Last few bits of RSS

My presentation on RSS is available to download as image file or view in Flickr. Click on the presentation, view as slideshow in Flickr.

Apart from my previous posts about RSS, here are the few remaining bits.

1. Why syndicate your site, among many other reasons: increase traffic, bran awareness, search engine ranking, marketing tools

2. Other uses of RSS:
Applications to area like Real Estate, Job Openings, Auction Items, Forum Headlines, Product related Sales or Specials, Airlines report, School announcement, Entertainment, Press Distribution, News and Announcements, Document listings, Bookmarks and other external links, Calendars, Search results

3. Tracking measurements
Track reads, clickthrough, circulation of subcribers
Make it easy to subscribe, personalised content for SEO
Own your Feed URL (own hosting services)
Ensure listing display correct and up to date information like ‘Add to MyYahoo’ actually works
Use your RSS Feeds address = your webpage address
Great for building network of links: blogrolls, trackbacks for BLOGS

4. This marketing site claims to have implication of RSS and PR. In fact, as I was scanning through the titles/articles/interviews, most of the content are for Marketing.
RSS & PR
http://rssdiary.marketingstudies.net/content/cat_rss_public_relations.php

5. Security implication such as virus, spyware when receiving a Feed file. FEEDEMON offer security
http://www.articleclick.com/what-are-the-security-implications-of-rss.html

6. Tips for maximise RSS Feeds
Original content
Content should be compelling and unique, with an interesting angle
Quality
In contrast with frequency, readers will be tired of nonsense posts that contain no value to them, therefore a focus in providing quality information, just like anything really. This includes making sure RSS Feeds work properly; verify your feeds and information before making a post. Do apply the rules of correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation. This is not a SMS
Balance
Title of your Feed item should relate to the content of the actual post in the link. You could use the same headlines for both: in the Feed title and the article title. Having said that, there’s no need to be boring. Using creative, catchy titles wouldn’t hurt but make sure it’s the same information.
Focus
Stay on the topic, be specific and don’t stray
Length
The balance of just right amount of word: not too long, not too short. Post length should be consistent throughout the entire blog/feed
Credibility
Inaccurate information can damage your credibility. After all, this rule applies to anything you publish really. Do provide credentials when offering opinions and ensuring factual information is accurate.
Link
You may include links to related content in the RSS Feed, a good way to supplement content. Outgoing links could result in links back into your website.
Consistency
It’s vital to stay consistent, don’t vary too much in your daily posts
Listen to Audiences
Readers can communicate what they like/dislike about your content. So stay in tune
Ads
It’s possible to put up ads with your Feed however balancing that with quality content is a must.

Like most of website content, published information, it’s easy to attract
readers at first yet maintaining their interest is more difficult. RSS Feed is
just like any tool. It requires strategic planning, sensible and appropriate
content to maximise its application, usage and potential. Quality control,
measurement, and evaluation still apply.

RSS in action - from a PRP (Public Relations Practitioner)

Some of you may wonder how RSS realistic application onto the daily live of a PRP, here is a comment from one and how it is used.



My comment on this would be....not everyone would have a Blackberry but if you're in a big ORG or ORG whom likes techno stuff, you'll likely to get one. I've seen one myself, like a PDA really. It's very popular. My friend has one and he said it's useful but INVASIVE! It provides email feature, global roaming, Internet access. It's a SMART phone 2 in 1, hey value for money. On the evil side.....it's a 247 thing so EXPECT to be woken up by your incoming emails by midnight.


So who say TECH doesn't change the way things are? Now we're all PLUGGED in the TECH world as a PRP, it's part of your life. Not only you have to do the SCANNING of the media via the TRADITIONAL method, now a fraction of your time would be dedicated for the NEW TECH. Although I must say time spending on the Internet eg your company/client/personal website probably would take up even more time of your office and personal life. And what happened in a crisis? You'll be on it 247, monitoring, responding, etc.

My view on this whole TECH world is that it's happening, it's a reality and it will continue to grow at a scary rate almost unable to capture. So it's about time management now, to dedicate a part of your life, to accept the reality but also be in control, now what you're doing. Afterall, you have to be a trend spotter anyway and working in the media industry, it's almost part of your work. The Internet now also provides a different social flatform, despite its negative points, which is benefitcial to some extend.

