As I wrote in one of my previous articles, the orange revolution has begun. RSS is here and it has taken the internet by storm. The number of webmasters becoming a part of this online revolution is growing on a fast pace. The reason is, RSS feeds have proved to increase traffic in a big way. And creating your own RSS feed would surely be a step towards tapping in a new source of traffic.
However, just publishing your own RSS feed and waiting for miracles to happen won’t work. In order to get those most wanted subscribers, RSS feeds need to be promoted and marketed in the right way. With a good dose of quality traffic directed towards your feed, long term subscriptions will definitely start pouring in.
The following 6 ways will not only help you get the word out about your RSS feed but also help you retain a fresh flow of targeted visitors to your website.
Strategy #1: Create an individual webpage for your RSS feed
The most important part of your promotion should be creating a webpage dedicated to your RSS feed. Since RSS is still new to most of the online users, you can give your readers an introduction and explain how beneficial it is to subscribe to your RSS feed.
You can also have a small FAQ section about RSS here answering any questions and doubts your readers might have. Most of the time, the key here is to give your potential subscribers more than one option to add your feed. Different subscription options like “My Yahoo!” “My MSN” and “Newsgator” allow your visitors to add and subscribe to your feed with their own convenience.
However, if you are not a techie and wouldn’t prefer to create a webpage, then you can use a service like http://www.rapidfeeds.com . Here you get a designed page for your feed with different subscription options. There’s also a link to a short tutorial for those who are new to RSS. Once you publish a feed with them, you can directly promote your feed’s URL. But it would be much better if you can create a webpage specifically for your RSS feed.
Strategy #2: Add the Auto-Discover code to your RSS feed webpage
Browsers like Mozzila Firefox have added a lot of new features in the past few years and made browsing a different experience. One of the good features offered by Firefox is subscribing to RSS feeds.
That’s right, it acts as an aggregator and lets readers add feeds directly into their browser. The browser automatically detects RSS feeds on the site and asks the user, while he’s surfing the site, if he or she wishes to subscribe to the feeds. In other words, it makes it very easy for users to centralize information of their choice.
However, for Firefox to detect your feed on the webpage, you need to have the “Auto - Discover” code on it. So that the browser can automatically detect the feed, alerting the user.
Simply include the following code in the
section of your web pages:
This should set you up for some automatic subscriptions to your feed!
Strategy #3: Write and distribute articles
Writing and distributing articles is a well known and a very respected method of driving traffic to your website. It has been effectively used by thousands of webmasters over the years to bring in some quality visitors.
Therefore, it’s an excellent idea to promote your RSS feed through articles written by you. There are many benefits that you’ll experience once your start writing your own informative articles. First of all, you’ll be recognized as an expert in your field. Secondly, you will gain the trust of your readers even before they subscribe.
Your article doesn’t have to be very long in length. It can be anywhere between 500 -1000 words. A “resource box” in the end should follow your completed article. The resource box usually is a short bio of the author. Here is where you can promote your RSS feed and give a link to it, explaining about it in brief.
Once you are done with the article, you can go ahead and submit it to online article directories like ezinearticles and goarticles. You can also go ahead and contact individual ezine publishers for publishing your article, as they are always on a look out for fresh content.
It’s really not a big deal to write an article on the web. If you know your expertise, then I’m sure you can come up with an article worth reading.
Strategy #4: Submit your RSS feed to directories and search engines
Submitting your RSS feed to online directories will certainly draw in visitors who are actually interested in what you offer. In the past few months a lot new directories have come up. For example, Syndic8 and 2RSS are thriving with thousands of RSS feeds on different topics with many more being added daily. Your feed can very well find its place in these ever growing directories.
There are even feed specific search engines like Feedster, which index only RSS feeds. These search engines get visitors who are searching for RSS feeds on a specific. So getting listed in them could convert to more targeted traffic and give your feed a good subscription rate.
