We were waiting for something like this to happen for a long time. Yahoo!, one of the key providers of mass-market RSS aggregators, finally took a step forward and published their RSS whitepaper, covering their own findings with RSS, based on their usage data.
1. YAHOO!’S KEY FINDINGS
Let’s first take a look at Yahoo! key findings and what they mean for marketers.
a] Awareness of RSS is quite low among Internet users. 12% of users are aware of RSS, and 4% have knowingly used RSS.
Although RSS awareness is increasing, only few internet users yet understand what RSS is and how to use it.
For marketers, this means that simply placing an RSS button on their site it not nearly enough, with the report finally demonstrating that marketers needs to use clear and persuasive copy to get their visitors interested in RSS, explain RSS to them and get them to subscribe to their feeds.
In addition it also shows that marketers need to make sure they are using “user-friendly” buttons to generate subscribers, such as “Add to MyYahoo!”, which consumers do understand.
b] 27% of Internet users consume RSS syndicated content on personalized start pages (e.g., My Yahoo!, My MSN) without knowing that RSS is the enabling technology.
This finding only underlines the above suggestions.
Stop touting your RSS feeds only using an RSS button, but rather aim for a “subscribe feature” and then explain to the visitor how to use it.
Strong copy has never been so important.
c] 28% of Internet users are aware of podcasting, but only 2% currently subscribe to podcasts.
Goes to show that podcasting still has a long way to go and can right now function only as a supplement to your existing marketing activities.
It might also give an indication that audio is not the most appropriate format for much online content.
d] Even tech-savvy “Aware RSS Users” prefer to access RSS feeds via user-friendly, browser-based experiences (e.g., My Yahoo!, Firefox, My MSN).
e] My Yahoo! has the highest awareness and use of any RSS-enabled product.
Both of the findings above, although indicating that these are the results Yahoo! would want to publish, show that having browser-based RSS reader subscribe buttons is a must.
It also shows that the market is ready for the soon-coming IE and Outlook integrated RSS features, which should really boost RSS usage among consumers online.
Now, let’s take a deeper look at the report …
2. “UNAWARE RSS USERS” VS “AWARE RSS USERS”
The whitepaper makes a strong distinction between “Unaware RSS Users” and “Aware RSS Users”, positioning the “Unaware” batch as the mainstream Internet population.
This makes it absolutely clear that B2C marketers, targeting consumers, should take special care to promote their feeds using “friendly” subscribe buttons.
On the other hand, if targeting a more tech-savvy audience, going the way of “RSS” and more complex RSS reading tools might be a better choice. This might also prove more effective for targeting executives and other corporate target audiences that might be using an enterprise-wide RSS solution, such as NewsGator.
3. CONSUMPTION LEVELS
The whitepaper says that on the average “Aware RSS Users” subscribe to 6.6 feeds.
The consequences of this are not as simple as they might seem. Even “RSS Aware” users do not subscribe to “just anything” and seems they only subscribe or keep being subscribed to the content of highest relevance to them.
The message for marketers is to become even more relevant and more focused on providing real value for their target audiences.
RSS does not mean that end-users will start consuming that much more online content, but simply that their primary consumption channel will change. It’s up to you to make place for yourself in this consumption channel, but you can only do so if you become one of the key targeted content providers for your market and can deliver consistently high-quality content.
4. TYPES OF RSS CONTENT CONSUMED
Even in the world of RSS, mainstream media rules, with World news and National news both leading the pack at 52% and followed by Entertainment at 34% and Weather ad 31%.
If we take a look at what lies beneath this we can see that end-users still see RSS as a news consumption tool and a tool to receive time-sensitive updates, such as weather info.
The interesting part is that blogs achieve only 23% and although they are gaining quickly are still not part of the mainstream.
Whichever way you look at this, the real long tail is still far from fruition.
There are two are interesting categories listed in the report: investment/financial info/banking at 13% and Shopping/online commerce at 10%.
The popularity of these two shows that RSS in fact is appropriate for delivering business info and that RSS can be used for e-commerce. A strong case in point urging e-retailers to start providing RSS feeds.
5. WHY END-USERS USE RSS
“RSS Aware” end-users subscribe to feed because of “ease” or “convenience”, followed by being able to choose what they read.
To marketers, these three should be the founding stones of how to get their visitors to adopt RSS.
6. THE FAMOUS ORANGE BUTTON
Marketers, pay attentin to this.
Only 4% of total RSS end-users actually use the orange XML button, and only 38% of RSS aware users use it.
It seems the orange button isn’t dead … it was never alive.
Let’s move on and replace it with something more user-friendly.
And BTW — 22% of the people that clicked on the button don’t even know what action they took after clicking the button and 26% left the site. Goes to show the RSS button is only losing us subscribers.
7. HOW USERS FIND THEIR FEEDS
50% use the defaults available in the RSS reader and only 13% use the search engines to find them.
Yes, it’s cruical to be in the RSS feed search engines, but it would be even better if you could move your way to the default seetings. And by all means, actively promote the feeds on your site as end-users, according to the report, actively tend to subscribe to the feeds on the sites they find interesting.
8. CONCLUSION
To conclude this, here’s a direct quote from the report, saying exactly what I’ve been trying to get through for a couple of months:
“To position RSS among mainstream Internet users, it is essential to effectively communicate the benefits of RSS (ease, convenience, access to information of interest). Internet users do not understand how to use the XML button, how to actively seek out RSS feeds, or even what the term RSS means. Instead, they need a simple interface where they can choose the information and content that interests them. This is where personalized start pages and browser-based experiences can help move RSS into the mainstream.”
