Here are other options on the webfor RSS feeds that are
integrated within social networking sites. Facebook, for example, has
it's own version of that that with a news page that puts in all kinds of
information on what people in your circle of friends are doing online.
This can be exploited to post links to your site, talk about your latest
venture, and generally hog the limelight. So, while the majority of
people are referring to RSS feeds when they talk about news feeds, there
are other ways that term is used in different social networking sites.
As we discussed earlier, the two ways of using RSS feeds is to get subscribers or to use them to provide fresh content to your site. The first way involves an action that has to be taken by the person visiting your site. It isn't something automatic, so that you have encourage people visiting your site to subscribe. Since the mechanics of RSS feeds are still not that well known by the average Internet user, you have to educate your visitors to how to get the latest content using your RSS feeds. The truth is that they may actually be using a news outlet like Yahoo! but not even realize that the content is coming through an RSS feed. So, to get subscribers you must first educate them to what's available.
Educate
You don't have to get too technical about it, but you do want to give them a brief overview of why they want to become a subscriber to your RSS feed. They can get updates more quickly and be notified of when new content is up on the site. They can even set up email to receive it in a format that is easy for them to access. However, you have to educate them on how to do that, otherwise, they will take the path of least resistance, which is to ignore your RSS feed.
Create Buttons
There are a number of ways to make it easy for them to sign up. You can provide buttons for numerous news reader outlets, like Yahoo! Or Bloglines. You will have to get the URL for your news feed and use that to create a button that allows people who are familiar with these larger online news feeds to subscribe to your content. For that you have to have the RSS feed module installed and have it available. It will typically look like this: [http://yoursitename/feed] . Some places like Wordpress automatically install RSS feeds and you can use the address provided to create those subscriber buttons.
Offer A Targetedbie With Your Feed
If you're still having problems getting subscribers, try offering a small targetedbie to get them to sign up. It can be a report of some fantastic tips to save or make money, or it can be a targeted video download. Try to make it something you can deliver instantaneously over the web with autoresponders. That makes this feature very easy. Of course, realize that they may sign up and get your product and leave easily too. So, you want to continue to provide content that will keep them interested and subscribed.
Package Your Own RSS feed
If you have various websites and content and you want to get the word out fast with minimal duplication, you want to package your own RSS feed and promote that with other website owners. You will want to split up your content by categories that others may want to subscribe to. You wouldn't put any recipes on a site you have along with how to get hired on another site, even if they are both blog posts. You have to be clear that whatever you package in the RSS feed package is one topic or focal point of interest for specific news outlets. A way to do that is to separate the categories into feeds for the mainstream media, a feed for your customers, some for potential customers, and even your competition. Or, you can split up the feeds into discrete industries that you can market to specific news outlets.
Promote It To Various Outlets
After you've packaged your own feed, you want to make sure it is available for others to use. Whether that is by agreement to purchase the feed or whether you merely post it on website newsreaders, it's up to you. You can submit your feeds to search engines and directories, just like they were their own pages. They are actually web pages, but they are in XML format which needs the newsreader to decipher and read. Once you're syndicated on a variety of other sites, traffic will pour in non-stop as long as you keep providing content.
Featured Aggregators
To view the RSS feeds, people use aggregators. Some are programs you add to your browser or install on your desktop. Others are websites that allow you to set up an account and use them to read news feeds. Some you can even integrate into you email to get RSS feeds through email format. It doesn't matter what you use, but here are a few that you can find online that you can check out.
My.Yahoo.com
This is a great way to see how easy it is to use an RSS reader through a website. Many people set up a page here and have no clue they are actually using an RSS reader because it's not that technical. You just search for categories of news that area available as RSS feeds and then choose to see them. They put in all the headlines in the various choices you made and you can easily check multiple sites and headlines in the category that you want.
Newsgator.com
This aggregator works with Microsoft Outlook. The Newsgator Online RSS feed is a software package that is targeted to download and use on your desktop. The Newsgator database claims over 1.5 million feeds available. There is even a mobile version available for cell phones.
Yahoo Pipes
This aggregator helps you compile RSS feeds from other RSS feeds. You have the option to search for feeds, combine them any way you like, even filter them, and this is called a pipe. This pipe can then be outputted as another RSS feed that you can use to deliver fresh content to your readers. They have a list of hot pipes that you can see and the ability to put widgets on your website pointing to the pipes you create. You can even geocode the pipe and see it displayed on a map.
