I don’t claim to be a futurologist or an RSS pioneer but I have been keeping a pretty close eye on RSS and how it has been evolving. From what I have seen so far I think I can make some pretty good predictions about where RSS feeds are heading.

The first prediction is pretty obvious but I think it needs to said. RSS feeds are here to stay and they are only going to become more popular. This year we have seen the likes of Yahoo pretty much integrate RSS into its search and Microsoft will integrate RSS reading into it new browser and make RSS a part of the next version of Windows. It won’t be long before RSS Google search appears.

RSS feeds will see richer content becoming more common. We already have inclusions in RSS 2.0 that are used for pictures and more frequently podcasts. I think we will see an increase in video in RSS feeds although due to the bandwidth needed I think many inclusions will be in the form of torrents. That’s right you heard it here first, RSS readers with integrated support for torrents.

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If it wasn’t for my blog, I wouldn’t make any online sales at all.

It’s true that I have a “regular” website, my so-called “main website,” which I first set up to sell my goods, in this case, men’s and women’s health products. It’s my workhorse, the source of most of my revenue. Most of my sales resulted from generic listings in the search engines, particually Google.

That is, until Google sandboxed me.

Some of you may have heard of the legendary Google sandbox, sometimes called, “The Goggle Sandbox Effect.” What happens is that newly listed sites rank well for about two to three weeks, then suddenly drop off the radar screen. These new sites are placed in a type of probational sandbox, away from the “real” sites.

Why does this happen, you ask? There are almost as many theories as there are SEO (Search Engine Optimization) experts. Many believe that this probation period is not related to the sites themselves, but to their links. It is believed that back link (pure link popularity) credit is placed in a reserve for a period of time (2-4 months) before it is applied to ranking and has an effect. The theory behind this is to combat PR (Page Rank) purchasers from dominating PR from the beginning. It is meant to deter spam websites.

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Nothing and a whole lot!

That’s if Microsoft gets it right. First impressions appear to be very promising and all indications show a much more powerful RSS system, neatly integrated into the next version of Windows. Could this finally mean the ‘coming of age’ for RSS?

But what does RSS mean to the average computer user at this moment in time? Will people get RSS? Does Microsoft have an education project on their hands with RSS?

Not Really!

Does DOS mean anything to you? If you’re like 95% of computer users — probably not much. But that doesn’t stop us from enjoying our computers and fully benefiting from DOS. Sometimes complete ignorance is bless.

Unless you’re a techie and such technical stuff makes your heart skip a beat, knowledge of such material is not really required by the end-user. Fortunately, people don’t have to understand ‘HTML’ to enjoy the Internet.

Likewise, knowledge of RSS is not important to the ordinary computer or Internet user. Microsoft’s RSS Longhorn puts RSS where it rightfully belongs, in the background, invisible…seamlessly integrated into your computing and web browsing experience.

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For some it’s just a fun thing to do, while some others feel they will soon be left out; they soon join the crowd. Everyone who uses the internet knows someone who has a blog. Now what do you find in a blog that you dont find anywhere else? Nothing? If you are a friend of the blogger you visit his blog probably because you want a sneak peek into whatz happenning in his life right? don’t deny that? been there done that! oh, and if you are a blogger yourself you visit other blogs thinking that the other guy reciprocates.

So why do you blog? Ask yourself this question. If you can’t answer this I can tell you why you blog -

1. You wanted to be famous like the friend of yours getting all the attention? You want people to give you more attention and listen to you more.

2. You are socially disabled and the only contact you have is with the computer. You obviously have not taken a bath in a week or more. And you believe that the only people in existance on the planet are living on the internet.

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There are many advantages of running a blog, on top of your business website. A blog is an online diary, whereby you can easily posts clips about yourself, your thoughts and your personal life. If you publish a business blog, you posts good content, articles, breaking news or just about anything to build awareness of what you are selling.

Publishing a business blog gives your subscriber or prospect a chance to get to know you better. Through your blog, you can explain how your life has changed due to the product or service that you are selling. This can potentially help you to secure a sale. A blog can also be highly interactive if you also allow comments and for all to see. For sure, blogging provides a good avenue to establish some level of trust and security for an online prospect who has never met you.

Here are top 10 ways to get people to read your business blog:

1. Have a general theme and state this theme at the top or in a prominent location in your blog. Creating a general theme helps attract a group of targeted readers. However, do strike a balance. You don’t also want too narrow a theme. Otherwise, you may find yourself having difficulty finding new things to talk about in your blog every few days.

