If you have any interest in blogs as a publishing format, then you have undoubtedly come across the term: R.S.S.

Under normal conditions, the content of a web page is limited to one domain, and the visitor to it. To allow the use of content on a larger number of sites, syndication is employed.

This is the time where RSS should come in your thoughts. A site owner or blogger using his site as a pulpit for any number of topics can make his content available via RSS. Once done, his comments or content will be fed to the news aggregators for syndication/delivery to anyone which is interested in such content.

What means RSS?
“RSS” stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary. It is a standard for publishing regular updates to web-based content.

It is a simple technology for sharing and distributing content like data, news headlines and other web page content with other webmasters and users.

RSS is like email in that it is used to collect and deliver content you have opted to receive. News aggregators collect the “feeds” (syndicated content) from a blog and publish it.
If you have an RSS Reader you can subscribe to the ‘feed’ and receive current up to date content from your favorite content source - it is that easy!

Using this standard, a blog owner can provide updates, such as the latest news headlines or weblog
postings to those interested in such content.

With RSS, the blog owner could update his/her readers with new content and use RSS as a means of organizing his content into a more accessible form to the benefit of anyone wishing to use it.

I recommend to Use It, not only read it!

How can you use RSS?

Get your site listed in search engine and RSS directories.

Use RSS to update your websites with fresh, relevant content - this happens automatically - without writing a single word. You can turn RSS feeds into customized HTML and display the feed on your blog.

One of the great benefits of displaying RSS news feeds on your website is that it boosts your position in search engines.

RSS will automatically notify the search engine spiders that you’ve updated your website content.

RSS gives you a new marketing venue to display your ads, messages, and news directly onto your subscriber’s desktop!
It will also build your credibility and Brand Name online – with little effort!

If your favorite sites have RSS feeds, you can subscribe to those feeds in an RSS News Reader. The reader
will automatically check all the sites you’ve subscribed to and show you new updated content when it is added.

Potentially hundreds of other websites can publish your news and articles. This will provide free exposure and free traffic as a consequence.

A news aggregator is “software that periodically reads a set of news sources, in one of several XML-based formats, finds the new bits, and displays them in reverse-chronological order on a single page.

RSS is a document format that is XML-based.

RSS feed or news feed is essentially a file in RSS format.

XML is a programming language and stands for Extensible Markup Language derived from S.G.M.L. or Standard General Markup Language.

A Parser is a computer program

If you want to know more about blogging, feel free to use my RSS feed which you find on top of this blog.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Technorati Tags: How to use RSS for a Blog, how to use use rss as content source, latest news headlines on a blog

A weblog, or “blog” started out as a personal journal on the Web.

They have evolved far beyond that initial concept. Now, blogs cover as many different topics as there are people writing them. Some blogs are highly influential and have readership which exceeds most traditional newspapers, while others are mainly intended as personal journals to be shared with only family and friends.

So, should you consider blogging?

The power of blogs is that they allow millions of people to easily publish their ideas, thoughts, experiences or what ever and millions more to comment on them. Increasingly people write, read and comment on blogs. Many people mistakenly believe that blogs are only personal diaries. More and more, blogs are being used by businesses to attract customers. Since blogs are actual in all flavors, let’s hav a look at the basics of blogging.

A blogger is someone who writes a blog.

The “Blogosphere” is a word used to describe the online community of bloggers and their writings. A blog differs from a website only because it is a website that is updated frequently, most often displaying its material in journal-like entries. An entry, a post, or a posting, are the terms often used to refer to a specific article or commentary written by the blogger on his or her blog. Many weblogs allow readers to write a reaction (comment) to what was written in the blog entry. These comments can often be found directly following the blog entry.

For a lot of people, blogging is a hobby.

For some, like journalists, writers, business leaders and political leaders, writing blogs enhances their professional careers. A blog gives the voice a broader audience and allows more direct and interactive contact with the readers. Some bloggers have readership numbers approaching that of big media and are able to earn income from their blogs. But potential profit should not be the primary motivation for blogging.

Why should a blog be part of your business marketing strategy?

The blogging movement is picking up speed, particularly for businesses. Blogging is one arena where the size of your company won’t matter. A blog is NOT the place to promote your product or company. It is a place to promote your ideas, thoughts, experience, provide tips, and express yourself in the hopes of building an audience. That audience may become customers.

