RSS is Not Only for Blogs Copyright 2005 Rok Hrastnik

Contrary to popular opinion, RSS is not only good for delivering content from your blog, although blogs are what made RSS so popular. In fact, RSS can be used to deliver a great variety of content and content types. If you can break down your content in to individual stories or individual pieces, you can deliver it via RSS. Just to give you an impression of the power of RSS, here are some examples of content you can publish using it …

--> MarketingVOX is using RSS to deliver internet marketing news to their readers as it becomes available. Instead of having to wait to receive all the news in a single e-mail newsletter, RSS users get them as soon as they are ready.

--> Amazon.com is using RSS to announce their bestsellers and to help their users keep track of releases they are most interested in.

--> Some affiliate managers already communicate with their affiliates using RSS. You can of course use it to communicate with any other target audience as well, such as your employees or team-members, and even your company owners.

--> FindSavings.com uses RSS to deliver savings coupons and related information.

--> Lockergnome uses RSS to provide visitors with the latest downloads and relevant software. Yet again other companies are using RSS to deliver product updates and patches directly to their customers, just as they become available.

--> A few hundred content publishers are using RSS to deliver audio content, such as .mp3 interviews and even “radio” shows.

--> Textamerica.com allows people to post pictures, videos & text from their mobile phones and then make this content available via RSS feeds. --> Other companies are using RSS to deliver whitepapers and other educational content.

--> One company uses RSS as a consulting billing awareness tool. The consultants create activity reports and the RSS feeds from the activity channels carry the billable information to the accounting staff for invoice preparation.

--> Many internet publishers are using RSS to deliver their newsletters, as a supplement to their e-mail delivery. Since many people no longer want to give their e-mail address away to publishers, this is a great way to keep your e-zine readership growing.

--> Publish living digital catalogues of your products and provide your customers with your latest product releases, broken down by the categories they're interested in, and make it easy for them to order.

--> Provide your affiliates and marketing partners with RSS feeds they can promote to their visitors to better promote your products and still make a commission. Amazon.com is already doing it. When are you starting?

--> Create RSS autoresponders with scheduled messages, to keep in constant “marketing” contact with your prospects and slowly get them to the point of purchase.

--> Provide limited-access content to your customers, employees, team members and even investors, without fearing other unwanted eyes. Use RSS for internal communications, teamworking and other needs.

--> Provide your customers with easy access to software updates, delivered to them exactly as they become available, without the fuss of having to visit your web site or deal with huge e-mail attachments, which would get blocked by spam filters anyway.

--> Newsreporters are constantly bombarded with e-mail, so why not instead deliver your press releases via RSS? Or even better yet, why not deliver some of your releases as video comments, interviews or statements from your company managers or owners?

--> Help your visitors keep up with what’s going on in your web forum, by publishing your latest forum posts or whole threads via RSS. And yet these are still only a few examples of what you can do with RSS today, since something new comes up almost every day. Are you as well already among those taking advantage of the marketing & publishing power of RSS?

About the Author:

Rok Hrastnik is the author of »Unleash the Marketing & Publishing Power of RSS«, acclaimed as the best and most comprehensive guide to RSS for marketers by leading RSS experts. The complete guide on RSS for marketers: http://rss.marketingstudies.net/index.html?src=sa3

Add New Content Effortlessly to Your Website with RSS Feeds Copyright 2005 Craig Desorcy

Effective-Info
http://www.effective-info.com/Add-RSS.html

RSS Feeds are the latest in cutting-edge tools for alert webmasters. Globally, consumers are gobbling up this latest trend. The convenience of being able to monitor all of their favorite feeds in one place carries tremendous appeal. Webmasters and marketers find RSS feeds equally as attractive. The instant widespread distribution of content updates becomes a breeze with RSS feeds. Many believe that in the near future, webmasters who don’t utilize this optimal communication tool will be in the minority.

