If you frequent Weblogs, you’ve seen the little XML icons inviting you to “syndicate this site”, but what does that really mean? A long time ago, newspaper managers realized that if they could use articles and stories from other newspapers in their paper, they could garner more readers because they could cover a wider area than they could with just their own reporters. This is an example of how syndication can work in print.
Online, there are potentially millions of authors writing about millions of topics each day. It can be very difficult to keep track of without some type of automated system. And that’s where RSS comes in. Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is an easy way for Web sites to share headlines and stories from other sites. Web surfers can use sophisticated news readers to surf these headlines using RSS aggregators.
A Brief History of RSS
RSS was first invented by Netscape, when they were trying to get into the portal business. They wanted an XML format (RSS .90) that would be easy for them to get news stories and information from other sites and have them automatically added to their site. They then came out with RSS .91 and dropped it when they decided to get out of the portal business.
UserLand Software picked up RSS .91 and continued to develop it, coming out with .92, .93, and .94. At the same time as UserLand, a non-commercial group picked up RSS and developed RSS 1.0 based on their interpretation of the original principles of RSS. They based RSS 1.0 on RDF and re-named it RDF Site Summary. UserLand was not happy with RSS 1.0, and continued development of their version of RSS (Really Simple Syndication), eventually releasing RSS 2.0.
Which Version of RSS To Use
and Does It Matter?
For the purposes of this article, no it doesn’t. If you were going to build your own aggregator or a program to read RSS feeds, you would care, but that’s not the point of this article.
Here are the basics of RSS (no matter what the version) (view sample RSS - right click or click and hold to open in a new window):
It is XML. This means it must be well-formed, include a prolog and DTD, and all elements must be closed.
The first element in the document is the <rss> element. This includes a mandatory version attribute.
The next element is the <channel> element. This is the main container for all RSS data.
The <title> element is the title, either of the entire site (if it’s at the top) or of the current item (if it’s within an <item>).
The <link> element indicates the URL of the Web page that corresponds to the RSS feed, or if it’s within an <item>, the URL to that item.
The <description> element describes the RSS feed or the item.
The <item> element is the meat of the feed. These are all the headlines (<title>), URLs (<link>) and descriptions that will be in your feed.
Using those basic elements, you can create an RSS feed of your site. But it can get very tedious to create that feed manually every time you update your site. The best way to create an RSS feed is to use a tool, such as a Weblog, to create the headlines, links and descriptions for you automatically. I’ve listed my favorite blogging programs - all of which will create RSS for you along with the HTML for the blog.
So you signed up for Facebook, added friends and photos, joined a few groups, and updated your profile status. But now what? Isn’t there more to Facebook? There is.
Here are ten tips to tweak your profile and get more out of Facebook. These tips go beyond the typical and include ways to stay better connected to your friends and look good doing it. To compile this list I searched high and low and even called on Facebook for the best tips. Most are easy to do and all will add some Facebook pizzazz to your profile.
Tip One
Dig up demographic dirt on your friends with Socialistics: If you want to know the demographic breakdown on your Facebook universe of friends, this application does a nice job at breaking it down. Socialistics can show you information about your friends’ ages, the languages they speak, their country of origin, and lots of other interesting information all within Facebook.
Socialistics data does not show up on your profile pages and you are not able to share Socialistics information with your Facebook Friends through your wall. However, if you want to take a look at the trends for your personal network, then add Socialistics to your profile and you can access it privately.
Tip Two
Power search tips: Just like Google and other search engines, Facebook has some built-in power search tools and terms to help you find people. Want to search your Facebook network or friends list, but you want to narrow the results to fall within an age range? Just enter a term using the “name,” “y1″ and “y2″ search filters. For example, I wanted to find my buddy Colin from college, but I can’t remember how old he is. To find him I just entered in “name: Colin Bauer y1: 25 y2: 40” and voila! The search string asked Facebook to look for people named Colin Bauer between the ages of 25 and 40.
You can also use two search terms at once by dividing the terms with the “pipe character” (|) (the pipe is found on the same key as the backslash).
If you want people to easily find you when they search, fill out your profile as much as you can. That way your profile interests — music, books, movies and so on — will move you closer to the top of Facebook search results for those keywords. Check out Facebook’s help page for more handy search terms.
Tip Three
Integrate Facebook information with Gmail: The Firefox add-on called Xoopit is designed to streamline browsing and sharing of files, photos, and videos with friends on other social networks via Google’s Gmail service. One of Xoopit’s handy features (seldom touted) let’s you see who among your e-mail contacts is a Facebook member and displays their profile photos, status updates. The Xoopit add-on also lets you update your status inside Gmail via a nifty little Xoopit box that integrates into the Gmail interface.
Here is a Xoopit video that walks you through how it works.