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Like anything else, a little work can pay dividends. Well-written RSS feeds are more useful to readers and result in more website traffic for the publisher. Below are several tips for making your RSS feed more effective.

1. Use interesting titles

Like a book is often judged by its cover, an RSS feed item is judged by its title. Make sure your title is interesting, and try to put the most important information early in the title, since some newsreaders truncate title beyond a certian length.

Also, keep in mind that some newsreaders are set to only show feed item titles. Don’t assume that any feed item descriptions will be shown.

2. Include keywords

Since some readers will discover your feed through the many RSS search engines on the internet, you will want to include as many descriptive keywords in your feed item titles and descriptions. That does NOT mean you should just add a string of keywords. Rather, incorporate keywords naturally into your titles and descriptions.

3. Don’t include all your content

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RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an increasingly popular marketing method to syndicate real estate website content for clients and prospective clients. RSS enables distribution of website content to third-party websites and RSS news readers.

Newsreader (or feedreader) use is growing rapidly. Newsreader software allows users to grab RSS feeds from various sites and display them to read and use. If you have a My Yahoo! or My MSN page, then chances are, you are already using RSS! The customized items you choose for those pages are syndicated RSS feeds from various news and information sources.

For real estate agents and professionals, RSS has many uses. For example, someone looking for a house or a place to rent can simply use an agent’s RSS feed to keep up with the latest listings. If they see an interesting item, they can click directly to the website for more information. Mortgage brokers can quickly and easily alert RSS subscribers of rate changes or other news.

Some other uses for real estate RSS feeds include: featured homes and commercial properties, rental properties, announcing open houses, virtual tours, mortgage rates, news & announcements, and e-newsletters.

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What is a Blog?

Blogs are a type of website often defined as an on line journal or diary. Although there are many blogs where the blog author keeps a log of their own thoughts, experiences and ideas, bloggers also frequently share and discuss information from other sources.

Blogs typically focus on a certain topic and have frequent (sometimes daily) posts (or entries). Posts often link to other blogs or websites that discuss a similar topic. Many blogs are set up so that readers can add comments below each post.

Blogs have been around for about 8 years or so. Business blogs have become increasingly popular in the last couple of years, and especially in the last year.

Why Use Blogging To Market Your Practice

Counselors, therapists and other healing professionals often shy away from using technology when marketing their practices. While there are many effective ways to market your practice that don’t involve technology and the web, the Internet increasingly becomes an essential method to utilize when starting and marketing a practice.

Furthermore, if you market your practice on the Internet in addition to using offline techniques, you are creating a lot more exposure for your services. Blogs are just one more method of marketing your practice.

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RSS is a many-in-one marketing & publishing tool, although unfortunatelly most marketers still fail to understand this powerful concept.

While RSS does provide a number of benefits when used for each individual marketing function, best results are achieved when it is fully integrated in your internet marketing strategy. In more simpler terms — when you use it to power most of your marketing online.

The key point is that RSS makes various marketing functions work together, in order to generate the best possible end result.

It’s now the time to tie it all together and see the whole picture ?

1] RSS as a content delivery channel for communicating with subscribers, customers, prospects and partners gets your content delivered and provides you with multiple new content delivery & business development opportunities. Yes, RSS gets your content to your subscribers without fail, enabling you to communicate with them and sell to them.

2] RSS as a promotional/visibility tool increases your traffic by improving your search engine rankings, generating traffic from new RSS specific sites and getting your content published on other sites. Each of these activities brings new visitors to your site, which are now ready to be converted in to new subscribers with which you can communicate (via RSS and/or e-mail) on the long-term. In addition, the improved visibility enforces your brand and generates more credibility for your company.

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Blogs can be a very marketable and very profitable tool if used correctly. Profiting from blogs is just a matter of grabbing the attention of an audience and not doing any actual salesmen selling. In this article you will learn the 13 most essential steps to successful blogging.

1) Where to start?

You should begin your blog with a free blog hosting service such as Journal Home or Blogger. Starting with a free blog hosting service allows you to begin blogging instantly without having any advance knowledge of scripts, hosting, or programming. It allows you to focus on your content and not the internal maintenance of the blog. The best benefit of starting with a free service is, in the case your blog doesn’t become successful you do not lose any money or are you left holding the bill. The great thing about a blog is that they are organized in chronological order, your latest entry is displayed first. When your blog traffic grows greatly and you are ready to upgrade to your own domain then you can simply make your last blog entry the announcement of your “move”. Simply add a last entry stating that your blog has “moved” and type the new blog URL address. Which directs visitors to your new blog site, keeping your following, without a major inconvenience to anyone. Upgrade as you need to…but only when you need to!

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