RSS: Benefits Beyond the Blog

It’s easy to assume that RSS feeds roam only in the land of the blogs. After all, if you set up a blog, your odds of getting (and keeping) traffic are greatly increased if you offer a feed for reader subscriptions. It helps you compete in that blog vertical and opens up Technorati as well. Still, RSS offers benefits beyond the blog.

RSS For Your Article Database
If your organization is operating in a niche and is going through the effort of establishing itself as an authority by continuing to author informative articles, you are doing things right. These articles give you more content for visitors, including search engines. They also serve as very valuable tools for gurus in your field. When you contribute a new piece of dialog to the industry conversation, having an RSS feed set up can get it in front of eyeballs and talked about before most engines have even indexed it.

RSS For Your Press Releases
Press releases, by their very nature are time sensitive. Sure, there are PR services out there that will help spread the word of your organization’s goings-on. But for those working in a very competitive field, where dozens (if not hundreds) are fighting for the same press coverage, an RSS feed that pumps your release right into a writer’s feed reader saves that writer some legwork.

No matter how big the industry, who do you think is going to get covered first: the company that delivers the release right to the writer’s desktop or the one that makes the writer go looking for it?

Exactly.

RSS for Specific Industries
As each industry is different, each can probably find a unique use for RSS. Here are a just a few examples:

Are you a realtor? Try RSS for new home listings.
Are you an airline? Use RSS for reporting flight delays.
Are you a large employer? Post new job openings through RSS.

RSS ASAP
While having RSS for the blog is always a great idea, moving RSS beyond the blog can provide definite benefits, and even allow your site to start garnering links before some search engines even have time to come a-crawling.