RSS 101 - The Next Marketing Phenom!

It finally happened. Google now provides RSS feeds for all news.google.com searches, bringing you latest Google News content straight to your RSS reader.

Perhaps more important is that Google allows webmasters to display syndicated Google News content on their sites, albeit under a noncommercial use policy.

"Google News section feeds: You can get a feed for any Google News section. For instance, if you select a feed link while you're on the Business page, you'll get a feed of business news.

Google News search results feeds: You can also get a feed for any search you do on Google News. First do any search on Google News, then simply use the Atom or RSS link on the left-hand side of your search results page to generate the feed.

Customized news feeds: You can create a feed of a customized news page (note: for now, this applies only to English language sections), simply by creating a customized news page, and then using the Atom or RSS link on the left-hand side of the page to generate the feed."


How Can RSS Power Your Internet Marketing and Publishing?
Find out more in the most comprehensive and best guide on RSS for marketers, as acclaimed by leading RSS experts, developers, marketers and publishers.
Click here and get the step-by-step guide to taking full marketing advantage of RSS.


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Originally Posted on 8/31/2005 7:40:38 PMContent source: http://rssdiary.marketingstudies.net/content/google_news_via_rss.php

The Longorn RSS team just started a work-in-progress, which will become a Windows RSS Publisher's Guide.

They start by providing instructions for RSS Autodiscovery, not exactly something new, but also provide some interesting best practices for this feature.

a] Choose good tiels for your feeds, because IE 7 will display the title as you write it in your autodiscovery tags.

b] Microsoft recommends you select an RSS format and then stick to it, instead of listing the same feeds in different formats, since that will only confuser the user.

c] While you can list as many feeds as you like, you need to make sure that the first one listed is the one most relevant to the page itself.

d] And of course, this one goes without saying, even though you've taken care of RSS Autodiscovery, continue providing links to your feeds in the actual page.


How Can RSS Power Your Internet Marketing and Publishing?
Find out more in the most comprehensive and best guide on RSS for marketers, as acclaimed by leading RSS experts, developers, marketers and publishers.
Click here and get the step-by-step guide to taking full marketing advantage of RSS.


more...

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Originally Posted on 8/31/2005 1:48:26 PMContent source: http://rssdiary.marketingstudies.net/content/how_to_make_rss_feeds_work_in_ie7_and_windows_vista.php

Robin Good spends another weekend searching for interesting new tools and finds Feed Digest, a tools that allows you to:

a] Display RSS feed content on your site

b] Syndicate your own RSS content to other sites

c] Mix multiple feeds in to a single feed

While the tool doesn't provide any advanced features, it is easy to use and worth checking out.


How Can RSS Power Your Internet Marketing and Publishing?
Find out more in the most comprehensive and best guide on RSS for marketers, as acclaimed by leading RSS experts, developers, marketers and publishers.
Click here and get the step-by-step guide to taking full marketing advantage of RSS.


more...

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Originally Posted on 8/31/2005 1:20:26 PMContent source: http://rssdiary.marketingstudies.net/content/easily_publish_syndicated_content_or_syndicate_your_own.php

It's common knowledge - we all know that it is important to rank well in search engines. Doing so can... more...

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Originally Posted on 8/31/2005 1:20:23 PMContent source: http://www.123webmarketing.biz/Articles/Web_Promotion/The_Search_Engine_Secret_That_Is_No_Secret_At_All/

In this article I will discuss how important is it to build community websites rather than straight forward sales pitches.... more...

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Originally Posted on 8/28/2005 6:38:50 PMContent source: http://www.123webmarketing.biz/Articles/Internet_Marketing/Building_Community_Websites_%3D_Success_Online/

As always, just love receiving feedback about the Unleash the Marketing and Publishing Power of RSS e-book:)

"Hello Rok -

Just a note to say I love your material on RSS. (You have new fan here!) IMO, you do a wonderful job of explaining exactly how RSS can help grow a business. One of your articles several weeks ago prompted me to have a look at your site.

I bought both your "Unleash the Marketing and Publishing Power of RSS" and the [competitive print book title removed from the letter] book. From a marketing-relevant standpoint, your book blows the other out of the water.

Anyway, saw another of your articles come through today and thought I'd drop you a line.

Regards,
Bobette Kyle

http://www.WebSiteMarketingPlan.com
Marketing Plan and Web Promotion Information"



How Can RSS Power Your Internet Marketing and Publishing?
Find out more in the most comprehensive and best guide on RSS for marketers, as acclaimed by leading RSS experts, developers, marketers and publishers.
Click here and get the step-by-step guide to taking full marketing advantage of RSS.


more...

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Originally Posted on 8/28/2005 5:24:38 PMContent source: http://rssdiary.marketingstudies.net/content/rss_ebook_blows_the_competition_out_of_the_water.php

Are You Really Measuring for Return on Investment (ROI) with Search Engine Optimization? Puzzling studies and reports suggest that businesses... more...

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Originally Posted on 8/28/2005 5:13:50 PMContent source: http://www.123webmarketing.biz/Articles/Internet_Marketing/How_to_Develop_a_Successful_ROI_for_Your_Website/

On April 18th 2005, Adobe announced that it was going to acquire Macromedia. Besides delivering a critical blow to competitive... more...

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Originally Posted on 8/28/2005 3:44:49 PMContent source: http://www.123webmarketing.biz/Articles/Internet_Marketing/PDF_Optimization%3A_Death_to_SEO%3F/

While we're still working on the 2nd edition of Unleash the Marketing & Publishing Power of RSS, we just added a new video presentation (PowerPoint video + audio + demos) to the package.

Length: 1 hour and 20 minutes

1. Why RSS?
2. Is the E-mail Problem Really so Bad?
3. What RSS Will Do For You?
4. The Unique Power of RSS
5. But Does it Really Work?
6. What is RSS?
7. How it Works?
8. The Business Case for RSS
9. Content Delivery Opportunities
10. Discover New Content & Business Opportunities
11. Improve Your Existing Content Delivery Efforts
12. RSS For Direct Marketers
13. The 7-Step RSS Marketing Plan
14. Step 1: Start Using RSS as an End-User
15. Step 2: Plan Your RSS Feeds
16. Step 3: Create a List of Your RSS Marketing/Publishing Requirements
17. Step 4: Choose an RSS Publishing Tool and Create Your First Feed
18. Step 5: Promote Your RSS Feeds Through Your Own Channels
19. Step 6: Promote Your RSS Feeds Through External Channels
20. Step 7: Other Key RSS Activities

The video is available to all new and existing Unleash the Marketing & Publishing Power of RSS customers. Get it here!

[existing customers will get the download info ASAP]


How Can RSS Power Your Internet Marketing and Publishing?
Find out more in the most comprehensive and best guide on RSS for marketers, as acclaimed by leading RSS experts, developers, marketers and publishers.
Click here and get the step-by-step guide to taking full marketing advantage of RSS.


more...

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Originally Posted on 8/28/2005 2:20:51 PMContent source: http://rssdiary.marketingstudies.net/content/new_rss_marketing_video.php

InformationWeek has an article with some new and interesting enterprise RSS examples, which especially show that RSS will find its place behind the firewall in the corporate world.

a] Disney ABC Cable Networks Group
Disney, using NewsGator software, which integrates with Microsoft Outlook e-mail clients, uses RSS to avoid the overload of "occupational spam" and to provide employees with live information with links to the original internal reports. In simpler terms, they're using RSS to partially deliver internal information instead of using e-mail.

b] ING Group N.V. (insurance and financial-services company)
ING Group N.V. recently implemented Inc.'s Enterprise Syndication Server to deliver work-related information via RSS. They're basically taking information from their company portals and delivering the latest "headlines" to their employees, without the employees having to actually visit the portals to find out what's new. They're also doing some specialized content deliver to individual specialists from their internal business applications. A good example of this is an RSS channel for the finance department called 30-days-past-due receivables.

c] The Integrated Justice Information Systems Institute
The institute is blogging (and also delivering this information via RSS) to keep committee members up to date on recent developments.

d] New College of California
"New College of California, a small liberal-arts college in San Francisco, has been using KnowNow's LiveServer to coordinate and integrate business-critical reports, some generated manually and some by older computer systems. With RSS, the management and distribution of reports is easier. "These legacy systems depended on having applications installed on your computer," says Mark Gould, a developer in information services at New College. It "helps immensely" that reports can now be read using a browser, he says."