Learn how to take full marketing advantage of RSS and get all the expertise, knowledge and how-to information for implementing RSS in your marketing mix, from direct marketing, PR, e-commerce, internal communications and online publishing to SEO, traffic generation and customer relationship management. Including complete interviews with more than 40 RSS marketing experts. Click here now: http://rss.marketingstudies.net/book/
What if nobody ever attempted to steal someone else’s identity? What if we could stop computer hacking attacks? What if we did not need shredders because no one ever went dumpster diving?
What if the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation could keep up with those who steal identities? What of there was no such thing as Phishing or Pharming? What if there was no way for a Internet SPAM people to hide?
What if Identity theft was not the fasting growing crime? What if Identity theft security did not cost corporations and business people millions each year; would prices reflect the savings? What if companies were not over burdened by regulations to protect consumers?
What if the Identity Theft criminals had to pay the costs? What if it did not take an average of 30 hours to fix your credit after identity theft? What if each year over 10 million Americans did not have to deal with this?
What if the problem were not growing like the predicted Bird Flu virus pandemic? What if we could do something about identity theft rather than fearing it? What if more people used the Internet to shop because they felt safe with using their credit cards online?
What if it all ended tomorrow and we never had to deal with Identity theft? Oh what if. . . What if We Stopped Identity Theft?
“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/
A friend of mine called me the other day to tell me that he thought our site wasn’t optimized very well. I said, “What do you mean? You know it takes awhile for natural optimization to kick in!” (I mean he is an IT guy and knows the site hasn’t been up that long).
“Well it was really embarrassing,” he continued, “I wanted to show my wife your site and so I searched for ‘two blonde chicks’ and all I can say she was not impressed with what came up!
It made me laugh and I did correct him that we were “a couple of chicks” that happen to be blonde, but that blonde was not one of our keywords. The comment did get me thinking…what do you do while you are waiting for your site to get optimized and ranked?
Now we all know there is the short term fix of Pay per Click, which I mentioned before in “So you want to manage a Pay per Click Campaign,” is not as easy as it sounds. However whether you embark down that road or not, my partner and I decided it was time to take the leap and become involved in RSS. Real Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary sounds like it should be relatively simple to understand, I mean simple is the way they describe it.
So for the “Chicks” I thought I would take a two step approach. First we should set our own site set up with an RSS Feed, and then sign up for RSS on topics of interest to experience it from a consumer point of view. My goal was to understand RSS, be able to explain it so anyone could understand it, become an expert on how it works to assist our clients in getting their RSS set up, and to use our Web Analytic tracking tool to measure the effectiveness and ROI.
First Step: When researching how to set up an RSS feed and how to assist our clients, my research stated that adding useful and relevant content to your website is one of the best ways to increase your search engine visibility and keep visitors coming back to the site. You need to create a flow of useful information to keep people coming back to your site and an RSS Feed is a great way to continually inform everyone of new content.
My research also told me that having an RSS Feed would increase my rankings in the search engines because of the increased visibility would be created through the feeds. Truthfully I still couldn’t figure out quite what and RSS feed was!
Being the search specialist that I am, (even though I know that search results are weighted by numerous factors) I figured Google would know it was me and help me out. So I put RSS into the search bar. What I found was so technically complex, I was beginning to think I had ventured into an area that was way above this “Chicks” head!
I uncovered sentences like…” RSS defines an XML grammar (a set of HTML-like tags) for sharing news. Each RSS text file contains both static information about your site, plus dynamic information about your new stories, all surrounded by matching start and end tags.” I had no idea, and still don’t know what that means!
So true to form of any searcher when I did not find a relevant result, I didn’t go past the first page; I changed my search to… RSS Definition. I was immediately drawn to a site about a third of the page down that said, The Coolest RSS Definition: Bill Flitter’s a Genius. This had to be it; excited I clicked through to what I was confident would clear up any confusion I was having regarding the meaning of RSS. I closed my eyes as I hit the mouse to see the answer and this is what appeared… “RSS is Santa Claus content, delivered to you by the postal carrier, via your own personal remote control ordering system.”
Why don’t I understand this yet? When in doubt, and I can’t find what I am looking for, I surrender to my sure fire search method of adding “for dummies” to my search. “Rss for Dummies” turned out to be a breakthrough. I found a great article by a gentleman named Scoot Hendison who finally could explain RSS to me in a language I could understand. http://ezinearticles.com/?RSS-For-Dummies&id=83300
When you realize what it is, and how simple it is, you will be amazed at how unnecessarily complicated an acronym can make things! In fact, before I reveal the secret, I can almost bet you have set up an RSS feed and didn’t even know it. I discovered I had personally set up over 6 feeds and hadn’t realized it.
Basically, if you go to whatever home page you have on your browser like www.yahoo.com, they give you the option of creating “my yahoo”. This is where you can personalize content so that each day when you log in you can view the latest headlines on any topic that interests you. It could be travel or marketing or sports scores or stock information, anything you can imagine. When you customized your home page there is a tab that says “add content.” It is here that you can add a URL or a topic and daily, without the stress of logging into a bunch of sites or having a ton of email newsletters, the information you want is right there updated in real time, talking directly to you!
As mentioned I had set up numerous personalized content feeds on my home page without knowing that I was using RSS. The content comes from websites that set themselves up with an RSS feed. Real Simple Syndication can be formatted to your desktop among other areas, but the easiest source is your home page, and it is free!
If you enjoy articles like these, and the day to day discoveries of internet marketing are as entertaining as they are to me, enter our “Chicks” RSS feed into your own RSS reader http://rss.coupleofchicks.com/rss.xml. To read more about how to use RSS from A Couple of Chicks visit www.acoupleofchicks.com, and if you want to find out and need assistance in setting up an RSS feed on your site, drop us a line or give us a call - we now have it all figured out! Now that I feel my head has cleared and I can finally see what everyone is talking about….I think I’ll look into blogging!
