RSS Feed - How Can It Benefit You RSS is technology - a simple software program - that allows you to access web and blog content automatically. The acronym's most popular translation is "Really Simple Syndication. Once your browser or computer has an RSS reader on board, you can subscribe to any number of RSS "feeds." A feed is simply a way in which a reader may subscribe to website content - most commonly blogs or news sites. A news site, for example, may list their latest headlines or entire articles in their feed every time a new article is published. A blog would publish this feed as a series of recent posts. Feeds are published by millions of publishers, from small individuals to large organizations like Newsweek. The value of a feed is that it brings the most current site content to you in a format that is easily scanned; further, you are spared the task of visiting each source site each day. This is typically done through the use of what is called an 'aggregator' or 'feed reader'. How it works As a web site publisher, RSS offers a way for them to publish their information on many web sites, which in turns increases their reach on the Internet and the amount of traffic they receive to their web site. They also receive more one way links back to their web site. These benefits result in an increase in their search engine ranking. As a web site owner, RSS allows them to receive up to date links to information on a regular basis that runs on auto pilot. When the publishing site is updated, their web site is also updated. The result of this is that their web site is updated more regularly which also increases their search engine ranking. The other benefit the web site owner receives from using RSS is that their information remains "fresh" which encourages their visitors to return on a regular basis. However, the web site owner does not receive the complete articles; instead, they receive a feed that contains a title, a brief description and a link to the article that resides on the publisher’s web site. Advantage The main disadvantage to the web site owner is that they trade off traffic for content, as their visitors need to visit the publisher’s web site to read the complete article. But, this is a minor disadvantage considering all the benefits that RSS offers the web site owner. The web site owner will need to install some software in order for them to receive RSS Feeds. This software ranges from commercial packages the web site owner can purchase all the way down to freeware. Before purchasing any software you should research the different software packages that are available to ensure you get the software that is most suited to your requirements. Fortunately, setting up an RSS feed is relatively straightforward and should only take a couple of hours at the most, and, once RSS is set up, there is very little maintenance (if any) required. If you are a web site owner, you should consider the power of RSS and what it can offer you and your web site. For more information, you may visit: http://tinyurl.com/mudzgq