If there is one thing every entrepreneur needs, it is more time. More time allows you to improve your business, find more clients and make more money.
RSS is one way to help you with that problem. Learning how to use RSS is like learning how to use email or Google–you’ll become a more effective online entrepreneur. In this guide, I’ll explain to you what RSS is and show you how to get started with it.
What Is RSS
RSS is simply another way to read websites. You can read a website page by page in a web browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox. If a website publishes a RSS feed you can also read that website in a RSS reader. Your RSS reader will notify you only when there are new articles or items to be read.
You can use RSS to subscribe all sorts of information that would be useful to you as an entrepreneur, for example: business and marketing tips, stock updates or eBay listings, track the weather, and even alerts when someone mentions your brand on the internet.
Oh yeah, RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, but that doesn’t really matter. What matters is why you should use it.
Why You Should Use RSS
1. Saves time
As I’ve implied above, RSS helps you save time. You don’t have to visit your 10 favorite websites to check if there’s anything new–your RSS reader notifies you only when there are new items.
If you follow many websites, subscribing to RSS allows you to read them from 1 single location–your RSS reader. It’s like checking multiple email accounts all from one place.
3. No spam
Unlike email newsletters, you don’t have to reveal your email address or any other personal information when subscribing to RSS feeds. And when you unsubscribe, you can be sure that the other party will never contact you again. With RSS feeds you get only the articles, with much fewer ads and other distractions.
3. Portable
Reading RSS is also a very portable activity, meaning that you can read RSS from many different locations. Your RSS reader will even download the articles so that you can read your feeds even if you’re not connected to the internet. And if you have a smartphone, you can install apps that downloads and stores your feeds for you to read at your convenience.
How To Read RSS Feeds
By now you’re hopefully beginning to see the benefits of using RSS. But how do you subscribe and read these RSS feeds?
Find The Feed URL
The first step is to find the URL of the RSS feed. The RSS feed will usually be indicated by RSS icons like these.
Right click on the icon and copy the link URL.
Subscribe in Your Email Client like Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Outlook can also function as a RSS reader. Subscribed feeds appear as a folder in your Mail Folders. Click on the feed name and you will see the latest items in the reading pane.
To subscribe to a feed in Outlook, click on Tools » Account Settings. Select the RSS Feeds tab and click on New Feed. Provide the RSS feed URL you copied from above and click OK. Outlook then shows you the feed options.
Select the ‘Download the full article as a .html attachment to each item’ to store the entire page for offline reading. Detailed instructions: RSS feeds for Microsoft Outlook.
You can also subscribe and read RSS feeds in other popular email clients:
Subscribe in Google Reader
You can also subscribe to RSS feeds with web-based RSS readers like Google Reader. The benefit of a web-based reader is that you can access your feeds anywhere you have an internet connection with your web browser. This video shows you the basics of using Google Reader:
Don’t forget to explore the other videos in the Google Reader Help YouTube channel.
Subscribe to The Clickstarter
So now that you know how to use RSS feeds, click here to subscribe to The Clickstarter’s RSS feed.
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