Joe banged the desk next to his keyboard, making his coffee tilt precariously. He was irate to say the least. For the past 15 minutes he’d been browsing websites looking for that tidbit of information he needed to complete his presentation due in 25 minutes. His growls would have intimidated anyone less courageous than the typical mountain lion, but Joe was fed up. To make matters worse, he knew that he’d recently visited a site with the information. His inability to recall which of the thousand sites he’d perused in the last weeks had him boiling.

In the cubicle to the right sat Sally, “always-on-time Sally.” How did she do it? It seemed that everything she looked for was at her fingertips and only a minute or two away. If he weren’t so galled by his inability to find that one lit bit of info, he’d ask her. Of course her eyes would light up, she’d snap her fingers and say, “Oh I know where we can find that!” The thought irked him.

The secret to Sally’s seemingly pristine organization skills...you guessed it - RSS feeds all posted to one page. She had her favorite news feed, her favorite blogs, the latest marketing and computer tech feeds, and even Garfield - her favorite cartoon - all posted to one page. When it came time to look for a tidbit of information, Sally knew right where to go. In fact the last time, she’d had to spend time using search engines was when her cat had fleas, and she wanted to find out which flea shampoo was most effective.

Now, as a webmaster this information is highly valuable. Wouldn’t you love to have direct contact with your consumers on a daily basis? You would no longer be fighting with overzealous spam filters who ate your valuable updates for dessert! Your loyal consumers would never have to search, and be distracted by other appealing adds. Your latest news and products would before their eyes immediately and unhindered.

( Add RSS Feeds To Your Site Today! Click here> http://www.effective-info.com/Add-RSS.html )

Okay, so you’ve made life easy for your consumer and found some room for profit in the process. How much do RSS feeds really benefit you? Literally, they will save you a fortune in time and money - not to mention a hefty profit from increased web traffic. Let’s look at a few of the reasons why.

RSS feeds are easily changed and make updating your content so much easier. Not only can you make your loyal customers aware of your updates quickly, your updates will entice the spider to your web (a bit of a different twist, eh?). Literally, search engines are hungry for material that changes often, and will be drawn to your website more often by RSS feeds. This means more exposure, free advertising, more traffic, and more money for you. A pretty good deal!

All right, now you know the secret to making life easier for yourself, and making a lot of extra money to boot. Enjoy, and...uh...you might want to wipe the coffee stains off your desk!
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Add RSS Feeds To Your Site Today!
Click here> http://www.effective-info.com/Add-RSS.html This article is copyright © Craig Desorcy

About Author:
Craig Desorcy is an Internet enthusiast who Lives and works in Japan, spending most of his free time on the internet running his blog and websites of interest. Craig(at)effective-info.com

7 Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers Copyright 2005 Biz Success Online

Blogging is IN!

And it's here to stay!

Blogs are easy to set up and use.

And you can create a good blog by writing out the thoughts that roam in your mind and presto - and you'll be blogging like a pro before you even know it!

Here are 7 essential habits you should develop if you want to be a highly effective blogger:

Blogging Habit #1 - Determine Your Purpose

Highly effective bloggers blog with a clear purpose in mind.

So decide on a purpose for your blog.

Blogs exist to filter information, organize business information, share news and profitable content, establish professional identities and bonds, discuss social issues,or muse about life in general.

Beginning in a focused manner is one of the best ways to start a blog. And knowing your 'mission' will help you accomplish more with your blog.

Blogging Habit #2 - Define Your Audience

Highly effective bloggers understand their target audience.

Their wants, needs, likes and dislikes, and possible reactions and responses.

So always reflect on your anticipated audience.

You conduct yourself differently with friends than you will with professional associates, strangers, customers, or family members.

Knowing who you're writing to beforehand, allows you to adopt acceptable and appropriate tones in your blog journals.

Blogging Habit #3 - Blog With Passion

Blog with passion!

And the best way to achieve this is to write on a topic you are most passionate about.

And the more you're passionate about a topic, the more it'll show in your writing.

