and copy the location of the link.

This is the basic information regarding RSS feeds for all those who want to use it to their benefit personally or for viral marketing purposes.

Author:  Seomul Davis is a SEO Services expert with SEO 1 Services a Dallas based search engine optimization company (http://www.seo-1-marketing-services.com) and a frequent contributor on http://www.seo-services-expert.com

Blogs and RSS Feeds

By James Murray in RSS

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a tool useful for saving or retaining updated information on websites that you frequently visit or websites that are your favorite. RSS utilizes an XML code which scans continuously the content or subject matter of a certain website in search for new informations then transmits the information updates by way of feeding the information to subscribers.

RSS feeds are generally being utilized in blogs or news sites, though any website wanting to broadcast and publish information can use them. Once new information is sent, it will contain a headline, a little bit of text, and either a rundown or a brief review of the news or story. A link is needed be clicked upon to read further.

So as to accept RSS feeds, a feed reader is needed, called an aggregator. Aggregators are widely and freely available online, and all that is needed is a bit of searching, you will be able to locate a certain interface that best interest you. What’s more, RSS feeds can likewise be read and retrieved from cell phones and on PDAs.

Once you encounter upon a website that you want to add or insert to the aggregator, the process can be done in two ways. Almost all sites offering an RSS feed displays an “RSS” or “XML” button in their homepage and with one click, it promptly add that particular feed to one’s aggregator. Some aggregator however, requires the need to copy and then paste the URL of the feed unto the program.

Whatever the method used, you can be certain that the feed will be accessible soon as you have inserted it, likewise, in just seconds, the next update can arrive. In the event that you do not anymore would want to accept or take in updates, you may simply delete or erase the feed from the aggregator.

Through e-mail subscriptions, you can receive newsletters. RSS feeds on the other hand, can be more convenient in keeping up with newsletter updates since they are prompt and available in an instant; you no longer have to wait for a scheduled time or day to obtain a news summary, plus, these news will never be detained through a spam filter. RSS feeds are widely used everyday by individuals who understand and appreciate the accessibility of fast reports and news that can be readily read and only read certain updates that appeals to them.

Aggregators

Aggregators are popular use of feeds, having several kinds. Web aggregators or portals as they are sometimes called, create this view which is then made available in a Web page. Also, Aggregators have been incorporated into e-mail patrons, users of desktops, or dedicated and standalone software.

Offering a collection of special features, such as combining more than a few related feeds in just a single view, hiding certain entries or statements that has been already viewed, and classifying entries and feeds, the aggregator is a versatile component.

Why make a feed available?

You will have more viewers, since now, your viewers can conveniently see your site without even going out and looking for that certain site. While at first, it may seem corrupt, it will in fact enhance the visibility of your site; this is so because users can easily keep up or keep tract with your site, to allow them to view in a way that they want to; it’s more probable that guests are aware should something that is in their interest is available or accessible on your site.

For instance, every month your website broadcasts a new feature. Having no feed, your viewers will always have to keep in mind to go to your site in a certain time to see if they discover something new; that is, if they can remember, and if they still have the time. However, if you supply a feed for your viewers, they can just point to their aggregator and it will instantly provide them a link along with a description of happenings or events at your site immediately.

What format to choose?

Syndication is very confusing as it uses a lot of formats that can usually be come across in the web. However, this can easily be solved as in general, syndicated libraries are used by aggregators which conceptualize a particular format that a feed is in, in order that they can utilize a certain syndication feed.

With this, whatever format to pick is just a matter of personal preference. RSS 1.0 is far reaching, and practical should it be integrated into Semantic Web systems. RSS 2.0 is very easy and simple create by hand. And atom is an IETF Standard, does it brings constancy, stability and a natural and accepted community to support its usage.

Checkout Great Blog and RSS products at http://www.atclickbank.com

Author:   James Murray is a successful writer and online gambling expert providing valuable tips and advice for those interested in gambling and online gambling strategies. His numerous articles found on the Internet ,provide useful and factual gambling information and insight. Some of his websites are http://www.casinospokerrooms.com , http://www.bingosbingos.com , http://www.top-sportsbook.ca.