Although these RSS implementations are still quite simple, they greatly aid companies in either reducing contraproductive "e-mail time" or getting content delivered to employees without them having to visit certain portals to find out what's new.


How Can RSS Power Your Internet Marketing and Publishing?
Find out more in the most comprehensive and best guide on RSS for marketers, as acclaimed by leading RSS experts, developers, marketers and publishers.
Click here and get the step-by-step guide to taking full marketing advantage of RSS.


more...

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Originally Posted on 8/28/2005 1:54:50 PMContent source: http://rssdiary.marketingstudies.net/content/more_enterprise_rss_examples.php

USATODAY.com - Welcome to the Communication Age, where the "new media" has the "old media" concerned and confused. As well they should be. Web sites let any yokel have a worldwide voice. Online stores have chewed into brick-and-mortar profits. MP3s changed the music industry. Blogs are doing the jobs of journalists. Podcasts may be altering the radio landscape. more...

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Originally Posted on 8/28/2005 8:36:48 AMContent source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/rssblog/*http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20050812/tc_usatoday/andrewkantorcyberspeaktechnologylevelsandchangesthemediaplayingfield

The problem with a new site is that it often takes a long time before it is indexed by the... more...

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Originally Posted on 8/28/2005 8:36:47 AMContent source: http://www.123webmarketing.biz/Articles/Web_Promotion/How_to_Quickly_Gain_Traffic_to_Your_New_Web_Site/

NewsFactor - Blogging began as a few individuals keeping online journals and now has become an industry unto inself, replete with its own terminology (blogs, bloggers, blogosphere), data formats, software applications and servers. Not unexpectedly, blogging has evolved from personal diaries to a method of corporate communication among management, employees and end-users. more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/27/2005 11:02:42 PMContent source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/rssblog/*http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nf/20050811/tc_nf/37558

The goal of a business is to profit from every endeavor. They do all sorts of advertising and marketing strategies... more...

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Originally Posted on 8/27/2005 8:47:24 PMContent source: http://www.123webmarketing.biz/Articles/Internet_Marketing/Quantify_Your_Sales_Online/

Ziff Davis - Microsoft is continuing to enhance its Start.com and MSN Spaces properties. more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/27/2005 8:09:17 PMContent source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/rssblog/*http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/zd/20050811/tc_zd/157951

PC World - Visitors also are more likely to shop online and use a broadband connection, study finds. more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/27/2005 7:21:05 PMContent source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/rssblog/*http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/pcworld/20050811/tc_pcworld/122185

PC World - MSN Spaces gets 'PowerToys' with multimedia support, custom design tools, other advanced features. more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/27/2005 7:05:05 PMContent source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/rssblog/*http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/pcworld/20050810/tc_pcworld/122178

If you've been in the copywriting realm for very long at all, you've heard the phrase "features vs. benefits." It's... more...

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Originally Posted on 8/27/2005 6:43:23 PMContent source: http://www.123webmarketing.biz/Articles/Internet_Marketing/Features_vs._Benefits_vs._End_Results/

Gone are the days when putting audio on your website consisted of subjecting your visitors to gaudy musical fanfares and... more...

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Originally Posted on 8/27/2005 5:11:23 PMContent source: http://www.123webmarketing.biz/Articles/Internet_Marketing/Seven_Ways_to_Warm_Your_Prospects_Using_Website_Audio/

TechWeb - Add online blogger to the list of media ventures on the resume of real-estate mogul and reality TV star Donald Trump. more...

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Originally Posted on 8/27/2005 5:07:05 PMContent source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/rssblog/*http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cmp/20050811/tc_cmp/168600536

TechWeb - The surging popularity of blogs has led comScore Networks to suggest that blogs can now be thought of as part of the mainstream media, if not rivals. more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/27/2005 4:32:05 PMContent source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/rssblog/*http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cmp/20050810/tc_cmp/167600728

TechWeb - Google starts offering news feeds over Atom, a syndication format used to publish headlines of the latest updates on blogs and web sites. more...

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Originally Posted on 8/27/2005 4:11:04 PMContent source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/rssblog/*http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cmp/20050810/tc_cmp/168600143

Every single day, more and more people upload brand new websites to the Internet. I don't have any figures but... more...

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Originally Posted on 8/27/2005 3:26:23 PMContent source: http://www.123webmarketing.biz/Articles/Web_Promotion/How_Do_I_Drive_Traffic_to_a_Brand_New_Website%3F/

NewsFactor - Executives at Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) write them and so do chief-level people at Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: SUNW). Blogs (a name derived from combining the terms "Web" and "log") have drawn a great deal of attention over the past several years. The reason blogs are so popular is in part due to their seemingly unscripted format and the ability of users to post comments. more...

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Originally Posted on 8/27/2005 3:18:04 PMContent source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/rssblog/*http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nf/20050809/bs_nf/37704

PC World - Users will be able to have targeted news content delivered directly to them. more...

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Originally Posted on 8/27/2005 2:04:24 PMContent source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/rssblog/*http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/pcworld/20050809/tc_pcworld/122157

Amid all the noise and hype on the Internet today, not many people realize that all the ideas and techniques... more...

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Originally Posted on 8/27/2005 2:04:22 PMContent source: http://www.123webmarketing.biz/Articles/Internet_Marketing/3_Easy%2C_Money_Making_Internet_Business_Models/

In this age of speed dialing, T1 lines and other forms of high-tech instant gratification, many webmasters find themselves tempted... more...

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Originally Posted on 8/27/2005 12:06:36 AMContent source: http://www.123webmarketing.biz/Articles/Web_Promotion/The_Perils_and_Pitfalls_of_Pay-per-click_Advertising/

Multiple income streams, do you find the term confusing? Don't, it's really quite simple. In the world of Niche Markets... more...

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Originally Posted on 8/26/2005 11:13:32 PMContent source: http://www.123webmarketing.biz/Articles/Internet_Marketing/Multiple_Income_Streams_from_Niche_Markets/

MacCentral - Google Inc. plans to enhance its Google News article search service on
Tuesday by adding content syndication, according to executives from the
Mountain View, California, company. more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/26/2005 10:45:33 PMContent source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/rssblog/*http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/mc/20050809/tc_mc/googletoaddrssfunctionalitytogooglenews

TechWeb - The number of people in the United States who visited web logs in the first quarter of the year reached 50 million, a web metrics firm says. more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/26/2005 5:23:04 PMContent source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/rssblog/*http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cmp/20050810/tc_cmp/168600007

NewsFactor - Only a few months after launching a corporate blogging policy, IBM (NYSE: IBM) has shown interest in another new medium: podcasting. IBM's podcasts, available through the investor relations section of its Web site, are meant to help customers better understand the company's research. more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/26/2005 4:32:31 PMContent source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/rssblog/*http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nf/20050808/bs_nf/37679

AP - A California automobile club has fired 27 workers for posting messages on a popular social networking Web site. more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/26/2005 3:51:31 PMContent source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/rssblog/*http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050806/ap_on_re_us/bloggers_fired

You may not realize it, but in the next few minutes you are going to learn one of the three... more...

