There are many ways you can use of RSS feeds to expand your business. Below are some examples that are commonly used ( be wary though, RSS can sometimes be exploited, so do diligence is advised).
Twitter - new tweets can be made automatically after you have made a post. There is many possibilities to use this technique, but one of the most popular ways is to use Twitterfeed.
Facebook: Create updates when you make new posts. There are applications you can use to do this. I've found Facebook apps to be very flaky but one that seems to work is My Blogs.
Widgets - create a widget that updates with your blog, so others have the option to display the feed on their own blogs or even their desktop. Example applications include "Spring Widgets" and "Google Gadgets".
File delivery: If you are already publishing a podcast, then it should be easy to start offering PDF documents or video downloads via RSS.
Create affiliate branded RSS feeds: Let affiliates display your blog content and let them be rewarded for it. I've created a custom feed for my affiliates, which contains the affiliate's ID.
Find deals for your business: Who doesn't like to save money? Save on your next business purchase. There are lots of ways you can track sales and deals from stores like Amazon. For Internet Marketing related purchases, you can save a feed like the one from Deal.com to your RSS reader.
Package tracking - your packages can be tracked with simpletracking.com, or broadcast it to your viewers if you sells physical stock.
Track latest questions on Yahoo Answers: Answering questions on Yahoo Answers can be very effective to promote your business. Subscribe to the RSS feed of the category you're interested in so you'll be notified when a new question you can answer comes in.
Comment tracking: some times e-mail delivery can be notoriously unreliable, especially with free accounts. This is where using RSS can be very useful as an alternative. If using WordPress blogging technology, the comment feed will usually be displayed at: http://yourblog.com/comments/feed/ or http://yourblog.com/?feed=comments-rss2
Competitor watch: Find out what competitors or other marketers are doing on social networks, blogs, video and more using FriendFeed.
Industry watch - there is an option with the Yahoo or MSN search engine's, where you can type a phrase that suits your interests, and if you are using IE 7 or Firefox, an RSS feed icon will appear. If you click this icon you will subscribe to the keyword feed.
Advertise: While I personally have not done any RSS advertising, I have displayed ads in RSS feeds. The click through ratios for that one site performed better compared to web site click through. You can advertise on RSS feeds through Text-Link-Ads, Pheedo and FeedBurner.
Notify clients of service status: This works well for businesses who offer a service like web hosting, online shopping carts. Publish a system status feed and let customers know they can be alerted of status changes immediately. - 16463
Twitter - new tweets can be made automatically after you have made a post. There is many possibilities to use this technique, but one of the most popular ways is to use Twitterfeed.
Facebook: Create updates when you make new posts. There are applications you can use to do this. I've found Facebook apps to be very flaky but one that seems to work is My Blogs.
Widgets - create a widget that updates with your blog, so others have the option to display the feed on their own blogs or even their desktop. Example applications include "Spring Widgets" and "Google Gadgets".
File delivery: If you are already publishing a podcast, then it should be easy to start offering PDF documents or video downloads via RSS.
Create affiliate branded RSS feeds: Let affiliates display your blog content and let them be rewarded for it. I've created a custom feed for my affiliates, which contains the affiliate's ID.
Find deals for your business: Who doesn't like to save money? Save on your next business purchase. There are lots of ways you can track sales and deals from stores like Amazon. For Internet Marketing related purchases, you can save a feed like the one from Deal.com to your RSS reader.
Package tracking - your packages can be tracked with simpletracking.com, or broadcast it to your viewers if you sells physical stock.
Track latest questions on Yahoo Answers: Answering questions on Yahoo Answers can be very effective to promote your business. Subscribe to the RSS feed of the category you're interested in so you'll be notified when a new question you can answer comes in.
Comment tracking: some times e-mail delivery can be notoriously unreliable, especially with free accounts. This is where using RSS can be very useful as an alternative. If using WordPress blogging technology, the comment feed will usually be displayed at: http://yourblog.com/comments/feed/ or http://yourblog.com/?feed=comments-rss2
Competitor watch: Find out what competitors or other marketers are doing on social networks, blogs, video and more using FriendFeed.
Industry watch - there is an option with the Yahoo or MSN search engine's, where you can type a phrase that suits your interests, and if you are using IE 7 or Firefox, an RSS feed icon will appear. If you click this icon you will subscribe to the keyword feed.
Advertise: While I personally have not done any RSS advertising, I have displayed ads in RSS feeds. The click through ratios for that one site performed better compared to web site click through. You can advertise on RSS feeds through Text-Link-Ads, Pheedo and FeedBurner.
Notify clients of service status: This works well for businesses who offer a service like web hosting, online shopping carts. Publish a system status feed and let customers know they can be alerted of status changes immediately. - 16463
About the Author:
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