Really Simple Syndication (RSS for Blogs)

By Sean Felker in RSS

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a tool useful for saving or retaining updated information on websites that you frequently visit or websites that are your favorite.

RSS utilizes an XML code which scans continuously the content or subject matter of a certain website in search for new informations then transmits the information updates by way of feeding the information to subscribers.

RSS feeds are generally being utilized in blogs or news sites, though any website wanting to broadcast and publish information can use them. Once new information is sent, it will contain a headline, a little bit of text, and either a rundown or a brief review of the news or story. A link is needed be clicked upon to read further.

So as to accept RSS feeds, a feed reader is needed, called an aggregator. Aggregators are widely and freely available online, and all that is needed is a bit of searching, you will be able to locate a certain interface that best interest you. What’s more, RSS feeds can likewise be read and retrieved from cell phones and on PDAs.

Once you encounter upon a website that you want to add or insert to the aggregator, the process can be done in two ways. Almost all sites offering an RSS feed displays an “RSS” or “XML” button in their homepage and with one click, it promptly add that particular feed to one’s aggregator. Some aggregator however, requires the need to copy and then paste the URL of the feed unto the program.

Whatever the method used, you can be certain that the feed will be accessible soon as you have inserted it, likewise, in just seconds, the next update can arrive. In the event that you do not anymore would want to accept or take in updates, you may simply delete or erase the feed from the aggregator.

Through e-mail subscriptions, you can receive newsletters. RSS feeds on the other hand, can be more convenient in keeping up with newsletter updates since they are prompt and available in an instant; you no longer have to wait for a scheduled time or day to obtain a news summary, plus, these news will never be detained through a spam filter.

RSS feeds are widely used everyday by individuals who understand and appreciate the accessibility of fast reports and news that can be readily read and only read certain updates that appeals to them.

Aggregators

Aggregators are popular use of feeds, having several kinds. Web aggregators or portals as they are sometimes called, create this view which is then made available in a Web page. Also, Aggregators have been incorporated into e-mail patrons, users of desktops, or dedicated and standalone software.

Offering a collection of special features, such as combining more than a few related feeds in just a single view, hiding certain entries or statements that has been already viewed, and classifying entries and feeds, the aggregator is a versatile component.

Why make a feed available?

You will have more viewers, since now, your viewers can conveniently see your site without even going out and looking for that certain site.

While at first, it may seem corrupt, it will in fact enhance the visibility of your site; this is so because users can easily keep up or keep tract with your site, to allow them to view in a way that they want to; it’s more probable that guests are aware should something that is in their interest is available or accessible on your site.

For instance, every month your website broadcasts a new feature. Having no feed, your viewers will always have to keep in mind to go to your site in a certain time to see if they discover something new; that is, if they can remember, and if they still have the time.

However, if you supply a feed for your viewers, they can just point to their aggregator and it will instantly provide them a link along with a description of happenings or events at your site immediately.

What format to choose?

Syndication is very confusing as it uses a lot of formats that can usually be come across in the web. However, this can easily be solved as in general, syndicated libraries are used by aggregators which conceptualize a particular format that a feed is in, in order that they can utilize a certain syndication feed.

With this, whatever format to pick is just a matter of personal preference. RSS 1.0 is far reaching, and practical should it be integrated into Semantic Web systems. RSS 2.0 is very easy and simple create by hand. And atom is an IETF Standard, does it brings constancy, stability and a natural and accepted community to support its usage.

Author:  Sean Felker is the publisher of the very popular and successful Work At Home and Making Money On The Internet: http://try-marketing.com/workathome/

RSS Feed Use in the Legal Field

By Sharon Housley in RSS

Lawyers have never been known as a technical bunch, but more and more often you see a lawyer with a palm pilot making appointments and a blackberry for those urgent messages. Electronic gadgets are now common in the courthouses across the US. Lawyers have increased productivity by utilizing technology so it should come as no surprise that lawyers are using RSS feeds as a means to grow and manage their practices.

