What’s an RSS Feed Reader used for?
RSS is a tool for getting information from people without having to keep visiting their website to get it and is a fantastic digital marketing tool. You can subscribe to their information, have it sent to you and read it whenever you like. Once you have set up your subscriptions, you can then choose from a list of them all in the one place.
company bulletins – news bulletins – arts launches – performance updates – weather updates
personal blogs – podcasts – club updates – sporting fixtures – fan newsletters – special offers
Use an RSS Feed Reader to subscribe to blogs, news & podcasts
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Install an RSS feed reader:
An RSS feed reader is basically a storage space for your subscriptions so you can read through all your items without having to visit each website. It really is as simple as that – the feed reader searches for the latest updates to your subscriptions and downloads them to your computer.
There are two types of feed readers you can utilise. We used to have to install a dedicated feed reader program to manage our subscriptions, and this is still a great method – though you need to run the program to get it to update your subscriptions. This used to be a concern with older computers (another program to use up thinking space!) but these days our computers easily handle the additional program. And as the RSS reader downloads the content to your computer, you can read your feeds anytime you want without having to be connected to the internet.
The other type of feed reader being used more frequently these days are web browser-based readers. These take up less space and don’t require an extra program to be installed, but reading your feeds offline can be a hassle – in fact, it’s recommended that a separate program is installed to synchronise with your browser-based reader if you want to read feeds offline. In this age of constant connectivity via mobile devices browser-based readers are becoming more popular.
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Finding RSS feeds you are interested in:
First thing is to visit your favourite websites and look for the RSS symbol . Clicking on this symbol on a website triggers your feed reader to set up a subscription and you’ll be able to keep in touch with all their latest news directly from your reader.
A great place to start looking for feeds you might be interested in is an RSS Feed Syndicate. This is a website that collates feeds and sorts multiple RSS Feeds by categories, so you don’t need to go trawling around the internet searching for new feeds to read. There are a few comprehensive general syndicates, as well as some specific topic-based syndicates – check out your favourite search engine for a list.
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Podcasts using an RSS Feed:
Audio and video podcasts can be collected in a very similar way, though you will need a media player to play them in. Most computers will have a media player installed already, though if you have problems make sure you have the correct codec installed for the type of file you are trying to play – check out your media player’s help.
Many RSS feed readers will be able to subscribe to podcasts as well as text. And newer media players will be able to subscribe to podcasts. So you can really treat podcasts and feeds as the same thing, these days.
In these days of an over abundance of information using an RSS Feed can really help you stay on top of what you want to know, whilst not wasting your time on things that don’t interest you.
The idea behind We Push Buttons was to create an environment where business owners can learn about building their organisation, whether it be with an outstanding website, SEO or any other marketing ideas. Coming from the art industry and online retail background he knows first hand the needs of growing a business in a tough environment.