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Originally Posted on 8/26/2005 3:51:27 PMContent source: http://www.123webmarketing.biz/Articles/Web_Promotion/Find_Powerful_Keyword_Phrases_in_Five_Easy_Steps/

You can search for newly published patent applications at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, but if you want the latest patent applications served to you by RSS syndication and email alerts, you'll need to visit FreshPatents.com. Industry list RSS feeds filtered by USPTO class number are particularly valuable. The content is crawled and indexed by Google as well. more...

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Originally Posted on 8/26/2005 8:09:51 AMContent source: http://www.rssgov.com/archives/000137.html

ridiculous fish: “Since every Objective-C message send is funneled through objc_msgSend(), making objc_msgSend() as fast as possible is a priority. Let’s see how fast we are and if we could do better.” more...

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Originally Posted on 8/25/2005 12:11:16 PMContent source: http://ridiculousfish.com/blog/?p=22

If you're one who monitors the latest news about a drug or treatment, or if you're doing serious medical research, you'll absolutely love the assortment of alerts and exporting features provided by HubMed, an alternative search to the PubMed medical literature database. more...

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Originally Posted on 8/24/2005 9:45:44 PMContent source: http://www.rssgov.com/archives/000136.html

MacZealots: “Although Macs are great straight out of the box, third-party developers are the glue that holds Apple and its customers together. Developers continue to create freeware and shareware applications that allow Macs to perform at their very best.” more...

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Originally Posted on 8/24/2005 1:12:28 PMContent source: http://maczealots.com/articles/shareware/2005/

Martin Pittenauer: “We just released SubEthaEdit 2.2. SubEthaEdit now comes as a universal binary, i.e. developers with Developer Transition Kits can now use SubEthaEdit without reverting to Rosetta.” more...

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Originally Posted on 8/24/2005 10:51:27 AMContent source: http://www.codingmonkeys.de/map/log/archives/000196.html

Gus Mueller: FlySketch 1.5 supports PDF Workflow, “Fancy Pants Palettes,” “Grids!” and plenty more. more...

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Originally Posted on 8/24/2005 9:17:27 AMContent source: http://www.gusmueller.com/blog/archives/2005/7/28.html#1291

NetNewsWire 2.0.1 adds support for Atom 1.0 feeds, fixes a couple crashing bugs, and updates the Sites Drawer—read the change notes for the full scoop. Both full and Lite versions of 2.0.1 have been released.

Atom 1.0 is a new syndication format. NetNewsWire already supported Atom 0.3, an earlier draft of this format, and it will continue to support Atom 0.3 for the foreseeable future. (Just as multiple versions of RSS are supported.)

To learn more about Atom, see AtomEnabled.org and the Atom Wiki. more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/22/2005 4:51:08 PMContent source: http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/

On inessential.com we posted another list of NetNewsWire features you might not know about. more...

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Originally Posted on 8/22/2005 3:59:03 PMContent source: http://inessential.com/?comments=1&postid=3139

On inessential.com we posted our thoughts about the new iTunes podcasting support and what it means for NetNewsWire. In a nutshell: iTunes is cool, and we’ll keep adding new podcasting and RSS enclosures features to NetNewsWire. more...

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Originally Posted on 8/22/2005 1:19:59 PMContent source: http://inessential.com/?comments=1&postid=3137

The Rogue Amoeba folks have figured out how to launch an Automator workflow. Code provided. more...

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Originally Posted on 8/22/2005 10:25:54 AMContent source: http://rogueamoeba.com/utm/posts/Article/automator-hosting-2005-06-03-03-00

While the government may not be enthusiastic over offering RSS news feeds, the Chinese people themselves are embracing RSS news syndication in the form of blogging. NewScientist.com reports that despite official censorship of blogs in 2003, blog services are now sprouting all over China. By the end of October 2004, China had more than 45 large blog-hosting services. According to China's biggest blogging service provider blogcn.com, the number of subscribers has soared from 10,000 in June last year, to more than 500,000 now. Xiao Qiang, director of the China Internet Project at the University of California at Berkeley reports the "blog revolution" is sweeping across China. more...

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Originally Posted on 8/21/2005 8:26:14 PMContent source: http://www.rssgov.com/archives/000135.html

State CIO J. Clark Kelso wants to make government more accessible to the citizens of California. His November "California State Information Technology Strategic Plan" presented to Governor Schwarzenegger provides a blue-print for providing greater efficiences in IT services, offering more accessible service, and doing it for lower costs. What's missing? The plan neglects RSS, a low-cost, open source technology that many states are using to save money and make their services more accessible. more...

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Originally Posted on 8/21/2005 6:42:13 PMContent source: http://www.rssgov.com/archives/000134.html

Dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster's reports that "Blog" tops their list of the 10 words of the year. Merriam-Webster Inc. said on Tuesday that blog, defined as "a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments and often hyperlinks," was the most looked-up word on its Internet sites this year.

The list is compiled each year by taking the most researched words on its Web sites and then excluding perennials such as affect/effect and profanity. The company said most online dictionary queries were for uncommon terms, but people also turned to its Web sites for words in news headlines. more...

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Originally Posted on 8/21/2005 4:47:12 PMContent source: http://www.rssgov.com/archives/000133.html

Does your state or agency have a Chief Blogging Officer? Government is already rife with chiefs, why not one more? HighBeam Research, Inc. has set the pace by announcing today the appointment of Christopher Locke as its Chief Blogging Officer (CBO). HighBeam also announces a pilot program offering a select group of bloggers exclusive use of its new "blog this document" tools and free access to the company's premium archives. more...

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Originally Posted on 8/21/2005 4:41:48 PMContent source: http://www.rssgov.com/archives/000132.html

Robin Good takes a far more positive outlook of Google's new RSS features than I do, proclaiming that this actually means Google is now indexing RSS feeds, although it's still unclear what they intend to do with them.

"So in one shot Google opens up officially to full RSS adoption and use, launches an online RSS aggregator that is easy and functional to use and opens up the door for RSS feed submissions directly to its indexes.

And for those of you interested in increasing the reach and visibility of your RSS feeds, you now have a fast, easy and direct way to submit your those feeds to Google itself."

Robin also gives instructions on how to do this easily:

"a) If you don't have a Google Account click here and create one now.
b) Sign in on the Google Personalized Home Page.
c) Look at the left column and click on "Create a section".
d) Input your RSS or Atom feed directly."

Well, for one, we can't really be sure of what Google is doing with the RSS feeds "manually submited". Knowing how much they're investing in their indexing, ranking and search technology I'm having my doubts whether this really changes anything, since it's not difficult to presume that Google's already indexing RSS feeds. It would certainly be easy for them to do so.

And considering Google's complex ranking algorithms, it's questionable whether these manual submissions will have any weight at all.

But Robin does have a point - why not be optimistic about this?

Well, we certainly can be, as long as we don't start using personalized Google for RSS reading, which really dissapoints in a manner difficult to express.

Google has the strength to really move the RSS market further, although not as much as Microsoft. They have the strength to provide us with advanced and much needed features such as RSS filtering and search.

And yet they chose to do launch an RSS reader with such limited functionality, in a time when RSS has already become a key content consumption channel, that it really almost doesn't deserve the name. Dissapointing.


How Can RSS Power Your Internet Marketing and Publishing?
Find out more in the most comprehensive and best guide on RSS for marketers, as acclaimed by leading RSS experts, developers, marketers and publishers.
Click here and get the step-by-step guide to taking full marketing advantage of RSS.


more...

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Originally Posted on 8/21/2005 4:41:45 PMContent source: http://rssdiary.marketingstudies.net/content/googles_new_rss_features_as_an_seo_vehicle.php

The Utah Administrative Office of the Courts and the Utah State Bar have been experimenting with the syndication of news and publications for quite some time. They've now published links to their first public syndicated feeds on their homepages. more...

