Simple RSS Tactics That Can Give Your Site The Edge.

(Why it's Strategically Important for any online concern to keep your eye on RSS Wildcard in coming months. Don't underestimate potential of this new way of moving content around web. This one could deliver big returns. Is your site ready for RSS?)

Moving Closer To The Spider

A little while back, Internet changed. The change was very subtle. Most people missed it.

There was a slight shift in way information is exchanged on web. No great momentous event, just a little sideways flex.

It all had to do with RSS -- Really Simple Syndication.

RSS allows you to directly deliver your content to all interested parties... don't come to us; we will deliver information to you or your website.

It syndicates your content. In a nutshell; it's simply a more efficient way to get your content 'out there'.

RSS has been around for awhile but it really didn't catch on when users had to use RSS readers or aggregators but with increasing popularity of MyYahoo, Firefox Browser and Blogging...RSS is becoming: more popular, more accessible and more mainstream.

Recent developments such as introduction of an RSS (live bookmark) feature in Firefox Browser is just one application of RSS you should be using. Make sure you use Benefit Laden Headlines and an eye catching favicon to attact your subscriber's attention. You can extend your site's reach by taking advantage of Firefox's RSS live bookmarks.

MyYahoo also has an RSS feature where members can access different RSS feeds that interest them. Make sure you have 'AddToMyYahoo' or 'XML' button on your site. Each time a subscriber opens their MyYahoo site - your RSS Feed will be updated.

You can also add 'MyMsn' and 'Bloglines' buttons on your site. Plus others -- give your visitors every opportunity to subscribe to your RSS Feed or Blog.

It goes without mentioning, your site must have a blog(s) and an RSS Feed(s) to take full advantage of these new applications.

For these are just a few applications of RSS; many more are coming. Especially now with increased popularity in Blogs and Blogging; some major players are making their moves.

Have you wondered why Google has been sniffing around Firefox recently...hiring Ben Goodger, FireFox's lead engineer... could it have to do with this RSS feature???

Recent moves by MSN must have Google concerned if not worried! Especially now that MSN has come out with their Beta Program using RSS in their search.

You can now place RSS search results directly on your website. It can enrich your site with daily updated content.

And it's quite simple to use; just add "&format=rss" at end of URL in your MSN search engine query. For example, to get an RSS Feed for 'tsunami relief' you would use this url:

http://beta.search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=tsunami+relief&format=rss

In Yahoo URL would be slightly different:

http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/rss?p=tsunami+relief&ei=UTF-8&fl=0&x=wrt

By Dave Davies, Beanstalk Search Engine Positioning, Inc.

The quest for higher search engine positioning on natural search engines is generally quest to increase revenue from a product or service. It is not rankings themselves that hold any special value; it is visitors that they bring and resulting increase in business. It is for this reason that PPC engines and namely secondary ones are a great tool in developing a campaign strategy for natural engines that will produce highest return on investment.

While tools such as Overture Search Term Suggestion Tool and WordTracker are great tools for helping to determine which phrases are most searched, they cannot provide you with which phrases will produce highest return on investment and let’s be honest, search engine positioning is not about traffic it’s about money. While traffic can often mean money, knowing which search phrases are going to lead to highest conversion rates will give you a great advantage going into your SEO campaign.

While testing phrases on PPC engines will result in an increased timeframe for your search engine positioning campaign, this step can result in much higher conversions from traffic you are going to get. For example, if you were a business owner who was promoting a brand new acne treatment and you were to simply look for phrases with highest numbers of searches to target in promotions for your site, you would undoubtedly settle on single keyword “acne” as your primary targeted phrase. Will this produce highest ROI? Unlikely and lets take a look at why:

Keyword phrase: acne

Searches: 2,470/day estimated on WordTracker

Inbound links of #1 site: 2,642 on MSN

Number of pages of #1 site: 34,100

Approximate cost to optimize site assuming it is new with 50+ pages: $7,000 - $10,000 with guarantee.

Now, let’s a take a look at a less competitive phrase such as “acne treatment”:

Keyword phrase: acne treatment

Searches: 516/day estimated on WordTracker

Inbound links of #1 site: 216 on MSN

Number of pages of #1 site: 153

Approximate cost to optimize site assuming it is new with 20+ pages: $3,000 - $5,000 with guarantee.

Armed with this information you would then want to test these two phrases on PPC engines. Engines such as Google and Overture provide great reporting tools that will enable a website owner to actually track which phrases are converting for them, however at $8.85/click on Overture to be #1 for “acne” or $2.90 to be #1 for “acne treatment”, that option may be just a bit out of your price range. And so we have secondary engines.

Pay-per-click engines such as Enhance Interactive (formerly Ah-ha) make a great testing ground for those choosing their keyword phrases. Ranking #1 for “acne” on Enhance can be had for $0.15/click and “acne treatment” is only $0.23 to be #1. Setting aside money that could potentially be made from PPC engines themselves, with bids this low this engine and others like it make great testing grounds for keyword selection.

To test your keyword phrases simply bid to be #1 or at least in top three for a potential primary target phrase. Keep site ranking for a couple weeks monitoring your traffic and sales of your product/service. After a couple weeks remove phrase from your list and switch it to an alternative phrase. Again, monitor this success of this phrase for a couple weeks. After you have tested all of your potential primary phrases you will be in a position to assess which one will produce highest return on investment.