Chasing The Spider!
Simple RSS Tactics That Can Give Your Site The Edge.
(Why it's Strategically Important for any online concern to
keep your eye on the RSS Wildcard in the coming months.
Don't underestimate the potential of this new way of moving
content around the web. This one could deliver big returns.
Is your site ready for RSS?)
Moving Closer To The Spider
A little while back, the Internet changed. The change
was very subtle. Most people missed it.
There was a slight shift in the way information is
exchanged on the web. No great momentous event,
just a little sideways flex.
It all had to do with RSS Really Simple Syndication.
RSS allows you to directly deliver your content to all
interested parties... don't come to us; we will deliver
the information to you or your website.
It syndicates your content. In a nutshell; it's simply
a more efficient way to get your content 'out there'.
RSS has been around for awhile but it really didn't catch
on when users had to use RSS readers or aggregators but with
the increasing popularity of MyYahoo, the Firefox Browser
and Blogging...RSS is becoming: more popular, more accessible
and more mainstream.
Recent developments such as the introduction of an RSS
(live bookmark) feature in the Firefox Browser is just
one application of RSS you should be using. Make sure you
use Benefit Laden Headlines and an eye catching favicon to
attact your subscriber's attention. You can extend your site's
reach by taking advantage of Firefox's RSS live bookmarks.
MyYahoo also has an RSS feature where members can access
different RSS feeds that interest them. Make sure you have
the 'AddToMyYahoo' or 'XML' button on your site. Each time a
subscriber opens their MyYahoo site - your RSS Feed will be updated.
You can also add 'MyMsn' and 'Bloglines' buttons on your site.
Plus others give your visitors every opportunity to subscribe
to your RSS Feed or Blog.
It goes without mentioning, your site must have a blog(s)
and an RSS Feed(s) to take full advantage of these new
applications.
For these are just a few applications of RSS; many more are
coming. Especially now with the increased popularity
in Blogs and Blogging; some major players are making
their moves.
Have you wondered why Google has been sniffing around Firefox
recently...hiring Ben Goodger, FireFox's lead engineer...
could it have to do with this RSS feature???
Recent moves by MSN must have
Google concerned if not worried! Especially now that MSN
has come out with their Beta Program using RSS in their search.
You can now place RSS search results directly on your website. It
can enrich your site with daily updated content.
And it's quite simple to use; just add "&formatrss" at the end of the
URL in your MSN search engine query. For example, to get an RSS Feed for
'tsunami relief' you would use this url:
http://beta.search.msn.com/results.aspx?qtsunami+relief&formatrss
In Yahoo the URL would be slightly different:
http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/rss?ptsunami+relief&eiUTF-8&fl0&xwrt
Of course, you can change 'tsunami+relief' with the keyword or phrase of
your choice to suit your website's content.
That's MSN and Yahoo, but what about Google?
The real big Question: What will Google do with RSS?
How will they use it?
The key may lie in Tags!
Tags is another application of RSS/Blog you should be
preparing your site for.
Tags have hit the radar lately because Technorati, which
indexes 4.5 million blogs, started sorting blog posts by
using tags.
They have created a folksonomy, drawing tags from
different sources, mainly Flickr.com which sorts or
groups pictures and from del.icio.us where you
create a tag when you bookmark a page.
Or if your blogging software supports categories this will
be recognized by Technorati as a tag.
If you want to create a 'tag' it's very simple; just place
this code in your blog:
Computers (remove asterisks in actual code)
and you will have created a tag for computers.
These are really keywords for blogs and you should take advantage
of them to bring targeted traffic to your site or blog.
Webpages can even be designed around these tags and RSS Feeds.
Directly deliver or pull all this content onto an RSS Supersite.
Say you have a website on 'notebook computers'!
You could pull RSS Feeds on all the different brands, all the product
review materials, all the company information or updates, etc.
and build a content rich RSS Supersite.
You could even compile this Supersite into an RSS Feed and
deliver it to all your interested prospects. Might make a
very effective marketing system!
Information runs the net, RSS Feeds is now the most efficient
way to deliver that information. It's the nature of the beast;
blogs and RSS Feeds are more 'on topic' than webpages. They
deliver highly concentrated 100 proof content.
They're closer to the spider!
You get your content without the graphics, add-ons,
website follies...it's closer to the heart of the matter.
RSS delivers pure content. It's original acronym stood
for rich site summary. Give me what the spider
sees and leave the frills behind!
Right now, webmasters can, for lack of a better word
'turbo-charge' their sites with these RSS Feeds. You can
add daily updated targeted content for your site.
Should make any decent SEO smile.
Right now, webmasters should be positioning their sites
for RSS. Those who jump first will get a leg up on their
competition to say the least. For any online business,
a strategic tactic or move should be considering or
planning their RSS strategies at this moment. Get your
site into position.
For the MSN example is just one application of RSS that's
coming into view.
But watch out... this gorilla is just hitting the fan...
on the horizon there are endless streams of applications
for RSS. Keep your eye on the cursor... don't let RSS get
too far from your radar.
The one who figures out the real potential of RSS
will be 'King of the Hill' for a little while until
something else comes along.
Titus Hoskins Copyright © 2005
About the Author
Copyright © 2005 Titus Hoskins of bizwaremagic.com.
This article may be freely distributed if this resource
box stays attached. Visit www.bizwaremagic.com
for more simple solutions to your online marketing tasks.