| The buzz about
RSS is growing everyday. This is largely due
to RSS now being a proven technology for syndicating
content and for increasing the brand value
of your web site. The first step toward harnessing
the full potential of this technology is to
add RSS feeds to your web site. The next logical
step is to promote them. This article guides
you through the steps to promote your RSS
feed so that your web site becomes another
RSS success story. |
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| 1. Validating your
RSS feed |
| Once you’ve made your
RSS feed, you should next validate it. Validation
is nothing but checking whether your RSS feeds
conform to the RSS format standard. It is
important because RSS is XML based, which
is very strict with reference to coding. You
need to determine that your RSS file has the
correct tags and syntax to be read by RSS
readers. You can use free online tools, like
the one available at http://www.feedvalidator.com,
which recognize coding and syntax errors and
pinpoint their location. |
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| 2. Create a web page
for displaying your RSS feeds |
| Once your RSS feed is validated
you add it to your web site. Creating a separate
web page for displaying RSS feeds is a common
web practice. |
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Most web sites use icons
like,  ,
and 
on their homepages to advertise RSS feeds.
You link these icons to the web page where
you’ve listed your RSS feeds. Your site
visitors can simply click on these icons or
text links to view your RSS links. |
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| Although many Internet users
know what RSS is, a large majority still needs
to be educated. You can do this by adding
a few words about RSS, how to use it and its
benefits to the user. |
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| 3. Listing your RSS
feeds in niche directories |
| Now that you have your RSS
feeds, you need to make your potential viewers
aware of them. This can be done by submitting
the RSS web page to various RSS directories
like http://www.syndic8.com/
and http://www.NewsIsFree.com
which displays a list of RSS feeds by category. |
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| You can take the easy route
and use an RSS submission tool which submits
your feeds to all RSS directories. An RSS
submission tool allows you to easily maintain
high visibility and exposure for your RSS
content. You can learn more about an automatic
submission tool through the following link:
http://www.dummysoftware.com/rsssubmit.html |
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| 4. Distributing your
special RSS Reader |
| The last mile is always
the toughest. You have valid RSS feeds, users
know you have them, but you still need to
convince them to add your feeds to their RSS
reader. You also need to convince existing
viewers to retain your feeds in their readers.
Most web sites with RSS feeds add a link to
download an RSS reader on the page where they
have listed their RSS feeds. There is a major
element of uncertainty, here, in that you
hope your visitors add the feeds you’re
recommending to the downloaded RSS reader. |
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| With a more proactive approach,
you can do much better by promoting your feeds
within
a FREE RSS reader. The unique Active
Web Reader Customizer allows you to prepare
a special version of Active
Web Reader, containing your RSS feeds
pre-loaded. You can add a link to download
the popular and FREE Active Web Reader on
the web page where you list your RSS feeds.
The user then simply downloads the Active
Web Reader with your pre-loaded RSS feeds
in place, increasing the brand value of your
site and saving you effort in promoting your
RSS content. |
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| 5. Updating content
regularly |
| Keeping RSS feeds updated
is as important as keeping your web site updated.
This is because RSS is meant to deliver content
quickly and directly to the on-line reader.
If you don’t update your feeds regularly
then your viewers have no reason to keep your
feeds in their readers. Just like your web
site, if you want to keep people coming back,
you have to keep it fresh with new information. |
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