What is RSS?

RSS Reader

RSS is a content syndication technology that millions of people are using daily to quickly and easily stay up to date with their favorite websites. It is an acronym that means “Rich Site Summary”; but most people like to say it stands for “Really Simple Syndication”.

Hundreds of thousands of webmasters are setting up “RSS feeds” on their sites. These feeds allow you to receive their latest news and information by subscribing to them with an RSS reader.

Subscribing to an RSS feed is pretty much like subscribing to a magazine that is delivered to you when new information on your favorite topics is published. But instead of sending it through the mail when a new issue is ready, the articles are delivered individually to your RSS reader in digital format.

Why is RSS good?

Up to a few years ago, if you wanted to keep track of updates of your favorite websites, you had to “bookmark” them in your web browser. Then you had to visit each and every one of them regularly to see if new information had been added to them.

RSS changes that tiresome process because now, instead of you having to visit each site to get their news and updates, you subscribe to their feed and have THEM send you a notice (through your RSS reader) when new information has been added. This can save you a LOT of valuable time.

How to receive updates via RSS.

There are actually many different ways to subscribe to and receive updates with RSS. The easiest way is by using a web-based RSS service like “Google Reader” or “Bloglines“.

Once you have an account with one of those websites, you’ll need to “grab” the RSS feed of your favorite sites and blogs and subscribe to it using your reader. The RSS feed that you need to enter in your reader to subscribe to MarketingFactor is:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/marketingfactor

You may also subscribe to RSS feeds using your web browser (only the newest versions allow this) or with special software programs like “FeedDemon“. The main benefit of using a web-based RSS reader is because you can check your updates from any computer with an internet connection.