RSS (or ‘Really Simple Syndication’) is a bit like email, allowing you to get a story from your favourite website sent straight to your computer as soon as it’s posted.
Strangely though, many web users are still unaware of its existence – in fact, according to latest reports, only 11 per cent of the population use RSS.
So today, we have five reasons why your blog needs to offer an RSS feed.
1. Movers and shakers
While the percentage using RSS may be small, those that do are pretty techy. They’re more likely to be playing around with social networking, messaging and bookmarking. They may even have a blog themselves. This makes RSS readers an influential audience.
2. Opting in
RSS subscribers (much like those who sign up to your newsletter) are opting in to receive your content. They look forward to hearing from you. As such, every post deepens the relationship, trust and influence that you have with your subscriber. It’s looking at the bigger picture rather than short term profits.
3. Spreading content
Once you’ve got an RSS feed in place, you can use a variety of widgets to sneeze your content to your other blogs and social networking sites. This automated process means you do the same amount of work but potentially reach a much larger audience. For example, PRSD headlines pop up on our Twitter and Facebook pages, complete with a link to the full story.
4. Stumble upon
Rather than relying on readers to find time to visit your site every day, RSS does the hard work and brings your content to the user in easily accessible chronological order. This means the subscriber probably has a better chance to have a good look at the content and further investigate articles of interest. It’s a richer involvement.
5. Nudge nudge
RSS is a great way of drawing attention to any breaking news stories you may have. Rather than waiting for your readers to find the article in their own good time, RSS can shake them out of the routine by giving a gentle tap on the shoulder and saying ‘hey, look at this’.
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What tips would you add, citizens? Has this been instructive? Is there anything you’d like us to cover? Comment below please!
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