One of the best features of blogging is having the ability to quickly and easily update information. But the real power of blogging is the distribution of your content or updates. That's why is important that you understand how RSS feeds work.
RSS or Really Simple Syndication is used to distribute news and content to websites and visitors. RSS Feeds are available in a light weight xml format and can be generated for a blog or a static website. RSS Feeds are chiefly used to syndicate content such as announcements, new articles, news updates, videos and job openings.
If you ever visit a popular blog, notice the variety of feed readers placed in strategic position to capture your attention. Their main aim is to encourage you to subscribe to the feed. When you click on the feed link, you are transported to a web page containing information to sign up for the feed.
Syndicate your website content to ensure that the latest information is always easily accessible to your visitors.
6 Simple Steps to Syndicate Your RSS Feed:
1. Apply Feed Reader Syndication.
Some notable feed readers are Google Reader and MyYahoo!. All you have to do is add a subscribe button on your blog and personalize it for the common types of readers available.
2. Include an Email Subscription Box.
This is one of the quickest ways to get all the updates and latest information. Feedburner and Feedblitz provide email subscription capabilities and metrics. Visitors can simply enter their email address in the input box and subscribe to your blog's RSS Feed. All the latest news and articles will be directed to the specified email.
3. Submit RSS Feed Directly To Major Search Engines.
All the major search engines have made it really simple to submit your blog's feed. All you need to do is log into Google, MyYahoo! and MyMsn and submit your blog feed to them. This is also one of the easiest ways to get your blog indexed by searchbots.
4. Ping Search Engines.
There are a number of pinging services available online where you can enter your blog or feed URL and ping the search engines. A pinging service like Ping-O-Matic gets your blog indexed at multiple websites like Technorati, Feedster etc.
5. Use PHP Syndication.
It is commonly known that searchbots cannot index JavaScript. So, if you want your feed links to get indexed, JavaScript Syndication is not a favorable option. Here, PHP syndicated code has the upper hand over JavaScript syndication. It provides backlinks and helps in indexing web pages.
6. Provide JavaScript Code for Syndication.
JavaScript syndication is used to display a third party RSS feed on your website. There are a lot of JavaScript syndicators online, which provide code. Simply put the code in the sidebar of your website or blog and visitors can copy and paste it onto their website.
Statistics prove that RSS Feeds are useful in pulling a large number of visitors to a blog. Today no blog is complete without an RSS Feed option. Even Twitter, the micro blogging site provides an option to subscribe to individual RSS Feeds.
Understanding how RSS feeds can be used to syndicate and distribute your content is important, but if you want to learn powerful RSS strategies and techniques you can immediately put to work to build more traffic to your site, be sure to check out the resources below.
Related Blogging Resources
ProBlogging Action PlanBuild a Better Blog in 31 Days:Guaranteed @ Problogger
ProBlogger’s Guide to Blogging for Your Business : @ProBlogger
Debbie A. Everson is the CEO of SearchMar.com, experienced SEO Consultants and Search Engine Optimization Agency to over 2,000 small businesses. Read my SEO Blog at http://blog.searchmar.com for hints and tips. Follow me on Twitter @searchmar. Call 1.866.885.6263 to speak to one of our SEO Consultants. Visit http://www.searchmar.com
