RSS Online News Articles Information

Really Simple Syndication Is a Win-Win for Publisher and Provider

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. If you want a surefire way to get content to your web site without spending hours creating it or thousands of dollars buying it, then RSS is just what you need.

The best way to think about RSS is to take an offline example. Let's say Dave Barry.

Dave Barry is a syndicated columnist. He writes one article and sells it to thousands of different newspapers and his column will run in each of those newspapers at the same time. That's syndication.

RSS works in a similar fashion except that it's free. Imagine Dave Barry letting those thousands of newspapers print his columns without paying him. Why, he'd be in the poor house!

Why would anyone let others publish their content for free? Two reasons. First, by letting other web sites publish your content on their web site you increase the traffic on yours. More traffic means more potential sales. Simple, right?

The second reason you'd let someone publish your information on their web site is reputation. The more your name appears in cyberspace with something positive associated with it, the bigger and better reputation you will get. That translates to more traffic to your web site.

OK, so now you know why authors and publishers syndicate for free. So what does the publisher of someone else's content get?

If you publish another blog, news from another web site, or subscribe to an RSS feed then you are getting free content. If you put that content on your web site then that's content the search engines look at to determine page rank. A higher page rank means more potential traffic. Starting to get the picture?

RSS is a way for publishers to help each other gain more traffic. It's a win-win for the content provider and the content publisher. RSS allows the publisher to add instant copy to his web site without any associate cost and with little associated time. Once you get the RSS going you don't have to do anything else. You just let it ride.

But don't think it's as simple as instant gratification. You will need some things to make this work. First, you need a little bit of understanding of HTML and, preferably, XML since all RSS feeds are written in XML. Secondly, you need a feedreader or aggregator. There are a lot of these on the market so do some research. Some are open source and some are web-based. Spend a little time learning the difference.

I could go on about the different feedreaders available and their strengths and weaknesses, but that's another article. Just know that RSS is a good thing and spend a little time researching your options. Then, when you feel comfortable with what you know, start using it.