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Free Website Content - Create Professional RSS Feeds
Create Professional RSS Feeds
By Sharon Housley
More and more companies are using RSS as
a means to communicate, so having an RSS feed that is professional
and well polished will help differentiate your company from
your competition. What makes an RSS feed professional? Follow
these simple steps to polish your RSS feed and take it to
the next level...
1. Feed Image
Add an image to your RSS feed. The image will
be displayed by many feed readers each time your feed is
displayed. This will help build and reinforce your brand
or image in the minds of people who read your RSS feed.
Adding an image to an RSS feed is relatively easy, and adds
a level of professionalism.
2. Images And Links
Add images and links within the RSS feed.
The process of adding images and links to the description
field of an RSS feed is really quite simple if you are using
software to manage your feed, while it may be somewhat complex
if you are hand-coding your feed. Incorporating images or
hot links in the feed's content will allow your readers
to explore further and dig deeper into your content. The
added benefit, of course, are the additional web links back
to your site from any sites that choose to syndicate or
display your feed's contents.
3. Validate
Properly formed code is important, in order
to ensure that all RSS readers can read and display your
feed. But it is also very important for another reason...
nothing is more embarrassing or unprofessional than an RSS
feed that is broken or stops working. Use software to manage
your feed creation, and validate your feed on a regular
basis.
4. Easy To Subscribe
Make your RSS feed easy to subscribe to. Include
the traditional RSS icon, or an indicator site-wide, so
that website visitors can easily locate and subscribe to
your RSS feeds. Include basic directions on how website
visitors should subscribe to your RSS feed.
5. Auto Discovery
Add "auto-discovery" code to the HTML header
of your website. Many RSS aggregators include an auto-discovery
feature, which allows them to automatically detect when
a website offers an RSS feed. So, if your website visitors
are using one of those aggregators, they will instantly
know that an RSS feed for your content is available from
your website.
Instantly create auto discovery code - http://www.feedforall.com/autodiscovery.htm
6. Favicon
Add a "favicon" to your website. Favicons
(short for "favorite icons") are typically a tiny version
of a company or Web site's logo, and appear in the URL bar
of the user's web browser. When a user bookmarks a specific
Web page that includes a favicon, that Web page loads the
customized icon into the user's browser. Because the favicon
is usually displayed next to the web site address, it can
act like a small logo or an icon that visitors can use to
remember the web site or the site address. Feed directories
and RSS Search Engines will often use a favicon beside an
RSS feed's listings. So be sure that you have one on your
website; otherwise, you'll have nothing but a generic icon
beside your feed. Webmasters can establish branding by creating
a favicon for their website. Here is a free service from
HTMLKit: http://www.html-kit.com/favicon
7. Subscribe To Your Own Feed
Always subscribe to your RSS feed, so you
can see what your website visitors are seeing.
While it is not essential to incorporate the
above elements in your RSS feed, the additions will result
in a more professional and polished RSS feed that stands
apart from competitors in news aggregators and RSS directories.
Spending a few extra minutes here could easily draw more
attention to your feed.
About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com
software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and
podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll
http://www.recordforall.com
audio recording and editing software.
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This article may be used freely in opt-in
publications and websites, provided that the resource box
is included and the links are active. A courtesy copy of
the issue or a link to any online posting would be greatly
appreciated send an email to sharon@notepage.net
.
Additional articles available for publication available
at http://www.small-business-software.net/free-website-content.htm
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