What is... RSS?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. To most this could mean anything but at a basic level, RSS allows information to be delivered to you rather than having to find it yourself. RSS feeds 'push' out information to people who subscribe to them, saving time for both parties.
Why RSS is important
RSS is a very powerful technology as it can benefit not only the searcher but also the business providing the information.
Visitng your ten favourite websites which you like to visit can take you minutes or hours. If there is no new information on these new sites then this can be a wasted effort and lead to frustration. If you wanted to visit 50 websites, this would be even worse. By subscribing to RSS feeds, you only receive new information so if there is nothing new to say, then you don't need to waste your time looking for it.
For the business, there are also several important benefits. Firstly, you only contact users who are interested in your services, allowing your message to be highly targetted. Secondly, you can get information (such as subscription numbers) on how many people are interested in your services. If you have four or five feeds, you can monitor each of them and refine them according to there success. Finally, your bandwidth costs can be reduced as users will not visit all pages of the site, only those which are of interest to them.
How your business can benefit from RSS
Your business can benefit from RSS technology in many ways;
- Improve your communication
Adding a news feed to your website (such as ours) means that users can receive your lastest information instantly. Spam continues to blight us and this new technology removes most of the errors which come with email technology. RSS also uses traditional Internet technology development, meaning that more can be achieved once your message is read (such as participation in discussions, gathering feedback or collecting click through information) - Stay ahead of your competition
As support for RSS grows, you will be able offer calenders, forums or even software patches to your customers. This will allow them to do business in a far easier and convient way. By offering these services will make potential customers come to your business rather than a competitors. For example, Amazon offers lists of best selling or relevant books to their subscribers to stay in touch with them more effectively. - Generate income
RSS can be used as part of your affiliate marketing programming to allow you to generate income for your website. Advertising schemes such as Google Adwords work by delivering adverts using RSS and XML technology. By adding these RSS feeds to your website means that you can generate income easily and offer additional services to your customers.
As more companies start to use RSS and provide more integration for it, the need for businesses to make use of RSS will become more important.
Who to contact
There are a number of ways to make use of RSS either through traditional blog providers such as Blogger or Bloglines ro through bespoke developments. Adido Solutions have experience in third party and bespoke RSS applications. Call us on 01202 853610 for more information and advice.
Find out more about RSS
Awareness of RSS is on the increase year by year. Some useful resources include;
