RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or it's sometimes referred to as Rich Site Summary.  It's an XML-based content format for distributing news, headlines, articles etc.  Many news sites such as CNN.com and USAToday.com now provide their headlines in RSS format for web surfers.

So if you have a free RSS reader like BlogExpress you can get the headlines from these sites without even having to visit their homepage.  You can also do the same for your website by publishing your own RSS news feeds.

Advantages of Creating RSS Feeds

More Traffic

For webmasters this is an excellent way to bring repeat traffic to your site.  Think about it....every time a web surfer opens their RSS reader to get the headlines for all the sites they monitor, they'll also see your site's updates. 

Instead of relying on them to bookmark your site and return at a later date, their RSS reader keeps your site fresh in their minds.

So when they open their reader to check the headlines for CNN, Yahoo or any other feeds they subscribe to, they'll also get the latest updates from you!

Avoid Email Spam Filters

Many webmasters are now dumping their newsletters and switching to this method of content distribution because you don't have to worry about dodging the spam filters.

I don't think that RSS will completely replace email newsletters, but I can see them definitely being used as an alternative more and more.

When you send an email newsletter more than 40-50% of the people won't even receive it due to spam filters or because of the fact it gets lost in all the junk mail your subscribers receive. 

With RSS feeds, you don't have to worry about that because you're not sending an email, your simply sending out a news feed for all the readers to pick up.

Export Your RSS Feed

The cool thing about these feeds is that other people can use them as content on their site.  So if you have a feed that is of particular interest to another webmaster, they can post your content on their site with a simple javascript code.  This is another great traffic opportunity!

How to Create an RSS Feed

First you need to build your feeds.  I would suggest using some type of software unless you like writing XML by hand. (Yuck!)

I use www.feedforall.com.  They have an easy-to-use feed builder that lets you create and manage all your feeds in one place.

Then once you've created your feed you have to upload the XML file to your web server.  FeedForAll.com will automatically convert your feed into the XML format so you don't need to worry about additional formatting or coding.

The URL will be something like http://www.yoursite.com/yourfeed.xml. This is the link to your RSS/XML feed, and the one you'll be advertising so people can subscribe.

So any time you add a new article to your feed, that XML file is updated.

FeedForAll also has a built-in upload feature so you can upload the XML file right to your web server with their software, assuming your web host has FTP access.

Use a Blog Instead

If you don't want to buy extra software to create your RSS feed, there is another way to create it.

You can create a free blog at Blogger.com and the feed URL is automatically generated for you.  This is the easiest way to go.  So every time you post to your blog, the feed is updated instantly.

For example, I have a blog on website creation here. The URL to the actual RSS feed is:
http://createyourwebsite.blogspot.com/atom.xml 

So that's what people with RSS readers will add to their software in order to subscribe to that feed. Now any time I make a new post to my blog, their RSS reader is updated with the new content.

Announcing Your Feeds on Your Website

Now that your feed has been uploaded to your website, you need to tell your visitors how to subscribe to it.  First, you'll want to get one of the RSS or XML buttons to add to your site.  This lets people know you have feeds available.  Go here to select a button.

Once you are displaying the button on your site be sure to add the XML link to it so a person can retrieve the link to the feed.  For example, here's my feed . 

If you click the button notice it opens my XML feed.  Of course, you don't want your visitors to link to your feed this way.  You want them to put this link into their RSS reader so they can subscribe to it and it will display like a regular news feed.

So what you would do is instruct them to right-click the button and "Copy Shortcut" (for IE users) or "Copy Link Location" (for Firefox users)

Have them open their RSS reader and start a "New Subscription".   Now they can paste the XML link into their reader and Voila! they are subscribed.  It's that easy!

Now every time they open their reader and refresh their news items, they'll get the latest and greatest from your website.

RSS Technology is Still Very New

Even though RSS has been around for a while, it's just now getting introduced to the casual web surfer. However, as time goes on, it will become more and more popular, especially since email spam has gotten out of control and become a real pain.

So be sure you make the instructions for subscribing to your feeds pretty clear and detailed.  A link next to your RSS buttons with an explanation of how RSS-ing works, isn't a bad idea.