blogging 102

Reading time: 4 – 7 minutes 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... 

Reading time: 5 – 8 minutes You have the website, the product, and compelling content to attract readers to purchase your book, your CD, or whatever items you choose to sell. You may notice a surge in traffic as you build your site and employ various search engine optimization tactics, but are not wholly satisfied. You know you can attract more visitors if you could just reach them. You have a weblog attached to your site, and you write wonderful articles which receive much praise. What else is there to do? Have you considered syndicating your content and products to users with an RSS feed? Do you even know what RSS is? Simply defined, RSS is an XML-based format. XML, for the novice, stands for Xtreme Markup Language, a special coding language that represents information for resources in the World Wide Web. Using the XML, one can permit the distribution, or syndication, of content to users who collect such data through specialized aggregators, or readers. RSS stands for Real Simple... 

Reading time: 9 – 14 minutes Okay, you have a website setup to promote your books, music, and other products you wish to sell. With a bit of Internet savvy, you have created an attractive design to catch the Internet user’s eyes, and with your expertise on the subject at hand you are able to provide thoughtful, provoking content. You are confident your site is optimized for good search results, with a good saturation of keywords in your content. Your site is simple to navigate, fun to read, and yet informative enough to be highly regarded by engines. You are ready for the world! Yet, you feel as though what you are doing is not enough. Perhaps you enjoy a steady increase in traffic through traditional online marketing means, occasional tweaking of metadata and e-mail advertising. Offline advertising is not in the budget right now, and you want to try other, cheaper alternative before delving into pay-per-click advertising. What else is there to do? Have you considered creating...