Learning the Basics of RSS

Learning the Basics of RSS

What is RSS?
You probably have seen this three-letter acronym in the course of your internet surfing. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary; syndicating means republishing an article that comes from another source such as a website.

An RSS is a means of publicizing updates about websites. It may or may not include a summary and photos of the latest posting. But those that provide summaries (thus Rich Site Summary) allow users to skim through the article so that they could decide later on if they want to access the website source. The RSS feed usually contains the title of the update originating from the website. It is also usually the link to the website source.

What are the benefits of RSS?
RSS gives benefits to both readers (users) and web publishers.
1.    It gives you the latest updates.
Whether it is about the weather, new music, software upgrade, local news, or a new posting from a rarely-updates site learn about the latest as soon as it comes out.

2.    It saves on surfing time.
Since an RSS  subcsriptions,feed provides a summary of the related article, it saves the user’s time by helping s/he decide on which items to prioritize when reading or browsing the net.

3.    It gives the power of subscription to the user.
Users are given a free-hand on which websites to subscribe in their RSS  aggregators which they can change at any time they decide differently.

4.    It lessens the clutter in your inbox.
Although your email address will be required to enjoy the services of online RSS aggregators, RSS does not use your email address to send the updates.

5.    It is spam free.
Unlike email subscriptions, RSS does not make use of your email address to send updates thus your privacy is kept safe from spam mails.

6.    Unsubscribing is hassle-free.
Unlike email subscriptions where the user is asked questions on why s/he is unsubscribing and then the user would be asked to confirm unsubscribing, all you have to do is to delete the RSS feed from your aggregator.

7.    It can be used as an advertising or marketing tool.
Users who subscribe or syndicate product websites receive the latest news on products and services without the website sending spam mail. This is advantageous to both the web user and the website owner since advertising becomes targeted; those who are actually interested in their products are kept posted.

What are the drawbacks of RSS?
The disadvantages of RSS use are brought about by its being a new technology and some user-preference concerns.
1.    Some users prefer receiving email updates over an RSS feed.

2.    Graphics and photos do not appear in all RSS feeds.
For conciseness and ease of publication, RSS feeds do not display the photos from the original site in announcing the update except for some web-based aggregators

3.    The identity of the source website can be confusing.
Since RSS feeds do not display the actual URL or name of the website, it can sometimes get confusing on what feed a user is actually reading.

4.    Publishers cannot determine how many users are subscribed to their feed and the frequency of their visits. Moreover, they would not know the reasons why users unsubscribe which could be important in improving their advertising.

5.    RSS feeds create higher traffic and demands on the server.
Most readers still prefer the whole update over a brief summary of the entry, thus they still access the site.

6.    Since it is a new technology, many sites still do not support RSS.

How do I start using RSS?
There are two things needed: an RSS feed and an RSS aggregator or reader. The RSS feed comes from an RSS-supported website. There are also websites that provide a list of RSS feeds of different websites. An RSS aggregator is used to read the RSS feed from the source website. It scans and collects data on latest RSS feeds from the worldwide web.

An aggregator comes in two forms: a downloadable program also known as desktop aggregator and an online or web-based aggregator. Downloadable aggregators may require payment before they can be acquired, while internet-based aggregators are usually free of charge. All you need to do is to register an account then you are ready to use their services. Both versions allow you to customize or choose which RSS feeds to enter. Paid aggregators are usually chosen by more experienced users and they usually allow more freedom in customizing feeds.

1.    Choose an RSS aggregator to use. For beginners, web-based aggregators are recommended since they are usually user-friendly

2.    Scan the homepage of your target website for the RSS or XML button. It contains the RSS code you need to enter in the aggregator. Copy this code. Syndic8 provides a directory of websites that support RSS.

3.    Paste the code (which contains the URL of the website) in your aggregator. There is a space provided for pasting the code.

After you have done these three easy steps, you can start reading the RSS feeds coming from the website. New postings appear as they are published real time at the source website.

RSS and Internet Marketing

The original idea of RSS came from Netscape, where their intention is to provide a means for users to customize their personal homepage to contain links to websites that interest them, similar to bookmarking websites.

