RSS, Feeds, and Aggregators

When you work online all the time, immersed in bits and bytes, hands automatically resting on the keyboard, where the lingua franca is a mish-mash of acronyms and abbreviations - it is easy to forget that the average person has no clue what we talk about. It can be very daunting for the Internet neophyte with all these terms, technology and hardware. That's why I wrote this. Because I don't want people to be afraid to either ask (via comments on this thread) or to click/use buttons they don't know or use.

Way back when I started blogging (6-7 months ago!), I was a complete n00b in these blogging terms too. Now while I'm not exactly the lead programmer at RSS central I do know a thing or two, but when I really think about it I'm only just paddling at the moment so maybe I can help others get into the paddling pool too!

RSS

Really Simple Syndication, let's break it down into the real basics. It is essentially a broken down look at the web page/site, stripping all the presentation and layout, and removing all the neat graphics and cool toys that generally clutter webpages. What's left is an RSS file (in XML format).

Surprisingly out of 1,000 blog readers (who are themselves a small elite minority among Internet users) 66% have not even heard of RSS and 23% said they understood but did not use it. Where do you stand?

Feeds

This is just a another way of writing what RSS can do. Feeds are a blog's (or site's) method of syndicating content, arranged concisely in an XML format and, as mentioned above, stripped of any extraneous presentation. The "feed" comes from aggregators requesting that RSS file to display as content for their subscribers (feeding their need for your well-written articles!).

Aggregators

It's a straightforward description for what it is: it aggregates RSS feeds from whatever source you tell it. These are also sometimes called "newsreaders" although this term is falling out of favor.

There are two types: software and web-based. Software has a following - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_news_aggregators#Desktop_news_aggregators, but web-based is beginning to draw more of the usage. Rapidly expanding online aggregators such as http://www.bloglines.com/, or http://my.yahoo.com/ are leading the way. With blog traffic up 31 percent since the beginning of the year, readers will need a way to sort through the blogosphere, and aggregators are that way.

The main advantage of aggregators is that they allow you to gather all your feeds in one place, and read them without having to navigate all over the place.

Adding Your Feed

You will have noticed button labeled RSS, often times they are orange rectangles (they are also labeled XML). That is the feed button - clicking it will show a lot of XML code. Note the URI, copy it. Then go to your aggregator, software or web-based, and paste that URI as the feed address and save. That will allow the aggregator to know where to fetch the feed and it will do it automatically from that point on.

What's The Advantage?

A big advantage to RSS is that you, the subscriber, is in control. Let's say you go to xyz.com and look for an article on Blogging software. You find it, but there are advertising banners, fly-ins, pop-ups, and then just as annoying you have to click three or four times to go to the "next page" with yet more of the same. With a feed (and appropriate aggregator) you get just the article (content) without all of the extra stuff.

The Future of RSS

So what is in store for us with RSS? I don't have a crystal ball but some things are plain to see. The future of RSS is bright and yet at the same time likely to be mired in specification wars, mainly due to Microsoft's insistence that they rename RSS to 'web feeds' for the upcoming IE7 release. You can read more about this hotly debated subject at http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/76104/microsoft-defends-rss-rebranding.html and at http://www.microsoftmonitor.com/archives/009849.html

There is no doubt though that RSS is here to stay. It has become an integral part of the blogosphere, a method of aggregating large amounts of content from hundreds of blogs into one place. From a blogger's point of view RSS is essential to building and keeping an audience. Wary of clicking on subscriptions, Internet users finally have a way to grab your content (updated every day, right?) when they want it. For the blogger they now have a way to syndicate their articles, sharing them among other sites who publish those articles. Those who syndicate get content, and the blogger gets exposure.

Richard Dows is a web designer living in Florida, working on small businesses, blogs, site design, and more. You can find him working on his own blog at http://www.thex.com/rd/ or writing and participating in others like http://www.balancednewsblog.com/ and http://www.thex.com/webstandards/

---

Blogs And Your Work From Home Internet Business

As a work from home internet business entrepreneur you have... Read More

How Can RSS Feeds Help Your Online Business?

So who should I use RSS Feeds? How can it... Read More

RSS: A Really Smart System For Sending And Receiving Content Online

"RSS" stands for Really Simple Syndication. RSS is a standard... Read More

Blogs: Why, Where and How

So you have heard about the blogs or you are... Read More

Blogging Your Way To Success Part 1

It has been said that blogging will be the new... Read More

Make Money Blogging Using These Nine Powerful Strategies

The question "How to make money blogging" sits high on... Read More

Why Use RSS?

So why use RSS? Well, I can find a whole... Read More

How to Use Blogs for Free Targeted Traffic

One of the Number 1 traffic building secrets is adding... Read More

Using RSS for Publishing and Syndication

There are two reasons why you would want to use... Read More

Blogging Dollars in 7 Hours or Less

Need to make money fast, but you don't want to... Read More

Article Marketing For Bloggers - 4 Tips To Build Traffic For Your Blog

Bloggers blog. That's what they do. A blog is short... Read More

Use Blogging to Manage Your Entire Web Sites Content

Blogging is a term that means different things to different... Read More

Blogging: A Profit Making Internet Option

Blogging is a relatively new form of communication, closely related... Read More

Feeds For Small Business: Real World Examples

A merchant I was talking to the other day asked... Read More

What Is A Blog?

Blogs can be described in many definitions and they are... Read More

What Is A Blog? - A Beginners Guide to Understanding Blogs

A blog is short for weblog, which simply means a... Read More

An Example of a Business Blog: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Blog

Think of a product or a service that your business... Read More

3 Tips to improve your RSS marketing

3 Tips to improve your RSS marketing You have... Read More

How Bloggers Are Making Thousands of Dollars From the Google Adsense Affiliate Program

There is no doubt that the Google Adsense program for... Read More

How to Increase Buyers Traffic Through Writing Articles and RSS Content Syndication

Benefits of Writing Articles:1. Every Webmaster would like to publish... Read More

Blogs: Todays Internet Diary and Marketing Tool

The popular blogger.com owned by Google, Inc. has been around... Read More

Marketing with Blogs and RSS Feeds

Perhaps you still don't realize or fully understand the power... Read More

RSS Feeds Future Revealed

I don't claim to be a futurologist or an RSS... Read More

How to Use Blog Exchanges

Traffic exchanges and blog traffic exchanges are a way to... Read More

Build a Website Using Blog Software

Have you thought about how easily you could build and... Read More

12 Reasons Why You Need A Blog

"Why Should I Blog? I Simply Don't Get It"This post... Read More

Will The Real Spammer Please Stand Up!

If you have been using opt-in email marketing for sometime,... Read More

What is an RSS Aggregator or RSS Reader?

I keep hearing about RSS, XML and RSS feeds. I... Read More

Use RSS to Get Your Sites Indexed Overnight

As you may know, Google has it's very own blogging... Read More

Utilize The Power Of Blogs To Market Your Business On A Budget

Budget marketing with blogs is one of today's top methods... Read More

The Art of Business Blog Writing

"It is precisely minds of the first order that will... Read More

Promoting Your Business Using Blogs

Internet marketing using blogs has quickly gained a lot of... Read More

Is a Blog Right For Your Business?

Lemmings are cute, but dumb. If you tell them... Read More