Articles about RSS News Feeds and SEO

Google Reader for RSS Feeds

25 Aug 2011 08:36:49 PST

FeedBack ( 0) | See how to use Google Reader for viewing and sharing your Enfeedia-hosted RSS feed

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RockMelt Browser Comes Out from Behind Its Rock

07 Feb 2011 10:01:01 PST

FeedBack ( 0) | So what's RockMelt, a new browser now in beta, have to do with RSS feeds? Why is this an article here on Enfeedia? It's because RockMelt embraces RSS as a fundamental element of the browser design. The browser discovers feeds on websites and presents them to you to essentially build your own custom news aggregator. The statement that you can tear out a panel to live on your desktop means that you can implement your aggregator on your computer. No need to head off to aggregator sites.

Excerpted from this article:

"...you can also add any news or information site, and clicking on its icon will pop out a list of the most recent articles, using the site's RSS feed. Any panel that pops out can be torn out to live on the desktop as a separate window."

In another article:

"What's cool about that right column is that it finds the RSS feeds for the sites you've already visited and lets you set them up as their own little subscription widgets on the right column."

Whether this site takes off against the well established browsers remains to be seen of course. But it's instructive to see the importance that a new startup company places on RSS technology.

The second largest search engine

04 Nov 2010 11:00:48 PST

FeedBack ( 0) | Considering video podcasting with your RSS feed? Here are great considerations about making your video...

By Bob Huntington, Weasel Productions: Most people when asked “What's the second largest search engine?” will respond Yahoo or Bing. It's not. It's YouTube. YouTube is owned and operated by Google making them number one and two in search. If you want to succeed on the web you must embrace video at some point to become more visible in search than ever before.

The knee-jerk reaction is “I don't have a video. Doesn't that cost a lot of money?”. Of course it can, but it doesn't have to. The advent of low cost, HD capable camcorders like the Flip series puts video easily into the mix for the masses.

How you can use video

Spending as little as $200.00 will get you a pocket sized device that in some cases can shoot as high as 1080p, the highest resolution for HD video. Having the camera is only part of the battle. The footage you shoot needs to be smooth, free from bumps and shakes to be effective in delivering your message. Here's where the tried and true photography tips come into play.

❑ Always use a tripod. This helps to steady the shot and make it look fluid...and professional. Make camera movements slow and deliberate.

❑ Watch your framing. Try not to have a tree growing out of the subject's head.

❑ Put the light behind the camera. There's nothing worse than shooting a subject in front of a window or other source of bright light. Put the light behind the camera and in front of them.

❑ Plan as well as you can what you want to happen and show BEFORE you begin.

❑ If you're using the built in mic on the camera, keep the subject speaking as close to the camera as possible. Keep the camera zoomed out and closer rather than zoomed in and further away.

You get the idea here. Make it look as polished as you can even before the final editing. Final editing?

Polish and finish your production

Once you've shot the video, you need to have it edited. While there are many software packages that will allow you to do this yourself, it can be quite time consuming and, well...technical. Frequently there are videographers and local production companies that can do this for you. An investment of just several hundred dollars can turn your sow's ear into a silk purse by adding titles, effects, color balance, audio enhancements or more. Look around, these services are readily available in your area.

Ready To Post

Now you've got a video search engine submission ready to help you gain exposure. Posting that piece on video sharing sites like YouTube requires just as much diligence as the content of your web page. Things like the title, description and keywords that you use when writing your video post are much more important than ever before. We'll explore the nuances of video optimization in our next installment. In the meantime, video is there for YOU...even on a budget. Cement your inclusion on all search engines and create links in the process. Enjoy the experience!

Next Time....Getting Your Video Seen

Bob Huntington is founder of SEOTube.net and a partner in the media firm of Weasel Productions.

A Better Way to Post on Facebook

02 Nov 2010 15:22:15 PST

FeedBack ( 0) | If you promote your business or endeavor of any kind by posting to your facebook account, here's a better way to do that: "Share and share a Like" from your Enfeedia-hosted RSS feed.

The way you post now⎯by posting on your facebook News Feed or Wall⎯is simple enough but has limited benefits to you. Your message only reaches your facebook friends. With some luck, some of those friends may 'share' it or 'like' it such that your message reaches their friends. But over time, as additional posts are entered, your message falls off the bottom out of sight. In other words, the useful lifetime of that posting can be quite short. So the time for friends to see your posting and share/like it is rather limited. And of course, your message is not shared with those that don't have facebook accounts.

The better way -- using facebook 'share' and 'like' buttons

Here's a better way to reach that facebook audience that's just as simple but has the additional advantages of getting your message to a much broader audience and greatly extending the lifetime of your message. Instead of posting your carefully crafted message directly on facebook, post it on an RSS feed that you publish through Enfeedia. Then, to post that item on facebook, simply click the 'share' button that Enfeedia provides with each item in your feed as displayed on your Enfeedia-generated NewsPage. You are given the opportunity by facebook to post a comment, then when you submit it, that item appears on your facebook News Feed. Another way is to simply 'like' the whole NewsPage; your friends will discover you like your feed and have the opportunity to click a link to open it. You will find the 'like' button at the top of the NewsPage.

