More and more I’m getting questions from new and potential clients, “What is that funny button on my site?” and when I reply with “It’s your RSS feed link,” I get, “Okay, and what the *bleep* is RSS?”

Today’s question comes on the tail of a redesign I just completed for a long-standing client, and a new project I took on the other day, where both clients asked me about RSS and that “funny button”.

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and basically, when using a blog system in publishing, your posts are automatically published to an RSS feed. People can then subscribe to your site’s feed using a feed reader, and get content delivered automatically “right to their (computer) door.”

Think of it this way: When a television show goes into syndication, it gives the opportunity for other networks to re-air episodes of the show. The original network is the only one that gets to air new episodes, but I’ve seen as many as 3 other stations picking up the syndication. So fans of the show can then see these episodes at varying times (when it’s convenient for them) and can count on another network to air the show. It’s similar with RSS - someone finds your site, decides they like it, and copies your syndication feed into their feed reader (their own personal station) so they can get the goods when it’s convenient for them. In this case, the website itself is the “original network station” and the feed reader is the “syndicate”.

Before I finish this - Let me state that just because you’re syndicating a website, it does NOT give you permission to re-air it on your own website. If a site offers feeds, you’re allowed to “watch” on your own computer, and are usually NEVER (except in very rare circumstances, and only when stated by the site’s owner) allowed to redistribute the content in any way, shape, or form. Feel free to discuss and link to it though - site owners love incoming links.

So basically, having a feed reader on your computer allows you to subscribe to your favorite web sites and pull content much like creating your very own personal newspaper! I use Feedreader, but there are several to choose from: My Yahoo!, GoogleReader, and BlogLines are just a few.

And providing RSS feeds on your website, allows people to subscribe to your site’s feed and get the latest news and information you publish right in their feed reader so they get “alerted” to your new content! It’s pretty cool, huh?

For other great posts explaining RSS, please visit the following:
RSS Explained for the Blogging Newbie
How To Explain RSS the Oprah Way

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