So smile....and keep on smiling and happy blogging.

from http://theblogconsultancy.typepad.com/techpr/

March 09, 2007
How I read my feeds
Steve Rubel asked - how do I read my feeds? It seems I'm not the only RSS addict in PR.
'Course, RSS isn't new, but most RSS geeks are geeks, not PRs. But as I work in a PR consultancy I need to track what's being said about the brands, people and issues that my clients are involved in. As a blogger I need to track conversations about my chosen topic. And as a consumer I track stuff that I might find interesting.

I use Bloglines to track my feeds - about 400-odd of them. Bloglines is my fave over the likes of Google Reader for two reasons.

1. Its desk/laptop interface has always been top notch for my needs - such as speed, organising, subscribing and presentation (Google Reader has a lot of buzz but I'm afraid it's not for me just yet - really basic things like you can't change the width of the sidebar really wind me up)
2. It integrates with my BlackBerry perfectly. As I spend about a third of every working day on the move this is really important to me I have 30 folders in my Bloglines, which I organise like this:

1-2 - must reads: These are required-reading blogs (at number one) then my must-follow conversations and mentions based on custom-built RSS feeds (at number two). This folder contains any crisis work I'm also involved in

3-11 - client and industry feeds: These are split sector-by-sector for the clients I work on and contain mentions of their names, competitors, products and people. the folder also includes my industry feeds, podcasts, Twitters, aggregators/memetrakers and buzz-topics

11-12 - personal feeds: These I dip in and out of as they include hobbies or tracking the low-profile personal sites I run and incoming traffic

13-30 - sleeper feeds: These are for when clients call upon some tracking and monitoring of an issue on an infrequent basis. In other words I'll get asked, and can respond on demand, what blogs are saying about a niche topic. This happens once every few months so I keep the feeds ready and waiting once they're built

My habits - I'll tend to check feeds on my BlackBerry on my way into the office, then they'll be on in the background through the working day on my MacBook. I'll check them on my way home again on the BlackBerry. Evenings and weekends I'll dip in and out but not too much.
In response to Josh Bernhoff who asks whether people work better when they have time to switch off from feeds, I would answer yes. Same as email. Sometimes you need to focus and switch off from things, not that I often get that luxury working in a service industry.

The reason I organise my feeds the way I do is so that I can dip in for a very short time and still get the important stuff done. But I have the choice to immerse myself in information and still get most of what I need brought to me instead of havig to search an infinite number of mags, papers, sites or stations to get it. That's the importance of RSS to a PR person, in my humble opinion. Not that I ignore print or broadcast media - they're in the office too so I can keep it retro. I know some people are saying TV is full of yesterday's news, and that dead-tree media is dead, but they still wield enormous power as media, so can't be ignored.

How about you?

More RSS- A Global example

From: www.globalprblogweek.com/2005/09/21/falkow-rss


RSS, Online PR and Brand Perception
Posted by Administrator on September 21st, 2005
By Sally Falkow, Expansion Plus Inc.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a technology that allows you to share your headlines and other web content. Think of it as a distributable "What's New" for your site. RSS leverages the Web's most valuable asset, content. It makes it easy to display high-quality relevant news on your site, and syndicate this news and content.

You can use an RSS feed for a variety of content – product news, press releases, technical articles. The list is endless.

The number of people reading RSS feeds is growing by leaps and bounds. Feed Burner reports that subscriptions to the feeds they manage are growing by one percent a day. And the people reading feds are the ones you want to reach – they’re opinion leaders and early adopters.
RSS is the perfect way to meet the needs expressed by consumers in the recent Ponemon Institute study. Over 80 percent of respondents said they want to be updated on news and offers from companies if it is relevant to them and 64 percent said they’d trust the marketer more if they were in control of how the message was delivered to them. Spam pollution has made delivering your message via email a challenge. The world is fast moving from a push-based information delivery (where you send information via emails) to a pull-based information delivery (where the subscriber accesses your information as and when he/she wants it.)

