What is RSS?

RSS (Really Simple Syndication, or Rich Site Summary) is a simple system for subscribing to websites that regularly publish updated content.

Basic RSS

Every day, thousands of new personal and business blogs are launched adding to the enormous growing universe of worldwide blogs, many that have been publishing for a very long time (three or more years). There are so many interesting blogs to serendipitously StumbleUpon, it can be hard to remember the blog URL or name, so you can follow their updated content.

When you subscribe to a site’s RSS, new content will be delivered to your email inbox, RSS feed in Outlook or your preferred RSS Reader. I like Google Reader.

Subscribing to a site’s RSS feed:

creates your own customized “library” of preferred RSS feeds (in case you have a bad memory for these things like I do!)
saves you time by not having to visit each site individually
protects your privacy, since you don’t have to join the site newsletter (you don’t have to provide your email to the site)
keeps you completely up to date with site updates sent directly to you, as they’re released

Advanced RSS

Are you researching or cyber-following someone to learn from or about them? You can subscribe to a person’s social networking platform feeds – even Twitter updates produce an RSS you can follow or have sent directly to your RSS Reader of choice.

RSS For Bloggers, Small Businesses Blog Websites and Other Publishers

Since you’re not operating alone in the blogoshpere, you’ll want to network and connect to a community of blogs related to the subject of your own blog and relevant to your audience. Subscribing to RSS feeds and offering one of your own is like offering a digital business card to anyone who finds your blog, automatically establishing and keeping communication lines open.

For news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers, offering an RSS feed of your blog website content is an important step to fully encouaging your audience to opt-in to have your content delivered directly to them (as it’s published) and encouraging them to be more engaged in your blog activities.

The more engaged your audience is, and the larger your RSS subscirption numbers, the more valuable your online business blog will appear. When VCs, Angel Investors and potential clients/employers ask you the dreaded question “What proof do you have that there is a market for this?”, you can prove their investment security by showing a large and engaged audience.