These niche directories and search engines always tend to bring out the best out of your promotions. They don’t cost you anything, so are definitely worth a try!
Strategy #5: Promotion through email
Promoting your RSS feed via email is one of the most under - used methods. However, email promotion for your RSS feed usually yields in a higher subscription ratio.
If you are already running a newsletter, then you should consider including a section introducing your readers to your RSS feed. Since, RSS is growing rapidly, you can expect a large number of your email subscribers turning to your RSS feed.
You can also strike joint venture deals with other ezine publishers and swap ads promoting each other’s RSS feeds. This can mutually work wonders for both the publishers. You can even try promoting your ezine on the “thank you” page of your email subscription or your joint venture partner’s page.
Lastly, don’t forget to promote your feed in your email signatures. As your day-to-day correspondence can get you new subscribers for your feed.
There are many creative ways you can use email to promote your feed. You just need to come up with your own, which compliment your business in a positive way.
Strategy #6: Update your content regularly
Keeping your RSS feeds fresh and updated is very important if you want repeat visitors and new subscribers. Just like content oriented websites are updated regularly, content-wise, your RSS feeds are no different. RSS is meant to deliver new and up to date information, as it directly goes to the aggregators.
Your readers really don’t have any reason to be subscribed to your feed, if it doesn’t deliver new updated content. RSS feeds aren’t just meant for new visitors but also your old subscribers. You have to keep it updated for people to keep coming back to your feed.
On a finishing note, RSS feeds are an absolute way of turning the cards in your favor when it comes to building traffic and a loyal subscriber base. You need to keep on experimenting with new promotional methods and test new marketing techniques.
That’s all it would take to put your promotion on steroids!
Mustafa Khundmiri is the co-founder of http://www.rapidfeeds.com - A Free online service which helps anyone create, edit, publish and track RSS feeds and podcasts. Sign Up for your FREE account on http://www.rapidfeeds.com and also get a free subscription to “RSS Chronicle” - A Newsletter exclusively based on RSS and syndication.
RSS is fast becoming an obsession for me. I didn’t plan for it to be that way. It just happened.
I have been interested in RSS for a couple of years now but it was only around this time last year that I started taking a serious look at this little syndication standard that’s changing how we communicate on the web. Really Simple Syndication. Simple phrase but it changes everything.
I figured what better way to get to know a subject than to write about it. Going through the vast resources of the Internet, blogs, forums, ebooks to collect what information I needed for my ebook and articles. The Internet is one huge storehouse of knowledge that more than supplied me with enough material to write a hundred articles.
Coming from a fine art background, I also knew the only way to really learn about a subject was ‘hands on’ experience. So at the same time I started to really implement RSS tactics on my own sites to get ‘first-hand’ evidence to prove or back up my articles and writing. I concentrated on website RSS techniques that worked with the major Search Engines; starting my own blogs and RSS feeds to enhance my sites and manipulating the search engines, feeding the spiders with very legit content to build targeted traffic to any keyword or market sector I wanted to promote.
Experiences that have opened my eyes wider than they have been since kindergarten and RSS is still surprising me at every turn. Only after I had started researching and writing about RSS did it dawn on me that I had no idea just how Big a Player RSS is becoming and will become in the very near future. The impact will be felt in all areas of the web.
At the beginning of last year I wrote a simple article, 10 Reasons to Put RSS On Your Site. In that article I stated that this year would be the Breakout Year for RSS… the year RSS would finally enter the mainstream.
Since that article, during this year, there have been many developments for RSS. Some of the major ones:
Google Blog Search - Which now opens up the whole area of blog content and feeds to the one search engine that counts. Google also finally embraced RSS despite its major investment in the other syndication standard - Atom. Google bought Blogger.com a while back which promotes the Atom feed.
Microsoft’s Longhorn Statement - The next version of Windows will have RSS. This will open up RSS to the mass market. This will put RSS center stage for computer and Internet users.
Google Sitemaps - This XML powered system lets you update and quickly index your site’s pages in Google.
