Tips for Promoting Your RSS Feed

There is little argument from webmasters and publishers that RSS brings in traffic. So once you've made the leap and created a feed, how do you tell your visitors about the feed?

1. Submit Your RSS Feed to RSS Directories.

This will not only increase the number of sites linking to
your website and increasing your link popularity, it will
also increase the RSS feeds profile. A number of RSS search
engines and RSS directories exist that allow you to freely
submit RSS feeds. Feeds are generally categorized and
grouped together by subject. Web surfers looking for RSS
feeds about a specific subject will often search the RSS
directories, to locate a feed that matches their specific
criteria. Topic specific RSS feed and podcasting
directories are also emerging. Choose a web feed's category
carefully and only submit relevant feeds to topic specific
directories.

A large list of directories is located at
http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-submission.htm

Example of Topic Specific - http://www.realty-feeds.net or
http://www.religious-podcasts.net

2. Explain RSS

While you have finally figured RSS out, some of your
visitors may not have. The concept while brilliant, can be
a bit confusing for the beginner. The concept of RSS feeds
might be completely new to some of your website visitors.
Hence it is generally good practice to walk website
visitors through the steps of locating, subscribing and
reading an RSS feed. It is generally a good practice to
include a page on your website that contains a general
explanation on RSS and details how website visitors can
subscribe to an RSS feed.

Sample Explanation page that can be used to on your
website:
http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-subscriptions.htm .

RSS specifications has authorized the replication of this
webpage. It can be republished, simply insert your RSS
feeds or otherwise customize the material to explain RSS to
your website visitors.

3. Graphic on Website

Since the conception of RSS, bright graphic flags have been
used to denote the location of an RSS feed. Now
instinctively, website visitors frequently look for a
colorful flag on websites. The looks of the flags have
changed but a variety of options exists. When you add the
image, be sure to link to the location of the RSS feed.
Some webmasters use chicklets to indicate the presence of
feeds, web surfers click on the chicklet that relates to
their RSS feed reader or news aggregator and the feed is
added to their list of feeds. Others feel that the volume
of chicklets simply add confusion, and opt for a single
relevant RSS graphic.

4. Press

As with any important addition to your company, it is
completely appropriate to send a press release to let the
media know you have RSS feeds available for specific
content. This will often garner a little attention.
Additionally, key news editors may opt to subscribe to your
RSS feed in order to stay abreast of your latest corporate
news. Considering the possibility of these subscriptions,
makes a press release to signal the availability of an RSS
feed simple common corporate sense.

5. Newsletters

Include a mention in your e-mail newsletter that content is
now available via an RSS feed. Many newsletters subscribers
appreciate an alternative subscription method and will
subscribe to a web feed as well.

6. Auto Discovery

Some of your website visitors might be web savvy. Be sure
to include an auto-discovery tag in the HTML header of each
web page. Many RSS Readers will automatically discover that
an RSS feed is available for specific content and notify
the website visitor and ask them if they wish to subscribe.

7. Brand a Newsreader

Distribute pre-loaded RSS readers branded to your company
name. The big benefit to brandable newsreaders is that you
can include all of your RSS feeds in it. Any downloaders
will have immediate access to your RSS feeds in the branded
news reader.

Brandable Readers - http://www.deskshare.com or
http://www.customreader.com

8. Blog

If you have a blog or know bloggers, be sure to share with
them that you have added an RSS feed for specific content.
Blogs are a great vehicle to spread the word. Marketers
instantly understood the power of word of mouth, but few
marketers understand the movement of blog to mouth. This
growing phenomenon has added credibility to online blog
endorsements.

In order to reap the benefits of an RSS feed, it is
important the feed be properly publicized. Taking simple
steps to promote an RSS feed will go a long way in ensuring
a feeds adoption.


About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll
http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing,
publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon
manages marketing for NotePage http://www.notepage.net a
wireless text messaging software company.

John V
http://JCVsDigitalMall.1shoppingsite.com

John C. Vincent/CEO/The Opt-In Magic System
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