Bloglines
This is a popular feed reader that is online. It has a social networking flavor in that you can share your favorite feeds with your friends. You can also set up your blog roll on an external blog using the bloglines news subscriptions you've selected. If you have multiple blogs, this is a great way to update the blog roll in one place and see it updated everywhere you inserted that code.
As we discussed earlier, the two ways of using RSS feeds is to get subscribers or to use them to provide fresh content to your site. The first way involves an action that has to be taken by the person visiting your site. It isn't something automatic, so that you have encourage people visiting your site to subscribe. Since the mechanics of RSS feeds are still not that well known by the average Internet user, you have to educate your visitors to how to get the latest content using your RSS feeds. The truth is that they may actually be using a news outlet like Yahoo! but not even realize that the content is coming through an RSS feed. So, to get subscribers you must first educate them to what's available.
Educate
You don't have to get too technical about it, but you do want to give them a brief overview of why they want to become a subscriber to your RSS feed. They can get updates more quickly and be notified of when new content is up on the site. They can even set up email to receive it in a format that is easy for them to access. However, you have to educate them on how to do that, otherwise, they will take the path of least resistance, which is to ignore your RSS feed.
Create Buttons
There are a number of ways to make it easy for them to sign up. You can provide buttons for numerous news reader outlets, like Yahoo! Or Bloglines. You will have to get the URL for your news feed and use that to create a button that allows people who are familiar with these larger online news feeds to subscribe to your content. For that you have to have the RSS feed module installed and have it available. It will typically look like this: [http://yoursitename/feed] . Some places like Wordpress automatically install RSS feeds and you can use the address provided to create those subscriber buttons.
Offer A Targetedbie With Your Feed
If you're still having problems getting subscribers, try offering a small targetedbie to get them to sign up. It can be a report of some fantastic tips to save or make money, or it can be a targeted video download. Try to make it something you can deliver instantaneously over the web with autoresponders. That makes this feature very easy. Of course, realize that they may sign up and get your product and leave easily too. So, you want to continue to provide content that will keep them interested and subscribed.
Package Your Own RSS feed
If you have various websites and content and you want to get the word out fast with minimal duplication, you want to package your own RSS feed and promote that with other website owners. You will want to split up your content by categories that others may want to subscribe to. You wouldn't put any recipes on a site you have along with how to get hired on another site, even if they are both blog posts. You have to be clear that whatever you package in the RSS feed package is one topic or focal point of interest for specific news outlets. A way to do that is to separate the categories into feeds for the mainstream media, a feed for your customers, some for potential customers, and even your competition. Or, you can split up the feeds into discrete industries that you can market to specific news outlets.
Promote It To Various Outlets
After you've packaged your own feed, you want to make sure it is available for others to use. Whether that is by agreement to purchase the feed or whether you merely post it on website newsreaders, it's up to you. You can submit your feeds to search engines and directories, just like they were their own pages. They are actually web pages, but they are in XML format which needs the newsreader to decipher and read. Once you're syndicated on a variety of other sites, traffic will pour in non-stop as long as you keep providing content.
Featured Aggregators
To view the RSS feeds, people use aggregators. Some are programs you add to your browser or install on your desktop. Others are websites that allow you to set up an account and use them to read news feeds. Some you can even integrate into you email to get RSS feeds through email format. It doesn't matter what you use, but here are a few that you can find online that you can check out.
My.Yahoo.com
This is a great way to see how easy it is to use an RSS reader through a website. Many people set up a page here and have no clue they are actually using an RSS reader because it's not that technical. You just search for categories of news that area available as RSS feeds and then choose to see them. They put in all the headlines in the various choices you made and you can easily check multiple sites and headlines in the category that you want.
Newsgator.com
This aggregator works with Microsoft Outlook. The Newsgator Online RSS feed is a software package that is targeted to download and use on your desktop. The Newsgator database claims over 1.5 million feeds available. There is even a mobile version available for cell phones.
Yahoo Pipes
This aggregator helps you compile RSS feeds from other RSS feeds. You have the option to search for feeds, combine them any way you like, even filter them, and this is called a pipe. This pipe can then be outputted as another RSS feed that you can use to deliver fresh content to your readers. They have a list of hot pipes that you can see and the ability to put widgets on your website pointing to the pipes you create. You can even geocode the pipe and see it displayed on a map.
Bloglines
This is a popular feed reader that is online. It has a social networking flavor in that you can share your favorite feeds with your friends. You can also set up your blog roll on an external blog using the bloglines news subscriptions you've selected. If you have multiple blogs, this is a great way to update the blog roll in one place and see it updated everywhere you inserted that code.
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