Patricia Brusha and Alicia Whalen are the co-founder’s of “A Couple of Chicks,” an Internet Marketing, Distribution & Revenue Measurement Company. The “Chicks” specialize in using Creative Distribution and Technology to bring clarity to marketing on-line.
With the rising concern of Spam Filters/Blockers, Blacklisting, Bounce Backs and CAN-SPAM Act laws, email is sadly becoming a VERY unrealible vehicle to deliver your marketing messages to your customers, Therefore, resulting in “Time Wasted” and “Loss Of Profits”.
IS there a solution to this never ending concern for Permission Email Marketers?
You bet there is.
There called… “RSS Autoresponders”.
You read right, RSS autoresponders.
They’ve now taken the newest technology (RSS - Rich Site Summary or Real Simple Syndication) that hit the net and turned it into a permission email marketers dream come true.
And… the cool thing about RSS autoresponders is they work much like a traditional email autoresponders, just with a few different features and benefits.
Time is something I value dearly, as I’m sure you do as well, especially when you work so hard on a email to your subscribers, I would think you would want to make sure it reaches them.
So… for the rest of this article I’m going to give you the…
Top 10 Reasons WHY “RSS Autoresponders” Are Becoming A Permission Email Marketers BEST Friend
… and WHY you should Seriously consider the switch if your a Permission Email Marketer.
The Internet is changing, so we must change with it.
So, with that said, lets get down to business by going to the first and my MOST favorite reason.
Reason #1. 100% delivery rate of your messages.
This is probably the single most BIGGEST benefit you’ll receive by using an RSS autoresponder is getting 100% of your marketing messages infront of your prospects and/or existing customers.
Reason #2. Blacklisting is the thing of the past.
Never worry about being Blacklisted again because of someone else using your shared server and sending SPAM emails through it and getting you Blacklisted as the end result.
Reason #3. Forget CAN-SPAM and Email Laws.
You can now forget about all the email laws and CAN-SPAM because now they no longer apply to you because you are no longer an email publisher, your a RSS publisher.
There’s a BIG difference.
Reason #4. Subscribers can Opt-In via web forms or links.
This is a critical feature to have with RSS autoresponders because it will allow an easy switch by simply replacing your email web forms with RSS web forms on your website(s).
Plus, this will make sure there won’t be any confusion for your potential subscribers with some new Opt-In method.
Reason #5. Personalize your out-going messages.
That’s right, you can personalize your out-going messages with custom data fields of your choice, just like a traditional email, giving your marketing message a professional look and giving you more credibility as a professional marketer.
Reason #6. Write freely with all the forbidden email words.
Now you have the freedom to write using any Word or Phrase you wish without the worry of SPAM filters/blockers intercepting your messages and labelling it as “SPAM”, and still have your message achieve 100% delivery rate to your subscribers.
Isn’t that great or what?
Reason #7. Unlimited message delivery.
Like I said earlier in the article, RSS autoresponders work just like traditional email autoresponders with the same functions.
What I’m saying is, you are able to set-up Unlimited timed sequential autoresponder messages that will automatically follow-up your leads for you at your desired time or dates.
And, the real cool thing here is, you’ll be able to sleep knowing 100% of your messages are reaching your potential customers.
Reason #8. Broadcast as often as you like.
With RSS autoresponders, your also able to broadcast to your subscribers as often as you like with your marketing messages and/or special offers just like traditional email autoresponders.
The only difference is, 100% of your marketing messages are reaching your subscribers, meaning, more profits in your pocket.
Reason #9. Many options for managing your subscribers.
Just like traditional email autoresponders, RSS autoresponders also give you many different options for managing and editing your subscriber lists.
I won’t go into alot of detail on this simply because it basically works the same as an email autoresponder list manager.
Reason #10. Ad tracking and report generation.
You can even track who, where, when, what week or month your subscriber subscribed and much more using RSS autoresponders, giving you valuable statistics and information about your subscribers and much more.
I think these 10 reasons I just outlined above are in my mind pretty beneficial to a Permission Email Marketer wouldn’t you think?
In conclusion, I would have to say that the BIGGEST benefit to RSS autoresponders is that they GUARANTEE 100% delivery on your marketing message to your subscribers, saving You valuable time and frustration, and giving you the edge you need in order for you to make the most Profit from your broadcast.
The technology is here, so we must adapt.
This concludes the “Top 10 Reasons WHY “RSS Autoresponders” Are Becoming A Permission Email Marketers BEST Friend”.
Want to get MORE ‘Insider’ marketing Secrets on How-To drive HUGE amounts of Laser Targeted Traffic to your website? Then you need to subscribe to Cory Threlfall’s ezine called… The Internet Wonders eZine at — internet marketing
Have you been following the explosion of RSS — Really Simple Syndication — activity online? Seems this new method of “getting the word out” is picking up steam. Why? Partly because of the Davids, and partly because of the Goliaths. The “Davids” — the little guys — are able to deploy the technology since it is easy to use and usually is a feature of Blogging software (Blogging is another emerging trend — for more articles on Blogging, visit WebFadds.com). You just click the option and send your RSS feed (broadcast your articles) out to subscribing sites. And the “Goliaths”, the likes of Yahoo, Google, MSN and others, are all catering to it in various ways. Let’s look at some of the latest ways this is playing out…
Microsoft joins the battle with an RSS Service
Information week reported in March 2005, that Microsoft is now testing an RSS technology that will allow users to choose the RSS feeds they want to see. They are doing this to keep up with (Microsoft always seems reactive, rather than proactive as a company) Google, Yahoo, and Ask Jeeves who already offer similar services.
