More Advanced Uses for RSS
As companies become more familiar with the technology, they can use RSS in different ways to achieve other benefits. For example, a company can set up multiple feeds for different kinds of content, such as events, new hires, product announcements, etc. The RSS feeds can be organized categorically allowing the users to subscribe only to the information they are interested in receiving. The subscribers feel like they have more control over the communications process; and, therefore, they are more satisfied. And, as every marketing director knows, happy customers equal more sales. Here are some other uses to consider:
Use RSS to Drive Website Traffic: Many marketers struggle with search engine rankings. In order to achieve a highly ranked site, other sites must link to it. Google’s PageRank algorithm applies value to a website based on the number of links that point to it and on the rank of the sites providing the links. While this isn’t the only factor that will increase a website’s ranking, it is one factor that RSS can easily manage. Companies implementing RSS can become less dependent upon search engines such as Google to drive traffic to their sites.
RSS feeds are simply a link to dynamic content. Whether it is a blog, podcast, or corporate document, the feed points to content that was published and distributed on the Internet for anyone to view. The means of the delivery make it easy for other sites to publish the content, thereby building a link back to the original publisher’s website. The more sites that pick up the content, the more links the RSS feed generates.
A high ranking on Google will certainly drive traffic to a website. However, there are alternative search engines, such as RSS search engines and social bookmarking sites, that companies must engage with as RSS technology continues to evolve.
RSS Search Engines: As RSS gains popularity, search engines, such as Technorati and Feedster, are being developed to focus solely on the world of RSS. These sites organize the RSS feeds using keyword tags to categorize the feeds, allow users to set up and view their favorites, and make it very easy for users to find the information.
Posting corporate RSS feeds to these RSS-friendly search engines is a great way for a company to increase its visibility.
Social Bookmarking: Like RSS, social bookmarking sites, such as Digg and Del.icio.us, are gaining momentum as the social features of Web 2.0 are embraced by larger audiences, including corporations. Social bookmarking sites allow users to store and share their favorite web pages online instead of inside their browser so others may view the information.
Imbedding links to social bookmarking sites into RSS feeds greatly expands the marketing scope and makes the viewing potential practically limitless. It gives the user the ability to add the feed to social bookmarking sites with the click of a button so the message will be seen and read by people with similar interests – potential customers that marketers might not have reached yet. Social bookmarking sites are quickly becoming a viable option to standard search engines; and, because users have to add the links in order for a site to be included, corporations cannot purchase their way onto the social bookmarking sites.
The more links a company can obtain now, the more visible it will be as these sites continue to grow. Also, as mentioned above, the additional links will help a company achieve a higher ranking on traditional search engines.
