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What are RSS Feeds and Why You Need an RSS Reader

An RSS feed is created in a non-HTML format called XML. RSS readers or aggregators can interpret and display that coding, but Web browsers can't. Soon, RSS/XML readers will be part of every browser and e-mail software. But for now, you need a separate reader.

You use an RSS reader to bring new, constantly updated material to you, from all your favorite sites. There is no need to check whether a site has updated.

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RSS feeds bring automatically updated information straight to your desktop. You can monitor news, job listings, personals, and classifieds. Thousands of sites now offer feeds, which you can identify by a small orange button that says either RSS or XML. However, if you click one of these links, you will most likely get a page full of code in your browser. To properly read the feed, you need an RSS reader.

Content published in an RSS feed is typically set up to send out notifications whenever new material is available. This makes the new content immediately available to feed readers and RSS search engines. Contrast this with ordinary web pages, which are essentially passive and generally aren't accessible to most of us until search engine crawlers find and index them. Once indexed, these pages stand relatively little chance of being read by web searchers on a frequent basis.

Instead of opening your Web browser when you sit down at the computer, you open your news feed reader, usually a 2- or 3 paned window that allows you to see at a glance which sites have added content, and to scan clickable headlines and summaries of that content. Imagine looking at update info on 10-20 sites at a single glance, and never waiting for a single page to load!

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RSS Tools You Need

Here is a collection of some of the most popular newsreaders for reading article feeds, news etc

Newsreaders | Aggregators

Win users

1. RssReader (http://www.rssreader.com). It's free!
2. BlogExpress
(http://www.usablelabs.com/productBlogExpress.html)
3. If you want to try several before deciding
(http://www.2rss.com/readers.php)

The most important point about RSS newsreaders is that they should be fast and simple to download, install, and start adding feeds. If it's not, find one that does.

Mac users

4.NetNewsWire has a free trial and is the best of
a smaller selection.(http://ranchero.com/netnewswire)

5. My Yahoo (http://my.yahoo.com)

6. MSN (http://my.msn.com)

How to Get Started With RSS

Simply right-click on the orange RSS button (control-click for Mac users) for each feed that interests you. Select Copy Shortcut ("Copy Link to Clipboard" for Mac; "Copy Link Location" if you use Firefox browser) then paste that URL into your RSS Reader.

And that's it! You're subscribed.

(If you prefer, click on the My Yahoo! or My MSN buttons to add each feed to "Your" Yahoo! or MSN.)

Now you have the ability to quickly scan the sites that interest you without being bombarded by unwanted email messages.

Read Part 3 of this article:

How to Create an RSS Feed for Your Web Site

Related: Photoblog Hosting

RSS Underground Featured Article Author Box

Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) owner and author of Maryland Web Design, Hosting, Marketing Subscribe to his "Marketing Tips" newsletter for more original in-depth articles at: http://www.isitebuild.com/articles

Advertising in RSS Feeds

As publishers have moved towards monetizing RSS feeds, their have been vibrant discussions as to whether advertisements in feeds are viable or whether they will drive subscribers away. At the end of the day while it appears that many are discussing the philosophical approaches to ads in RSS feeds few are taking the time to examine the options available for inserting advertisements in feeds. Ultimately the advertisements served are going to determine the success of RSS as an advertising medium. The ads served must be related to the content contained in the feed. If the RSS feed contains quality content, the ads are relevant, and the volume of ads is in balance with the volume of content served, advertising in RSS feeds will succeed. Take a closer look at some of the ad serving options currently available for RSS feeds.

Review of Current OptionsGoogle AdSense for Feeds Google's AdSense for Feeds offers contextually targeted advertisements, with a wide selection of advertisers. Google chooses not to divulge the percentage of revenue that is shared with the publisher, so it is difficult if not impossible to predict monthly revenue. The current Google AdSense system for feeds is tied to blogs and does not appear to be overly flexible. http://www.google.com/adsense

Pheedo Pheedo displays categorized advertisements rather than contextual advertisements. The upside to this is that Pheedo's advertisements can be used in conjunction with Google AdSense or AdSense for feeds without violating Google's contract. Pheedo works with the publisher to serve advertisements from similar or related categories associated with the feeds contents.

Pheedo's system allows for advanced ad filtering, giving publishers control over keyword ad filtering, specific ad filtering or url filtering. Pheedo's system also allows publishers to sell ads to existing advertisers whom they already have a relationship. The revenue split is 50% and feeds can be a sponsored flat rate advertisement or a pay-per-click advertisement, where the publisher is only paid if the advertisement is clicked. http://www.pheedo.com

Kanoodle for Feeds Kanoodles systems for providing advertisements for feeds is similar to Google's but they do not have the breadth of advertisers that Google boasts. Advertisements are served based on topics, not to keywords. Kanoodle shares 50% of the revenue generated from the advertisements with the publisher serving the ad. http://www.kanoodle.com

Evaluating Options When evaluating feed ad serving solutions consider the following:

1. Ad Relevance In order to generate revenue from RSS advertisements or for an advertising campaign to succeed using RSS as a channel. It is absolutely critical that the advertisements served in the feed contain related content, the more related the content the higher the likelihood that the advertisements will be of interest to the reader and clicked. Also the closer the content relates to the feeds theme the higher the likelihood the reader will have genuine interest in the product or service being advertised.

2. Ad Ratio Publishers need to retain control over the frequency of advertisements. Readers will become frustrated with feeds that are heavily laden with advertisements and genuine content. The advertiser is happy as they are reaching a targeted audience the publisher is happy because their advertisement is being clicked and generating revenue.

3. Clearly Denoted as Ads The debate over editorial control and advertisements rage on. It is generally considered proper net etiquette for publishers to clearly mark advertisements to distinguish them from editorial web content. When selecting a RSS advertising partner consider the context in which the advertisements are displayed. Does it blend with the feed or site, while still being clearly marked sponsored material? Or does the content blend so well that it appear as a product or service endorsement from the publisher? Credibility and reputation online matter, and the segregation of advertisements and ensuring they are properly denoted as such will go a long way to enhance credibility with readers.

Clearly as RSS increases in popularity publishers are looking for ways to monetize their content. RSS in advertising is a logical step, and striking a balance between quality, consistent content and occasional related advertisements will lead to the success of advertising in RSS feeds. If the balance is not found, publishers may be forced to move to a subscription RSS feed model.

About the Author: Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for FeedForDev http://www.feedfordev.com an RSS component for developers.

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Free RSS to HTML PHP Script

Article Marketing

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