You can review the test site at the super secret test site — www.start.com/1/ (well… it was published in the Information Week article).
So, Microsoft Enters the Game? Ho hum for Microsoft, as they lag once again, in leading the wave. But, this is an indication of how seriously this Goliath is taking RSS, and you know where that leads… direct into the next release of Windows software.
Poddcasting, RSS, & Attachments… Oh My
Now here’s a high octane way of using a combination of syndication feeds, and “Podcasting” (think of Broadcasting, but doing it from your computer to other devices like Apple’s iPod) to get your message out. Maybe that’s why one entrepreneur using this method, Steve Wirrick, calls his stock insights, sent via an audio attachment to an RSS feed, “High Octane Trading.” You can read more about it (and get the feed) at Mr. Wirricks site (www.stevewirrick.com), where he describes it as, “a dynamic audio learning tool that takes advantage of a grassroots media revolution called, podcasting.”
How to listen: To listen to a Podcast (and there are others — check out iPodder.org), you need a free program called “iPodder — Cross Platform podcast receiver”… get it at http://ipodder.sourceforge.net/index.php.
RSS meets PodCasting: Power to the people! Most people are just waking up to RSS syndication as a means to distribute the written word. They forgot about attachments. Watch this technology… with a free method of creation, and distribution, Radio could be set to learn from PodCasters what Print & TV journalists already understood from Bloggers — the power is shifting. What are you going to Podcast?
BEEP… your RSS Feed is Calling…
RSS feeds on your cell phone — who’d have thunk it? Now there’s a service called “Feed Beep” which allows you to sign up and receive your crucial feeds, from employment information to medical, to Auctions. Looks like a start-up, and it appears to be free (for now) — see www.feedbeep.com/.
Can You Hear your RSS Feed Now?: Great. Now that noisy guy at the theater can also get calls about his eBay auctions. What next? The service also sends feeds to your Pager. Hmmmm. What could be so important? I’m not sure, but it looks like we’re destined to find out. But wait a minute… what about PodCasting RSS feeds to phones — your phone becomes a Radio receiver. Hmmmm.
Let the Whole World Know your Schedule…
There’s a Beta site (”Beta” simply means they’re still testing it, and it’s not quite ready for us Alpha people) up now where you can create an RSS Calendar. You set up your event calendar, create an RSS channel, then family and friends can view your calendar. Take it for a spin at RSSCalendar — www.rsscalendar.com… it’s free.
Calendar to the World: The site states you can share your Calendar with unlimited users. Hmmm. How is this different from calendars you can set up on Yahoo, MSN, etc.? Now, those who are too lazy to check a link you give them at those sites, can be force fed your calendar in their RSS Reader. OOPS… those same lazy people, will also have to go get and install an RSS reader (just do a Google search to find free RSS readers you can use). Fat chance if they are too lazy to simply link to a static calendar you might already have set up. But… if Microsoft builds this technology in… then… well! And, that takes us full circle on this edition of the RSS Round-up.
Scott Frangos is a writer, designer, and eCommerce marketer with over 20 years experience in Advertising. He has taught eCommerce, HTML, and Business courses at the college level in Portland, Oregon, and currently is Managing Partner of WebFadds.com. He also enjoys canoeing in the Pacific Northwest, with his wife and partner, Pepper. You can subscribe to the WebFadds.com RSS feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Webfaddscom
In today’s online world of high-speed websites and giant portals, every established Internet business boasts of delivering content via RSS.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary), a simple XML based technology allows anyone to easily share content on the web. It’s a brand new way of reaching out to your users and subscribers without the fear of getting flamed or being slammed of illegal mailing.
RSS has almost become like an important accessory for content oriented websites. No wonder it has become one of the fastest growing publishing standards on the web.
Since publishers can easily make their content syndicated through RSS and thus drive more targeted traffic to their website or blog.
Here are the top 7 reasons why your business should use RSS:
1. Improve Search Engine Ranking - Search engines are desperately looking for content that is fresh and is updated on a regular basis. Since RSS allows you to update your content from time to time, the search engine spiders visit your site more frequently. Resulting in better ranking and more traffic from the major search engines, as well as RSS specific search engines and directories like Feedster and Syndic8.
2. Automate Delivery of Your Content - Delivering your content manually involves many hassles and other automation methods are out dated. Whereas RSS makes your content delivery automated. You don’t need to send a message like email, each time you provide an update. This makes your business almost hands free and puts the distribution of your publication on autopilot. As a result, your subscribers get freshly updated content of their choice at regular intervals. They get an ongoing, automated delivery of information from you without any chance of it getting blocked.
3. Easily Generate New Targeted Subscribers - A lot of web users are switching to RSS feeds to receive content they like. You can establish a direct connection with your subscribers as soon as they add your feed. RSS can bring you new targeted subscribers to your website with little effort. Since most of the people today are reluctant to give out their email address (thanks to heavy spamming), RSS can act as a real savior for your businesses. What’s more, your messages will never get blacklisted or filtered and will always be delivered promptly, unless and until your subscribers choose to end the relationship. Not only can RSS build a strong relationship with existing subscribers but will also help in attracting new potent subscribers who are interested in what you offer.
4. Drive Quality Traffic From Other Websites - Syndication is the process sharing content. Therefore, RSS allows you to easily publish your content on other websites. By publishing your content on different sites you’ll reap profits for a long time. You can very well reach new audiences of different interests, giving your website the ability to gain new visitors from the different corners of the web. With that, your sales also dramatically increase because of the additional targeted traffic you receive due to the extra exposure. Finally, you can achieve a higher ratio of profits and also gain recognition as an expert in your field. Since giving your business a professional recognition is important and that is exactly what happens when you start sharing your content with other similar websites.
