Yes, even though I have been pointing out the possibility since July, and was forced by demand to release my study findings before my book was even half finished, I was shocked when I heard the news as well.

You see, I was sure we were at least a year off from this glorious day.

The News

Yahoo has had a little facelift, which you’ve probably read about by now. The real news is more important for your site – the “My Yahoo!” page looks different too.

On September 28, 2004, surfers who logged in to their personalized Yahoo area saw an announcement explaining the RSS and Atom files that show updated information to a website as content feeds, effectively pushing news feeds into the mainstream.

The new look to this section of Yahoo was presented as a full page ad to every single account holder upon first log in that day, and even now, there remains a notice posted.

When I logged into my page in the “My Yahoo!” section, I saw a big difference in the number of feeds left to choose from, as well as in the way they were presented.

Currently, the RSS module boasts “150,000 sources”. If your site isn’t one of them, its crucial that you act now. If you have one and you’re not getting the results you’d like from your set-up, there are small changes you can implement that will make a huge difference in your listing.

Best results aren’t as easy as submitting your feed now, but you’re still within the window of opportunity – if you do it properly.

What the News Could Mean For Your Site If You Act Now

One of my clients recently called this “the back door into Yahoo”. Whether that statement is accurate as far as getting included, or receiving an increase in rankings within Yahoo’s search engine via your feed, depends on your site, and whether you create your feed correctly.

If you could use a daily stream of traffic from even a small portion of Yahoo’s estimated 20 million users, this could be your final wake-up call. You’ll want to learn how to create a feed that gets well listed immediately.

Currently, the RSS module boasts “150,000 sources”. Yahoo will still need hundreds, perhaps thousands more, even if it only intends to list the “creme de la creme” of the submissions it gets. Being in that group is as easy as submitting your feed.

Being at the top of the list isn’t. However, you’re still within the window of opportunity if you take the time to learn how to do this properly. You can get free details on how to do that at helpmerss.com .

“My Yahoo!” RSS Headline module Coming Out of Beta?

If I had to guess, I’d say all signs point to yes. When that happens, Yahoo’s RSS/Atom directory will likely contain only those who added their feeds early. New feeds seeking to be included will probably face stricter standards.

If you don’t have one yet don’t worry, because it’s never been easier to make one. If you can cut and paste, there are tools all over the Net that will show you how- some will even generate the file for you.

However, there are still certain guidelines you need to follow with your feed to get a good result out of Yahoo – it’s not as simple as adding your feed now that there are more competing listings.

Yahoo is still accepting new sources for RSS feeds. Readers of my last book state that they are getting excellent results following my instructions, though initial inclusion no longer occurs at the same rate. Plenty of markets have few feeds available, or none at all. Your site could fill that void.

That means you still have a chance at a first page ranking. The traffic I get on a daily basis from My Yahoo readers alone sounds like I just like to brag.

And I do, but that’s hardly the point.

The point is, there’s no place you can even go to buy the caliber of exposure to the quality of audience that reads feeds. The typical audience that accesses information by feed are also blog readers. A study this summer estimated that the 69.3% of blog readers are aged 29-50, and that 40% of this audience are people who have household incomes greater than $90,000.

The type of surfer that would subscribe to your feed has pre-qualified themselves as a lead, with a certain level of understanding and interest in your topic, often on a professional level. And if you don’t spend every post hitting them over the head with your sales pitch, they can be both loyal and interactive.

(If you do, they’ll unsubscribe from your feed faster than you can spell s-p-a-m.)

And if you’re in the business of providing information you can use, in a way that shows how you can solve their problem, it’s like preaching to the converted. If your product solves their problem, and you show that you deserve the trust of this subscriber, you’ll also find the route to a sale an increasingly downward slope.

The bottom line – this is the power surfer’s favorite toy. And if your content appeals to them, you need to learn how to play.

Author: Tinu Abayomi-Paul
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

I’m talking like on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

If so, then your in for a real treat.

If you haven’t heard, RSS(Real Simple Syndication) is taking the Internet by storm because of its many Benefits, especially for someone(you) who provides fresh ‘Quality’ content on a regular basis.

Not only does RSS GUARANTEE 100% delivery to whoever opt’s in to your feed(s), it can also ‘Syndicate’ your content across the Internet in an instant to thousands of websites and portals delivering an avalanche of FREE targeted traffic to your website(s) at NO Cost to you what so ever.