Remember, a blog is the place for voicing opinions - Your Opinions!
So, engage your readers with a passion and make your writing interesting.

Blogging Habit #4 - Blog Frequently

Highly effective bloggers understand the importance of blogging frequently.

Your aim, as a blogger, is to get interested readers to return to your site to see the latest scoop, what's new and what's not, the 'ins' and 'outs'.

To this end, aim to post several times a week.

If not, at least once a week.

Frequent posting creates dialogue that invites your readers to return to your blog.

It will increase the 'stickiness' of your blog i.e. the ability to attract returning visitors.

And they'll keep coming back if they like what you write about.

Blogging Habit #5 - Blog Honestly

Credibility counts, so be honest.

Respect your audience and all bloggers.

Words can live forever on the net so be courteous too.

Manners never go out of style.

Ethics and integrity are necessary and keep your own standards high.

So stick to them!

Blogging Habit #6 - Encourage Interactivity

Blogs should not be a 'one-way' communication tool.

As far as possible, always encourage feedback by encouraging your readers to comment on your blog postings.

Allow your readers to air their own views.

Whether or not they agree with you.

Turn your blog into a virtual community and platform for exchanging of ideas, views and opinions.

Blogging Habit #7 - Link to Other Blogs

Highly effective bloggers understand the importance and value of linking.

Linking to other blogs allow your readers to expand their realm of knowledge and experience beyond what you can offer.

Because you want your readers to have more than a 'single'opinion of the topic in question.

And readers will appreciate your openness and reward you through return visits to your blog.

Bloggers actually amplify each other's voices when they cross-link with each other, forming a grassroots network of information sharing that can form social alliances.

Most blog audiences start with small numbers, but with frequent and regularly scheduled updates, your audience should grow.

Put into practice these 7 blogging habits and transform yourself into a highly effective blogger starting today!

About the Author:
Fabian Lim is a Web Analytics & Internet Marketing Consultant. He helps organizations and individuals succeed online. Visit his website at http://www.BizSuccessOnline.com and blog at http://www.fabianlim.name

Blog It And They Will Come by John Taylor

If you're hoping for a "Blog it and they will come" field of dreams, you can forget that. Recent statistics from blog search engine Technorati show that a new blog hits the Internet every7.8 seconds! Sheesh, talk about having to rise above the noise level to be heard, how in the world are you going to get eyeballs glued to your blog when there is so much competition out there?

Unlike e-zine subscriptions or autoresponder mailings, it's not the quantity of visitors that counts, it's the quality of the visitors as well as how often they return to continue reading your blog.

Quality, in this case, refers to how often they click on revenue-generating links in your blog and how often they buy something that you're blogging about. Of course, if you're operating an altruistic blog that has no revenue-generating features, then you are only concerned about how often the readers return to bask in the illumination of your knowledge,expertise, biting sarcasm or humor.

Either way, those are the two measurements of a successful blog. Now don't get me wrong, the number of readers is important, of course, but it's better to have 1,000 faithful readers who return regularly than it is to have 5,000 readers who come once and you never see them again after that.

There is no free traffic!

I love when bloggers say "I won't pay for traffic. I can get it for free". Nothing is "free" my friend. You will either pay for traffic with money or you will pay for traffic with your time. Neither way is "free".

So what you have to do is decide which of these situations describe you best:

A) You have more money than time.

If you are so blessed, then you need to develop an advertising plan to help you spend your money wisely. An advertising plan requires you to research the different advertising programs that are available, study the demographics of the traffic that you'll be receiving, make a budget, set up test purchases and analyze the final results.

Well, you don't HAVE to develop an advertising plan. You can always just throw money at different potential solutions and hope for the best. If you do that enough times then you will automatically end up in the "B" category of "more time than money" because all of your money will be gone and you still won't have any traffic.

B) You have more time than money.

You've got a great blog going, the few people who show upalready absolutely love it, but you're in a financial crunch.Is there any hope for you?

