RSS will take over e-zines when Microsoft bundles RSS reader into Windows. So, why don't you prepare for it right now?
Basics
RSSing is simple. First, make regular web pages you want to RSS. Then, make a list of the pages you made by following the specification of RSS . That file is called "RSS feed," and that's what you need for RSSing. Once you add a link pointing to the RSS feed file from where you are promoting your RSS, you are ready to rock 'n' roll. I haven't found any official rule, but using an icon of white letters with an appropriate file extension (e.g., XML or RDF) on an orange rectangular is the standard.
Tweaking
An RSS-feed-file-pointing link works perfect on RSS-reading software, but it doesn't work on web-based RSS readers such as My Yahoo!. For a web-based RSS reader, you may want to add one-click-subscription links, like an "Add to My Yahoo!" link. Here are some examples of add-to links.
Google:
http://fusion.google.com/add?feedurl=http://YourFeedURL (Details )
Yahoo:
http://add.my.yahoo.com/rss?url=http://YourFeedURL (Details )
MSN:
http://my.msn.com/addtomymsn.armx?id=rss&ut=http://YourFeedURL
Bloglines:
http://www.bloglines.com/sub/http://YourFeedURL
newsgator:
http://www.newsgator.com/ngs/subscriber/subext.aspx?url=http://YourFeedURL
(Replace "YourFeedURL" with the actual URL of your RSS feed file.)
I would, however, only add links for Yahoo! and MSN (and Google, when they start providing the service). If you were to add links for all the available web-based RSS readers, your pages will be cluttered.
Live Bookmarks and Auto-Discovery
Two more things you need to know about RSSing is FireFox's Live Bookmarks and Yahoo! Toolbar's Auto-Discovery . Because more and more software is supporting these features, you should make your pages Live Bookmarks and Auto-Discovery compatible. To do so, just add the following anywhere to the head section of your pages' HTML code.
(Replace 'Your Title' and 'YouFeedURL' with yours.)
Showing posts with label Using RSS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Using RSS. Show all posts
Friday, April 20, 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Myths of Using RSS and blog
Using RSS or a blog makes Google and Yahoo crawl your site frequently. It's been a hot topic among webmasters. But, do you really need to use them?
Wrong Way
Search engines crawl RSS and blog frequently, because they want to provide up-to-the-minute content to their users. If you don't have frequently-updated content, there is no need for being crawled frequently. Don't confuse frequent crawling with good search result rankings. All the SEO professionals whom I trust say frequent crawling has nothing to do with search results.
Right Way
However, there are beneficial ways to use blogs and RSS. A recent survey shows that the number of blog readers are increasing sharply. So, blog readers can be a good source of traffic. Create a blog that interests human beings (not search engine crawlers) and attract lots of blog readers. Then, lead them to your site.
Unlike blog, RSS hasn't become a hit, but publishing interesting RSS feeds will attract RSS subscribers (and hence more traffic to your site). Also, RSS can be used for sharing content between websites. Like exchanging links, you can look for other sites that will publish your RSS feeds.
Special Note about Using RSS
The most notable aspect of RSS is that it will become more popular than e-mailed newsletter. To subscribe to an e-mail newsletter, people have to give strangers their e-mail address. But they don't need to give anyone any personal information to subscribe to RSS feeds. I know you want visitors' e-mail addresses, but what you want isn't what Internet users want.
Currently, not too many people are reading RSS feeds, because people have to install RSS-aware programs to view RSS feeds. However, once Microsoft bundles RSS-aware program into Windows, the number of RSS subscribers will dramatically increase. So, be prepared.
Wrong Way
Search engines crawl RSS and blog frequently, because they want to provide up-to-the-minute content to their users. If you don't have frequently-updated content, there is no need for being crawled frequently. Don't confuse frequent crawling with good search result rankings. All the SEO professionals whom I trust say frequent crawling has nothing to do with search results.
Right Way
However, there are beneficial ways to use blogs and RSS. A recent survey shows that the number of blog readers are increasing sharply. So, blog readers can be a good source of traffic. Create a blog that interests human beings (not search engine crawlers) and attract lots of blog readers. Then, lead them to your site.
Unlike blog, RSS hasn't become a hit, but publishing interesting RSS feeds will attract RSS subscribers (and hence more traffic to your site). Also, RSS can be used for sharing content between websites. Like exchanging links, you can look for other sites that will publish your RSS feeds.
Special Note about Using RSS
The most notable aspect of RSS is that it will become more popular than e-mailed newsletter. To subscribe to an e-mail newsletter, people have to give strangers their e-mail address. But they don't need to give anyone any personal information to subscribe to RSS feeds. I know you want visitors' e-mail addresses, but what you want isn't what Internet users want.
Currently, not too many people are reading RSS feeds, because people have to install RSS-aware programs to view RSS feeds. However, once Microsoft bundles RSS-aware program into Windows, the number of RSS subscribers will dramatically increase. So, be prepared.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)