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Published on: January 29, 2007
In a world dominated by widespread Internet access and chronic information addiction, the number of websites that a person visits on a regular basis increases daily. At a certain point, this number becomes so impressive, that it is getting harder and harder to actually access all the websites that may present interest and quench a person's thirst for information. This is where RSS comes into action. By using RSS, web users have the possibility to see what has been published on each of their favorite sites without actually accessing those sites and, the other way round, companies can reach potential customers without them necessarily having to access those company websites. What Is RSS? RSS (which stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary) is a means of regularly extracting updated information from a website. An RSS file is a simple XML format text file containing the synthetic description of the content. You can deliver various data by integrating it in this format and you can gather data from multiple sources in this format. The sources are designated by the name "RSS feeds". Certain Web browsers can read RSS files directly, but you can also use specialized applications called "RSS readers" or "aggregators". Created by Netscape in 1999, RSS feeds were first used by news sites. They were sending news summaries and headlines to interested parties. There are many versions of RSS, of which version 0.90 is the first public version created, while version 2.0 is the latest one. Out of the versions created, the 0.91, 1.0 and 2.0 versions are the most popular ones. Version 0.91 impresses with its simplicity, and even if it has been outdated by version 2.0, it is still quite popular, as it is used for basic syndication. While version 1.0 is used for RDF-based applications or advanced RDF-specific module, version 2.0 is used for general purposes. Both 1.0 and 2.0 versions are characterized by a stable core and active module development. Why Use RSS? RSS is an open protocol for publishing information on the Web. Information that is placed on the web usually reaches its intended audience much faster than information that comes from other media. It would be safe to say that RSS marketing (placing the most important information in the form of RSS feeds for your audience to simply "reach out and grab it") is a sure means of converting visits on your site into profit. To make it short, RSS attracts money. Serious money if the job is done right. RSS feeds facilitate the communication between the publisher of a certain website and its readers. Typically, headlines, press releases, articles and promotions are published by means of RSS. Thanks to RSS readers, it is easy for individuals to quickly scan the information that is delivered to them via RSS feeds. By subscribing to RSS, web users are kept up-to-date with news that appear on the sites that they choose to track via RSS readers, without necessarily visiting them on a regular basis or subscribing to "Newsletters", and therefore decreasing the probability of receiving spam messages or even viruses. RSS marketing can put you ahead of your competition. The RSS feeds on your web site will give it more visibility on the web and will increase its chances of appearing in the topmost results in major search engines. RSS is a powerful SEO strategy. It brings about an increase in search engine ranking, in the amount of qualified traffic and, last but not least, in the conversion rate (visits vs. sales). |
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