Personalize your Facebook URL: SocialToo allows you to create a custom domain for your Facebook profile page such as username.socialtoo.com. This allows you to share your Facebook site with other people without requiring them to search for you on Facebook to find your profile. Granted, you might have to explain to your friends that even though Facebook.com isn’t in the Web address it’s still takes you to your Facebook page. The domain is much easier to remember than an eight-digit profile ID.
Signing up with SocialToo is quick and free. You can set up your Facebook settings under “preferences” on SocialToo’s Website. Just remember to choose your SocialToo username wisely.
Another way to create a custom domain for your Facebook page is go to your Profile page in facebook and copy the Web address that appears in your browsers address bar. Then head over to Tiny.cc. Now paste your Facebook profile Web address in the Tiny.cc’s “Enter a long URL you want to make tiny” form field. And directly to the right you’ll see a Custom option. Here you can create a custom URL that follows the convention http://tiny.cc/username.
Tip Five
Hack your profile photo: Want to juice up your profile photo? Check out AllFacebook.com’s “5 Creative Ways To Hack Your Facebook Profile Photo.” You’ll learn how to maximize your picture size to 200 pixels wide by 600 pixels high, and how to create some neat effects like making it look like you’re hanging off your profile Wall.
In my tests, the specifications for this effect took some careful tweaking but the payoff was worth it. If you’re handy with a photo editor this will be easy for you. If you don’t have Photoshop, you’re going to need to get yourself a photo editing program to take advantage of this hack. There are pleany of good free photo editing programs to get the job done such as such as Paint.Net. You’ll find more free photo editing software at PC World’s Download section.
Tip Six
Put Facebook Chat in your browser sidebar: Is Facebook your main IM tool? You can place it in your browser’s sidebar. For my tests I used Firefox, but this also works in Opera. In Firefox just go to Bookmarks -> Organize Bookmarks and click on Bookmarks Toolbar. Select New Bookmark, and name it Facebook Chat. Then paste in this URL: http://www.facebook.com/presence/popout.php. Make sure you’ve selected “Load this bookmark in the sidebar” and hit Save. Now you’re ready to go. Sorry IE fans — this is not for you; however, you can paste the URL into a new browser tab if you like.
Tip Seven
Get back the old Facebook look (more or less): Ever feel constrained by the Facebook layout and look? You can actually change the look of your Facebook page with some tinkering and a little help from a Firefox add-on called Greasemonkey that allows you to use Java Scripts to change the Facebook look. The only catch is the new look is something only you can see — your Facebook friends see the same old Facebook page. Once you’ve added Greasemonkey to Facebook, visit Greasemonkey’s companion site UserScripts.org and browse dozens of layout options for your Facebook page. Click “install” on the new Facebook layout you want and let Greasemonkey take care of the rest.
A word of warning: Before you go nuts downloading Facebook layouts like crazy be carefull. Greasmonkey scripts for changing your Facebook layout use JavaScript. JavaScripts can be malicious and harm your PC if created by a sloppy or crooked coder. Scripts on UserScripts.org can be submitted by anyone and are not reviewed by Greasemonkey. Before you download a new Facebook layout check out the user reviews and exercise caution before installing.
That being said, here are a few of my favorites:
Remove Facebook Clutter: This is a close approximation of Facebook’s previous look and feel. This hides the filters on the left side of the “stream” and the “highlights” section, and takes away the rounded corners on profile photos.
Facebook Color Changer: Pick a color scheme and change your FB colors. This script used to let you change the Facebook icon on the top left of the screen as well, and the developer promises this feature will be back.
Facebook Twitter Style: Have you heard how Twitter supposedly inspires Facebook’s new look and feel? Why not take this concept to its logical conclusion and view your Facebook homepage as if it really were Twitter?
Tip Eight
Upload mobile photos or videos straight to your profile: Just took a great picture or video with your cell phone and want to post it on your profile right away? Set up your profile settings to allow mobile uploads.
Go to the Mobile tab under your Facebook account tab and set up your phone to send photos to your Facebook page directly from you mobile phone. A word of caution if you set up Facebook to do this.Take heed of your Facebook mobile settings and adjust them properly.
When Facebook Mobile is activated you also let Facebook send text messages to your phone for those sending you friend requests, e-mail messages, wall posts, and status updates. That could become an astonishing text message bill if you’re not careful. This feature is only available in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.
Tip Nine
Tweet your status: This is one of my personal favorites. Adding the Twitter Facebook application to your Facebook profile gives you the option to turn your Tweets into your Facebook status updates. Not only that, but Twitter is smart enough filter out @replies so that personal messages don’t end up on your profile.
Tip Ten
Use these third-party apps: There are many Facebook third-party apps that help you keep tabs on your Facebook friends. Some are barebones, while others give you more in-depth information. Here are the ones I like the best that will give you the biggest bang for your buck (actually they are all free).
