We will accept the fact that RSS feeds are not popular, but they are alive and well in blogging. They used to be popular in the early 2010s. They’ve become obscure, but people still use RSS to get updated about new posts, updates, news, etc. Over 40% of the top 10,000 sites all around the US are currently using RSS feeds.
RSS feeds are an excellent way to increase website traffic and keep your audience engaged, moreover, you can also keep them updated about current affairs and many such updates they might not come across if not for your RSS feed. RSS is updated in real-time and comes up with new and fresh content with every refresh.
You can collect, curate, and display diverse content from various blogs and other websites in a unified presentation. It is challenging for a brand owner to come up with different content every day, the good news here is that RSS feeds cover most of the exciting topics. Any publication, website, or blog you choose, whenever they post a new update, will automatically display on your website as well. Let’s learn more about RSS feeds.
What is RSS feed?
A Simple Syndication (RSS) feed is an online file that has every detail about every piece of content that a site has made public. Each content or detail about that content, a website publishes including full-text summary, publishing date, author, link, etc. will be automatically uploaded on the RSS file and displayed on the website in reverse chronological order.
They are coded in XML format. Since they are updated with details about every content a website displays you can use RSS feeds to keep users up-to-date with every article, blog, newsletter, post, etc.
For coders reading an XML file is easy, but for us marketers, it all is just nonsense. For computers and servers to read the RSS XML file, they need an RSS reader. However, social media aggregator platforms like Taggbox Widget allow you to aggregate content into an RSS feed and display it on the website without any coding complexities.
How to add RSS feeds on the website?
To add RSS feed on the website you can use the above-mentioned social media aggregator tools.
- Login to your account, on the dashboard, choose the “Add social feeds” options.
- Choose RSS as your source platform from the options given in the pop-up.
- Fill in the required details and click the “Create feed” button on the bottom right corner.
- You can also moderate the content and eliminate any sensitive or inappropriate content from your widget. Customize the widget as per your requirements and finalize the changes.
- You can also add a CTA button, change the theme, etc.
- Click on the “publish” button and in the next pop-up choose the CMS platform.
- Adjust the dimensions of the widget to align with your website design and copy the embed code present below.
- Paste this embed code into your website backend.
And that’s it! Your RSS feed will be live on the website.
Moreover, with the analytics feature, you also get detailed insights about the no. of clicks, no. of views, no. of posts, clickthroughs, visual maps containing top locations from where the audience is coming, a rigorous sentiment analysis, and much more to help you improve your RSS feed widget.
Benefits of RSS feeds
Following the blog of your choice is the easiest way to get started with RSS, but it is just one of the benefits that these feeds bring along. Here are some of them.
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Keep track of new posts, podcasts, uploads, etc.
When you read a lot of blogs, you understand that keeping up with new blogs about your industry is the best way to stay updated, learn new things, come up with new ideas, and find information about social media posts as well.
This was just an example, an RSS feed keeps you updated not only about blogs but posts, videos, and podcasts as well.
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Get newsletters
There are times when you are interested in a topic or a brand that you wish to get regular updates through newsletters as well. There might not be a corresponding post, podcast, or YouTube channel to follow them.
Any newsletter that a brand rolls out will be updated on the RSS feed and you will be able to view them alongside other content you wish to read. You don’t have to worry about newsletters clogging your email anymore.
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View social media posts
Most people on social media are tired of their algorithms. You only get to see the posts they want you to see. Well, with an RSS feed you can see everything you wish that a company/person posts.
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Get job updates
Employers post about job openings on many third-party websites, however, they can be a lot difficult to find out. With so many companies posting openings on so many sites, it can get confusing. RSS makes this easier. You can subscribe to the RSS feed for regular updates and get alerts about new openings in your field.
Conclusion
RSS feeds started to fall out of their element after social media became more common. But many brands are not so active on social media but use RSS feeds to keep up with new content.
RSS feeds deliver content on the website about other sites you wish to follow. They use algorithms to decide what you wish to see and display that content first. Content is always new and never repeated, beating social media every time.