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Originally Posted on 8/21/2005 12:45:37 PMContent source: http://www.rssgov.com/archives/000131.html

We interrupt this irregularly scheduled broadcast.... to share a message more momentous than we've reported on before. We bring a message of hope, of goodness, of peace, of universal brotherhood. Here's how we can join our voices in a global conversation that can forever change the world. more...

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Originally Posted on 8/21/2005 12:13:36 PMContent source: http://www.rssgov.com/archives/000130.html

Many readers have been asking us to show them exactly how RSS feeds are created. Unfortunatelly, there's no exact way, since there are so many solutions available on the market.

We'll be doing a series of video demonstrations of RSS publishing tools over the following few months, and starting today with FeedForAll, the market leader in the desktop RSS publishing tools category.

This software is aimed towards publishers and marketers that want to create their RSS feeds as quickly as possible, without suffering any monthly costs, and have their feeds hosted on their own server.

While using desktop software for feed generation won't give you any out-of-the-box RSS metrics or more advanced RSS marketing features, such as content targeting, customization and so on, it's a great start for those that just want to get started with RSS publishing as soon as possible.

FeedForAll gives you exactly this functionality, plus some other very useful features, such as spell-checking, direct upload to your server and JavaScript and HTML export of your RSS feed content.

And the key point is simple: FeedForAll demonstrates that RSS publishing is accessible to every business and person on the internet, regardless of their financial strength or technical know-how.

To see how it all works and how simple it really is, take a look at the FeedForAll video demo below ...




























How Can RSS Power Your Internet Marketing and Publishing?
Find out more in the most comprehensive and best guide on RSS for marketers, as acclaimed by leading RSS experts, developers, marketers and publishers.
Click here and get the step-by-step guide to taking full marketing advantage of RSS.


more...

http://www.sebura.com/
Originally Posted on 8/21/2005 12:13:35 PMContent source: http://rssdiary.marketingstudies.net/content/feedforall_desktop_rss_publishing_tool_demo.php

Two Irish County Councils and several other Irish, Northern Ireland, and UK government agencies are publishing press releases using the new Nooked hosted online RSS publishing service. more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/20/2005 5:59:39 PMContent source: http://www.rssgov.com/archives/000128.html

The State of Virginia was recently recognized by the Center for Digital Government with a third place ranking in the Best of the Web and Digital Government Achievement Awards. The recognition came largely for Virginia's new syndication and alert services.

In accepting the award Governor Mark Warner said, "Our real-time online live help customer service continues to set the pace for the nation, and the portal's desktop alerts via live RSS feeds ensure that Virginia.gov users always have access to the most current information."

The VIPNet portal and its RSS feeds are managed by the Virginia Information Providers Network. There are currently at least 34 feeds. Virginia uses RSS feeds not only for alerts, but also as a monitoring service that keeps citizens informed of new resources and services added to the portal. more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/20/2005 5:38:39 PMContent source: http://www.rssgov.com/archives/000127.html

If you're wondering how to get started with RSS marketing, here's a basic 7-step plan that should provide some needed guidance. Use these steps as your personal RSS marketing checklist to get your started and help you see whether you're on the right track.

1. Start Using RSS as an End-User

The first step to getting started with RSS marketing/publishing is getting your own RSS aggregator, subscribing to other RSS feeds and just seeing and understanding how it all works.

There's a variety of RSS aggregators to choose from. The most popular and recommended are:
MyYahoo! (web-based aggregator)
Bloglines (web-based aggregator)
NetNewsWire (Mac)
Firefox (browser with integrated RSS features)
NewsGator (web-based aggregator and Microsoft Outlook integrated aggregator)
FeedDemon (desktop aggregator)
Pluck (IE integrated RSS aggregator)
SharpReader (desktop aggregator)
YouSubscribe (Outlook integrated aggregator)


2. Plan Your RSS Feeds

Planning your RSS feeds might be the most important thing you do about RSS. You most certainly need an RSS feed for your e-zine, your news section, your articles etc.

But how you will package these, what others you might want to offer and other important issues, are much more complex than we can cover in this space. A precise overview of all of the opportunities is available in the "Unleash the Marketing and Publishing Power of RSS" e-book.

You might also want to do follow-up (autoresponder) RSS feeds, feeds for your affiliates, feeds for your employees or business partners, feeds for the media, and so on.

3. Create a List of RSS Marketing/Publishing Requirements

Then create a list of requirements for the RSS marketing/publishing solution you will be getting to publish your feeds. The list should answer the basic questions, such as:

a) Do you want to integrate RSS publishing with your existing content management system?

b) What RSS metrics you'll want to watch? For example, are you satisfied with just a rough idea of how many people are reading your RSS feed, or are you interested in more precise subscriber counts, clicks and even individual content item popularity?

c) Do you need feed personalization, such as personalizing your RSS content with the receipient's name and other details?

d) Do you want to provide your subscribers with the ability to precisely select the content they want to receive in your RSS feed (customization), such as by content topic, keywords, authors and so on?

e) Do you want the RSS feeds to be hosted on your own server?

f) Do you need the ability to target promotional messages or other content to your individual RSS feed subscribers, for example based on their previous clicks and reading habits, or even their subscription data?

g) What's your budget?

h) Etc.

More information on all the different possibilities provided by RSS is available in the free Business Case for RSS report.

4. Choose an RSS Publishing Tool and Create Your First Feed

After you've prepared a list of requirements you can start searching for the appropriate RSS marekting and publishing tool. These come in a few general categories:

a) Desktop feed generation tools
Desktop software you can use to inexpensively, quickly and easily generate RSS feeds, but doesn't allow for more advanced features such as content targeting. The market leader in this category is FeedForAll.com.

b) Hosted online RSS publishing solutions
If you don't want to be bothered with a desktop tool and having to constantly upload your RSS feeds to your server, you could try a basic hosted online RSS publishing solution, such as MyRSScreator. Using their simple service you don't even need your own website to publish via RSS. Another good choice, especially if you're in PR, is PressFeed.

c) Advanced RSS marketing solutions
These will cover more advanced RSS marketing capabilities, such as metrics, scheduled autoresponder messages, database building capabilities and similar. The strongest contenders in this market are SimpleFeed, Nooked, MyST Technology Partners and some other strong players as well. Solutions aimed especially at smaller companies include RSS Auto Publisher and ByPass.

d) Other options
There are many other options as well, one for example being using your existing content management system to publish RSS feeds, or using a blog publishing solution such as MovableType.

5. Promote Your RSS Feeds through Your Own Channels

a) Create an RSS presentation page, on which you explain: what RSS is; how the visitor will benefit from using RSS; where they can get a free RSS aggregator (recommend one yourself!); how they can subscribe to your RSS feeds; and why they should subscribe to your own RSS feeds.

Then, on this same page, include the links to all of your RSS feeds. In addition to the standard orange RSS button, also include direct links for subscriptions via MyYahoo! and other relevant services, such as Bloglines.

b) Now promote this RSS presentation page as much as you can using all of your available channels.

c) Promote your RSS feeds directly below your e-zine subscription box, and always "above the fold". Promote your RSS presentation page (telling your visitors that's where they can subscribe to your feeds) on the most prominent locations of your site.

d) If you're publishing more than one RSS feed, but rather a couple of focused topic feeds, promote each of them next to their topics on the site.

e) Promote your RSS feeds in all of your e-mail messages and e-zine issues.

f) As for the content, don't just say "Subscribe to receive news from my site", but rather prepare compelling copy to specifically show your visitors why they need to subscribe to your content in the first place and why they should subscribe specifically to your RSS feeds.

e) Enable Auto-discovery
Just include the following piece of HTML code in the section of your webpages and you'll be all set:
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="ENTER_RSS_URL">

6. Promote Your RSS Feeds Through External Channels

a) Submit your feeds to the appropriate search engines and directories. The best list can be found here.

b) Ping the RSS aggregation sites each time you update your online content, letting them know that new content is available to be indexed. You can use this free service: http://pingomatic.com

7. Other Key RSS Activities

a) Measure and optimize your feeds

b) Syndicate your feed content to other web media

c) Display third-party RSS feeds on your site

These 7 steps cover the basic phases of getting started with RSS marketing and can be used for both complex and simple RSS marketing strategies.