Digsby (Windows Only): Digsby is a nifty little Facebook app that sits in your PC’s system tray and can pull in Facebook Chat and other IM accounts, e-mail alerts and Facebook updates from your network of friends.
MyFacebook (Vista): This widget adds your Facebook information right on your Windows Vista desktop sidebar. With this little app you can, “change your status, see your friends’ statuses, groups, notifications, albums and events.
Facebook Dashboard Widget (Mac): Similar to Windows Facebook Desktop, this widget will notify you of friend requests, messages, pokes and group and event invites.
Facebook Exporter for iPhoto (Mac): If you don’t plan on buying iLife ’09, but loved the idea of posting photos directly from iPhoto then this plugin is for you. Pick or create a new album, tag your friends and add captions right from iPhoto and then send your work straight to your Facebook profile.
So that’s my ten Facebook power tips to take your Facebook time wasting to the next level. Try them out and me know what you think. And if you’ve got other tips post them in the comment field and share.
The blogosphere is varied and growing at a steady rate
The blogosphere is continuing to grow, with a weblog created every second, according to blog trackers Technorati.
In its latest State of the Blogosphere report, it said the number of blogs it was tracking now stood at more than 14.2m blogs, up from 7.8m in March.
It suggests, on average, the number of blogs is doubling every five months.
Blogs, the homepages of the 21st Century, are free and easy to set up and use. They are popular with people who want to share thoughts online.
They allow for the instant publication of ideas and for interactive conversations, through comments, with friends or strangers.
Global voices
Technorati is like a search engine that keeps track of what is happening in the blogosphere, the name given to the universe of weblogs.
It relies on people tagging - giving keywords to - their blogs or blog posts so that its search engine can find them.
Free blogging services such as those provided by MSN Spaces, Blogger, LiveJournal, AOL Journals, WordPress and Movable Type were also growing quickly, said the report.
Blogs are easy to use and can be subscribed to
Thirteen percent of all blogs that Technorati tracks are updated weekly or more, said the report, and 55% of all new bloggers are still posting three months after they started.
It also pointed to the growth in moblogs, blogs to which people with camera phones automatically send pictures and text.
Other services, such as the Google toolbar and the Flickr photo sharing website, have implemented “blog this” buttons, which also make it easier for people to post content they like on the web straight to their blogs.
The voices in the blogosphere are also sounding less US-centric, with blog growth spotted in Japan, Korea, China, UK, France, and Brazil.
Varied sphere
What is clear is that the blogosphere is highly varied, with blogs coming in many shapes and forms, whether they be professional or for personal use.
Blogs have been used as campaign sites, as personal diaries, as art projects, online magazines and as places for community networking.
Much of their appeal has been boosted because readers can subscribe to them, for free, to stay updated of any new posts automatically.
Blogs have played a part in highlighting issues that journalists have not covered. They have also proved to be a valuable communication channel for journalists in repressed countries who have no other publishing means.
They have recently shown how they can also complement and enhance mainstream press in coverage of events, such as the recent London terror attacks.
The Technorati report did not, however, break down the blogosphere in terms of gender use.
Over the weekend, the BlogHer conference took place in the US, which saw a gathering of almost 300 bloggers talk over blogging issues which are pertinent to women, and to men.
The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination.
- Tommy Lasorda
If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done.
- Vince Lombardi
Web 2.0 may be the most overused, and misunderstood, term of the decade. What it means, in a nutshell is providing a user driven website. Basically many membership marketing websites are Web 2.0, especially social networking sites. The users determine the content in the form of forums, blogs, article posting, reviews and so on. To further enhance the usability of your website and thus the benefit to your members, here are a some ideas to provide a few interactive extras or member benefits.
Training courses are an excellent tool to provide benefit to your members. There are multiple forms for delivering your courses. You could use email - text or html or both, pdf downloads, website content pages, streaming and downloadable videos and audios.
E-mail training courses - Getting your members to sign up for an e-mail training course that takes place over perhaps eight weeks, is a great way of keeping your members engaged with your site over a period of time. You could make this a free course, a paid course or both. Maybe give them a few lessons for free and ask them to pay for the rest of the course once they are into it.
However, to get maximum exposure giving away an entire course or even multiple courses of good quality for Free will really get people coming back to your site. Video tutorials - This is a very effective form of training as it is much easier to show your members what you are doing, rather than trying to explain it. It prevents your students becoming frustrated when they can’t understand what you are explaining, and reduces misunderstanding.
You could do the videos yourself using software or you could hire experts in video creation if you are not comfortable using software or doing videos. You could do simple power point slideshows and narrate them or you could stand/sit in front of the camera and talk.
With many Internet users on broadband or ADSL nowadays and computer processors getting faster and faster videos are now going mainstream.