WoW! Was that a mouthful or what? It gets better, so hold on.

We all know that without Traffic to our website(s) we have no business.

We also know that the Internet is starving for fresh content on a Daily basis to feed its evergrowing appetite for information.

The upside to this IS if your someone(you) who publishes articles as one of your means of online promotion for your website(s) then your in for a real ride.

As you well know Article Directories are one of the primary places article publishers(like yourself) go to submit their articles.

Why?

Simply because this is where website owners go to find fresh related content to publish in their newsletters or on their websites on a daily to weekly basis to feed their audiences need for Information.

And with time always being a major factor, adding fresh related content can become quite a chore for a website owner who is already hard pressed for time as it is on a daily basis while trying to keep up with all the other daily duties a online business requires.

So with that being said, how does RSS and Article Directories fit into the mix and how can You benefit from this technology by providing and submitting fresh ‘Quality’ content on a weekly basis to Article Directories that offer RSS Syndication?

The answers simple.

The Article Directories(at least most of them) NOW have RSS Feed databases available under any category your article falls under for those website owners who looking for RSS feeds and have websites that are RSS ready.

Whats this mean for you?

This means everytime you submit your new article to the Article Directories that offer RSS Syndication and they approve your article to the particular category you request upon submission and lets say for example 1000 websites have that RSS Feed category plugged into their RSS Feed list, guess what?

The next time that RSS feed updates(usually within 24 hours) guess whose article is going to show up on all those 1000 websites INSTANTLY?

That’s right… Yours!

Whats this mean for you? Simple… more Traffic and more $$Profits$$!

Are you starting to see the HUGE benefits to RSS and Article Directories adopting this new technology?

Do you see the benefits this will give the person(you) publishing articles to these directories on a regular basis?

I think you do because I know I do.

RSS Syndication is truly becoming the cornerstone of how content is delivered and/or syndicated online and it has only begun.

Once everybody else Jumps-On the RSS band wagon after seeing the true benefits of RSS Syndication and how it can deliver their content to their target audience without any worry of being redirected into the trash can like email, You the publisher will benefit for years to come receiving FREE targeted traffic, collecting more leads and making more sales without having to do anything But provide fresh ‘Quality’ content to these Article Directories on a regular basis.

So… the only thing you have to do now is find those Article Directories that offer RSS Syndication and start submitting your articles to them.

If you don’t write and publish your own articles maybe you should consider getting started and/or hire a Ghost Writer to write them for you.

Below I have listed a few resources for you that offer RSS Syndication for you to get started with. I would of listed more but there’s just to many.

(Note: Some of the resources below are free and some are paid just so you know in advance.)

Article99.com

GoArticles.com

EzineArticles.com

Announce-Article.com [http://www.announce-article.com]

Well I hope you found this article informative and helpful, the only thing left for you to do IS… Take Action!

Want to get MORE ‘Insider’ marketing Secrets on How-To drive HUGE amounts of Laser Targeted Traffic to your website? Then you need to subscribe to Cory Threlfall’s ezine called… The Internet Wonders eZine at — internet marketing

Author: Cory Threlfall
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

In all seriousness, boosting your RSS subscriber count is quite the task, and you need to put in a little legwork to kick it off. As you’ll read in one of the tips below, once you’ve done the work, and get the count up to a respectable three digit number, as long as you keep the content coming, it seems to take over on its own at that point. Working to get that first 100 subscribers can be a pain for many new bloggers, especially if they don’t take their blog serious enough to get the job done.  

Below are 21 different ways that you can start building your RSS subscriber count, and the more of these suggestions you follow, the more success you should theoretically have. I need to work on a few of these myself, and writing this post was just the motivation I needed to get going. Enjoy!

1. If You Don’t Have It, Don’t Show It! I’m talking about your feed count widget. If you’re a new blogger, and you just landed your 4th subscriber, we’re all proud of you, but seriously, don’t put that little feed count widget on the front of your blog showing the world that 4 people read your RSS feed. I’m not trying to be mean, but the reason being is that if someone lands on your blog that doesn’t know you from Adam, they have no clue that it’s a new blog, and when they see that feed count widget displaying 4 readers, it’s a huge turnoff. It almost appears that no one cares to read your posts. It’s totally psychological. If they see you when you have 100+ subscribers, then it’s something to show off, and they just might subscribe for themselves – but until then, lose it. Blog readers are a lot like sheep (I mean that kindly), and they’ll use only follow the popular Shepard’s.

