RSS: An Important Reputation Management Tool

RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feeds are one of the most valuable reputation management tools if you have a blog or website.

If you want people to visit your website regularly and return again and again to participate in conversations with you, then you have to activate a RSS feed (go to feedburner, if you need more info about the technical details of how to do this.) Place the orange RSS icon in a conspicuous place on your website. If you have a WordPress blog or website the RSS icon will probably be automatically included with your theme. Visitors that use feed readers will look for the orange RSS feed icon so make sure it's above the fold or in the upper right corner. Every time you update your website or write a new blog post, the reader will receive the update via RSS feed in their feed reader such as Google Reader, Bloglines, etc.

So this is how you can use RSS feeds to draw people to you and have two way conversations with them. You write a blog post and they leave comments or email you through your blog or website.

The other way to use RSS feeds is to subscribe to the blogs in your niche. Look at and comment on the blogs of those who regularly leave comments on yours. Subscribe to their RSS feed so you can keep up with what they are saying. If they mention you or your product you'll be able to respond immediately. You can also subscribe to your favorite searches, such as searches for your name or product name, so that you can monitor your reputation online.

The downside to following a lot of blogs is that you will quickly suffer from information overload. Therefore it's important that you organize your feed reader properly. You can create folders for topics. After you subscribe to a blog you should assign it to the proper folder. You might also want to create folders such as "Must Read." You will find that there are a small number of sites that you absolutely have to read each day no matter what. Put those in your "Must Read" folder. On days where you don't have much time, you will at least be able to read those posts. I also recommend separate feed readers for your personal/fun reading and your business reading; that way you will be less distracted. You can also limit your reading to set times per day or a set amount of time, if that works best for you.

Once a month or so you should go through your feed folders and prune them. Over time you'll notice that you let certain posts pile up without reading them very often. Unsubscribe to those blogs and eliminate the clutter so that you have more time to read the blogs that are helpful to you. You may also find that you need new folders or a new way of organizing them. Eventually you will find the system that works for you. The key is to stay on top of it and tend to it regularly. Even though RSS is an important tool, it can tune you in too much noise if you subscribe to too many feeds, so be diligent.

Search engine marketing is the most powerful way to drive traffic on the web. With Content Syndication you can control your internet brand. For more info on reputation management go to www.directhorizon.com

Article Source: http://article-junction.com