There are two key concepts to keep in mind when deciding whether you will launch a blog or not:

providing quality content and blogging regularly.

These are critical to creating an audience for your blog.

A successful blog is written with a distinct audience in mind. In this way, you can provide content that is unique to your audience’s issues, needs, or desires. If you create content they like and wish to return to read, you will produce quality content. Successful bloggers have a focused topic and a unique personality.

Both your topic and unique style will cause your audience to return to your blog.

When they return, it is critical to stay true to your audience and tone of your blog. If people are reading your blog, it’s because they like your topic and tone. Try not to stray from your typical topics and style too much. This will give your readers a reason to link back to your blog on an ongoing basis. But your content and tone are just one element to consider. Also critical to your ongoing blogging success is how frequently you update your blog.

If you don’t update your blog often enough, blog readers will move on to other blogs. There are too many blogs out there competing for your reader’s attention. Blog readers will go where the content is.

Successful blogging takes a commitment of your time. When you begin blogging and wish to capture an audience, you should be prepared to blog every day. In this way, you can develop an audience who counts on you to help them begin or end their day. This means you should also try to post at the same time each day. Your readers will get accustomed to your schedule and check your blog at the appropriate time. The time of day is not as crucial as the consistency in your posting.

So, is a blog right for you?

Think good about the following:

Do you have a distinct topic in mind?

Do you have a strong opinion or passion for the topic?

Do you know what audience you are writing for?

Do you have the time to commit to regular postings on your blog?

If so, START THROUGH and I wish to see you in the blogosphere!

I wish you all the best and good luck on all your ways

W.M.Heus

Popularity: 6% [?]

Technorati Tags: how to use a blog for business, is a professional career possible with a blog, thoughts about a blog

The online community is fast waking up to the power of blogs.

If you are still not sure what is meaning of the word BLOG: it is an online websites which is like a diary in approach and people are free to publish news, ideas or thoughts. Blogs are very popular as they are simple to use and the best is, in most cases, free (like WordPress, which I strongly recommend to use).

However, professional bloggers will admit that blogging is not as easy as it seems, checking out some posts and putting together a few lines before you eat your breakfast in the morning. You need to have knowledge about the theme you are writing about or you are likely to be torn apart by people who are.

Having a Blog has its own set of advantages which are obvious and some which are not so obvious. The better known advantages are:

Freedom to express:

If you like to build a chain of communication and use that as food for thought and for your existence, a BLOG is the best way to create this outlet. You can express your opinion openly and you just might be surprised by the number of people who would agree with you. Such communication channels also help build momentum for a particular line of thought.

It is Networking at its best:

If you own a blog which has genuine exchange of ideas it can evolve onto a good platform to network and grow your business. It is easier to impress potential customers with a strong and valid point of view rather than a price quote.

An absolut excellent advertising platform:

The sheer size of community generated at a popular blog provides an excellent advertising platform for advertisers. With the hunger for new advertising platforms which is both innovative and cost effective, blogs seems like the next location for the big bucks of advertisers.

Other benefits which are worth mentioning if you own a blog is search engine optimization (short SEO) due to the high volume of content featured here, updating yourself on the latest trend in the marketplace which subsequently helps you identify new opportunities which helps you stay ahead and allows you to be tech-savvy in your social and professional circle.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Technorati Tags: search engine optimization, the blog as advertising platform, what can be the power of a blog

Blogging traffic is a give and take relationship.

Sometimes one of the best ways to get traffic to your blog is by visiting someone else ’s blog.

Go to their blog and read one of their entries, or read a few of them. Chances are that you are going to find something that you have in common.

When you find something that you find truly interesting on a blog, leave a comment so that they know that you were there.

One of the best known blogs available is LiveJournal. A great feature of LiveJournal is that you can search for interests on their site and it will come up with results of those who have that interest.

Are you interested in horseback riding?

You can see what other bloggers are interested in horseback riding as well.

When you are commenting on someone’s post, you want to make sure that you don’t leave generic comment. If you like the post, say something about what you read in the post.

After you have commented on the person’s post, then you can say something like, ‘I really like horseback riding too. I had a similar experience to your`s and then use it to link back to your journal.

