RSS feeds are a great communication medium, and when properly managed, web feeds can bring in significant Internet traffic. RSS feeds should contain compelling themed content with episodic titles that are united in common broad theme. Use RSS feeds as an online marketing and search engine optimization tool. Just as optimizing an HTML web page will increase exposure, so too will an RSS feed that is properly optimized and promoted. Use these simple tips to improve your web feed exposure.

Channel Title

The channel title in your RSS feed is one of the most important aspect. The channel title should be keyword rich and contain information related to the general theme of the RSS feed. In order to maximize compatibility with RSS readers, it is best not to include any HTML in the channel title. The channel title is a website visitors first glimpse at the RSS feed, so its important to make an impression and attract the interest of casual browsers. Additionally, many of the RSS feed directories and search engines use the information contained in the RSS feed’s channel title and description to index the feed. In order for the feed to be properly categorized, it is important that the information contained in these fields be relevant to the contents contained in the feed. If included at all, the blog, brand, or company name should be at the end not the beginning of the RSS feed channel title.

Channel Description

The channel description field provides an opportunity to expand on the broad theme of the RSS feed. The channel description should contain related keywords and phrases, but it should be written to capture the interest of readers not search engine spiders. HTML can be used to decorate and emphasize specific text in the description field. In summation the channel description should provide a compelling overview of the RSS feed’s contents.

RSS Feed Item Titles

The item titles should be 50-75 characters with spaces. In order to increase readability and compatibility with news readers, the RSS feed item titles should not be encoded with any HTML. Think of an RSS feed item title in the same way that you would a webpage title. The RSS feed item title is your opportunity to capture the interest of your reader. Really an RSS feed item title is nothing more than a headline. The most effective item titles are calls to action that grab the readers attention. Include pertinent keywords or keyword phrases in the items title and this will help any individuals doing deep feed searches for specific content.

Optimize RSS

Optimize all aspects of the web feed. While the feed should be optimized for search engines, using the same techniques a webmaster uses on a website, the optimization should not be at the readers expense. The content in an RSS feed is often what leads readers to click or not click through. Readers will judge RSS feeds on the quality of the content. This means that grammar and punctuation do matter. Consistent grammatical errors will reduce the writers credibility and the number of subscribers.

Anchor Text

Using RSS feeds, publishers have the unique opportunity to determine the anchor text that will be used to link to internal website pages. RSS feeds are often syndicated, and even more often compelling feed items will often be re posted by other publishers. With that in mind, when including links back to a website in the item description field, use anchor text that is a relevant keyword or phrase. Anchor text is one factor that search engines use in determining a website’s ranking for specific keywords and phrases.

Number of Feed Items

Routinely prune the old items in an RSS feeds and archive the content contained in the feed to ensure that feeds load quickly in RSS readers. If you are using a third party service to host your feeds, keep in mind that FeedBurner will truncate or not display RSS feeds that it finds to be too large.

Heading Tags

If you are displaying an RSS feed as an HTML web page it makes sense to use H1 or H2 tags to display the RSS feed’s item titles. If the RSS feed is optimized, the website will benefit from the keyword emphasis by using the header tags.

RSS Feed URLs

As with HTML web pages, the URLs contained in an RSS feed should contain keywords if possible. Use hyphens not underscores, to separate the keywords in the RSS feed’s URL.

Add an Image

Consider adding an image to your RSS feed to enhance its appearance in an RSS reader. The image should be no large 144×400 and it is recommended that the image be 88×31. Most RSS readers will display the feed image above the feed contents, this is a great way to reinforce brand and establish brand recognition. Additionally you can add images to the RSS feed’s description field. In all cases, it is important that the full URL to the image be referenced, because if the feed is syndicated it will report a broken image if its attempting to retrieve it locally.

Some of the RSS feed directories use the feed’s website favorite icons to flag the RSS feed. The RSS feeds containing a favorite icon stand out from others in the directories so be sure to include a favicon in the domain’s root directory. RSS feeds are a great marketing tool, but like web pages, they must be optimized so that you can reap the full marketing benefits. Taking the time to implement some basic optimization tips will steadily increase your RSS feeds exposure.

Copyright 2006 Sharon Housley

Author: Sharon Housley
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty rate

By Dennis Francis

Many people set up websites and hold their breath for the thunderous traffic to reach them. After a few weeks of

loneliness, they contact their web designer to find out why no one has visited them. The usual answer is that it takes a while for the search engines to find you and index your pages.

What you never seem to hear is that the web designers are correct and wrong at the same time. The biggest mistake made by people who want to promote their business on the web is to do the promoting last.

If you are going to build a website that people are interested in, start by identifying your audience. a great way to do this is to blog. Setting up a blog takes a fraction of the time it takes to build a website and you can begin adding content immediately.

Blogging is a great free website promotion tool but it’s also a great way to test a market. You can ensure your efforts will not be wasted if you test your content and business model with a blog first.

Let’s say you had a plan for an online flea clothing business. You figure that pet owners who raise fleas will want to give them the best of everything. As a flea owner yourself, you know how happy your fleas are when they are warm and cozy.

Rather than start an online store, first get connected to the market. Create your blog, promote it and work your way up the search engines using article marketing. This will allow you to build readership and provide useful content for your website when you are finished.

If you can build traffic to your blog in a month, you know that you have a viable market. Create a few videos to promote the blog and offer to sign up subscribers to an email list. You can give them exclusive information on flea clothing and flea care before your website is finished.

If you take the effort to build your audience and build your online credibility, you will find it very easy to build traffic to your site once it is completed. You find it easier to increase website traffic and build targeted traffic to your

website once you are able to use blogging as a point man for your web project.

Internet traffic is not easy if you make it the last thing you do in site construction. You will need some measure of website optimization and promotion after you complete your site, but you will find it a whole lot easier if you establish a few blogs first to quickly establish your keyword SEO strategy.

This free website promotion strategy can make the difference between a costly failure and online success.

Let the total in your bank account spur you on to greater enthusiasm. Free web traffic is not really free; it can be costly if not executed consistently

In my quest to provide an every better experience for all my readers I have added a new feature in the way of the WP Link Directory. This handy plugin allows site owners to make use of the constant flow of internet traffic. Whether you are actively promoting your wordpress based site or not, this plugin also comes with some handy searchable identifiers. Like CommentLuv, NoFollow Free and KeywordLuv blogs using the WP Link Directory can seach out blogs using it by searching for “Powered by WP Link Directory“. If you don’t want potential spammers finding you that way their is the option of removing the text link. There is also the option of requiring a reciprocal link for sites of a designated page rank to increase your own backlinks and a nofollow option. Post Origin: Local News and Newspapers Click this link to get your own syndication code. Update:  Be advised Wordpress 2.7 beta 2 has problems displaying this plugin.  It works but the display is kind of screwy and it hangs up on the scripting a bit.