2. Display Your Subscribe Button Proudly These days, when your average blogger is browsing through different blogs, and they see one that they like, the first thing they usually look for is that famous orange RSS subscribe button. Blog readers, for the most part, have short attention spans, so if they can’t find it right away, you may lose them. Make sure you have your subscribe button and/or links prominently displayed and easy to find.

3. Email Subscription Option Believe it or not, there are still plenty of visitors out there that aren’t quite familiar with RSS feed readers, so giving them the option to stay updated by email is very important. Feeburner, FeedBlitz, and all the others give you an option for feed deliveries via email, and it’s also a great way to build a list! Always present the option of subscribing by email if you can.

4. Be Ad Free In Your Feeds Chances are, if you’re a blogger, you’re running a decent amount of ads or some form of advertising on your blog. The last thing people want is to receive a feed that’s also full of ads. I’ve subscribed to feeds before on some blogs I like just to avoid going to the actual site and seeing all those ads. So somewhere next to your subscribe button, proudly emphasize that they can read your feeds “ad free”. It just may be the tipping point to get them to subscribe.

5. Focus Your Writing This is more of a long term strategy, but if you’re known for writing a variety of posts that differ from topic to topic, the chances of me subscribing after reading one post is slim. The last thing I want to see in my feed reader is what you had for dinner last night. I don’t care. I subscribed to learn what you have to teach, not what you have to eat.

6. Contest Entries Here’s a cool one that may give you a boost, but you have to play it carefully. Come up with a killer contest, and make it so the primary and best way to enter the contest is to subscribe to your RSS feed. If your prize is large enough, and you promote your contest on other blogs, this could mean a huge boost in your feed count. Here’s the trick – you must be absolute sure to keep delivering top notch content, because when the contest is over, you can count on about half of those subscribers unsubscribing. But if you keep feeding them good material, you may have a chance at maintaining them.

7. Guest Blog Do you think you have what it takes to write for one of the big dogs? If so, try your hand at writing up some killer guest posts and submitting them to a-list blogs. Even if you land just one guest blogging gig, you can definitely count on an increase in RSS subs. I’ve done this before with other blogs, and have sometimes seen massive jumps in my RSS count. These new subscribers are more likely to stick around if I keep writing the content that they seek. Guest blogging is also a great way to make a name for yourself.

8. Help Out In Your Favorite Forum Do you have a forum or two that you regularly post in? I know I do, and I receive quite a bit of traffic just from the signature link in my posts that I make there. The more helpful you can be, and the more quality posts you make at your forum of choice, the more likely people are to click through to your site to see what you are all about. You could try linking to a special landing page in your forum signature that subtlety asks them to subscribe to your RSS.

9. Don’t Be Afraid To Ask! Often times, visitors who regularly read your articles are just used to coming to your blog in their daily routine, reading the material, and leaving. While they’re there, why not ask for the subscription? At the end of each post, politely say something like “If you enjoyed this post, would you mind subscribing to my RSS feed?” or whatever…bottom line, no salesman ever closed a deal without asking. Also, there are plugins that will do this for you, and when I find the name of it, I’ll add it here.

10. Network With Your Peers Getting to know your regular readers and other bloggers in your niche can often be very beneficial, not only in your efforts to boost your RSS count, but also in forming important relationships, business ventures, and all sorts of other things. Take the time to shoot a few emails to other bloggers, and in no time at all you’ll probably be subscribing to each others feeds, which brings me to my next point….

11. Don’t Be Selfish! What I mean is, don’t expect 7000 people to sign up for your feed, if you don’t subscribe to a few yourself. Here’s what you do – go subscribe to 20 blogs within your niche, and when you do, drop a comment on each blog letting them know that you subscribed, and that you would appreciate them coming over and having a look at your blog. Chances are (and because people are generally good natured) they’ll subscribe to your feed, making it a win-win situation.