RSS news feeds offer your visitors a way to get relevant information in a way they control. They can subscribe anonymously and judge whether your content is relevant to them. They can unsubscribe at will, without any problems and delays. There's no spam. No lost deliveries.
RSS feeds give you an edge over your competitors who are slow in adopting this hot new technology. We've all book marked hundreds of websites – and then forgotten to go back to them. With an RSS feed every time new content goes up on your site, visitors who have subscribed to the feed are alerted and enticed back to the site to read the new content.

Feeds Boost Your Search Visibility:

The purpose of a feed is to deliver content and news to your public. So by its very nature a feed has constantly updated content. It’s focused on a narrow subject matter (your business/industry) so it tends to be keyword rich. This gets the attention of the search engines and they index your feed more often. When your feed is picked up and used by other sites it creates links back to your site, which also increases your search engine visibility.
By writing news update about your business/cause/idea/industry for your feed you naturally generate a wide array of keywords and phrases about that subject. The search engines index these keywords in your feed and within a few months you’ll find you’re getting page-one search results on many terms relevant to your business.

Searchers generally do a series of searches, narrowing down their focus on keywords as they go. If your website shows up on page one in every search they do it builds brand awareness and value. BTI Communications, Limited is a privately held company in the business telephony space. In August 2004, when Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phones became such a hot item, BTI was faced with new competitors with deep marketing budgets. They had no online visibility at all and had to make their presence known fast on a tight budget.
BTI started a blog called VOIP Insights, http://blog/btigroup.com using the MyST Technologies Blogsite platform. One of the features of this platform is that it utilizes RSS feeds to the hilt. Here are just some of the page-one positions BTI now has in Google. As a result the traffic to their corporate website is up by over 70 percent.

#1 Voip vs traditional phone system#1 VoIP solution provider#2 VoIP small business#2 VoIP architecture#5 VoIP phone equipment#6 VoIP benefits#7 VoIP Small Business costs
Search results like these depend to a large degree on making your feed known. PRESSfeed has a great list of sites where you should register your feed. The BTI RSS feed on Voice Over IP for Small Business was picked up by an Hispanic website about VoIP. A reporter from Hispanic Business Magazine, looking for information for an article, saw this feed and called BTI for an interview.

BTI did not even know there was a magazine called Hispanic Business, let alone that they were doing an article on VoIP for small business. That’s the power of RSS.
“Lockergnome.com, one of the most popular tech sites on the Web today, used to distribute more than 400.000 e-mail newsletters weekly? says Rok Hrastnik, author Unleash the Marketing Power of RSS and editor of www.marketingstudies.net.

Today, they have 5 times more RSS subscribers than e-mail subscribers and their clickthrough rates (the % of people that clicked on a link in the message received) are 500% greater than their e-mail clickthrough rates, which means that now more people actually read their content and respond to it. Success in online marketing depends on being found in the search engines, getting qualified traffic to your site, marketing to the visitors who have been to your site, delivering relevant messages to them in a way they can control to build trust and relationships.
RSS feeds do it all.

RSS First Counter

(from http://www.faganfinder.com/search/rss.php)

What is RSS?

RSS can actually be explained in three words, but depending on who you ask and what version of RSS you are speaking about, it may stand for Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site Summary, RDF Site Summary, or a variation on one of those. None of that matters to you anyhow. Another thing that you don’t need to care about is the versions. There are 0.90 and 0.91 (created by Netscape), 1.0 (by RSS-DEV), and 0.9x and 2.0 (by UserLand Software) versions, but almost all applications that handle RSS feeds can read all the different versions. There’s also a similar format called Atom, explained below.

RSS is a text-based format, a type of XML. You should know that only because often RSS files are often labeled as XML. RSS version 1.0 is also RDF (whatever), which, again, is important only because an RSS file may be labeled as RDF. RSS files (which are also called RSS feeds or channels) simply contain a list of items. Usually, each item contains a title, summary, and a link to a URL (e.g. a web page). Other information, such as the date, creator’s name, etc., may also be available. The most common use for RSS files is for news and other reverse-chronologically ordered websites like blogs. For example, this particular page on Fagan Finder has a changes log, which is also available in RSS format. An item’s description may contain all of a news article, blog post, etc., or just an extract or summary. The item’s link will usually point to the full content (although it may also point to what the content itself links to).