So you have two ways to tell your facebook friends: 'share' and share a 'like'.

Why is this a better way?

By posting your items on an Enfeedia-hosted RSS feed, you get these additional benefits:

❒ Your items are collected in one place accessible to anyone, not just facebook members. Your "NewsPage" for your feed is a mini-webpage that can be bookmarked like any webpage, and shared by simply communicating the URL (for example, in your email signature, on your website, in your MySpace or LinkedIn or Flickr postings, on your literature and business card, etc.).

❒ When you post your item on facebook as described above, viewers of your post will be drawn to your RSS feed where they see all your postings, and then to your website or wherever you wish to direct them.

❒ Interested parties can register for alerts and pings to be automatically notified when you post an item. A great way to maintain a following and develop customer loyalty.

❒ You can display any number of your items directly on your website by inserting a short code snippet on your webpage and uploading a script both provided by Enfeedia. Our techique using PHP results in the feed being crawled by search engines. Did you know search engines reward sites having RSS feeds and fresh content by improving SERP placement?

❒ You can podcast YouTube videos, link to your Flickr photos complying with their rules, insert a PayPal Buy Now button for your PayPal account, insert a google Adsense for Search tool, and of course insert as many text-links as you wish. You can specify your feed to be a calendar list with your NewsPage showing upcoming events and past events side-by-side sorted based on the current date. You can even password-restrict access to items on a selective basis if you wish (imagine an RSS-driven for-fee newsletter application).

❒ Depending on your activity level, your feed will be featured on the Enfeedia home page.

So think of your RSS feed as your source material that can be shared all over the internet. Facebook is but just one of the many publication methods to promote yourself. Start today!

How to use Enfeedia

Once you set up a [FREE] account at Enfeedia.com, you can post items on your feed by logging in, selecting the "add" function, and simply filling out and submitting a form. Enfeedia does all the dirty work behind the scenes and publishes online an industry compliant RSS feed within about 10 seconds. No coding or file uploading on your part. Learn more at First Time Visitor.

YouTube Begins Testing News Feed Feature

15 Jun 2010 08:38:19 PST

FeedBack ( 0) | It's noteworthy that YouTube sees the benefit of news feeds to draw people into their vast (and very rapidly growing) library of videos. Being the second largest search engine, it's reasonable to expect YouTube will exploit news feeds to further advance their position. Enfeedia will keep an eye on YouTube developments to determine possible connections to Enfeedia including podcasting YouTube videos. Set Up Pings today to be notified of new postings on this feed.

By Chris Crum: YouTube announced today that it is testing a new feature called the YouTube News Feed, which it is working on with the University of California at Berkley's Graduate School of Journalism. The feature would track news as it breaks on YouTube. ... YouTube is the second largest search engine, behind Google, and people search for visuals to go with news items. - read the WebProNews article

Freshness May Count More In Google These Days - MUST READING

08 Jun 2010 18:13:50 PST

FeedBack ( 0) | This article is "must reading" for anyone concerned about where their website falls within search engines results pages. Below are excerpts from that article; the full article is available by clicking here. I added emphasis in blue in the excerpts.

As you read this, think about how publishing a news feed and presenting that feedon your website, preferable home page. In about five minutes a week, you can gain the benefits described in the article.

Also, consider opening a facebook account and including your feed in the "Notes" section. Your feed will appear on your profile page. Here's how it looks on my profile page.

You may also be able to get your feed displayed on other websites. For example, the RunAway GetAway Vacation Rentals Alliance will display members feeds on their Destination page.

By Chris Crum, WebProNews

"...Google has introduced a new opportunity for all brands to steal (or have stolen) search marketshare from (or by) the competition," says Klais. "Brands that focus on dynamic site content with fresh social media output stand to gain searchers, at the expense of those brands who stay stagnant, one query at a time. The speed at which the gains and losses occur will be magnified by the availability (or lack) of content within each time filter. Now the 'recency' of social media will begin to matter in search."

more...

"The issue is a classic chicken or egg problem: unless you are present in the 'fresh' results now (aka 'recency'), you cannot accurately predict what percentage of searchers are shifting to time-filtered results in order to make the business case for action," Klais says. "Most analytic systems will not yet parse out this traffic either; it is just lumped in with all Google organic results."

more...

...but to me, a blog could be a good way to keep offering fresh and relevant content around the keywords you are targeting. Plus, it can help you in the blog search option, not to mention provide useful content and engage an audience. [My note: by presenting your feed on your home page, you in effect create a blog section on that page.]