Podcasting - The enormous popularity of sending audio files or podcasting is opening up a whole new audience for RSS.
Media RSS - This will permit the syndication of all types of media, including video and TV programs through RSS, further opening up RSS to becoming a broadcasting system for the Internet.
RSS Search - MSN, as well as other search engines, makes it possible to search RSS feeds for the information we need.
Mozilla Firefox Browser - This RSS powered browser with its ‘Live Bookmarks’ is proving very popular with surfers. It also proves you really don’t have to know a thing about RSS to enjoy its benefits - it can be seamlessly integrated into the background or operating system with the end-users oblivious to even the existence of RSS.
Commercial RSS - Then there is the whole potential of RSS ads and advertising which would commercialize RSS and bring it into play by large corporations who are mainly interested in the bottom line.
Not to mention all those orange XML or RSS buttons popping up on website after website. RSS is taking on a life of its own, gaining in popularity and growing in strength. RSS is becoming a force that has to be reckon with by every webmaster.
How about you? Is your site RSS ready? Are you taking advantage of RSS? Are you using RSS?
This is a gentle warning that you will start using RSS if you haven’t already and here’s why… if you want your site to remain truly competitive you must have RSS on it. Without RSS you will be losing visitors and traffic to RSS empowered sites. You will be losing traffic to sites that are targeting keywords with blogs and feeds. You will be losing traffic to those sites using the XML powered Sitemaps. You will be losing traffic to sites that are RSS User-Friendly and fully optimized for RSS.
You must have an RSS User-Friendly site if want your site to be competitive. Just ask yourself, when the next Windows browser comes online, how competitive will your site be without RSS? What role will RSS play in getting visitors and repeat visitors to your competitor’s website?
Webmasters should be gearing up now for RSS, if they haven’t already. You have to prepare your sites for RSS. You have to position your sites to take full advantage of the coming RSS revolution! Take advantage of Google’s Sitemaps, Blog Search, RSSMedia, Next RSS powered Windows…
Get Ready. Prepare your site.
RSS is not only changing the rules, it is changing the whole ball game. RSS will transform the Internet. RSS will play a bigger and bigger role in the success or failure of your website.
As business owners, we owe it to our employees, clients and our communities to give a second thought to identity theft, before thieves do. Identity theft is not primarily a high-tech crime. Think of dumpster-diving, stolen wallets, credit cards or checkbooks. Think of postal fraud, theft of personal papers from cars, homes or businesses. A recent research reports shows that only 11.6 percent of identity theft crimes are committed on computers. Your business should be considering every measurable step to safeguard the information you handle each day. Here are the Top 4 Reasons Why:
1. To protect your own business by safeguarding proprietary information.
Embezzlement, theft, and other types of white-collar crime are easier in the information age. There are many different variables to utilizing stolen information about your business. In one case, a phony computer company stole the identity of a Computer Firm and used it to buy more than $100,000 worth of merchandise. In other cases thieves have gathered enough information to take on the identity of trusted businesses to target their customers.
2. To protect your customers’ privacy and prevent identity theft.
Recent news coverage about the loss of customer information by large corporations underscores the potential risks of all businesses, including lawsuits and bad publicity. Consumer documents containing personal information can be harmful to both consumers and businesses, if they fall into the wrong hands. The most utilized information includes: insurance documents, medical & prescription drug information, old tax records and business records - all contain information that can be used to create new identification documents.
3. To protect your employees’ privacy.
Identity thieves generally look for things that contain someone’s name, address, phone number, Social Security number, insurance and bank information. These types of items are prevalent in most employee files. If you are not handling these files with the proper care, you are putting your past and present employees at risk.
4. It’s the law. New regulations require proper destruction and protection of certain types of information (HIPAA, GLB Act, FACTA). Document shredding is an approved method of destruction.