Lawyers are using RSS feeds a number of different ways to increase efficiency and productivity. Common RSS feed usage in the legal field include:

1. Ego Feeds
First and foremost, lawyers want to know what is being said about their firm. It is easy enough to monitor search engines and news searches using RSS. Lawyers create what is commonly referred to as “ego searches”. These are essentially keyword searches (the keyword is the firm or lawyer’s name). Each time the keyword appears in the news article or search engine a new item will appear in the feed. Lawyers can click through and view the source of the mention.

2. Current Events
Similar to ego feeds, lawyers use RSS to track current events that are related to cases in which they are involved. This might involve monitoring specific news agencies or topics.

Ego Search Tools – http://www.rss-tools.com/ego-search-feeds.htm

3. Firm Public Relations
Won a big case, what better way to convey it than sending a press release? Naturally, this release should also appear in an RSS feed.to help increase the distribution and reach of the press release. RSS can also be used by large firms to announce press conferences at the culmination of a case.

Law.com – http://www.law.com/service/rss.shtml

4. Court Cases
RSS can be used to monitor pending court cases, and rulings that might effect a specific segment of law.

RSSGov – http://www.rssgov.com/archives/000036.html

5. Pending Legislation
Lawyers can use RSS to monitor legislation that relates to specific cases or topics. Lobbyists can monitor votes of politicians and follow their positions on important issues.

GovTrack – http://www.govtrack.us/

6. Client News
Ego feeds can also be used to monitor the word on the street about a client. Whether the client is facing a criminal trial or a civil case, the press can undoubtedly influence a trial. Monitoring the press for mentions help lawyers prepare the best possible defense or prosecution.

Ego Search – http://www.feedforall.com/ego-searches.htm

7. Legal Calenders
Industry events can be followed using RSS feeds. Legal conferences and events can be traced on public RSS calenders.

Law School Calender – http://www.law.uoregon.edu/cal/events/index.php?com=rss

8. Share Research Tools
Lawyers can use social bookmarking tools and RSS feeds to share web research resources with colleagues. This can reduce the amount of time spent researching issues.

del.icio.us – http://del.icio.us

9. Legal Employment
Job feeds are increasing in popularity in all industries. Lawyers in search of employment openings can subscribe to RSS feeds and learn about new employment opportunities as they become available.

4 Legal Jobs – http://www.4legaljobs.com/show_content.php?id=1144741774

10. Court Rulings
Many courts are now publishing court rulings in RSS feeds, making them available to the general public.

Court Rulings – http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/subscribe.html

11. Court of Appeals
Appeals courts are also adopting RSS feeds to allow interested parties to monitor decisions coming out of the court of appeals.

US Courts – http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/fdocs/docs.fwx?submit=rss_ops

12. Legal Organizations
The American Bar Association has an RSS feed and podcast that discusses litigation. Lawyers can use RSS feeds to stay connected to industry information.

American Bar Association – http://www.abanet.org/litigation/litigationfeed.xml

13. Continuation Education
Many legal courses have podcasts available, and lawyers interested in expanding their education on a specific segment of the law can listen to audio podcasts or subscribe to video podcast lectures.

Education Feeds – http://www.educational-feeds.com

14. Legal Blogs
Many lawyers have expanded their practices by setting up a blog offering legal advice. Often the contents of the blog are syndicated using RSS feeds.

Law Professors – http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/antitrustprof_blog/

15. Cease and Desist
There is even an RSS feed that contains Cease and Desist Letters. As cease and desist letters are added, clinical law students can annotate them with questions and answers.

Chilling Effects – http://www.chillingeffects.org/index.xml

Lawyers have begun using RSS to stay ahead and adapt to the needs of their clients. Members of the legal profession are using RSS in very specific ways. RSS is more than simply a communication medium to lawyers, it is helping them filter information that is relevant to their practice and case load. Through RSS they are able to gain access to relevant information in a timely fashion.

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.