If you frequently write articles for your website, a great way to get extra traffic to your website is via RSS syndication. So what is RSS syndication? Read on…
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. RSS was designed as a means to create a summary of articles on your website. This would allow readers to see what was new on your site at a glance, without actually having to visit your web page. (Take a look at our RSS feed to see what one looks like.)
This can be done in a number of ways. Readers could check your RSS "feed" from an RSS viewer, which allows for feeds from many websites to be checked via a single program, similar to a web browser. This feature was then included directly in the web browser by the Firefox web browser team. Later, it was incorporated into Internet Explorer 7. Adding RSS into the browser allows you to bookmark an RSS feed directly in your web browser.
One of the more interesting evolutions of RSS was the means to syndicate your websites content. By syndicating your content, you allow other websites to display your articles as content on their websites. When a reader clicks on the headline of one of your articles, they are brought to your website where they can read the full content of the article. This is a great way to get more visitors to your website.
Conversely, RSS feeds are a great way to get additional content for your website. Websites like The News Room are clearing houses for RSS feeds. There are literally hundreds of topics to choose from. Whats better than free content? They will even pay you every time you display an article. They also include video feeds as well.
So how do you provide a RSS feed for your site? Most content management systems include an RSS feed generator. If you use WordPress, Joomla, or a similar CMS this functionality is already built in. The ability to publish your content as RSS feeds is built in as well.
If you would like to learn more about creating a website with a content management system like Joomla with RSS feeds, contact us to see how we can help.
