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11 Practical Uses for RSS in Business
Are you wondering what you can use
RSS for right now? Here are some practical examples
of RSS at work.
Use Your Own Content
Almost ANY web based content can be
transformed into an RSS feed. The only real requirement
is that the information changes regularly.
News Headlines
Typically, the main use of RSS is to
present headlines and a short introduction to "newsy"
stories. Create an RSS feed on your site featuring your
company press releases, site updates, etc.
Upcoming Events
RSS is a great way to let people know
of events and activities that may be happening soon.
It's easy to turn an "events" page into an
RSS feed.
Thoughts/Commentary
You've probably heard of the term "blog"
or "weblog". It's a page that displays (in
chronological order) a series of writings on whatever
the author wants to write about. While a normal blog
also allows others to add their comments to yours, you
don't have to offer that functionality.
Set up a page where you regularly add
your thoughts on all sorts of issues - or just one issue
- with the most recent post at the top of the page.
Include these items in an RSS feed, and you've got a
whole new audience for your pearls of wisdom.
Articles
Share your knowledge. This is a more
"formal" type of writing, where you write
a series of articles on a specific topic. Add a new
article on that topic every week or so. Set up several
topics and you've got several new RSS feeds to attract
even more interest in what you know.
Don't forget to include a resource box
in the article which allows others to reproduce your
article on their site, with an obvious link back to
you.
New Products
Got an online store with new inventory
added regularly? Add details about your newly added
items to an RSS feed to let people know what's just
come in.
Weekly/Monthly Specials
Do you regularly make special offers
on different products in your inventory? Again, RSS
is a great way to tell people what's on special this
week... or this month.
Newsletters
If you regularly produce an email newsletter,
then consider converting it to RSS format as well as
continuing to email it. After all, your newsletters
ARE also shown on your web site... aren't they?
New Links
If you have a links directory, considering
creating an RSS feed of the new links added to your
directory in the last week or so. If you have a category
structure within that directory, with links added often,
you can create a feed for each category.
New Members
Do you run a public membership site?
Recently joined members could be listed in an RSS feed
with links direct to their profiles. What a great way
to welcome new members!
Ticker RSS Feeds
Do you have timely information, e.g.
important stock figures, to communicate to your customers?
Automate the process with software and RSS can feed
new critical information on an hourly basis (or more
frequently if needed).
Note: Aim to have up to 15-20 items
in each feed if possible. You can have more items if
you want. Just remember that most feed reading software
will NOT display all the items. Many may only show the
first 5 or 10.
Once you've got your feed going... remember
to submit your feed URLs to the various RSS Feed Directories.
Using Content From OTHER Web Sites
If a site offers an RSS feed for people
to subscribe to, you can possibly use that feed on your
site. Just check the terms and conditions on the site
FIRST to see if you can reproduce the feed. If in doubt
- send an email or phone them to ask permission.
What you are aiming for is to build
many extra pages of useful content on topics of value
to your visitors. Don't worry that the links in the
feed take people off site (make that happen in a new
window). The content is what is needed for search engines
and people to devour!
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