The application of RSS to internet marketing was an unforeseen development to RSS technology developers. Since users are given the freedom to add RSS feeds to their aggregators, those who are interested in particular products and services available in the internet can now be notified real time. Marketing becomes more specific to interested people and not a hit-and-miss operation.

Those who intend to use RSS for marketing their products and services should consider linking up with email account providers, (e.g. Yahoo, MSN, Google mail); networking websites (e.g. Friendster, Multiply, My Space, Hi5); websites of newspapers and television network websites (e.g. New York Times, CNN) for medium to big-scale companies. Small-time industries can also look into networking websites as well as personal blog websites (e.g. Blogspot) and websites of clubs and organizations that would probably make use of their products or services e.g. a fishing supplies store can look for the website of their local fishing club for possible RSS marketing.

Clearly, RSS is an innovation in information management in the worldwide web as well as online marketing. We can expect better RSS technology in the not-so-distant future as its popularity increases among users and website owners alike.

Articles Are The Quickest Way To Your Customers Wallet

Articles Are The Quickest Way To Your Customers Wallet

One way of promoting your website and product can be achieved for free. As an additional bonus, this “free” method can boost your sites and sales, doubling and even tripling your income.

Articles. One of the easiest ways to promote your website in order to generate traffic and increase your earnings.

How does this work?

Write articles relating to your website and submit them to “free content” submission sites. Easy to do, takes little time and can increase your website traffic, sales and of course, your income.

How can article writing boost traffic and income?

The article on the free content site contains a link to your own website. Readers, after reading your articles, may choose to click on the link and pay you an unexpected visit. Having them on the free content sites is also making these articles available to other webmasters who may wish to publish that article on their site.

If they do, your article will include a link back to your site. And anyone who reads the article on that site can still click on the link to visit your site.

As the list of your published articles grow larger, and more and more of them are appearing on different websites, the total number of links to your site increases also. Major search engines are placing a lot of significance on incoming links to websites so they can determine the importance of a certain site.

The more incoming links the website has, the more importance search engines attaches to it. This will then increase your website’s placement in the search results.

If you site is into promoting a product or service, the links that your articles have achieved will mean more potential customers for you. Even if visitors only browse through, you never know if they might be in need of what you are offering in the future.

There are also those who already have specific things they need on their mind but cannot decide yet between the many choices online. Chances are, they may stumble upon one of your articles, gets interested by the contents you wrote, go to your site and became enticed by your promotions. See how easy that is?

Search engines do not just index the websites, they also index published articles. They also index any article that is written about your own website’s topic. So once someone searches for that same topic, the list of results will have your site or may even show the articles that you have written.

And to think, no effort on your part was used to bring them to your site. Just your published articles and the search engines.

It is no wonder why many webmasters are suddenly reviving their old writing styles and taking time to write more articles about their site than doing other means of promotion.

Getting their site known is easier if they have articles increasing their links and traffic and making it accessible for visitors searching the internet. Since many people are now taking their buying needs online, having your site on the search engines through your articles is one way of letting them know about you and your business.

The good thing with articles is that you can write about things that people would want to know about. This can be achieved in the lightest mood but professional manner, with a little not-so-obvious sales pitch added.

If you think about it, only a few minutes of your time is spent on writing one article and submitting to free content site. In the shortest span of time also, those are distributed to more sites than you can think of. Even before you know what is happening, you are getting more visitors than you previously had.

If you think you are wasting your time writing these articles, fast forward to the time when you will see them printed and wide-spread on the internet. Not to mention the sudden attention and interest that people are giving your website and your products or services.

Try writing some articles and you will be assured of the sudden surge in site traffic, link popularity and interest. Before you know it, you will be doubling and even tripling your earnings.

Nothing like getting benefits for something you got for free.

