Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a format used for the distribution of web content like news and blog post. It’s particularly helpful for publishing sites that have frequent updates like news and blogs.

You may have seen this image (above) all over the internet, often in different colors, but this is the universal symbol for RSS feeds. Clicking on this from any site connects you with that site’s content.

Benefits of use for you

The use of this service saves you tons of time by bringing the content to you as opposed to you going to the content, which will be housed on many different sites. Just think of the savings in time.

When you subscribe to a blog or website with this service you are signing up for the content that is produced on that site. This is known as an RSS feed or RSS aggregator and is usually provided free of charge in exchange for you signing up.

The use of RSS feeds provides you the reader with the ability to pull content from multiple sites of your choice, landing it all on a single page. You make the selections that interest you and remove the ones you may no longer want. RSS feeds are like channels on a radio, the choices are strictly up to you.

Benefits for the site owner

The site owner, who is usually the producer of the content, has the opportunity for this content to spread all over the internet. This helps with the branding process and drives traffic back to the site.

RSS feeds are used on blogs and most social media sites, they are practically everywhere now. I know of no blog that does not have one and Facebook, Twitter and others use feeds as their content delivery systems as well.

I think many internet users, particularly newcomers, are overlooking the power of RSS feeds simply because they may not fully understand how they work. Perhaps they have just not had the experience of using them as yet.

How does an RSS feed work?

When you click on a Subscribe via RSS button of a blog, like this one, you’ll notice that a listing of the content of the site appears in a window like this;

This is where you can select an RSS reader and have this content sent to your desktop, which saves you the time of actually visiting the site to see what the latest posts are. These post are automatically delivered to your desktop so that you can read them at your leisure. You no longer need to type the URL (web address) into a browser to access a site’s content.

There is also the ability to have the content deliver to you via email or XML.

Selecting the Google reader option brings you here;

Choosing the “Add to Google Reader” option takes you to a screen where you’ll have to sign in to your Google account or open one (free) if you haven’t already established an account.

Once inside, you see a listing of articles for that particular site within the reader.

The XML (eXtensible Markup Language) selection places an icon into your web browser. Here is an example of RSS feeds in a browser via the XML selection;

This is the convenience and power of RSS feeds, providing you with a completely customizable layout of your favorite sites and their content.

It’s a really cool and handy way to stay updated while building a library of content on your desktop. Google reader and the many other RSS feed reader applications available are fantastic tools. These feature-rich apps can be used on any browser. I will cover the various readers and their features in a follow-up post, as the subject is too detailed for this article.

Once setup, these feeds will provide a continual influx of articles to keep you updated on your favorite subjects. It is really easy to do this. So if you’ve not been using RSS feeds you’ve been missing out on a valuable free service. Go ahead and begin the process of using these tools for their designed purpose, experiment a little and discover the true power of RSS feeds. You can begin here by subscribing to this blog’s feed.

Other internet users who are not yet subscribed to The Online Business Blog, I respectfully request that you do so now. SUBSCRIBE HERE

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