Blog RSS Feeds

How Do RSS Feeds Work? - RSS stands for really simple syndication. It is a universally accepted form of coding which allows anyone with a properly formatted RSS feeds to syndicate the information on their website...

RSS Feeds and Real Estate Agents - In the course of real estate agents training, REALTORS® are always told to have a farm. This is a perfect way to use an RSS Feed.

RSS Feeds and Backlinking - "The SEO Effect" - As has been mentioned on numerous occasions on this website, one way links from other websites to your website are very valuable and as the internet continue to grow...

Submitting to RSS Reader Directories - As the growth and use of RSS feeds continues to grow on the internet, there has been growth of RSS directories on the internet.

Submitting to RSS Search Engines - RSS Search Engines have also grown in popularity on the internet and is just another form of aggregating RSS feeds to make it easier for users to find RSS feeds.

Adding Icons (chicklets) to Your Blog/Website - If you are offering an RSS feed from your website or your blog, many news readers, personalized home pages and other providers now offer the ability to add what is called...

How Do RSS Feeds Work?

RSS stands for really simple syndication. It is a universally accepted form of coding which allows anyone with a properly formatted RSS feeds to syndicate the information on their website and/or blog to whoever wants to access that information. Before RSS feeds, this process was very expensive and only available to large corporations who could afford the programming required to share information between websites.

Now, ANYONE can have an RSS Feed. For example, one person who has content which appeals to a market of consumers can allow the consumers to integrate their content in their website, their home page, their blogs or other forms of online presentation.

Currently the most popular form of RSS Feeds is offered through blogs. Since blogs have become an alternative news source to the established press, many people add RSS feeds from various blogs to their personalized home page to keep track of what is written on a particular blog.

For example, I have a personalized home page which is my default home page. On my home page, I have the RSS Feeds of my local paper, USA today, the industry newsletters like Inman news, and a few industry related blogs for search engine marketing and optimization in addition some real estate related blogs. This allows me to get all my information on one webpage and not have to surf the net each day and waste time. On my personalized home page, I get the summaries of what has been written and if I want to read more, I click on the link and it takes me to the full article.

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RSS Feeds and Real Estate Agents

In the course of real estate agents training, REALTORS® are always told to have a farm. This is a perfect way to use an RSS Feed. If you were to create a Blog directed toward your farm, this blog over time can become a source of local real estate information which your farm utilizes to keep up on real estate in their area. If you post all the various information about the status of real estate in your farm, people are either going to bookmark the page or add your RSS feed to their default home page.

If what your reading sounds very techy, you would be correct. This technology is still in the early adopter phase. However, when Microsoft launches their new operating system early next year, called Vista, RSS Feeds will be fully integrated into the operating system.

Given this adaptation by the largest player in the industry, it is expected that the integration of RSS feeds will become used by the mass market of computer users on the internet. When and not if this happens, those people who have seen the value of RSS feeds will be at the forefront of offering RSS feeds to those interested in what that information has to offer.

As you can imagine, RSS feeds work best when there in new information being offered on a regular basis. If information associated with an RSS feed is not updated on a regular basis, then the value of the RSS feed is greatly reduced.

As a real estate agent understands to true value of RSS feeds, only then can they maximize their potential. Another very good example of how RSS benefits a real estate agent is in viewing the RSS feed as an additional avenue of generating exposure. If you compare RSS feeds to traditional marketing, it would best match the newsletter you send out by mail. It achieves the same purpose in that it is a branding exercise offering information on a normal basis.

Over time, instead of reading the newsletter they receive in the mail, they will add your RSS Feed to their home page and keep tabs via reading your RSS feed.

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RSS Feeds and Backlinking - "The SEO Effect"

Above, we have talked about the practical application of RSS Feeds and why RSS feeds are important. What we have not mentioned is the SEO benefit you receive from RSS feeds. As has been mentioned on numerous occasions on this website, one way links from other websites to your website are very valuable and as the internet continue to grow, will become harder and harder to obtain.

If people are adding your RSS feed to their feed readers like bloglines, newsgator, or pluck.com, you are creating a one way backlink to your website.

In addition, if you have submitted your RSS feed to RSS search engines or RSS directories on the internet; you will find people whom have never met you subscribing to your RSS Feed.

This is because you are offering information that is important to them. This could be a real estate investor, a buyer moving to the area in six months or longer and just wanted to learn more about the local market or a seller trying to figure out the best time to put their product on the market. It could also attract numerous other types of individuals wanting the information you offer because it covers a specific geographic area, covers a niche in a particular industry or offers a particular point of view.

In the end however, RSS feeds are a free way to increase exposure on the internet, increase back links to your website and further establish yourself in your market as a knowledgeable professional with your finger on the pulse of real estate and someone anyone looking to undertake a real estate transaction would want on their team.

If you still would like to know more about RSS Feeds and how they can benefit your real estate marketing efforts, contact one of our Tutors so that we can get you on the road to successfully market yourself on the internet.

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Submitting to RSS Reader Directories

As the growth and use of RSS feeds continues to grow on the internet, there has been growth of RSS directories on the internet. These directories are similar to the plethora of website directories on the internet but focused on RSS feeds for people looking to search available RSS feeds to use for their purposes. One of the great aspects of the internet is the ability to find information about anything. One of the biggest problems is that most people don’t like to take the time to communicate via the written word and so most of the content on the internet is either copied, see our content value explanation (link to content page), or very poorly written.

This creates an opportunity for people to focus on writing good content to get backlinks, customers, and rankings. Webmasters are always looking for good content to utilize in creating websites (since they are not writers) RSS directories are where they look for and find content to suit their purpose. Having your RSS feeds in the major RSS directories exposes you to millions of people who are always looking for new, unique, and content to use and read.

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Submitting to RSS Search Engines

RSS Search Engines have also grown in popularity on the internet and is just another form of aggregating RSS feeds to make it easier for users to find RSS feeds. In both cases, directories and search engines, there is additional potential exposure to the end user. In the case of directories however, a listing in a popular directory gives the source of your RSS feed a backlink which as we have mentioned before, adds value to your marketing efforts.

RSS Search Engines have value in today’s blog environment. Think of how people used to market their websites 3-5 years ago. It was all about being in as many search engines as possible. As we know, in today’s market, it is all about MSN, Google, AOL and Yahoo.

What this tells us is that once there are market leaders in regard to RSS search engines, this form of marketing will fall off in value and popularity; however it is of value in today’s current market.

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Adding Icons (chicklets) to Your Blog/Website

If you are offering an RSS feed from your website or your blog, many news readers, personalized home pages and other providers now offer the ability to add what is called a chicklet which can be added to the page where the RSS information exists. This gives the user an opportunity to add your content with one click. See how we have added chicklets to our forum ( www.realestateforum.com)

Any properly formatted RSS page can offer an RSS Feed. In today’s market however, the best use of RSS feeds is using them with Blogs since blogs are all about current information which is updated on a regular basis. Although most blogs offer a raw RSS feed, by having a properly integrated chicklet, a user wanting to get an RSS feed can add it to their home page in as little as one click.

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