To get detailed information on each of these and find out more about RSS marketing strategies, tools and approaches available to you, take a look at Unleash the Marketing and Publishing Power of RSS.


How Can RSS Power Your Internet Marketing and Publishing?
Find out more in the most comprehensive and best guide on RSS for marketers, as acclaimed by leading RSS experts, developers, marketers and publishers.
Click here and get the step-by-step guide to taking full marketing advantage of RSS.


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http://www.sebura.com/
Originally Posted on 8/20/2005 4:15:51 PMContent source: http://rssdiary.marketingstudies.net/content/the_7step_rss_marketing_plan.php

Pheedo just made my week by releasing some basic data on their publishers' and advertisers' RSS usage data, becoming one of the first vendors to establish some introductionary RSS benchmarks.

Here's a quick summary, plus our comments ...

a] RSS is most actively used (click-throughs, viewership, feed retrieval) on Tuesdays and least on Saturdays. CTR differs as high as 70% between these two days. The next best day is Wednesday.

Based on just this data it seems that Tuesday morning might be the best day for releasing your key news and content to achieve maximum readership, although testing would be needed to confirm this.

It's however clear that Saturday is not a good day for important notifications or other key content.

b] Most content is viewed by "morning scanners", but late-night readers click more.

This piece of data gives an indication that it might be a good idea to keep your "conversion content" (the content you are using in any way to convert readers in to customers) at the top of your feed throughout the day, no matter how much you post on any single day.

In simpler terms, if you released a key content item throughout the day, make sure that it's always listed on the top by manipulating the publishing date.

Some users however might resent this, since RSS is right now still fundamentally "time oriented", meaning that users expect the top item in the feed to be the latest published.

Just like with the interpretation above, this requires some testing.

c] CTR (click-through ratio) ranges from 7 to 11%, depending on the hour of the day.

Some more information would be needed to comment on this, especially how CTR is calculated and especially if these numbers are the average for individual publishers.

However, this data does show that RSS is performing better in terms of CTRs than e-mail.

d] Bloglines is the most used RSS aggregator, according to Pheedo's statistics, and followed by Firefox, Thunderbird, NewsGator and Sharpreader.

Take a look at some more interesting observations and data on Pheedo's site.

For more information about RSS metrics and some marketing oriented hard data take a look at our RSS Metrics category, and the RSS Statistics category for more RSS usage data.


How Can RSS Power Your Internet Marketing and Publishing?
Find out more in the most comprehensive and best guide on RSS for marketers, as acclaimed by leading RSS experts, developers, marketers and publishers.
Click here and get the step-by-step guide to taking full marketing advantage of RSS.


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http://www.sebura.com/
Originally Posted on 8/20/2005 2:53:50 PMContent source: http://rssdiary.marketingstudies.net/content/real_rss_usage_data_from_pheedo.php

If you're a web developer looking in to RSS, this RSS Resource Index might come very useful.

A very comprehensive list of RSS development resources, but will be of less interest to more marketing and business oriented people.


How Can RSS Power Your Internet Marketing and Publishing?
Find out more in the most comprehensive and best guide on RSS for marketers, as acclaimed by leading RSS experts, developers, marketers and publishers.
Click here and get the step-by-step guide to taking full marketing advantage of RSS.


more...

http://www.sebura.com/
Originally Posted on 8/20/2005 1:35:50 PMContent source: http://rssdiary.marketingstudies.net/content/an_rss_web_developer_resource_index.php

The State of Delaware has two new RSS newsfeeds for agency news and press releases and proposed and final state government regulations. The feeds are featured by links right off the state's homepage, Delaware.gov. more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/20/2005 1:30:49 PMContent source: http://www.rssgov.com/archives/000125.html

Even though RSS adoption already reached 12% of the U.S. online population, according to Jupiter Research, the latest Pew Internet & American Life Project report still finds that only 9% of Americans online have a good idea of what RSS feeds are.

65% are not really sure, and 26% really have no idea. The margin of error is plus/minus 3%.

Further breakdown of the report tells us that ...

a] 12% of men and only 6% of women have a good idea of what RSS feeds are.

b] The same goes for 12% aged 18+29 and 5% aged 65+.

So what does all of this tell us?

a] It's easy to conclude that although people do not have a good idea of what RSS feeds are, they might still be subscribing to feeds via MyYahoo and other mainstream services that integrated RSS in to their content consumption platforms, without really going to great lengths to explaining to people in detail they're subscribing to RSS feeds or explaining to them what RSS feeds are.

To most users this doesn't matter anyway. Consequently, the Jupiter Research numbers seem to be on the mark, if not underestimated.

But it's clear that a lot of RSS education is still needed, and that RSS will really grow once it's implemented in Internet Explorer, becoming as common as bookmarks, for example. Once that happens people really won't need to know what RSS is and how to use it --- it's going to become intuitive.

b] Right now, men are the prevailing RSS readership force, which should give you some guidance towards preparing RSS content and promoting your RSS feeds.

c] It's also no surprise that the younger generation is more prone to subscribe to RSS feeds than the older generation, which means that sites targeted at youth are really doing themselves a disservice if they're not providing content via RSS.

d] And finally, the report shows that while we still have some ground to cover, the market is still wide open for those wanting to introduce unique services based on RSS and for marketers looking to take advantage of this channel, before the market becomes saturated.

The report summary is available in PDF here.


How Can RSS Power Your Internet Marketing and Publishing?
Find out more in the most comprehensive and best guide on RSS for marketers, as acclaimed by leading RSS experts, developers, marketers and publishers.
Click here and get the step-by-step guide to taking full marketing advantage of RSS.


more...

http://www.sebura.com/
Originally Posted on 8/20/2005 12:37:48 PMContent source: http://rssdiary.marketingstudies.net/content/rss_still_not_recognized_by_endusers.php

The Family Guy returns as Pluck's Feed of the Day, because everyone and their dog (not Brian) continues searching for it. Taking a look at our usage stats, it seems like every other feedview is related to humor and/or our Family Guy post from a while back. So Family Guy returns with a few extra related links and . . .

an RSS feed that works (the old feed no workey).

In case you need an introduction to the Family Guy, here are a few resources you can check out:

Family Guy Quotes

Wikipedia - Family Guy

Family Guy - Official Site

And of course, we suggest checking out the Family Guy Freakin' Blog!, linked below. The blog is in the running for a gold-medal at the got-lots-of-comments Olympics . . . the fewest number of comments (of posts currently on the main page is 498 individual comments. And many of them are of the "classic" Internet variety: trash talking, long discussions, totally off-the-subject posts, and other normal web "conversations."

So check it out or Brian and Stewie will go ninja on you, with their spiffy ninja-ish outfits above.*

RSS Feed of the DayRSS feed: http://64.70.52.115/blog/index.xml Website: http://blog.familyguy.com/ *** Bonus quote ***Peter: Hey Brian! I turned the stairs into a water slide!
Brian (after Peter falls down and starts screaming): I'm not going to
call an ambulance this time because then you won't learn anything.**

Good dog!

