What’s RSS and how do I use it?

If you’ve ever surfed blogs, you probably have noticed links that mention “RSS” and encourage you to subscribe in order to receive “updates via RSS“. It probably has the symbol on the left hanging around, too. (It’s most often orange and usually square shaped, although people take design liberties, as in this case where it is circular).

RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication. It is a way to deliver, or “push” content (like blog articles, posts, and many other types of content) to you. This means, for example, as soon as I post something on the blog, it’s forwarded to you, which means you don’t miss it and you don’t have to surf all you favourite sites individually. I’ll tell you where it’s “forwarded to” in just a second.

Why would I want this?

Typically you would want this for the websites and blogs you really like and want to read regularly. However, it is also used to push other content like responses to forum posts, or to alert you about sales.

What do I do with this content?

The content that gets delivered needs to be “read” somewhere. Applications called “RSS Readers” collect all this content for you into one spot, much like your email application does for your email. A simple one is Google Reader (see screenshot) and I recommend it. Additionally, most blogs use services can simply forward them to your email. If you don’t use a reader, then choose this option.

Why would I want this?

If you are using or intend to use a reader, click here. It will open a new window and you will be asked to choose which reader you are using. The rest is very simple, you just follow the on screen prompts. You should see “Marketing for Real Results” as one of your selected sources of content.