5. Broaden Your Marketing Horizon -When you’re marketing on the Internet it’s important to keep yourself updated and in the process broaden your marketing horizons. With RSS, you can explore new marketing realms. Your resellers or affiliates can promote your products very easily using RSS. Giving them complete freedom of marketing without much effort. You can also provide them with RSS feeds of articles written by you customized with their affiliate links and let them distribute them. And coming to the higher end of it, you can distribute RSS product feeds and digital catalogues just like Amazon started doing not so long ago. There’s much more which you can come up with when you combine marketing with RSS. You’ll actually have a chance to do something new in the over-crowded Internet marketing field.
6. Widen Your Content Distribution - It’s very important to widen the distribution of your content if you want to reach a larger number of people. And it’s not so easy to experiment with your content when you’re using email. RSS provides the right platform for you to try out content distribution in many ways. For example, you can now categorize your content delivery because RSS will help you widen your present distribution. You don’t have to worry about publishing a monthly or a weekly publication. Syndication of your content enables you to efficiently provide daily content updates to your subscribers or as often as you want. Providing useful content to your subscribers from time to time builds a deeper relationship and a better understanding.
7. Increase Brand Awareness - Building brand awareness on the Internet can be difficult when you have clones of your product popping up everywhere. In fact, the online competition is so cut throat that it’s almost impossible to survive if you don’t build a strong image. Syndicating your content through RSS helps you make an unshakable impression and get that most wanted response from your subscribers. Since, they are the ones who choose to receive updates from you, it gives you a good platform to showcase how different you are from your competitors. RSS is a technology which is soon catching up, pretty fast, so the “really” early bird gets the worm!
There are numerous ways by which you can make your content work through RSS. You just have to choose the one which is suitable for your business and syndicate your way to success!
Mustafa Khundmiri is the co-founder of http://www.rapidfeeds.com - A Free online service, which helps anyone, create, edit, publish, and track RSS feeds online. Sign Up for your FREE account on his site and start publishing your own RSS feeds!
RSS, or Really Simple Syndication as it is commonly known, is a technology that gives webmasters the ability to easily distribute and publish syndicated content on the Internet. It seems like all Internet businesses now have RSS feeds available; at least your competitors do. You have finally made the decision that you have to have one. Where do you start?
Steps to Creating an RSS feed
1.) Build a Feed
There are a number of desktop and web applications available that make feed creation easy. I would encourage anyone creating a feed to use one. Though not overly complicated, hand-coding an RSS feed can become a bit confusing and time-consuming. Most desktop software applications for building a feed include a wizard and contact-sensitive help, simplifying the process of creating a feed. Following a few simple steps in a wizard generally will produce an RSS feed in just a few minutes.
Publishers control what information is syndicated in the RSS feed, so ultimately it is the publisher’s decision as to whether to include teaser copy or full articles. Consider what you are trying to accomplish and who your target audience is when building the feed.
Once you have constructed an RSS feed you will need to transfer the feed to your server. This can be done using a standard FTP client (if it is not built into the feed creation software). The feed is usually placed in the domain’s root directory like this:
3.) Display the Feed on Your Website Using a Graphic of Some Sort
In order to signal to website visitors that an RSS feed containing content related to the website is available, include a colorful graphic on the website. It has become a standard that nearly all websites that have RSS feeds available use colorful graphics such as flags as indicators that RSS feeds are available for specific content. The flags were initially bright orange rectangles but as the popularity has grown, webmasters have bent the rules a bit. NotePage has made a free online RSS graphic tool available that allows users to quickly customize buttons by selecting the text on the button and the color scheme of the button. Once the color and text is entered, a custom graphic is instantly created. Webmasters can easily match the style of the RSS button to a website’s theme. Graphics experience is not required. Simply select alternative colors and insert text to personalize RSS feed graphics. The RSS graphics tool can be used by clicking the following URL
4.) Include Information in the HTML of the Web Page So RSS Readers Auto-Detect Your Feed
After publishing an RSS feed it is important to let visitors know that the feed exists. Aggregators will automatically detect RSS on a website if you add a small bit of code in the header field of an HTML page.
Contents contained in an RSS feed can be added to a website, providing site visitors an alternative method for viewing the content. The information will also help increase search engine interest. Displaying the feed as HTML can be accomplished. Providing fresh content on a regular basis will encourage site visitors return.
6.) Submit the Feed to RSS Directories and Search Engines
As a rapidly increasing number of content sources, new and old, migrate or add RSS as a key distribution channel, and as more people utilize RSS newsreaders and aggregators to keep themselves informed, the ability to maintain high exposure and visibility is gradually shifted from complete attention to major search engines and content optimization techniques to an increasing awareness of RSS feed directories and search tools.
In order to increase exposure of an RSS feed it should be submitted to RSS search engines and directories. This can be done manually. Just as you would submit the URL of a website or web page to a search engine you will need to submit the link of the actual feed located on your website to the RSS directories. There is a large list of RSS directories at http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-submission.htm. If you prefer to automate the submission process try RSS Submit at:
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 NotePage http://www.notepage.net a wireless text messaging software company.
Fighting the never ending tide of spam mail can turn into a very frustrating experience if you don’t know the real tricks of the trade. After all, there’s a whole lot more to it than simply responding to a (usually bogus) From: address with a peevish complaint!
Here’s a fairly extensive overview of resources that will aid you in effectively combatting unsolicited email, showing you the possibilities (and, alas, the limits!) of your endeavor.
