RSS & XML feeds
RSS has become the premier way to deliver content to potential customers via the Internet. RSS feeds are subscribed to by the user of a website or blog. Once a feed subscription is active, content from that site or blog is then delivered to the user through their web browser (such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari) or to specialized RSS software. Most users choose to use either browsers or web-based RSS readers. Because users elect to receive feeds, they cannot be used to deliver spam.
RSS marketing is a relatively recent online marketing method and is growing in popularity at a tremendous pace. A large percentage of Internet users subscribe to syndicated content or view it on 3rd party websites, but less than 10% of these users actually know about RSS.
Our RSS Marketing Services
Effectual Media can provide all of the services required to deploy RSS, no matter what the application. We ensure our feeds are valid and adhere to proper code standards. We combine years of experience working with XML-based and RSS technologies to deliver effective RSS solutions. Our services include:
Feed Set Up Consulting
We provide consultation and implementation services to help our clients correctly set up and promote RSS feeds on their website. The service covers all areas including creation of the feed, syndication of the feed content from its source onto multiple pages in the website, availability of the feed for subscription by visitors and avoidance of duplication issues with content feeds.
Syndicated feeds usually contain links back to the parent site. We provide consultation to ensure that the news pages as well as other pages on the site are set up to allow visitors to instantly subscribe to the feed and webmasters to easily syndicate the feed onto their website, thereby providing a long-term SEO benefit via inbound links from the syndicated feeds.
Feed Promotion
Once set up, the RSS feed will provide valuable information to visitors. In order to maximize the use of this feed and drive more traffic to the site, the feed needs to be promoted to all site visitors, feed aggregators and third-party website owners.
Subscription Management
When customers subscribe to your feed you can reach them directly, without sending obtrusive emails. Moreover, Google considers websites with highly subscribed feeds to be authority sites in their industry, which means they will be more likely to rank high in the search results.
Feed Syndication
Content syndication is a great way to get one-way inbound links and reach visitors on third-party sites without spending any money on advertising.
Google News
Websites that create news stories can receive much more traffic by submitting their RSS feeds to Google News, Yahoo! News and other RSS aggregators. Google News is one of the top five news portals on the Internet and can send significant amounts of traffic to optimized articles that feature on the News homepage or at the top of the News Search results.
Benefits of RSS Marketing
RSS feeds can be deployed in a variety of ways independent of a blog or web site, including but not limited to:
- Podcast Enclosures:Regularly updated audio broadcasts can be delivered to subscribers using RSS feeds.
- Videos:Video content, including YouTube videos and other sources of online media, can be adapted for delivery via RSS.
- Social Media Marketing:RSS feeds can be used to track general web site updates and to announce those changes to major social media providers, such as Digg and StumbleUpon.
- Internal communications within a company:In some cases, enterprise-level applications of RSS feeds have saved companies millions of dollars in interdepartmental communications costs and have drastically improved productivity.
- Auctions and Ecommerce : Instant notification of pricing changes gives buyers an incentive to impulse buy and to return to the site.
- Press Distribution : RSS feeds provide a quick and easy way to notify appropriate channels of new company developments.
- Product or Inventory Changes : A feed dedicated to announcing new additions or changes to inventory, such as houses on a real estate market, increase sales and customer retention.
- Schedule Changes : Whether it be a television show, flight delay, or school cancellation, if a timetable changes, an RSS feed can provide instant notification for all parties involved.