New federal and state laws require businesses to destroy any documents that contain private consumer information before it is discarded. The new laws focus on financial institutions, institutions that deal with consumer finance and credit, and health care organizations (hospitals, insurers, retirement homes, doctors’ offices, drugstores, etc.).
In most cases, it’s recommended that a professional document destruction company handle the destruction of documents. For more information related to on and off-site document destruction go to: http://www.a1sj.com/docdestruction.html
Much has been publicized about what individuals should be doing; however, businesses also must act to protect themselves from identity theft. Businesses are LEGALLY accountable for:
• Developing strict privacy policies.
• Training employees on handling confidential consumer information.
• Protecting personal or private consumer information
• Developing a records-retention policy and discarding process.
• Properly destroying and resolving files containing private consumer information that is no longer in use.
Information can be stolen from either traditional paper files or their electronic equivalent. Never treat personal information carelessly, no matter how many safeguards you have in place.
Brian Lane
A-1 Document Destruction of South Jersey http://www.a1sj.com/docdestruction.html
Cherry Hill NJ 08003
856-424-8393
On Site / Off Site Secure Document Shredding & Disposal
HIPAA Compliant, GLB Compliant
Serving NJ, PA, NY & DE
Identity theft is the most prolific crimes committed today and it knows no boundaries. So by now most people know of the problem but are unaware of how it all got started.
It’s basically what’s old is new again thus the teaser ID Theft R&R??? Which stands for Retrospective and Rebirth.
Its started back in the 60’s which was a time of conflict and change the Vietnam war and Civil Right protesters and the Underground mainly SDS and the Weathermen among others.
During this time to avoid the military draft you could goto Canada,Mexico or to college. But a cheaper and more eficient option arose by assuming a new identity and staying in this country.
This was easily done by reading the obituaries and finding one close to your age getting the vital info and applying for the birth certificate from there drivers liscense and so on.
There are still a few left from this era as from time to time you’ll see on the news an arrest of someone who disappeared 25 yrs ago. The war ended in 1975 and so the threat of the draft ended so there was a brief respite. In the background at this time was the Internet which was a sleeping giant waiting to be stirred.
It was now 1985 and PC’s were now penetrating the home and the Net was beginning to be commercialized. Identity theft was once again making a comeback but it was still largely an one on one event. Finally reaching 1990 the net was beginning to flourish with the infancy of the dot-com boom. The world is now truly becoming a global village. By 1996 ther were in excess of 300,000 annual reports of this crime and it’s beeen growing daily. Like anything else in the world it reflects all of it’s community both good and bad. Identity theft was now splitting into 2 main camps.
The first being 1 on 1 events where you come into contact with the theft personally either through physical contact or lost personal info,phishing, or spyware on your computer.
The second is wholesale theft of info by hackers breaking into bank and credit card companies where thousands to millions of people are compromised all at once.
As recently as a few years ago the technique of dumpster diving was perfected where you’d go to a dumpster behind a business bank ,dept store ,restaurant and look for cc reciepts. But this has now been replaced by spyware which is software which invades your computer to access all your acct info and phishing which is an email sent to you representing maybe your bank or cc company requesting acct. info to which if you respond lose your money.
To check or elimiminate spyware from your computer goto spybot.com which is an excellent free tool. As for phishing a good rule of thumb is if contacted and not absolutey sure it’s a company or person you do business with just hang up or you can call them back so you know who your in contact with.
If you do become a victim it can be likened to entering a blackhole as you go in but never really sure when you’ll get out. The personal costs can be excessive and and can take years to clear up.
On a positive note I see whole new industries popping up to combat the problem with plenty of growth for them in the future.
Anti-spyware, biometrics, insurance, prevention, and detection to name a few. For more info goto:
Spyware Remover Information - Discover and eliminate spyware adware and other evil programs that are lurking on your PC. Keep your information and browsing behavior private! Reduce SPAM. Award winning software from reputable vendors.
Robert Hart
Affiliate marketer, info broker, author, webinar moderator
Dataminer Freebies
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