How To Use RSS Feeds Effectively


RSS feeds let you publish once and update many websites instantly. Here's why that's a good thing.

Reader Question - I got the RSS Made Easy, it looks simple enough, but I might need hire you to help me figure out how to use it effectively. Can I book some coaching time with you?

Michael's Answer - Yeesh! Don't hire me... save your money. I'm too expensive ;-) Since you don't say "exactly" what you need help with...

If you need help setting up a Blog you can always get the Blog & Ping videos. Rick shows exactly what to do, so just follow his mouse clicks. The blog also generates your RSS feed for you.

If you need help with the RSS aggregator half, Adrian has instructions included with his RSS Made Easy ebook. He will even install the software for you, for a modest fee.

Or if you choose to buy a customizable aggregator like RSS Equalizer, it has step by step instructions, with screen shots showing exactly how to set it up on your site. You can also read Sherman Hu's third party review on the Equalizer.

As for using it effectively... that's really up to you... but off the top of my head, let's say you do SEO work for clients in the hotel industry.

If you have travel related news, car rental specials, savings coupons, offers from third parties, or news from the corporate office, you can post them on your blog, and then have all your client sites update automatically, with content that YOU control. If you blog every day, the search engines come back every day. It's like feeding a pet (search engine) spider.

Bottom line, the most effective use of blogs and RSS feeds in my opinion... especially if you have related clients is... publish once, have content updated on many sites... automagically.

Posted: Sat - May 7, 2005 at 02:59 PM          





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