* Image from Yahoo! TV** Quote from Family Guy Quotes more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/20/2005 8:09:29 AMContent source: http://pluck.typepad.com/feed_of_the_day/2005/08/family_guy_redu.html

Enterprise RSS is a fairly new market, but already strongly dominated by a handful of companies, with NewsGator leading the pack.

Red Herring provides a good overview of the RSS Enterprise market, and most especially gives a good starting point to define enterprise RSS.

Among the key is enterprise wide content consumption synchronization ("from Microsoft Outlook to the web to a desktop client to a mobile phone application") and behind-the-firewall security.

Other applications include:

a] Direct mass communication with employees, on either a mass level or also employing personalization and customization to make sure only the most relevant messages are distributed to the right people.

b] Measuring and watching buzz about the company, its brands and products.

c] Filtering industry news for relevancy and making it available to appropriate teams and employees in need of specific content.

d] Targeted and secure in-house communications between employees and teams, which also includes project collaboration.

Other applications that usually aren't discussed under the enterprise RSS umbrella, but probably should be in order to maximize the impact of RSS, should also include:

a] External RSS feed publishing in order to communicate with prospects, customers, business partners, the media and other target audiences.

b] Republishing syndicated content on corporate sites in order to easily display focused industry news from multiple sources.

c] RSS advertising, which in the context of enterprise RSS would especially mean ad campaign management capabilities.


How Can RSS Power Your Internet Marketing and Publishing?
Find out more in the most comprehensive and best guide on RSS for marketers, as acclaimed by leading RSS experts, developers, marketers and publishers.
Click here and get the step-by-step guide to taking full marketing advantage of RSS.


more...

http://www.sebura.com/
Originally Posted on 8/20/2005 8:09:28 AMContent source: http://rssdiary.marketingstudies.net/content/the_rss_enterprise_market_overview.php

The Rogue Amoeba folks have figured out how to launch an Automator workflow. Code provided. more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/18/2005 6:01:18 AMContent source: http://rogueamoeba.com/utm/posts/Article/automator-hosting-2005-06-03-03-00

On inessential.com we listed a bunch of other new features (aside from tag subscriptions) in NetNewsWire 2.0 that you may not know about. more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/17/2005 6:38:59 PMContent source: http://inessential.com/?comments=1&postid=3135

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration makes extensive use
of RSS 2.0 to provide news, photographs, and press releases on upcoming
missions and other space-related topics.

People looking ahead to the planned July 13 launch of the space shuttle Discovery can subscribe to a Return to Flight RSS feed.

NASA's RSS information page also includes an interesting demonstration of an RSS viewer created in Macromedia Flash. more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/17/2005 1:35:11 PMContent source: http://www.nasa.gov/rss/

Six million Americans get news and information from RSS aggregators, according to a nationwide telephone survey conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project in November.

The project, an ongoing survey of the 120 million Americans using the
Internet, found that 5 percent follow their favorite sources through
RSS syndication. "This is a first-time measurement from our surveys and
is an indicator that this application is gaining an impressive
foothold."

The survey also found that 27 percent of those polled are weblog
readers, a 58 percent jump in the 9 months since the preceding poll was
conducted. more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/16/2005 4:11:57 PMContent source: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/2005/01/04#a821

We added a link to a page of encoding examples for descriptions, under Elements of <item>. The change is also noted on the Change Notes page. more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/16/2005 2:56:56 PMContent source: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/2004/06/19#a683

Here's a revised proposal for a clarification to the RSS 2.0 spec.
Under Elements of <item>, replace the lead paragraph with the following.

A channel may contain any number of <item>s. An item may represent a "story" -- much like a story in a newspaper or magazine; if so its description is a synopsis of the story, and the link points to the full story. An item may also be complete in itself, if so, the description contains the text (entity-encoded HTML is allowed; see examples), and the link and title may be omitted. All elements of an item are optional, however at least one of title or description must be present.
Notes: The new text is in green. The word examples links to a page of examples of encodings. We'd like to make the changes to the spec early next week.  If you have concerns about this change, please post a comment below, and we will review them before making the change. Thanks to everyone who has participated in the discussion thus far. more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/15/2005 7:18:44 PMContent source: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/2004/06/15#a648

How many times have you heard the saying, "You only get one chance
to make a first impression?" This is often applied in hiring and social
settings, but has enormous implications in that rather big part of our
lives, otherwise called "work."

As an extension of first impressions, we have many "only once"
experiences, which almost always sets the tone for how those same
experiences turn out. So what big "only once" are you most concerned
about? Are you making a good impression?

Today's Feed of the Day - OnlyOnce - comes from Matt
Blumberg, a first-time entrepreneur blogging about his "only once" as a
first-time CEO. His blog makes a good impression on me, especially as
he shares his thoughts/experiences/war stories related to being a first
time CEO, getting funding, hiring employees, and
business/technical/political trends that affect his company's outlook.

It'd be interesting to have a few employee/partner/investor insights
into how he's doing with his "only once" - maybe they're in the
comments?  Anyhow, I gathered a few posts that you might appreciate
(permalinks may require scrolling):

Promiscuity.
Not the kind you're thinking of. It's about the current transparency in
business practices, communications (internal/external), and financing
negotiations. People expect you to share what you're all about.
Personally and professionally.


Are you Topgraded?
- Interesting book review about an organizational strategy that only
allows hiring "A players," especially while the venture is young. So
are you an A player? Is your company made up of A players? Assuming
that A players aren't dominated by unmanageable egos, this is an
essential part of a successful start-up (VCs love it too).

The rumors of email's demise have been greatly exaggerated.
Obviously we think RSS is a phenomenal way to communicate. But can you
really imagine giving up one-to-one (or closed group) communication via
email? I can't either.

How to negotiate a term sheet with a VC.
Ten steps to term sheet negotiation (note: there are several additions
to this post, well worth the reading). If you make it this far, you're
doing quite well. A word to the wise though, investors are your
financial partners, not your friends. You can be friends when/if you
make money for the investors and generally not before!

There are plenty more insights about
building/growing/leading/managing a tech company (and probably applies
to any company) in a more back-to-fundamentals entrepreneurial climate.

RSS Feed of the DayRSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Onlyonce Website: http://onlyonce.blogs.com/onlyonce/ more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/14/2005 7:58:43 PMContent source: http://pluck.typepad.com/feed_of_the_day/2005/08/onlyonce_it_fee.html

Although RSS adoption in Europe doesn't seem to be anywhere near the situation in the US, especially on the publishing and marketing side, we should soon be seeing the first RSS advertising initiatives.

The Feedburner and VNU Business Media Europe partnership, just announced yesterday, could be just one of the first such initiatives, finally opening the eyes of Europe to marketing with RSS.

VNU is a global business information company, and they aim to use FeedBurner as their partner in bringing RSS advertising solutions for their various media properties to their advertisers.

The first to take lead with the new VNU ad offering is Nokia, which started adding RSS ads to their internet marketing feeds.

Hopefully more European publishers and marketers will follow soon ...


How Can RSS Power Your Internet Marketing and Publishing?
Find out more in the most comprehensive and best guide on RSS for marketers, as acclaimed by leading RSS experts, developers, marketers and publishers.
Click here and get the step-by-step guide to taking full marketing advantage of RSS.


more...

http://www.sebura.com/
Originally Posted on 8/14/2005 4:13:45 PMContent source: http://rssdiary.marketingstudies.net/content/feedburner_bringing_rss_advertising_to_europe.php

If you visited our sister blog (or feed) today - Pluck Tips, Tricks, & News - you learned a little about Shadows, a relatively new addition to Pluck's Web 2.0 services. We'll be discussing it a bit more on the other blog in the coming days, so you'll want to be sure to drop by for a visit.

