Practical Uses for RSS in Business
View some reasons one would want to dispaly RSS in there business model..Use Your Own Content
Almost ANY web based content can be
transformed into an RSS feed. The only real requirement is that the information
changes regularly.
News Headlines
Typically, the main use of RSS is to present
headlines and a short introduction to "newsy" stories. Create an RSS feed on
your site featuring your company press releases, site updates, etc.
Upcoming Events
RSS is a great way to let people know of events and
activities that may be happening soon. It's easy to turn an "events" page into
an RSS feed.
Thoughts/Commentary
You've probably heard of the term "blog" or
"weblog". It's a page that displays (in chronological order) a series of
writings on whatever the author wants to write about. While a normal blog also
allows others to add their comments to yours, you don't have to offer that
functionality.
Set up a page where you regularly add your thoughts on all sorts of issues - or just one issue - with the most recent post at the top of the page. Include these items in an RSS feed, and you've got a whole new audience for your pearls of wisdom.
Articles
Share your knowledge. This is a more "formal" type of
writing, where you write a series of articles on a specific topic. Add a new
article on that topic every week or so. Set up several topics and you've got
several new RSS feeds to attract even more interest in what you know.
Don't forget to include a resource box in the article which allows others to reproduce your article on their site, with an obvious link back to you.
New Products
Got an online store with new inventory added
regularly? Add details about your newly added items to an RSS feed to let people
know what's just come in.
Weekly/Monthly Specials
Do you regularly make special offers on
different products in your inventory? Again, RSS is a great way to tell people
what's on special this week... or this month.
Newsletters
If you regularly produce an email newsletter, then
consider converting it to RSS format as well as continuing to email it. After
all, your newsletters ARE also shown on your web site... aren't they?
New Links
If you have a links directory, considering creating an
RSS feed of the new links added to your directory in the last week or so. If you
have a category structure within that directory, with links added often, you can
create a feed for each category.
New Members
Do you run a public membership site? Recently joined
members could be listed in an RSS feed with links direct to their profiles. What
a great way to welcome new members!
Note: Aim to have up to 15-20 items in each feed if possible. You can have more items if you want. Just remember that most feed reading software will NOT display all the items. Many may only show the first 5 or 10.
Once you've got your feed going... remember to submit your feed URLs to the various RSS Feed Directories.