12. Tell Your Readers What An RSS Subscription Is To be honest, a fair portion of your readers, depending on the niche your in, may have absolutely no idea what the heck RSS is. Write a post explaining to them the benefits of reading your articles via and RSS readers (it will save them time, easier, etc…), and that just may be all the coaxing they need to be comfortable enough to click your subscribe button.

13. The Free Ebook Or Report Bribe This is a powerful and awesome way to gain additional subscribers. Here’s what you do – take your time and write up a nice report or ebook about the subject you blog about, and offer it to your readers free. Make it so that they only way they can have access to the download is that they subscribe to your feed via email. Obviously, when they subscribe, they get an email with the download link. Point being – if your ebook takes off and gets some good publicity, it could mean hundreds or even thousands of new subscribers in a very short amount of time. People love free stuff, especially free quality information – so give it to them!

14. Lead Your Readers To Great Information Make sure that when you link out to articles on other blogs, that they’re valuable ones. When you recommend to a reader that they follow a link to another blog post with helpful content, they will often subscribe to you because they count on you to provide them with a path of good, valuable information. Even if it means them leaving your blog through a link to another one, they’ll definitely be back if you keep their best interests in mind.

15. PodCast Your Way To RSS Stardom Podcasting is still a highly sought after way of getting information. Your readers will almost always listen to a podcast if you give them the chance, and nothing is easier than asking your readers during your podcast to subscribe to your blog. Submit your podcast to podcast sites and directories, build a following, mention your RSS feed in your podcasts, and it will definitely boost your subscriber count.

16. Offer A Full Feed This one is more important than you think. Offering partial feeds is the easiest way to kill your subscriber count, because the whole point of someone subscribing to your feed, is so they can read the whole post in their favorite feed reader without having to visit 50 blogs to get all their daily articles read. Always offer a full feed – there really are no good reasons why you shouldn’t. It only makes people mad when they get half a feed in their inbox or feedreader.

17. Write Outstanding Articles Writing good content is perhaps the most common and popular piece of advice given by any blogger, but you know why? It’s true. Why in the world would I want to subscribe to your blog if you don’t provide me with topical, valuable, and helpful information? Take your time, and write quality stuff, and it will definitely help your chances of boosting that subscriber count. Also, make sure you continuously provide good content, or they’ll drop your feed faster than you can click “publish”.

18. Posting Frequency Counts This is one aspect of increasing your RSS subscriber count that you seriously need to be aware of. Here’s the deal, if I know you only post 2-3 new articles a week, no matter how good they are, chances are I’m not going to miss anything, and I can visit your blog at my convenience to catch up without much hassle. On the other hand, if I know you post at least once per day (if not more), then I would seriously conclude that the best way to stay on top of all the information you offer is to subscribe to your blog. That way, I can read your posts in my feedreader at my leisure, and not worry about missing anything.

19. Feedvertising Plugin This plugin is a cool one that allows you to offer specific content exclusively to your subscribers. Make it known that one of the benefits of subscribing to your feed is the fact that subscribers often have access to bonus and extra content. This is a great way to keep people subscribed, because you can offer periodic smaller contests for your subscribers only.

20. Try The “What Would Seth Godin Do” Plugin This plugin is a handy one that displays a message towards the top of your blog that asks new readers to subscribe to your feed. It only shows the message to new visitors 3 times, so that way they don’t have to see it every time they land on your blog (assuming they have cookies enabled). This makes #9 a lot easier, as you have an automatic way of asking for the subscription without being too intrusive.

21. Social Bookmarking Traffic Does Convert! Last but not least, makes sure you’re following the routine I mentioned in my “Simple Ways to Improve Traffic [http://clubblogger.com/a-few-simple-ways-to-improve-traffic-to-your-blog] to Your Blog” post. Although social bookmarking traffic can be shaky, it’s all a numbers game. Any time I get 1000 hits from StumbleUpon or whichever site, chances are I’m going to end up with a few extra subscribers. It never fails. Even if it only means a few extra subscribers per day, that really adds up when the month is over, and combined with the other methods, it’s a good supplemental way of driving up your RSS subscriber count.

I hope you’re able to use some or all of the above methods to help with your subscriber situation. It takes time to build up a respectable number, but using the above ways definitely won’t hurt. Good luck and if you have any questions, feel free to drop by ClubBlogger sometime!

Love life; it’ll love you

http://clubblogger.com

Author: Mike Paterson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com