BWMagic's List Building Newsletter
(Special RSS Edition) Feb. 14 - 2005
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Contents
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o Blogging News&Resources
- Ask Jeeves - Bloglines
- Msn does RSS
- Google - Blogger
- Yahoo - RSS Directory
- Do you see What's Happening???
o Feature Article - 5 Easy Ways to Use RSS on Your Site
o Valentine's Gift from Ken Evoy!
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Hello,
And a warm welcome to all new subscribers!
Happy Valentine's Day to those who observe
such things. I am more partial to the Easter
Bunny myself --- usually brings more chocolate!!!
Hope you're enjoying the winter or summer
where you are. Enjoy the season - whatever
it is!
Why RSS Will Explode!
I am enjoying the Internet right now, a lot
of interesting things going on. Some of them
have to do with my favorite topic.
If you're like me - a bit obsessed with RSS -
you have probably noticed a pattern happening
on the world wide web concerning blogging and
especially RSS.
I sometimes have to restrain myself, I placed
an article last week with ezinearticle.com but
I had to pull it back and rewrite it. I was
unconsciously hyping RSS -- way, way, way too
much.
If you over hype something - you come off
sounding like a third rate salesman or raving
maniac - take your pick.
Guess, I have realized it's the hottest new
'technology' happening at this moment. The
one who jumps first and in the right way will
reap the benefits.
If you don't know what I am talking about or
believe it's just all hot air. Lets just take
a quick look at what has been occurring with
RSS lately.
Last week Ask Jeeves acquired Bloglines - you
must have heard all the commotion in the
blogging community about how it became known
but that's a totally different story.
While back Google acquired Blogger and recently they
have been sniffing around Firefox...hiring Ben Goodger,
Firefox's lead engineer... keep in mind that Firefox
has a 'live bookmark' feature that uses RSS.
MyMsn has added the RSS feature... and started
offering rss results in their searches.
(see article below )
Yahoo has started an RSS Directory and are also using
rss in their search. (see article below)
What does all this mean?
All this activity is creating a new search method for
the net. RSS Search has to take off - instead of
searching for one word or phrase - you're really searching
for an expert. One that will supply you with relevant
information on your chosen subject for months or years
to come.
There is more of a 'permanent' element to RSS Search that
offers the most potential. People will not only seek out and
find your site with RSS Search but they will stick with you
for the long term.
In the old system, you could always bookmark the site and
subscribe to the site's newsletter or opt-in list. But
RSS does all this for you automatically. Plus, visitors also
have the option of placing your RSS Feed on their site.
This viral contact building aspect of RSS is something
you should examine.
RSS will give you the power of an 'opt in list' and
every marketer knows the special kind of effectiveness
that type kind of list holds.
Now, you can get Msn, Yahoo, Google to essentially build
your contacts for you. RSS gives you a chance to really
extend your reach and your site's reach.
Not to mention the traffic!
For where there is 'search' there must be 'traffic'!
The best kind, highly targeted and warmed up to your
message or topic.
But this is important for another reason - as it brings
in more and more traffic from the search engines, how
can ordinary websites not get involved. It's an add-on
to your site you must have if you want your site to
reach it's full potential.
As RSS Search becomes more mainstream, it will open
up a whole different stream of traffic to your site.
It won't be long before webmasters and SEOs realize
that for a site to remain competitive - they will
have to take full advantage of RSS or go the way of
the DoDo!
It's not rocket science or tea leaf reading... it's
just something that happening right now. Many major
companies, websites haven't really jumped yet.
This leaves room for the small guys to clean up in
the short term. Forget all the hype, forget all the
techno jargon... just put rss on your site in as
many ways as you can!
You won't regret it.
Just how do you put RSS on my site --- See article
below!
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o Feature Article -
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5 Easy Ways To Use RSS On Your Site
You hear so much talk about RSS these days on the
Internet and in the media. Everyone is acknowledging
it's importance in boosting your site's presence on
the web. Not to mention how it can increase your
site's traffic and ranking. But what exactly is RSS
and how can I actually use it on my site? Try these
Five Easy Ways...
First, just what is RSS?
RSS stands for 'Really Simple Syndication'.
Basically, RSS allows you to directly deliver your
content to all interested parties... don't come to us;
we will deliver the information to you or your website.
It syndicates your content. It lets you send updated
headlines and brief summaries to your subscribers.
In a nutshell; it's simply a more efficient way to get
your content 'out there'.
Many people associate RSS with Blogs or Blogging
because Blogs are usually written in XML or RSS format
(code like html) so that these headlines and postings
can be easily read and accessed.
RSS has been around for awhile but it really didn't
catch on when users had to use RSS readers or aggregators
but with the increasing popularity of MyYahoo, the Firefox
Browser and Blogging...RSS is becoming: more popular, more
accessible and more mainstream.
That's great --you say-- but just how do I put the
stuff on my site!