General resources —————– The Spamhaus Project features a database tracks known Spam Gangs, Spam Support Services and the providers who keep organized spamming alive by knowingly hosting stealth spamming services on their networks. An extensive set of databases allows for tracking of established spam outfits, including statistics, etc. < http://www.spamhaus.org/ >
Spam.abuse.net calls for spam boycots and offers lots of information an spam prevention legislation, and more. < http://spam.abuse.net/ > Read their useful guide titled “How To Complain To The Spammer’s Provider” at: < http://spam.abuse.net/howtocomplain.html >
Mail forwarding services ———————— Protect your mail box with disposable email addresses by signing up with Sneakemail: this service forwards everything to your regular box without disclosing your real address. If you find your Sneakemail address is being abused, you can simply delete it. Plus, it will help you track down businesses that flog your address to third party marketers. Neat. < http://sneakemail.com/ >
Free email forwarding claiming to sport the net’s best anti-spam filters can be found at Despammed.com. Basically, it works as a remote spam filter. (That’s why they term themselves a “mail filtration service”.) < http://www.despammed.com/ >
Spamex takes a similar approach, offering disposable email addresses as a measure to counter spam. It doesn’t bother with sophisticated spam filters, though - the minute your Spamex address receives spam, simply nuke it and get a new one. You can also fit their log in box link into your web browser’s links bar for facilitated access. Their slogan is noteworthy, too: “Because Sending You Email is a Privilege Not a Right!” < http://www.spamex.com/ >
One of the best known anti-spam forwarders is Spammotel (what a name!) which also offers a pretty sophisticated, award winning plug-in for your email client, allowing you to keep track of whom you have given which email address of yours. This, of course, makes it dead easy to test web sites’ privacy policy. Moreover, it makes for a great tool to help you organize the e-mail you actually do want to receive. (Windows only.) < http://www.spammotel.com/ >
Mail Abuse Prevention System LLC offers a commercial spam protection forwarding service at: < https://stop.mail-abuse.org/ >
Spam filters ———— Webmasters running their own mail server may be interested in The MAPS Relay Spam Stopper, a queryable DNS-based database of spam-relaying mail servers. You can configure your server to utilize their list if you want to refuse mail from these types of servers. < http://work-rss.mail-abuse.org/rss/ >
The same site offers the Realtime Blackhole List (RBL). This is a system for creating intentional network outages (”blackholes”) for the purpose of limiting the transport of known-to-be-unwanted mass e-mail. The RBL is a subscription-only system, working in such a manner that no one is denied connectivity to a non-RBLSM-subscriber. < http://mail-abuse.org/rbl/ >
Reporting spam ————– This spam complaint primer spells it all out as it is and offers a sample complaint covering every important aspect of reporting spam to get spammers’ accounts and web sites terminated. < http://combat.uxn.com racing.html >
The all-time classic to report spam to is the not-for-profit Mail Abuse Prevention System LLC. < http://mail-abuse.org/ >
The Network Abuse Clearinghouse is a complaint service that will forward your spam complaints to the culprits flooding your mail box. < http://www.abuse.net/ >
The MMF Hall of Humiliation takes the approach of ridicule to combat spammers. Lots of parodies and spoofs of obnoxious unsolicited commercial emails, and more. Still, it has a very serious background, informing in detail about fraud indictments and offering rudimentary legal analysis of spam scams. < http://ga.to/mmf/ >
This site offers monthly case studies of reporting spam and lists successes. You’ll see that while it’s quite an uphill battle, it can be done. < http://www.obliquity.com/computer/spambait/ >
Reporting Tools ————— Some abuse reporting tools are listed here: < http://www.abuse.net ools.html >
As for anything on the net, there’s a fitting mailing list available for people interested in software tools that detect and process unsolicited bulk e-mail: < http://www.abuse.net/spamtools.html >
Proactive Strategies ——————–
UXN Spam Combat offers a nice one-page form aggregating all the tools you need to solve the spam problem, ranging from NSlookup and Trace Routing to Pings, decoding of obfuscated web URLs, etc. Very useful. < http://combat.uxn.com/ >
Uni-encoding the email addresses displayed on your web site is still a very efficient method of thwaring email address harvesters or extractor bots: < http://fantomaster.com/famshield0.html >
This page offers you tools to “poison” the spambots with by feeding them tons of invalid email addresses. While this admittedly places some strain on bandwidth and system resources, it’s also pretty easy to crash a spammer’s system this way - ah, sweet revenge! < http://fantomaster.com/faantispamtip2.html >
Many spammers are now offering their pathetic wares not via the internet but offline, preferably using toll free numbers. This article outlines a strategy on where and how to hit them hard - in their pockets! < http://fantomaster.com/faantispamtip3.html >
Probably the most effective method of prevention is blocking spammers and their harvester bots from your web site altogether. This tip expounds the strategy to pursue. < http://fantomaster.com/faantispamtip4.html >
The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email (CAUCE) is an international organization promoting anti-spam legislation. < http://www.cauce.org/ > They also publish “True Tales of Spam” here, where you may see your own story featured some day if you wish tp submit it: < http://www.cauce.org ales/index.shtml >
Tips on how to lure in spambots to special, “poisoned” sections of your site while keeping away innocent visitors can be found here: < http://www.turnstep.com/Spambot/lure.html >
Humor —– As a comic aside, spam haikus (some more, some less witty) are featured by the chockfull here: < http://www.mmfhoh.org/mmf/haiku.html >
Finally, yours truly’s “Spam Sonnet” is offered as an educative example of what spam can inflict on the sensitive artistic mind … < http://fantomaster.com/faantispamtip5.html >
Everyone agrees that SPAM is a growing problem on the Internet. And with estimates that we will soon have over 1 billion people worldwide surfing the net, this problem will only continue to grow worse.
The worst part of this situation is that spammers are very clever people and they are using all of their knowledge to get their message onto our desktops whether we want it or not.
For example, this week hidden among all of my usual get-rich quick schemes and penis enlargement information was an email from a porn site that literally took control of my desktop.
