I decided to move my news updates & resources to my blog for several reasons:
- You can interact with me regularly by writing comments on my articles or by asking me questions
- I find it easier to add more multimedia, like images, videos & links to other webpages
- Because I can write an article online from anywhere in the world, I can write them more regularly than I have in the past
- Search engines (like Google) can find my articles so that more readers, like you, can benefit from my articles & resources
- You can read my articles at your leisure, instead of receiving them in your email Inbox
The ability to read my articles at your leisure is a major feature of blogging, because it uses a protocol called ‘RSS’. RSS, or ‘Really Simple Syndication’, enables my blog articles (called posts) to be streamed in a ‘feed’. Subscribing to my feed is a bit like adding a channel to your television – you are basically saying “Yes, I would like to receive your articles as they are published”.
Now, you may be used to receiving regular articles from other people in your email – if that’s what you prefer, great! You can still emailed updates by subscribing to my blog by adding your email address in the form on the right.
But what if there was a way that you could receive any web page or blog’s updates & articles without filling up your email Inbox? That’s where RSS comes in. By using an application, called an RSS Reader, you can get all the your updated information in one place quickly & easily, while you maintain control over the flow of information to you.
Here’s my problem: I’ve chatted to a lot of my clients & most of them think that using RSS is too complicated, when in fact, it’s not only easy to understand but it saves you a LOT of time & you benefit from receiving only the freshest & newest information.
It’s the difference between buying a daily newspaper & selecting to read only the articles that interest you, & having a window on your PC that automatically updates those same articles as they published.
Newspaper = old news, where you need to page through to find what interests you
vs.
RSS Reader = the latest news, but only from sources that interest you.
And those sources can be anything you like to read regularly – industry news, experts’ articles, or even updates of your friend’s uploaded photos & news.
Personally, I use RSS feeds more than my emails now because I get to choose who I receive updates from & when I want to read them.
Ok, so you might still not understand! ? That’s ok, because below I’ve posted the best video I’ve seen that explains the basic concepts of RSS!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU
- So, get your free Google RSS Reader here (my personal preference, because it’s so easy)
- Subscribe to my feed by clicking here
. - Add a few more feeds (BizCommunity has a great tool to find feeds you may like)
(Hint: look for this logo :
:to subscribe to a feed, it can be on the webpage itself or in your address bar) - Take part in my discussion by writing comments to my posts
Well, I hope that you too can benefit as much as I have from using RSS feeds & Google Reader!
Any questions? Add your comment below & I’ll gladly answer them!