But be sure that you sound sincere when you are commenting, and don’t make them feel like you’re just fishing for traffic.

If someone thinks that you are using their blog to get more traffic to yours, they won’t visit your site and your efforts will be wasted.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Technorati Tags: blogger realtionship, Give And Take Blogging Traffic, how to become a good relationship to other blogs

If you are someone who uses chat programs such as AIM, ICQ, Yahoo messenger, MSN, or Googletalk and have a lot of online friends, it can be a great way to get people to read your blog and to leave comments on it.

As it is with your signature on your email, you don’t want to just send an instant message to people everytime you update your blog. You also don’t want to simply send a message to someone asking to read your blog.

For someone who has been on your friends list for a while, you can be less formal of course, but you want to be polite when you talk to people who you may have not talked to in a while or someone who is new.

Use your own judgement when you are chatting with people about your blog. If it’s someone that you haven’t talked to in a while, and someone asks you what you have been up to, you can point them to your blog so that they know what is going on with you.

Some blogs, like LiveJournal, have their own messaging program, so that’s also another good way to advertise your blog.

Be certain that you don’t send someone a message though only to advertise your blog. It’s more polite to say something about their blog first, and then tell them about your blog.

If you have a common interest, it’s a good ice breaker and it will give you something to talk about.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Technorati Tags: How To Get The Message Across

Something that has become increasingly popular since the Internet has grown are the email groups that are available through Yahoo, MSN, and other venues.

They are a great way to meet other people who have a common interest, and are very similar to the communities that are available through blogging sites.

There is plenty of diverse subjects and there are communities for just about any subject.

These groups can be a great place for people who have a blog about the subject and want to share it with other people.

Most of the time when you join a group, you are encouraged to take a moment and to introduce yourself. This is a great opportunity to tell people about your blog, but make certain that you don’t overdo it.

Just like with any of the other places you will advertise your blog, you want to make people want to go to your blog. If you are too overbearing, you will turn people off.

If your blog covers different subjects, you can advertise it on the other groups that cover those
subjects as well.

Make certain that your post to the groups is interesting and that you let people know what it is
that your blog is about. There’s nothing worse than getting taken to a blog under false pretences.

When people visit your blog, make certain that you thank them for visiting and respond to comments that they leave.

If they know that you appreciate the time that they took, they are more likely to come back again.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Technorati Tags: advertise in email groups, email groups

If you want to have more people visit your blog, there are plenty of blog directories on the Internet that you can submit your blog to so that people will come and visit it. Most blog directories are listed by the topics that the blogs that are submited cover.

Blog Catalog is a free blog directory that offers categories such as career and jobs, writing, Iraq, and many others. It has features such as featured blogs and other things to offer those who submit their blogs there.

Another great place to add your blog is blog-drectory.org. Not only do they have an an
extensive list of categories with sub categories, you can get your blog reviewed. For the most popular blogs, it shows the amount of hits that blogs have and if they have any reviews. As well as listing by category, the blogs are also listed by location.

There are other blog directories on the Internet - these are only a ouple of them. But blog directories are a great place to advertise your blog and to make new friends. You never know what you will find when you browsing through the directory, and you may just find out information that you never knew. Some of the blog directories offer chat features as well, so that you can meet other people easily.

As you can see, blog directories are a great place to get your blog noticed and bring people to read your blog and look at your pictures.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Technorati Tags: advertise with Blogging Directories, Blogging Directories, how to use Blogging Directories

No matter what type of blog that you have, one of the best places that you can advertise your blog is to join a blogger forum.

After all, everyone who posts there has a blog and thats the main subject. It’s a great place to meet other bloggers and to advertise your blog.

There are quite a few blogger forums that you can sign up for on the Internet. One is known as Bloggeries, where you can show off your blog, get your blog reviewed or review other blogs, and find lots of tools that you can use for your own blog.

Another good place to go is to Blog Forum.

Blog Forum, like Bloggeries, has spots for you to market and show off your blog, Blogger forums are a great place to advertise because everyone in them are of the same mind and want to make certain that their blogs get noticed and read.

If you use your blog to advertise something that you are selling, or you want to get a lot of traffic to your blog in order to make money, you want to go someplace where it can get exposure.