Teleclasses - Teleclasses are similar to conference calls and are conducted over the telephone. They are an excellent way for your members to take part in live learning, as well as having personal interaction with you and other members of your site.
There are many services out there that provide teleconference lines for you to use. Some are free and some have paid services, you should decide what is best for your business needs. You could even record your calls, have transcripts made and then sell that as another product in itself. To top that off you could offer reprint or resell rights to those calls and sell licenses.
Product reviews - Reviews posted by other members is a fantastic interactive medium. It could also engage heated discussions! Nothing gets traffic faster than controversy whether good or bad. Let your members speak their mind about products and services they’ve used. This will not only help other members and visitors out but it will add lots of content to your site that the search engines love. Sites such as Amazon.com, SureFireWealth.com and others do this on a regular basis.
Guest interviews - Guest interviews with a well known personality who is connected with your niche subject will add huge credibility to your site. Promote guest interviews on your website and in your newsletter. This is a quick way to get great content.
You could post the interview on your site as website content. Or you could have the streaming audio or video up and even let your members download the interviews. Let them post reviews and comments to the interviews and you’ve got even more content.
Forums - Forums are a type of virtual community and provide the opportunity for people with similar interests to talk to each other. Your members will already have a shared interest in your niche subject, so creating active discussion forums won’t be too challenging.
Here’s a tip, have good forum monitors and admin in place to keep things smooth. Having multiple monitors can help you get your new forum started as well as keep discussions ongoing. You could keep your forums open to everyone. That will be better for search engine traffic but it can also attract spammers and forum hackers. Having a private forum for your members only can keep things more secure and full of like minded individuals.
Competitions - Encourage your members to post on your forum or blog by running a competition. Award a prize each month to someone who has made the best post on your forum, and each individual posting would be an additional entry into the prize draw. Or maybe give a prize to the member who writes the most reviews or posts the most comments each month to your site.
Involving your members in polls and surveys
Member polls - Asking your members to answer a simple question relating to your niche subject is a simple and effective way to get them involved in the site. Have a regular monthly poll and publish the results of the previous month’s poll above the question for the current month.
Surveys - Some niche subjects lend themselves well to surveys. If yours does not you could conduct a survey about your membership site itself. This gives your members the chance to express their views and let you know what changes they would like to see.
Getting feedback can also let you know where to take your membership site. By allowing your members to tell you what they want you can just simply give it to them. We’ve taken surveys ourselves over the years and they can be very insightful. The poll or survey data you generate can be gold to your customer feedback system for the future of your business.
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Dell, a US-based computer company that sells desktop computers and laptops, is running an online banner ad campaign across major portals and search marketing to drive traffic to a microsite called Takeyourownpath.com.
The site is targeted at entrepreneurs and small and medium size businesses (SMBs) and is a part of Dell’s first brand-building campaign in India. The campaign comprises online, print and out-of-home media.
Though Dell has always used the online medium to push its sales or sell its products directly to consumers, this website is not intended for any such purpose. In fact, it does not even display Dell products.
Instead, it carries the real-life success stories of five Dell consumers who have established themselves as entrepreneurs. It shares the challenges they faced and how Dell helped them to evolve and grow in their industry.
The entrepreneurs whose success stories are chronicled on the website are P Rajendran, cofounder and chief operating officer of NIIT; Raman Roy, who founded Spectramind and now runs Quattro, a BPO company; VK Prakash, a filmmaker and the founder of Trends AdFilm Makers; Prasad Bidappa, a fashion consultant; and Sanjan Ratnam, a bridal fashion designer.
The website indicates clearly that there has been a change in Dell’s sales strategy in India.
“There are 7.5 million entrepreneurs and SMBs in India and they form the backbone of the Indian economy. Out of these, 3.9 million entrepreneurs are information technology addressable or our prospective customers. Their planning to purchase cycle is short as compared to that of large business organisations.”
“Our research indicated that every entrepreneur or SMB has great aspirations and they are always thinking of competing and becoming the best in the world. Takeyourownpath.com talks about real-life heroes who started small on their own and grew over a period of time and how Dell, as a technology provider, helped them to scale up their businesses. We want to convey that Dell has products and solutions which can help SMBs to grow.”
He adds, “We opted for real-life heroes, instead of using celebrity endorsements, because we wanted to make our campaign more credible. And we think that the best way of conveying the benefits of using Dell computers or laptops or how Dell technology can help you grow is by narrating real-life success stories.”
The company claims that the entrepreneurs used in the banner ads and website are actual Dell consumers.
Apart from the success stories, the website also provides tools that will help entrepreneurs to run or set up their business. Information on ways to write a business plan, calculate return on investment, find customers and motivate employees is also available on the site.
Dell India was not ready to share the traffic and budget details of the campaign, but it indicated that it was spending a large chunk of its advertising budget on online communications.
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