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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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