With this in mind, we're highlighting the force behind Shadows, or the Shadow person himself, Andrew Busey. He's been around the Internet block a time or two, starting back in the early days of web browsing itself as the first project manager for Spyglass Mosaic, which was licensed to Microsoft and was the beginning of Internet Explorer (and the Netscape/IE browser wars). You can read more about Andrew at our brand-new Pluck website.

As for today's Feed of the Day, Reflecting on Shadows, Andrew shares insight into what the social tagging/bookmarking/search phenomenon is all about . . . and why it  matters to you (especially, you, the early adopter). You'll even learn helpful new terms like "Spag," something we hope will not grow up to be like its evil older brother, Spam.RSS Feed of the DayRSS feed: http://www.easyjournal.com/rss/busey.xml Websites: http://busey.easyjournal.com/ and http://www.shadows.com more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/14/2005 4:13:40 PMContent source: http://pluck.typepad.com/feed_of_the_day/2005/08/shadows_turn_th.html

As you listen to the radio, do you ever think to yourself, "Self, when will the next commercial air? Because this song really sucks." Based on the number of iPods I see here in Austin, growth of satellite radio, and podcasting too, radio listenership is probably disappearing, similar to viewership declines for network TV and readership slumps for newspapers.

Actually, listeners/viewers/readers aren't disappearing from these media, but instead have transitioned to more-user controlled formats both online and offline. Can you imagine choosing your music because it came from a specific record-label? Or going to "concerts" like those from Tom Hanks movie, That Thing You Do?

No way.

Back to my earlier question. While driving to work, I heard a song from Ciara called "Goodies." Really great lyrics like:


My Goodies, My Goodies, My Goodies
Not my goodies!

and . . .


Lookin for the goodies
Keep on lookin' cuz they stay in the jar
Oh-oh Oh-oh Oh-oh Oh-oh

plus the ever-popular . . .


Uh...Yeah...Uh...Yeah Uh Uh Uh

This sort of music doesn't even qualify as cotton candy for the mind. The only good part was that the singing sound a little (only a little) like Tenacious D's "Inward Singing."

So to help free you from further mind-numbing music, we've chosen regnyouth as today's Feed of the Day. This music reviewing machine only started this blog earlier this year, but must spend hours and hours and hours reviewing songs, albums, bands . . . and recommending stuff to try out. The amount of content on the site after two months is HUGE. If you're a music aficionado and especially want to check out bands typically off the mainstream radar, give regnyouth a shot.

RSS Feed of the DayRSS feed: http://regnyouth.blogspot.com/atom.xml Website: http://regnyouth.blogspot.com/ more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/14/2005 1:00:28 PMContent source: http://pluck.typepad.com/feed_of_the_day/2005/08/music_reviews_f.html

As you listen to the radio, do you ever think to yourself, "Self, when will the next commercial air? Because this song really sucks." Based on the number of iPods I see here in Austin, growth of satellite radio, and podcasting too, radio listenership is probably disappearing, similar to viewership declines for network TV and readership slumps for newspapers.

Actually, listeners/viewers/readers aren't disappearing from these media, but instead have transitioned to more-user controlled formats both online and offline. Can you imagine choosing your music because it came from a specific record-label? Or going to "concerts" like those from Tom Hanks movie, That Thing You Do?

No way.

Back to my earlier question. While driving to work, I heard a song from Ciara called "Goodies." Really great lyrics like:


My Goodies, My Goodies, My Goodies
Not my goodies!

and . . .


Lookin for the goodies
Keep on lookin' cuz they stay in the jar
Oh-oh Oh-oh Oh-oh Oh-oh

plus the ever-popular . . .


Uh...Yeah...Uh...Yeah Uh Uh Uh

This sort of music doesn't even qualify as cotton candy for the mind. The only good part was that the singing sound a little (only a little) like Tenacious D's "Inward Singing."

So to help free you from further mind-numbing music, we've chosen regnyouth as today's Feed of the Day. This music reviewing machine only started this blog earlier this year, but must spend hours and hours and hours reviewing songs, albums, bands . . . and recommending stuff to try out. The amount of content on the site after two months is HUGE. If you're a music aficionado and especially want to check out bands typically off the mainstream radar, give regnyouth a shot.

RSS Feed of the DayRSS feed: http://regnyouth.blogspot.com/atom.xml Website: http://regnyouth.blogspot.com/ more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/14/2005 1:00:28 PMContent source: http://pluck.typepad.com/feed_of_the_day/2005/08/music_reviews_f.html

Before I delve into the article, I want to address a specific issue related to copying. While the first article deals with clear copyright violations, there is also a rabid problem in the industry related to the cloning of applications. I have more ideas than I can keep up with, I don't know why this behavior is condoned nor do I understand why developers can't be innovative, rather than cloning another's application. Cloning may not be illegal, but its certainly not ethical.

Competition is Good, Copying is Bad
I've always been of the opinion that competition is a good thing. It encourages all of us to be better and make better products. While it might be true that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, copying someone else's work is simply wrong.
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article65.html
more...

http://www.sebura.com/
Originally Posted on 8/14/2005 12:18:53 PMContent source: http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article65.html

The opinions that is. That's what she shares. Rather well written ones too.

There are plenty of established lawyers blogging about blogs, current events, lawsuits, technology, copyright, intellectual property, etc. But there aren't many junior associates blogging. And no suprise there, as they have no time to do anything but work. But you're in luck, we've found a lawyer who hasn't yet made partner, but is blogging and RSS enabled just the same.

Opinionistas is one of the better-written blogs I've come across in recent weeks, with a well organized stream-of-consciousness approach to sharing the fun, trials, and "ridiculousness of human behavior. But the context is what makes it a particularly interesting read.

The author is a fairly junior associate at a major New York law firm (name of firm/author not disclosed, who candidly shares some of the experiences that accompany work as a young attorney for a big law firm. The attorneys out there (family and friends too) will instantly recognize the horribly difficult work/lifestyle that these highly paid professionals endure as they try to build their careers.

The law school students however (especially the 1Ls), will more likely read the posts with wide-eyed horror as the peek into what could be their future. Oh, and regarding the high-paid nature of attorneys, just look at the number of hours they work and calculate their hourly wage. Makes the six-figure salary seem a lot smaller!

Monday's post is quite timely, as Opinionista realizes that she "could seriously be fired for writing this blog." Which of course would not be a good start to a budding legal career. Several well-known tech companies have fired employees over blogs (e.g. Google, Delta, Microsoft), but hopefully Opinionista won't be a trend-setter in this regards. A quick perusal of the posts don't reveal client matters or identify specific people/firms/etc., but as those who've been on the biting end of litigation know, facts don't always get in the way of what's right and/or fair.

This is a very recommended read - the comments are equally worth perusing - so we'll leave you in Opinionista's capable hands.

RSS Feed of the DayRSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/opinionistas Website: http://opinionistas.blogspot.com/ more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/14/2005 11:32:28 AMContent source: http://pluck.typepad.com/feed_of_the_day/2005/08/opinionistas_op.html

What are consumer expectations when something is free?
Realistically, consumers subconsciously assume free means free, and while that might be the initial intent rarely is it the case.

What Exactly Does Free Mean?
Very few things these days are free in the real sense of the word. There are very few free items that do not have any strings attached.

When Something Online is Free more...

http://www.sebura.com/
Originally Posted on 8/14/2005 11:32:27 AMContent source: http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article64.html

Today is "proving a point" day. The point being, that even the most seemingly unlikely candidates for RSS see the value in syndicating their content, even at this early stage of the technology adoption cycle. We cover a lot of tech/blog/humor/odd stuff here on Pluck's Feed of the Day, but I think you'll be surprised how today's highlight shows that both publishers and consumers are adopting RSS aggregation, across wide spectrum of interests.

Automotive/car magazines with RSS. Even Hot rods come feed-enabled! You will however, need to click through if you want to ask Miss HOT ROD a question.