When a website has an RSS feed, it is said to be “syndicated.” There are various other syndication formats besides RSS (such as Atom), but RSS is by far the most widely used and supported today. RSS files do not have a common file extension, although they frequently end in one of .xml, .rss, or .rdf (note that other extensions may be used also). The term “scraping” refers to creating an RSS feed for a website that doesn’t provide one itself (i.e. scraping the text off of the page). That is, scraped feeds are not created by the same people who created the content within the feed. Scraped RSS feeds may stop working if the page changes its layout.

What is Atom?
Atom is a format quite similar to RSS. It was created by people who felt that RSS could be improved upon, and some that disagreed with some of the politics regarding RSS. Some people are heavily involved in the (quite unimportant, in my opinion) argument as to which format is better. The Atom format is in development, but as of February 2004, Atom version 0.3 is stable. There are pros and cons to the format, but that’s more complex than I am going to deal with here. The basic difference is that while Atom is somewhat more complex (for producers of Atom feeds), it is also able to carry more complex information, and it is consistent across the syndication, storage, and editing of information. Just about everything on this page which discusses RSS applies equally well to Atom. You can learn more about Atom at the official website, AtomEnabled.org.


Subscribing to a Feed
There is no agreed-upon standard for how to subscribe to an RSS feed, although some developers are working on this. So there are roughly two ways to subscribe. One is to enter the URL of the RSS feed into your aggregator. The other is to follow a subscribe link from a web page; the problem with this is that practically every aggregator has a different way of doing this. So you might see links labeled as subscribe with Bloglines or add to My Yahoo!. Two services exist to deal with this problem: Syndication Subscription Service and quickSub, which was inspired by the former. Links labeled as will take you to a page on the Syndication Subscription Service which itself contains direct links to subscribing using various aggregators. QuickSub is similar. Links to RSS feeds using the quickSub tool will popup a list of links to subscribing with various aggregators.


Very nice RSS aggregators will allow you to enter in the URL of a web page and it will then read its RSS feed. These tools support RSS auto-discovery (and anyone reading this who is writing RSS applications I encourage to use the Ultra-liberal RSS locator). Most RSS aggregators, unfortunately, aren’t that nice; you’ll need to copy and paste the RSS URL into your aggregator.


Finding the RSS Feed for a Website
The websites you already read may have an RSS feed. So you want to find it. Go to BlogStreet’s RSS Discovery tool and enter in a website. It will return the feed for you.
If that doesn’t find the RSS feed, go to the website whose feed you’re looking for; if it has one, then it probably includes a link to it. Try looking on the page’s menu (usually left side or right side) and the footer. Most often RSS feeds are linked to with an small icon. The most common is an XML icon like this:





but there are a number of variations on label (RSS, RSS2, XML, RDF, Atom), colour, and size, such as and . Other times there may not be an image, but text with one of those lables, or a link labeled “Syndicate this site.” You may also see a variation on the standard XML icon such as and ; these are direct links to subscribing to an RSS feed in AmphetaDesk and Radio UserLand (both are RSS aggregators) respectively. Radio’s coffee cup icon is sometimes shown alone. If you are running one of these news aggregators, click on the icon to subscribe, otherwise just use the usual icon. Note that not all XML icons link to RSS feeds, because there are many other XML formats. If it isn’t labeled or self-evident, just try reading the file in an aggregator; if it doesn’t work, it is probably not an RSS feed.

If you still haven’t found the RSS feed for a website you can try searching in one of the tools listed below. Failing that, write an e-mail to the webmaster and suggest that they create an RSS feed. If they don’t know what that is, you can point them over to this RSS Workshop and these RSS specifications. Lastly, you can scrape the website. MyRSS is a tool for scraping. A number of news aggregators, such as Syndirella, have the ability to “create” an RSS feed, but the feed will only be accessable to people using Syndirella.

News Is Free
News Is Free is an online news aggregator and a directory of RSS feeds, over 5,000 of them. You can search (also available on Fagan Finder), or browse the directory. News Is Free also provides scraped RSS feeds for a number of websites.

BlogStreet’s RSS Directory
BlogStreet contains a number of blog-related tools. The directory lists the RSS feeds of over 10,000 blogs, organized alphabetically.