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More Best of From Marketers on RSS

by: Rok Hrastnik

Copyright 2005 Rok Hrastnik

What is the top advice savvy marketers can give you on RSS? We continue with �the best of� on RSS marketing from US marketing leaders.

1. WHY SHOULD MARKETERS AND PUBLISHERS START CONSIDERING USING RSS ANYWAY? Answered by Bill Flitter, Pheedo

I'll give you 7 reasons:

1. Sender ID 2. CAN SPAM ACT 3. Blacklists 4. Known Sender 5. Email Filters 6. Bonded Sender Program 7. Cost of Sending Email

These seven items are a result of SPAM. The items represent an effort being put forth to stop SPAM but it is still a huge problem. I do believe RSS will be around no matter if SPAM was eradicated. RSS has some distinct advantages over email marketing, which include:

1. 100% opt-in � no worries of legal threats by consumers.

2. One-click unsubscribe � RSS raises the bar. Marketers will need to think about what their sending before they hit the enter button. I think this is a good thing. There is no free ride with RSS. Consumers are demanding control (do-not-call list, CAN SPAM Act, Privacy Bills etc.) and RSS delivers that control.

3. 100% deliver rate � If I publish a feed or advertise in a feed, it reaches the intended recipient. This is minus any technological hiccups. Point being I don't have to worry about SPAM filters, Blacklists, Sender ID, etc. My biggest worry now is whether or not I am publishing relevant content when my customers want it.

2. WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE ARE THE BEST WAYS COMPANIES CAN USE RSS TODAY? Answered by Bill Flitter, Pheedo

1. External Communication: Create an RSS feed on your site. If you publish a newsletter already, creating a feed from that information is easy. It takes little effort. I strongly encourage this practice if you are in the tech sector.

2. Internal Communication: Using RSS (with a blog) to collaborate on a project within the enterprise is more efficient then email. The blog archives the project while RSS keeps everyone informed.

3. Advertising: If the problem of SPAM doesn't get solved soon, marketers will turn to RSS as a means to reach new customers. RSS has two distinct absolutes over email � one-click unsubscribe and 100% opt-in. Email cannot emphatically say that. RSS puts the control in the hands of the publisher and consumer. It will become a more effective marketing channel because the market will demand that publishers be more conscience of the amount and relevance of the ads in feeds. Consumers will act as the filter. If the noise-to-value ration is out of whack, the consumer will simply vote with their mice.

3. HOW CAN RSS BE USED BY MARKETERS PROVIDING AFFILIATE PROGRAMS? Answered by Shawn Collins, Shawn Collins Consulting

My vision for the usefulness of RSS is to be a one-way form of communication � sharing updates, news, and tools with affiliates in an uncensored environment, since email has become too difficult with all of the Spam and other assorted hassles.

4. ONE OF THE QUESTIONS WE SHOULD START ASKING OURSELVES IS HOW TO FULLY INTEGRATE RSS IN TO OUR MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONAL MIX. HOW DO YOU SEE RSS IN RELATION TO OTHER COMMUNICATIONAL TOOLS AND APPROACHES? Answered by Jim Gray, Quikonnex

You've hit the nail on the head with this question. It is ALL about integrating new technologies into the marketing mix.

RSS/Blogs/Email/Instant Messaging are all just tools to those businesses can use to communicate with their customer base. People on the Internet jump on new technologies abandoning older system ... this is wrong.

If you've noticed, you may have recently receive postcards and information packages from some well know online marketers such as Armand Morin and Corey Rudl. They look at traditional 'snail mail' as a part of their marketing mix. RSS should be viewed the same.

Right now, blogs and RSS feeds are hot with the search engines, so a website owner should have one... period. However, to use it exclusively would be a mistake. The perfect mix is to use an RSS feed for the one to many communications and to use email for one on one customer correspondence.

About the author:
Learn how to take full marketing advantage of RSS and get all the expertise, knowledge and how-to information for implementing RSS in your marketing mix, from direct marketing, PR, e-commerce, internal communications and online publishing to SEO, traffic generation and customer relationship management. Including complete interviews with more than 40 RSS marketing experts. Click here now:

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Tracking and Measuring RSS Feeds
by: S. Housley

Measuring and tracking RSS while a fairly simple concept, is really anything but. Unlike websites, RSS have the added caveat of potential syndication, making accurate tracking a challenge to anyone but the extremely tech savvy.

It is not unrealistic for marketers to want to know how many subscribers they have, which items in their feeds attract the most interest, or how many click-throughs are generated as a result of an RSS feed.

There are a number of 3rd party providers who focus on tracking the consumption of RSS feeds. Some solutions are rudimentary but likely sufficient for a small business testing the waters with RSS. Other RSS tracking solutions are more complex and while they can come close to being accurate, with syndication there is no solution that tracks with 100% accuracy.

Techniques Used to track RSS Consumption

Small businesses can view web logs to provide information on how many times a specific file (RSS feed) is requested. The logs and information is rudimentary but will give a basic sense of a feeds success. Many 3rd party tracking options have additional tracking information available.

Hosting

The most common method to track the number of feed accesses or individuals accessing a feed is to use a 3rd party feed host. Companies like FeedBurner essentially track feeds based on accesses. The downside to using a 3rd party like Feedburner, is that the url is a FeedBurner url and any PageRank or popularity associated with the url will benefit the feed host rather than the feed creator. Additionally, no distinction is made between unique views or syndicate feeds.

FeedBurner provides a free no frills service to host RSS feeds and they have been proactive in circumventing user concerns. Recently implementing a service that eases users concerns about migrating from FeedBurner. There is a 3 step process for users interested in migrating from FeedBurner's free service, implementing a permanent redirect, and url forwarding.

Details can be found at: http://www.burningdoorc.om/feedburner/archives/001251.html

Some publishers, who were concerned about lock-in or wanted to retain control of the domain and feed urls often resist a hosting service. The new program FeedBurner Partner Pro is not free, but allows for users to point to their own domain, retaining complete control of their feeds without sacrificing statistical tracking.

The downside to using a service like FeedBurner is that some filtering applications used on corporate proxy servers block feeds residing on FeedBurner or other free hosts.

Redirects

Companies like SyndicateIQ have more complex tracking solutions that generate unique urls for each subscriber. The tracking benefits to such a customized solution is obvious. Individual user habits can be monitored and any users abusing their access and inappropriately syndicating a feeds content can have their feed turned off. The downside of course is that the success of RSS is in a large part due to the anonymity. Users don't want their personal habits tracked.

Considering the venture capital interest in these 3rd party hosting services. It is important to note that their value is in the data that they collect. As with any 3rd party service, it goes without saying that publishers should read the privacy policy carefully, be aware of who owns the rights to the collected information, and how that information might be used. It goes without saying that the value in many of the free services currently available lies in their aggregate data.

Uniquely Named Transparent Images

Uniquely named transparent 1x1 graphics can be added to the description field of an RSS feed. Users can use standard web logs to see the number of times the image is viewed and determine the number of times the feed was accessed.

Companies Specializing in Tracking and RSS Metrics

Pheedo - Pheedo creates tools that enable individuals, organizations and corporations to promote, analyze, and optimize their weblogs and content.

http://www.pheedo.com

SyndicateIQ - SyndicateIQ's position in the content distribution chain provides clients a set of analytics.

http://www.syndicateiq.com/

FeedBurner - FeedBurner offers a full range of services to help you build awareness, track circulation, and implement revenue-generating programs in your feed(s).

http://www.feedburner.com

Each individual using RSS needs to make a decision of the extent and importance of the analytics they require. Realizing that any system they employ is not going to be perfect.

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