Search Engine Optimization Programs | SEO Tutorial Program

Steps to Creating and Promoting RSS Feeds

Really Simple Syndication, or more popularly RSS, is designed to provide information to be subscribed and published. It works by picking up-to-date information from websites to be provided in concise and simple text format. With the help of RSS feeds, it is possible to update contents, blogs, news headlines, and events in the internet.

To use RSS, you first need to create an RSS feed. It is rather easy to create an RSS feed using the various desktop and web applications available in the internet. Though it is possible to hand code an RSS feed, it tends to become rather confusing and time consuming. This is why it is better to use these software applications where all you have to do is to follow some steps in a wizard. When creating an RSS feed, remember that it is the publisher that controls the information that is syndicated in the RSS feed. So it is important to know what you are trying to accomplish, and who your target audience is, before creating the feed.

On the construction of the RSS feed, you will have to transfer it into your server using a standard FTP client. This is where the feed will be placed in the domain’s root directory. Once you have transferred your RSS feed to your server, you need to signal website visitors of your RSS feed. Use a color graphic on the website as nearly all websites having RSS feeds use a colored graphic as a flag to indicate that the RSS feed is available for certain content. At the onset, bright orange rectangles were used as flags, but with popularity, the rules have been bent by webmasters.  

There is no need of any graphic assistance to create graphics in the website; there are RSS graphic tools available online where you just have to select alternative colors and text to personalize your website. Once you publish your RSS feed, add a small bit of code in the header of the HTML page to let visitors know of the existence of the feed. You can also consider displaying the content of the feed on a website so that visitors get an alternative means of viewing the content. This information also works in increasing the search engine content; and adding of fresh content on the site will entice more visitors to the site.

Today, an increased number of people use RSS feeds; so it is possible to shift the attention of the major search engines and content of RSS feeds by placing the RSS feeds in RSS feed directories and search tools. You can manually add RSS feeds to RSS search engines and directories by submitting the link of the feed to the RSS directories. You can find a large list of RSS directories on the internet; to submit the feed to the directories. This submission can be done both manually and automatically, as you wish.

A great means of promoting your RSS feed would be by promoting it below that e-zine subscription box, where they are most likely to see it. Place the RSS presentation page containing information on where to subscribe for the RSS feeds on prominent locations of the site. If you publish more than one RSS feed, it will be beneficial for you to promote each feed next to the respective pages of the topic. If you promote SEO topics, promote it in every article on SEO topics that you publish.

Make it a habit of promoting all your RSS feeds in your email messages and e-zine issues. And last but not least, create interesting and compelling copy in your RSS feeds telling why visitors have to subscribe to your content, and why they have to subscribe to RSS feeds. Employing all these tactics is sure to increase the popularity of your RSS feeds!