As soon as the email message was highlighted in my Outlook Express window, it launched a web page that took up the entire screen of my computer.
There it was on my 21″ monitor, for the whole world to see it if they were looking over my shoulder, a lusty, busty women crouched on her knees with her arms pressing together her breasts to overly exaggerate the obvious and her legs spread so far apart you could see her most intimate body parts in all of their powder pink glory.
I am a man with a healthy love for women but I do not appreciate having this sort of thing forced on me because someone wants me to give them my money in exchange for pornographic pictures.
As far as I am concerned, these are “Terroristic Tactics”.
My computer and I were held hostage by the use of HTML source code that includes script language that launches a window to view their web page.
Worse still, the window is one that takes up the entire computer screen and does not have the usual buttons on the upper right hand corner to minimize or close the window.
And, it might even include the command to keep popping open even more windows on your desktop at set intervals that can literally freeze up your computer!
What can you do to fight back?
Whether this problem occurs via reading your email or if you are trapped into it while visiting a web site, there are a few things you can do short of ripping the power cord out of the wall.
First of all, the Federal Trade Commission, FTC, http://www.ftc.gov/, takes a very dim view of anyone that tries to force you to view any material you do not wish to view, be it advertising or pornography.
In a recent action by the Federal Trade Commission, they
“asked a U.S. District Court Judge to halt a Internet scam that clones everyday Web sites and uses the copycat sites to barrage unsuspecting consumers with pornography. According to the agency, the scammers copy existing Web sites and insert coded instructions in the copycat sites which automatically redirects unwitting consumers to adult sites operated by the defendants. Then the scammers disable the browser’s “back” and “exit” commands so that Internet surfers trying desperately to escape the pornographic images face screen after screen of similar material and advertisements for other adult sites.”
“These operators high-jacked Web sites, ‘kidnapped’ consumers and held them captive,” said Jodie Bernstein, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “They exposed surfers, including children, to the seamiest sort of material and incapacitated their computers so they couldn’t escape. They copied as many as 25 million Web pages from sites as diverse as the Harvard Law Review and the Japanese Friendship Garden. When consumers used search engines to find subjects as innocent as ‘kids on the net,’ ‘news about Kosovo,’ or ‘wedding services,’ they risked being exposed to a torrent of tawdry images. This scam is outrageous and we want it off the Internet. We’re confident the court will help us arrange that.”
The Federal Trade Commission is a powerful regulatory agency and they will accept complaints from consumers on both SPAM and also a Web Page or Web Sites that are using deceptive or terroristic tactics.
You may forward unsolicited commercial e-mail (spam) to the Commission, by sending it directly to them at: mailto:UCE@FTC.GOV
I would suggest you not bother them with ordinary run of the mill SPAM but rather limit your complaints to email like the one I described above that literally takes control of your computer.
You may also file a complaint with the Commission online by visiting their web site at: http://www.ftc.gov/
Scroll to the bottom of their web site where you will see the link to “File A Complaint Online”.
On a more immediate basis, it is important to know at least a few of the handy Windows “Shortcut” commands that will allow you to regain control of your computer without the need to shut it down all together.
For a more extensive list of Window’s Shortcuts delivered to you FREE via Auto-Responder, send a blank email to: mailto:shortcuts@emailexchange.org
Perhaps one of the best commands to know by heart is: ALT + F4 = Quitting the open program
That command comes in very handy when you have a window open that takes up your entire screen area and does not show the customary Minimize/Restore/Close boxes that are found in the upper right hand corner of all Window’s programs.
Another good one to keep in mind is: ALT + SPACE = Display of the System Menu that allows you to Restore-Move-Resize-Minimize-Maximize or Close a window.
And as a last resort, if nothing else seems to be working, you can always try: CTRL + ESC = Opens the Start Menu from which you can properly shut down your computer.
Until the powers that be take direct action to stop SPAM at every possible opportunity, we will all have to put up with the nuisance of deleting junk email from our inbox. But at least we do not have to tolerate the invasion of our computer with code meant to make us a hos
“Automatic complaints are sent when a filter whose action is set to Kill after complaining is triggered. For each filter, you can configure who the complaint should be sent to. … The message body is also scanned for e-mail and website addresses. If any addresses are found, they’re added to the lists mentioned above.” Source: http://www.spamkiller.com/Features.html
SpamKiller is spam filtering software. Its purpose is to scan incoming email for spam and take appropriate action in response to those messages that are identified as spam, such as automatic deletion. Another handy function is that the software allows the user to generate automatic and manual complaint emails which the user then sends to the webmaster of the offending domain as well as any number of other recipients such as spam-reporting “authorities” and the webhost and/or ISP of the person sending the offending mail.
Good idea, you say? Fair enough, you say? Well … maybe. Note the quote above: “… The message body is also scanned for e-mail and website addresses … [and] added to the lists mentioned above”, i.e. the list of recipients of the complaint.
Now, imagine this. Let’s say you’re a paying advertiser in my ezine. Your ad contains your URL and email address. I spam mail my ezine or send it to someone who forgets they subscribed and they think it’s spam.
Imagine further that the recipient of my so-called spam uses SpamKiller software (or some similar program). The software scans the message header and extracts the relevant information about the person who sent the email (me). Fair enough. Assuming that it IS spam, of course.
But the capability of the software doesn’t stop there. As mentioned in the above quote, it also scans the message BODY, which contains your ad, and adds your URL and email address to the list of recipients of the complaint. The ever-diligent big-spam-hunter also makes sure that one or more spam-reporting “authorities” is copied on the complaint.
WeStopSpam.net*, diligent, professional organization that it is, immediately and automatically forwards the complaint to abuse@yourdomain.com and your webhost, an equally diligent, professional organization shuts your site down for three days for spamming.
