When RSS Feeds first came out only the larger news services and web servers invested in them. But, as more and more webmasters and marketers discover their positive effects on page rankings and realize each feed is considered an inbound (often permanent) link, they are being embraced on a much wider scale.



For the end user, their greatest advantage is the instantaneous transmission of information, which is delivered directly to anyone who has the feed in their feed reader. This offers users up-to-the-minute information. But, as a marketing tool, many are just now discovering that, with each new feed set up, another inbound link is created, one that, with promotion, will build a page's rankings and site traffic significantly. Plus, with email becoming increasingly uncertain as a form of communication, newsletters have also discovered this to be an excellent alternative, one that has wide appeal because of its anonymity.

And, too, authors are discovering the advantages of creating RSS feeds for their articles, since it can save them what is an otherwise arduous task of submitting their work to a multitude of submission sites. In fact, with this option, end users and newsletters can directly feed into their favorite authors, bypassing the submission sites altogether. Not good news for the submission sites-- unless THEY pick up the feeds, too. And many are doing just that.

While some hesitate to take on this new form of communication, the fact is, it is easy to create and maintain an RSS Feed and, at the time of this writing, the software is still available for free. In fact the only real barrier to Feeds becoming more wide-spread seems to be the lack of straight-forward instruction in setting them up. This has stopped many from pursuing this new, dynamic type of communication. (For instruction, see below.*)

And, too, some feel that there is less control with this new medium since, unlike email marketing, the recipient's remain anonymous. But with spam filters that block even those that have "opted-in" and regular, private email being erroneously blocked more and more often, the email marketer begins to wonder about the validity of their efforts.

While this does pose a serious question about the future of email marketing, it also provides an answer to those who use email to circulate newsletters or news about relevant site updates. By simply providing an RSS Feed, this information can be obtained.

Most of all, RSS Feeds keep marketers on their toes, since only those sites that are regularly updated, will benefit the most.--mo