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What is RSS?
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RSS Defined, Explained and Leveraged
RSS, or real simple syndication, is a great way to keep visitors connected to your website. Learn about RSS and how it can increase your online reach and influence.
I know...you're on the brink, and the last thing you want to hear about is another web acronym. Believe me, I feel your pain. I mean, I work in search engine marketing, which means all day I use PPC and SEO to drive traffic and then measure the CR, CPA and ROAS for all of my SEM clients. Nevertheless, I think it's important that all web / e-commerce marketers understand RSS.
RSS, or real simple syndication, is basically just an XML text file that contains the latest content from part or all of a website. I really can't do a better job than Darren Rowse over at ProBlogger, so I'll point you there for RSS 101. Don't forget to come back, though, because I'm going to explain why you should care about RSS next.
Are you back? Good. Let's walk through some scenarios of why RSS is a good choice for CVB and destination websites. The truth is, any content on your website can be syndicated in the RSS format, but you really only need to syndicate items that change regularly. For a CVB website, this might includes items such as:
- City News
- Calendar of Events
- Hotels Deals
- Vacation Specials
- Blog Entries
- Blog Comments
For example, a user may be interested in keeping up with the latest events in your particular city, but they are unlikely to bookmark your website and then browse to the calendar of events page every day looking for new events. However, if they could subscribe with their RSS reader, they would be assured to get any updates without having to spend time looking for new events manually. Do you see the benefit? Visitors get the new content they are looking for automatically as soon as the content is updated.
Of course RSS was fueled by the explosion of the blogosphere, but now RSS is used for almost every type of content. Visitors get the content they are looking for, and website publishers stay engaged with their visitors.
Now that you know what RSS is, why don't you try it for yourself and subscribe to this blog using the RSS link at the top left column?
Questions? Comments? Let's hear 'em!