Saturday, June 16, 2007

Rss Feeds - Content Reliability

Websites have become very sophisticated and the demand for quality content is systematically increasing. Consumers have become very demanding in terms of the knowledge-based content an online business has available on their site.

One of the ways you can add new content to your site in a way that is potentially hands free is through the use of a third party Real Simple Syndication (RSS) feed.

In most cases you will need permission to do what I am about to suggest, but you will also find some resources that see this idea as a marketing boon for their online business and offer it without the need to ask.

If you find a source with consistently good information you might do well to consider asking this source if you can either extract personally selected content for redistribution on your site, or ask them if you can simply use the RSS feed as a third party news distribution source on your web.

In the first scenario you have the most control over the information you share. In the second scenario the information can self-update leaving you free to pursue other marketing endeavors.

The article you are reading was originally available through an RSS feed. In fact, you may be reading this article based on your willingness to sign up for an RSS feed of the articles I produce.

Be sure to check with any provider of an RSS feed to see if they will allow you to simply capture and redistribute the material. Some will have conditions as to the total number of articles you can use in a given period of time, so make sure you follow the rules of any content provider.

Content remains the brass ring in marketing. Without quality content your customers may be less inclined to spend time with your site, which often translates into minimal conversion of a potential customers.

If the consumer is motivated to make a purchase they may not care how much information you can share. However, this type of consumer is among the minority in online sales.

Even in affiliate marketing, online businesses will typically use some form of RSS feed to ensure they have the most up to date advertisement for the company they are representing. In the case of affiliate marketing the third party wants to make this is pain-free and low maintenance as possible.

RSS feeds remain a positive tool for these individuals to use in taking care of business.

How are you using RSS feeds to your advantage?

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