You got to sell it

You got to sell it

It’s important for both parties to know that when goods are sold, what are the price of the item and the timing of the payment. It’s also good to know what are the stipulations if any that apply to the return of merchandise. Different companies quote their prices by using different methods. A lot of merchants will generally quote the price that they will like to sell it. On the other hand, some merchants such as manufacturers or wholesalers will usually quote their prices as a percentage of their catalogue prices, generally around 30 percent or more, and this reduction I known as a trade discount. For example, if something is listed as $1,500 with a trade discount of 30 percent or $450 then the seller writes the sell as $1050, and the buyer records it as $1050.  From there the seller can raise or lower the price depending on the quantity that is being sold. The terms of sales are usually on the sale invoice and tell the type of terms to the agreement. In a lot of industries the payment is expected within a short time of the purchase.  If it’s for 15 days then the invoice will have “n/15” (net 15) or “n/20” (net 20) which means that the amount is due 15 or 20 days later. In most industries a discount is usually offered for an early payment. This type of discount is called a sale discount which has the purposes for increasing a seller liquidly by reducing the amount of money associated with accounts receivable.  An invoice with a discount may look like “3/10, n/20,” which that the purchaser can pay within 20 days and receive a 30 percent discount, or they can pay within twenty days and pay the full price for it. If you have noticed, the amount of discounts have been decreasing because one, its quite expensive to the seller, and two, to the customer it appears that they are not receiving a bargain even though they may. In some industries it is expected for the seller to pay for some charges, and others it may not. One example is in the freight industry.  FOB shipping point basically means that the buyer is paying for all of the shipping expenses. So if you purchase something heavy and the sales agreement says FOB then that means that you are responsible for the shipping charges. However, FOB destination is the opposite and means that the seller pays the shipping or transportation expenses once it is delivered. A lot of retailers will give buyers the opportunity to charge the shipping expenses to dome type of third part service.  The five most used credit cards are:

American Express
Visa
Discovery Card
Diners Club
MasterCard

The customer is given credit by the lender or credit card issuer, and receives a shiny plastic card to charge their purchases to.  Once the seller accepts the card, the invoice is automatically prepared and the seller receives money into their account.  If the seller is offering a discount, the discount is recorded as an expense to the seller. Let’s not forget that the seller’s merchant also deducts money for each transaction, and that money that is deducted is also recorded as an expense. Let’s not forget that you also have something that is known as freight in, also called transportation in. this is the shipping costs that are associated with receiving particular merchandise, and is generally included with the cost of goods sold.  A lot of companies like to include the cost of freight in with the cost of the merchandise, because it is a relatively small amount of money.  Sometimes the buyer is expected to pay the freight in and it is reported as an increase in the accounts payable. Also, if the seller experienced a return because of the wrong item shipped, or for a damaged/low quality product, then the buyer may be granted a refund for cash or for credit back to their account.  The returned purchased is deleted from the merchandise inventory account under the perpetual system. Sometimes sellers will pay the delivery or the freight out costs hoping that it will increase their sales. These expenses are gathered in the freight out expense, or commonly known as delivery expense. This is viewed as a selling expense on the income statement.  When a customer is dissatisfied with a product, they will usually return it and these costs are gathered in the sales returns and allowances account which gives the management a more flexible estimate of what products to keep and which ones to discard of. This account deducts sales from the income statement.  A merchandising company can have inaccurate records as well as experiencing a huge loss profits if they don’t have reliable accounting records.  The management is the one I charge for making the system for internal control.  Internal control is the policies that a management puts to action to make sure that the financial information is reliable.  This is the process that the management takes to protect their assets. It also confirms that the employees have conformed to legal requirements so that they will do the best job possibly for the company.  Since the managers are the ones in charged of the structure of a business they must report their goals and progress to the “Report Management” of a company’s annual report to stockholders.  To be successful with internal control, management uses five parts of internal control.  They are: Control environment, risk assessment, information and communication, control activities, and monitoring.  Control environment deals with the overall attitude, and actions of a management system.  It also includes the management ethics, integrity, and philosophy. The employees must also be properly trained and very knowledgeable in the field their participating in.  The risk assessment is the analysis of the risk of an environment and how to monitor them. These include screening out thieves in a retail store, or employees that are likely to steal from a company. Next, information and communication correlates to the accounting system by establishing management, and reporting a company’s transactions. Control activities are the restraints that management puts in place to make sure that instructions are properly carried out. Last, monitoring involves the periodic assessment to make sure that all policies are enforced.