3 mins read

Would you like that web site delivered?

RSS delivers web content to you.

Lots of things can be delivered. The delivery boy brings you newspapers, packages, even pizza. Television and radio created a market to bring you news and entertainment. Then cable came along and figured out how to deliver it better!

The web lets everyone gather from a near-limitless ocean of information. What you’re looking for can sometimes be hard to find, and once you do find a good source, wouldn’t it be nice if it were delivered to you? RSS does just that – it brings web content to your doorstep! If you don’t use RSS now, you’ll want to read this and start. If you do use it, you’ll want to point your friends at this article to help them start!

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It Really is Simple

The acronym may have scared you off before, but there is no reason to have any hesitation. While some of the computer field buzzwords are bewildering, RSS isn’t. The first two letters stand for “Really Simple”!

Really Simply Syndication (RSS)

While you may not talk about it much, you know what syndication is – Your favorite newspaper writers, comic strips, editors, and television shows appearing simultaneously in papers and broadcast stations around the world. With print and TV, you just have to figure out which paper or station carries the material you’d like to get.

RSS is just like that – for the web.

Favorite web sites

RSS delivers new clips from the web sites you want to follow. If you want more, you click on the link and get to the full article.

That’s it! (I told you it was really simple)

RSS readers

To use RSS, you need an RSS reader. Many of the latest web browsers already have RSS readers built in, so you may already have one! I have used Bloglines in the past and currently use Google’s tool. NewsOnFeeds maintains a fairly exhaustive list of them. (And don’t feel intimidated – just pick one and start, you can always switch to a new one later. If you need a recommendation, try bloglines for a while and then look around at the others)

RSS feeds

The most complicated part of RSS is the notion of a “Feed”. It is the key to getting updates from any site you visit. Once you have started using an RSS reader, just look for “RSS” or .

You should be able to click on the word or symbol and have the feed added to your reader.

RSS safety

Unlike an email subscription, you don’t send any identifying information to the web site. If you want to unsubscribe, you delete the entry from your client and “poof” it’s gone. No need to worry about what the subscription list is going to do with your email address. (The web site will be able to count how many subscriptions are going out, and that’s very reasonable)

What’s in it for them?

Why do people and web sites offer their information in a nice little RSS package?

In one word: Readership.

It is every author’s desire to be read, and the easier it is for people to get content, the easier it is to attract and keep those readers. Yes – timelyinsights.net has an RSS feed, and we encourage its use. In the same way that a store wants to convert one-time shoppers into repeat customers, we’d like to convert one-time visitors into repeat viewers.

So what’s stopping you from using RSS today?

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