RSS is a way for you to keep your loyal readers posted on the absolute latest postings on your site or blog. The number of RSS subscribers is a testament to your success in connecting with your readers. The number of your RSS subscribers is one of the criteria of on-line advertisers when selecting sites to advertise on.
What is it?
So maybe you haven’t heard of RSS or maybe you don’t quite get it…RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary.
Simply put, RSS is a fast, hassle and maintenance-free technology that displays the most up-to-date and newsworthy information as “feeds” to your browser or through a plethora of “readers” usually linked in with various accounts such as Google, Yahoo, FaceBook, etc. Once you’ve established what feeds you want to pull information from, you don’t need to manage it. How does it work?
RSS works two ways: inbound and outbound.
- Inbound RSS displays topics that are client-chosen which broadcasts relevant topics and inserts keywords into your web pages. This scores big with search engines. It also provides for a more interactive web site and, most importantly, refreshes your site daily...and Google loves when sites have new info. If a site stays "static" too long it actually gets negative marks from search engines. Search engines assume that websites are not that important if they are not frequently updated.
- Outbound RSS feeds can also fully integrate with your blog thus further keeping your prospects engaged in the information your site is offering. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with their targeted web content in an automated manner that's easier than checking them manually.
Why do I need it?
RSS drives targeted visitors to your site, and/or lets you have information imported, stored and managed in your browser or reader. By having industry specific content that is constantly being updated and “linked to” by an unlimited amount of interested parties, you are directly boosting your search engine rankings, thus driving more traffic to your site and likely increasing your position on the premium search engine real estate space of Google, Yahoo and MSN. No longer do people need to wade through irrelevant information to get to the heart of what they’re searching for – RSS news feeds put the important content right in front of your prospects.