You, of course, learn about all of this AFTER the event.
Think it can’t happen to you? Think again. It happened to me. This week. Except I wasn’t a paying advertiser in the offending ezine. The publisher of the ezine reprinted one of my articles. The article contained my resource box. The resource box contained my website URL. SpamKiller added my URL to the list of recipients of the email complaining of the “spam”, copied WeStopSpam.net and WeStopSpam.net forwarded the email to abuse@ahbbo.com with the result that my webhost, DumbHost*, shut down my site for what was to be three days.
The actual downtime was two hours. By that time I had threatened to sue and they finally got around to actually READING the offending email and realizing that I, in fact, was just an innocent bystander.
There is so much that is wrong in this whole scenario that it’s hard to know where to begin.
THE PERSON WHO GENERATED THE COMPLAINT
Let’s start with the individual who generated the complaint in the first place. This is the person using the SpamKiller software. His email to me (which was auto-generated by SpamKiller) contained the following subject line:
“UCE Complaint (So-and-So Newsletter*)”
The body started out:
“I have received the attached unsolicited e-mail from someone at your domain. [He had not.]
“I do not wish to receive such messages in the future, so please take the appropriate measures to ensure that this unsolicited e-mail is not repeated.
The full text of the intercepted message followed.
The header of the offending email clearly showed that the sender of the email was someone from so-and-so.com*. Unfortunately, the newsletter concerned contained virtually nothing but my article interrupted by what I assume were paid ads.
I’m sure that the paid advertisers in this particular ezine also received a complaint and that WeStopSpam.net received a copy and automatically forwarded it to the advertiser’s ISP and/or webhost who may or may not have shut them down, at least temporarily. (Hopefully not all webhosts are of the calibre of DumbHost when it comes to this sort of thing.)
So, this individual, in his zealousness to rid the Internet of spam, blithely dragged the names and reputations of at least half a dozen perfectly innocent bystanders through the mud.
The moral of the story? If you use spam-filtering software and the complaint-generating function that comes with it, have the common decency and responsibility to stop and think about who you’re adding to your hitlist. If you don’t, and you get it wrong, don’t be surprised to find a process- server on your doorstep.
SPAM FILTERING SOFTWARE
To give SpamKiller its due, it appears to be an excellent product. There’s a free 30 day download available at http://www.spamkiller.com . I downloaded it myself to see what, if any, cautions are given to users about the need to make sure that the recipient of the complaint is, in fact, responsible for the email concerned.
Well, there is such a caution but it took me a good 45 minutes to find it. The software comes with an excellent, comprehensive built-in help facility. Tucked away at the end of the page on “Sending manual complaints” is the caution:
“Note: SpamKiller does not check that the loaded addresses are appropriate for the selected message. Don’t use a … complaint unless you are certain that its recipients are responsible for the spam that you are complaining about.”
I would respectfully suggest that this warning be displayed in a more prominent position, coupled with warnings about what can happen to those who use the software in an irresponsible manner so as to ensnare innocent parties.
WESTOPSPAM.NET
Now, let’s take a look at WeStopSpam.net’s role in all of this. In my case, “all” they did was forward a complaint they had received from our friend in the previous section to my webhost. Here’s what they sent:
“From: 17846286@reports.westopspam.net To: abuse@dumbhost.com X-Loop: one Subject: [WeStopSpam (http://www.ahbbo.com) id:17846286] So-and-So Newsletter Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2001 23:14:50 -0700 (MST) X-Mailer: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.5; Windows 98) via http://westopspam.net/ v1.3.1 - WeStopSpam V1.3.1 - This message is brief for your comfort. … Spamvertised website: http://www.ahbbo.com > http://www.ahbbo.com is 63.249.189.106; Tue, 27 Feb 2001 02:56:58 GMT Offending message: …”
So, my website was reported for spamming because it was “spamvertised” - lovely butchering of the English language, I must say. This appears to be a coined term for a website that is advertised by means of spam. This means that any paying advertiser in the ezine itself is treated as a spammer, merely because spam was used to send the ezine.
I checked out the website of the ezine concerned. It proclaimed that its 85,000 subscribers were all “opt-in” i.e. that the subscribers each took some positive step to have their email address added to the ezine’s mailing list.
Any reputable advertiser is going to be concerned that the recipients of the ezine are opt-in, so this would have been of comfort to the advertisers concerned in this instance.
Mind you, when I sent an email to the address displayed at the publisher’s site, it bounced. Maybe this person IS a spammer. I don’t know. And that’s the point. How are you supposed to know that if you’re just the advertiser or article author?
But, as far as WeStopSpam.net is concerned, that doesn’t matter. The mere fact that the advertiser’s opportunity was advertised in the allegedly spam email is sufficient to make the advertiser a legitimate target. In my case, I didn’t even advertise! The publisher of the ezine ran my article. How many of you out there make your articles freely available for reprint?
WeStopSpam.net would presumably have you restrict the reprint rights to your articles to only those publishers who you know for a FACT are sending to a 100% guaranteed opt-in list. How do you do that? Quite simply, you can’t. To expect any such thing is just unreal and smacks of an appalling lack of understanding about how the online world works.
A reasonable compromise would be if reprint rights were granted to publishers who send their ezine to an opt-in list. I would have no objection to that. Of course, that wouldn’t help you with WeStopSpam.org because their policy is to shoot first and ask questions later … but wait, on second thought, they don’t even ask questions later. They just shoot.
You don’t get a “please explain” or anything else. You’re convicted first and then it’s up to you to prove that you’re innocent. Of course, by then, the damage is done. But WeStopSpam.org doesn’t care. I’m sure they see it as just a casualty of war.
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