Yep, there's plenty of hope. What you'll need though is a lot on ingenuity and the time to turn your smarts into traffic. Believe it or not, you should still develop an advertising plan because even though you're not spending cash, you are spending time. Time IS money and if you waste time then you're wasting opportunities to get traffic to your site.

No matter which way you end up paying for your traffic, timeor money, you should first make an investment in buying some"knowledge" from people who have already been there, done thatand got the T-shirt. That way you can spend less and get morebang for your buck or your time.

About The Author:
John Taylor is a prolific writer, he is theauthor of several Internet Marketing related eBooks, forexample... http://Test-and-Track.com & http://Blog-Traffic-Secrets.com John is also runs a very successful "Virtual Internet Portfolio" Learn how you too can become a VIP owner with John's latest free report: http://ClickForContent.com/vip

How To Avoid Blog Burnout Copyright 2005 by Priya Shah

Blogging is a time consuming process. It involves the process of gathering, reading, digesting and compiling information into a nice, meaty post that gives your reader an insight into the unique way you see and understand issues.

Most serious business bloggers have at least two or three blogs that they write simultaneously. I have ten, but don't update all regularly.

Bloggers are also extremely passionate about what they do. Their blogs are a labour of love and they often tend to lose track of time, reading, writing and updating their blogs.

But there's only so much time in the day and only so much abuse a body can take. So how do you avoid becoming a burned-out business blogger?

Here are a few tips to help keep you and your blog(s) fueled up and running for the long haul.

1. Get your priorities right

Is starting a new blog really going to help your business (or personal) objectives? If not, then don't. Simple as that. Save your energy for the tasks that help you achieve your objectives.

2. Discard the chaff

Do you have blogs that are not "hot" anymore? If you have a blog that's not getting much traffic or is about a topic that no one wants to read about anymore, give it a quiet burial.

3. Grow up

Are you continuing to blog (whether it serves your purpose or not) out of some misplaced emotional attachment to your blog? Then you probably need a 12-week program.

Lots of blogs are abandoned everyday because they stopped serving their purpose, or more often, because the bloggers just grew up and moved to greener pastures. Find more appropriate ways to spend your time or promote your business.

4. Get a life

Blogs are a poor substitute for family and friends. We bloggers tend to take our loved ones for granted because we work from home (and anywhere else we can). Its important to schedule our day to make time for family, especially when there are children around.

5. Get "un-wired"

In order to keep the ideas coming you need to do things that nurture your mind and body. Shut down your PC and get away from it for a while.

Go for a movie, take a walk in the park, workout in the gym. Get out of the house and get some fresh air. You'll be amazed at how easy (and fun) it can be it to get your creative juices flowing again.

6. Give yourself a break

If you missed blogging about something important because you had something else equally pressing to attend to, don't beat yourself up over it. Stick to a realistic blogging schedule.

Nothing is so important that it can't wait a day or two. Sometimes procrastination is not a bad thing at all. If it helps, write a bunch of posts at a time, so you can take a break and attend to other matters when you need to.

7. Quality, not quantity

Blog frequently, but not too often. Most bloggers will agree that two or three posts a week is a pretty good frequency. I usually manage to make that grade, but never push myself more than I have to.

The key is to make your posts count. Don't post about anything and everything in your field just because you have to.

Posts that are original, meaty and full of opinion are more likely to get read and linked to than posts that are just a few words with a link to the news source.

So if you're beginning to forget what your family looks like, if you think blogging is taking over your life, and your sanity, step back a bit and get things in perspective. Stop letting your blogs rule your life.

As for me, when it's a choice between the blog and the beach, the latter wins hands down.
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Priya Shah is the CEO of eBrand360 and publishes an internet marketing newsletter. Her areas of specialization include search engine optimization and business blogging. Subscribe to her free eCourse on Blogging for Marketers

This article may be reprinted as long as the resource box is left intact and all links are hyperlinked.