YouTube Celebrates Two Billion Views Per Day

17 May 2010 10:22:22 PST

FeedBack ( 0) | With such popularity, is there any doubt that short videos have become the preferred way to get in front of audiences? Even if all you have is a sound track and some slides or textual bullets, your chances of capturing the attention of the public are improved by sounding off with a video.

Moreover, videos posted on YouTube frequently show up in Google search results listings. Google is now providing space on the first page for YouTube videos. (Remember, Google owns YouTube.)

YouTube videos do not have to be major or 'polished' productions. In fact, you will notice that most videos are simple, home-grown, unpolished, very focused 3-minute-or-so presentations on a narrow topic. Your video does not even have to be, well, a video in the normal sense of the word. A series of still photographs (or graphics) can be used as the source material, so you don't even need a video camera. A microphone (no doubt built into your computer) is all you need to make the most basic video to get your spoken word 'out there'. Use your favorite slide-show software that can generate video and you are on your way to podcasting.

Enfeedia offers a simple way to deliver your videos as episodes on a topic: Podcasting. You simply include the YouTube-provided URL (address) for the video in the entry box provided when you post an item on your RSS feed. Because Enfeedia provides the means to display your feed items directly on your website, podcasting provides a means to directly embed your YouTube video on your site without having to touch your website code!

So, if you are serious about promoting your business or endeavor, you should not overlook the power of videos posting on YouTube and podcasting. Click the title of this article to see a related posting. Embedding YouTube videos into RSS feeds requires an Publisher-Pro membership.

Anatomy of an RSS file -- if you really must know

27 Dec 2009 16:12:45 PST

FeedBack ( 0) | If your curiosity drives you to this, you can explore how an RSS news feed file is actually coded. This article introduces you to the details ... but you don't need to understand any of this to successfully publish news feeds using Enfeedia and reap the benefits thereof.

RSS In Plain English

12 Nov 2009 11:11:57 PST

FeedBack ( 0) | Check out this entertaining video that explains what RSS is, "RSS In Plain English".

Best Kept Secret About Displaying RSS Feeds On-Site:Javascript Vs PHP

13 Aug 2008 09:08:45 PST

FeedBack ( 0) | If you've gotten past the basics of what RSS feeds (see enfeedia.com for background information) are about and how they can benefit you, then you are ready to learn one of the best-kept secrets about presenting your news feed on your website. It's not enough to simply install an orange RSS button for visitors to click, to see your feed or to fetch the feed address. To really bring benefit to your site, you should display some of the most recent items in your feed directly on your website, even if only a partial presentation of the item descriptions (aka articles).

But how? What code is used to display the news feed? After all, the feed is an XML file not suitable for direct human consumption. It needs to be translated into the HTML code that a browser understands and can present in human-readable form.

The good news is...

Newsletters or Email or News Feeds -- Which is Better?

20 Mar 2008 16:03:33 PST

FeedBack ( 0) | Many businesses periodically send newsletters by postal mail to keep subscribers current on their affairs or industry-related news, for the purpose of maintaining a loyal customer base to whom they can market additional products or services. With pervasive use of the internet for information dissemination and with RSS news feeds gaining momentum as a powerful online communication tool, one needs to ask whether business are now better served by publishing a news feed in lieu of the newsletter. Read the full article.

See what the New York Times thinks about RSS News Feeds!

20 Mar 2008 16:03:10 PST

FeedBack ( 0) | Now there's a tool that promises to automatically capture just the information you want, when you want, from the Web.

Called RSS (the initials are variously said to stand for Rich Site Summary, Really Simple Syndication and more obscure formulations), this increasingly popular online tool turns a morass of disparate information sources into an automatically generated and neatly organized index of the latest articles and postings.

Not every Web site offers an RSS feed yet, but large news organizations like The New York Times (www.nytimes.com) and CNN (www.cnn.com) offer specific RSS. channels catering to interests ranging from movies to technology.

Try this article to answer the question, "What is RSS?"

20 Mar 2008 16:03:41 PST

FeedBack ( 0) | Are you just now hearing about RSS News Feeds and wondering what that's all about? Does it seem too complicated for you? Are you thinking only technically savvy people will be able to benefit from news feeds? Answer to these question may surprise you. This article is 'must-reading' for you!

Two of the most recent advancements regarding news feeds are (1) the integration of news feed reading capabiliity into browsers (now you don't need to track down a news reader), and (2) Apple's integration of news reading into their Mail application in their Leopard (10.5) operating system. Just as websites were a mystery early on but are now pervasive online communication devices, so as it will be for RSS news feeds. It won't be long before your favorite television news broadcast says, "For more information on this story, and for other stories we're following, go to our news feed at ______."

How might Oprah describe RSS news feeds?

20 Mar 2008 16:03:40 PST

FeedBack ( 0) | To make RSS much easier to unerstand, in Oprah speak, RSS stands for "I'm Ready for Some Stories". It is w way to get a quick list of the latest story headlines from all your favorite websites and blogs all in one place. How cool is that?

Now, when you check out Enfeedia.com, you'll have another perspective.