RSS Feeds of the DayMotortrend RSS feed: http://www.motortrend.com/features/news/rss/nonstandard_rss.xml Website:  http://www.motortrend.com/  HOT ROD RSS feed: http://www.hotrod.com/rss/nonstandard_rss.xml Website: http://www.hotrod.com/ more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/14/2005 9:11:02 AMContent source: http://pluck.typepad.com/feed_of_the_day/2005/08/surprise_you_ne.html

Highly targeted, focused sites that are related to specific market segments are highly advantageous and can often be created using existing web content. The key is to provide value.

These highly focused content sites can be great supplemental portals that are invaluable as a marketing tool for niche products. Niche portals help define expertise in a specific market segment, not to mention the added benefit of providing valuable topic-specific links. The topic-centric portals also tend to achieve high search placement and will often provide advertisers high quality exposure, allowing webmasters the opportunity to capitalize on their efforts.


Complete Article - Valuable Content Portals more...

http://www.sebura.com/
Originally Posted on 8/14/2005 8:18:01 AMContent source: http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article63.html

I'm willing to bet that you're deluged in data. Inundated by information. Possibly even swimming in RSS subscriptions. The digitization of all things has obvious - and much discussed - benefits, but sometimes I think we miss some of the downsides. For me at least - and I'm guessing I'm not alone - it's all to easy to have more information than you can possibly handle.

Web 2.0 is phenomenal for broadening our ability to create/find/share/use data from an overwhelming number of sources. I think we all agree that this is a good thing. Enhanced perspective and peripheral vision adds context and flavor that we might otherwise miss and/or can benefit from. But what if you have too much information?

Do you really have time to read all of the feeds you subscribe to? I'd like to answer "yes" to the question, but the fact of the matter is that I subscribe to tons of feeds and don't revisit many of them as much as I'd like to. Sound familiar?

One solution for this problem is turning to credible sources or "authorities" on a given subject. This is difficult since few would say they're 2nd-string pundits, even if they do like Avis and "try harder." That said, there are numerous ways to validate the credibility of a source (which may be different from value - more subjective/individual) including a few tips from yours truly:

Are they current? Do they cover the current topics now?

Do they provide real analysis? Adam Weinroth, creator of Easyjournal, discussed this subject not long ago in a revealing post about analysis vs. linking by A-list bloggers.

What do other credible sources have to say about them? Faint praise or real endorsement?

Who is behind the content? Have they earned their battle scars?

Today's Feed of the Day - Techdirt - is a prime example of "how to pass the credibility test." Of course this is only my opinion - but it's right! ; ) These group is more than a media company, but has real, paying clients looking for actionable news and analysis for their company/industry. Happily for the rest of us, they provide short-order news and analysis for the rest of us free-of-charge.

RSS Feed of the DayRSS feed: http://www.techdirt.com/techdirt_rss.xml Website: http://www.techdirt.com/ more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/14/2005 7:56:02 AMContent source: http://pluck.typepad.com/feed_of_the_day/2005/08/techdirt_digs_c.html

The web has evolved into a complex "organism" which, to some, appears to have a life of its own. As the Internet has evolved, so too have online marketers and publishers. The dot-com balloon is said to have burst but savvy publishers have grabbed the coat tails of the Google search monster and employ Google AdSense on content-rich websites. Google AdSense, a pioneer for providing content-sensitive advertisements, has been a boon to webmasters looking for alternatives to amortize their web trafffic.

How Does Google AdSense Work?
The concept is simple: The publisher or webmaster inserts a java script into a website. Each time the page is accessed, the java script pulls advertisements from Google's AdSense program. The ads are targeted and related to the content contained on the web page serving the ad. If a web surfer clicks on an advertisement served from Google, the webmaster serving the ad earns a portion of the money that the advertiser is paying Google for the click.

Complete Article - Evolution of Google AdSense more...

http://www.sebura.com/
Originally Posted on 8/14/2005 7:56:00 AMContent source: http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article62.html

Let's conduct a little poll. How many of you use Google as your primary search engine? Probably the vast majority of us. I'll check results against another engine from time to time, but like most of you, view Google as a good starting point for information search.

Today we're highlighting Popdex as the Feed of the Day. Remember the children's classic, "The Little Engine that Could?" Popdex is a bit like that plucky little engine, climbing the mountain - yep, I'm reaching here - of websites to find the most popular stuff online. Except rather than climb the huge mountain with "all" the websites out there, Popdex keeps to the foothills and "crawls over 14,000" sites daily to determine the most popular links on the Internet."

A few from today's list:

No. 2 - The Alien - a photoset on Flickr


No. 5 - Wired 13.08: 10 Years That Changed the World

No. 7 - NASA - Return to Flight

Enjoy the weekend!

RSS Feed of the DayRSS feed: http://www.popdex.com/rss.xml Website: http://www.popdex.com/ more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/13/2005 7:34:59 PMContent source: http://pluck.typepad.com/feed_of_the_day/2005/07/popdex_the_litt.html

Last fall we launched FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com a tool for creating, editing and publishing RSS feeds. Having recently gone through the experience of a product launch I thought that I would take the opportunity to share my experiences and discuss what worked.

A key to FeedForAll's success was getting to market quickly, and the marketing began before the official product launch. We immediately jumped into creating buzz about RSS with newsletter mentions. We began blogs on multiple sites and RSS feeds so that we could actually measure traffic and interest in RSS. After a short time it was clear that the daily fresh content and interest in RSS was significant, and if we could help educate users to the power and potential of RSS we could drive significant sales.

Article - Software Product Launch more...

http://www.sebura.com/
Originally Posted on 8/13/2005 7:34:57 PMContent source: http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article61.html

While many marketers are scrambling for links, any links, an area that is often overlooked is topic-specific search engines. What many don't realize is that these engines do produce traffic, and they often contain traffic that is very targeted. Anyone who has taken the time to analyze weblogs and track sales sources will likely see that targeted traffic converts at a significantly higher rate than non-targeted traffic.

A savvy online marketer realizes that often, the quality of the visitor is far more important than the quantity of visitors. Web marketers should focus their energies on attracting targeted traffic whenever possible.

Complete Article - The Benefit of Topical Search Engines more...

http://www.sebura.com/
Originally Posted on 8/13/2005 5:30:53 PMContent source: http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article60.html

Office Space has been making the rounds on satellite TV in recent months . . . or I'm just fortunate enough to find it when channel surfing. Today has reminded me of perhaps the best part of the movie: when Peter, Samir, and Michael take the office copier out for a drive and for a friendly game of baseball.

Today my computer has taken up the role of the Office Space copier, but due to my desire to not purchase a new laptop, it will have to miss out on the smash-and-destroy scene. Perhaps I can find a suitable body double. Either way, someday I will fulfill my goal of killing my computer.

43 Things steps up to the plate as Pluck's Feed of the Day. Surprisingly still unique - I'd expected a zillion knock-offs with added "bonus features" - 43 Things is a public way of stating your goals, checking them off the list as you accomplish them (or give up), and seeing what others want to accomplish with their lives. The name itself is not tied to 43 Folders or getting things done. At least not as far as the developers let on. My guess is that it's a combination of Douglas Adams' answer to "Life, the Universe, and Everything" and Spinal Tap's "it goes to 11."

A few goals from the site:

go on a road trip with no predetermined destination

learn Arabic

destroy my computer

Live your dreams. Anyone have a body double for my laptop that I can "borrow?"

RSS Feed of the DayRSS feed (new goals): http://www.43things.com/rss/goals/all Website: http://www.43things.com/ more...

http://www.sebura.com
Originally Posted on 8/13/2005 4:35:35 PMContent source: http://pluck.typepad.com/feed_of_the_day/2005/07/43_things_offic.html