New Tools to Expand Your Marketing Reach

By Ricardo Harvin
E-mail questions for Tech Tools to rharvin@uschamber.com.
The second of two articles

Last month's article covered blogs (weblogs; see E-Sources). This month I am giving you information on how to use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds as a way to deliver up-to-date information to your customers.

RSS is a publishing mechanism that automatically sends your latest Web site or blog updates to everyone who chooses to subscribe to your information feed. Faced with growing amounts of online information and resources, Web users need to be more selective with their time. RSS feeds allow them to stay current with information about your products and services without having to search for it.

Getting RSS set up for your Web site is more complicated than creating a blog. But because it's subscription based, people don't have to visit your Web site or blog to find out what's new. You'll probably need to work with your webmaster to get RSS set up on your site.

Your subscribers will also need special software (see E-Sources) that allows them to subscribe to and read your feeds, but this capability is already built into some of the major Web browsers and is expected to be in nearly all of them within the next several months.

You can add an RSS feed to every page on your Web site or just on specific pages or sections on your site. Figure out which content gets updated regularly (you are keeping your content fresh, right?) to determine where on your site you should be offering RSS.

Pages with information that rarely changes, like "contact us" or "about us," aren't good candidates for RSS. However, your home page should be, along with any "specials" or other pages that change regularly.

Once you have RSS available, make sure to publicize it and encourage people to subscribe. Think of RSS as an electronic news delivery format-similar to a regular newspaper. You're not going to get one delivered to you until you sign up for a subscription.

Many consumers and businesses look on the Web for information on products and services. Whether you're using RSS or blogs-together or separately (along with your Web site)-you can give people what they want and keep your company's name at the top of their lists when they're ready to buy.

E-Sources

U.S. Chamber News Feeds
Part one of this article
Tristana, an Easy to Use RSS Reader