If you're wondering how to actually use RSS and Benefit
from it -- here are Five easy ways to use RSS on your site:
1. How do I Get My OWN RSS Feed?
First, you need to get an RSS Feed for your site.
There are several ways to do this. Let's just stick
with the easiest. You can use a site like www.blogger.com
and start a Blog on your site's topic or any topic that
interests you.
Creating a blog with sites like Blogger (owned by Google)
or Bloglines (recently acquired by Ask Jeeves) is quick,
fast, and painless. Within minutes you can have your own blog
up and running.
This Blog will also supply you with an RSS Feed that
you can place on your site. Get a XML or RSS orange
button and place it on your site. Link it to your RSS
Feed url - this is your atom.xml link if you're using Blogger.
You can also use a MyYahoo button so visitors can add your
feed to their MyYahoo. Each time a subscriber opens their
MyYahoo site; your RSS Feed will be updated.
You can also add 'MyMsn' and 'Bloglines' buttons on your
site. Plus others, give your visitors every opportunity to
subscribe to your RSS Feed or Blog, and you will see a marked
increase in visitors to your site.
Of course, you can also get your own blogging software and
install it on your site. For those who want to choose this route,
it might be helpful to check out this comprehensive comparison
of the different blogging software here:
http://www.asymptomatic.net/blogbreakdown.htm
2. How Do I Place Other RSS Feeds On My Site?
Have a cool RSS Feed from your favorite site and you want to
place that Feed's content on your own site. How is it done?
It's a lot easier than you think!
There are several ways, but we'll again stick with the
easiest way. If you just want to place headlines on your
site - try a free service like www.feedburner.com and you
will get a headline animator. This will display the RSS feed's
headlines with links to the content.
If you want to place other content from a feed on your site
- one of the easiest ways I found is to use this free site:
www.bigbold.com/rssdigest/
This site will generate the source code (html or javascript)
that you need to place into your webpages. It's good because
it gives your code in several options: Javascript, Php file,
and Iframe.
Keep in mind that Search Engines cannot or don't read
javascript so if you want this daily updated content to be
indexed please be aware of this.
Just take this code and add it your webpages where you
want this content to go.
Want to find great RSS Feeds for your site try these:
Technorati: http://www.technorati.com
BloogZ: http://www.bloogz.com/rssfinder
Syndic8: http://www.syndic8.com
Daypop: http://www.daypop.com
3. How do I place MSN Search Results Directly on My Site?
MSN has come out with their Beta Program using RSS in their
search. You can now place RSS search results directly onto
your website. It can enrich your site with daily updated content.
And it's quite simple to use; just add "&format=rss" at the
end of the URL in your MSN search engine query. For example,
to get an RSS Feed for 'tsunami relief' you would use this url:
http://beta.search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=tsunami+relief&format=rss
4. How do I place Yahoo Results on my site?
In Yahoo the URL would be slightly different:
http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/rss?p=tsunami+relief&ei=UTF-8&fl=0&x=wrt
Of course, in both cases you can change 'tsunami+relief'
with the keyword or phrase of your choice to suit your
website's content.
Yahoo also has an RSS Search Directory here:
http://news.yahoo.com/rss
5. What are Tags? How can I use them on my site?
Tags are more or less keywords for blogs and you should
take advantage of them to bring targeted traffic to your
site or blog.
Tags have hit the radar lately because Technorati, which
indexes 4.5 million blogs, started sorting blog posts by
using tags.
They have created a folksonomy, drawing tags from
different sources, mainly Flickr.com which sorts or
groups pictures and from del.icio.us -- where you
create a tag when you bookmark a page.
Or if your blogging software supports categories; this will
be recognized by Technorati as a tag.
If you want to create a 'tag' it's very simple; just place
this code in your blog:
<*a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Computers" rel="tag">Computers<*/a>
(remove asterisks in actual code)
and you will have created a tag for computers.
Conclusion
You have just discovered five easy ways to put RSS
on your website, but you have to implement this newly
acquired information in order to see any results. You don't
have to try all five --- just pick a few and put them on
your site. Just take action and do it.
It's fairly easy, and you will see the benefits of RSS
almost immediately. You will also see what all the
fuss is about!
Titus Hoskins
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To Put RSS On Your Site Within Minutes - Visit This Link:
RSS and Blogging GuideCopyright © 2005 - Bizwaremagic.com
This article may be freely distributed if this resource
box stays attached. Visit
http://www.bizwaremagic.com/for more simple solutions to your online marketing tasks.
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o Valentine's Gift from Ken Evoy!
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Ken Evoy is running a Special Valentine's Day
promotion. If you were considering SBI Hosting
check out this link:
Ken's Special OfferHave a great week and Happy Valentine's Day.
Cheers,
Titus
www.bizwaremagic.com
Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter
quite like unrequited love. Charlie Brown in "Peanuts"
Charles M. Schulz (1922 - 2000)