When you advertise on a blog forum, you know that you are placing your advertisement in a place where blogging is something that people enjoy.

Just remember when you are posting to a forum to read the rules and abide by them. That way you’ll get your blog noticed and you will know that you are doing the right thing.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Technorati Tags: Advertise Your Blog to Blogger Forums, blogger forums

If you have a blog that you are particularly proud of, and that you want to share with other people, there are a lot of free ways that you can get your blog noticed.

One of those ways is something that you do everyday, and that you may not even consider as a way to share your blog. Put the link to your blog simply in your email signature.

Chances are that you send out emails more times that you can count during the day. Each time you send out an email, you can advertise your blog by putting the address of your blog in your email’s signature.

It’s always a good idea to write something catchy like, See what I am up to now, or Read my latest chapter of my fanfic here, depending on what type of blog you have.

The thing to remember about putting an advertisement in your signature for your blog is to make it short, but eyecatching.

You want people to be interested enough to want to click on it, but you also don’t want to scare them off.

Just like it is with any advertisement, you want to give them just enough to be interested and take a closer look at what it is that you are advertising.

Think about what it is that your blog is about.

What is really going to interest people about it and want to visit?
That is what you should include in your signature, and that is what is going to get people to
go to your blog.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Technorati Tags: Advertise Your Blog In Your Email Signature, Email Signature for blog advertising, how to use an email signature for blog advertising

The problem with the Internet is that there is just so much information floating around that it can be a full-time job just to sift through the good ones and ignore the so-so ones. It’s like TiVo on the Web – you only get to access the stuff you really like and avoid the ones that make you cringe, all without the interruption of unwanted material. But what’s this?

RSS advertising for blogs and websites?

Is this the end of an era or just simply part of the Internet’s evolution?

Why RSS matters Advertising on RSS is ruffling a few feathers mainly because it’s a concept that seems to go against the very nature of RSS. For the uninitiated, RSS consists of different Web-feed formats that are utilized for publishing or posting content online. RSS works mainly for content that frequently undergo updates, such as news, podcasts and of course, blogs.

The purpose of the RSS is to allow regular visitors of a site to access relevant updates by simply subscribing to its RSS feed. It’s convenient, particularly because it eliminates the necessity to access a site and sort through the contents.

Will RSS advertising work on your blog?

The fact that people continue to subscribe to RSS feed is proof that it does work nicely. In fact, you’ll probably notice that more people subscribe to a site or blog that offers RSS feeds than those who don’t. As proof, try to compare CNN.com with the New York Times’ website.

But when it comes to the subject of advertising, all isn’t exactly well. Some people believe that having adverts on RSS sort of defeats its original purpose - that of allowing subscribers access to pure content.

There is talk about using an RSS advertising block, one that effectively allows users to get rid of ads that are contained in an RSS feed.

So what’s next?

A full-fledged war between advertisers and ad blockers?

To use RSS advertising with your blog effectively, the trick is to write compelling summaries of content found in your site and use that for the feed. A feed containing full text, for example, might fail to generate interest in the ads since the usual purpose of the subscriber is mainly to read the content.

Using a feed as a full ad can backfire, since people generally dislike being bombarded by ads. Some bloggers who use RSS advertising, for example, use a full feed as an ad every 10th to 12th post. Their readers still get the meaty feeds that they like but also get exposed to ads the blogger is promoting.

If this is the way you think RSS advertising can work for your blog, try experimenting with different strategies, such as combining good content with related ads. That way your readers don’t have to think that the post is nothing but a way to make them perform an action or spend for something.

Blocking the hand that feeds Before anyone does anything drastic, let us consider how important advertising is to blogs, websites and yes, even RSS feeds. Thanks to revenue generated from advertising, sites (and everything else that supports them from software makers to hosting services) continue to exist. Advertising provides support for sites thatoffer us content, including those found in RSS feeds.

Without advertising, many sites and providers might find it difficult to defray cost related to producing content.

So where will RSS advertising’s place be in your blog?

Continue to use it. You owe it not only to your advertisers and sponsors who have been helping you meet the cost of maintaining your site but also to your readers who, without your ads, might not be able o access your content.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Technorati Tags: all about rss feeds for blogs, web feed, Why is RSS Advertising Still Good for Your Blog