By Andrew J. Morris

RSS or 'Really Simple Syndication' is not just for Blogs and News sites. Every website can benefit from this newly popular technology. The term 'syndication' is what throws a lot of people off track. Syndication is like news articles, isn't it?

Well it can be. But think of it like this. If you had a bricks-and-mortar store and decided to carry a new product line, how would you let people know? You could advertise of course, but a better and free alternative is to send a news release to local paper. Their business section may carry your announcement free of charge.

Now back to our cyber-store in virtual space. If you add a new web page, or make substantial changes to existing pages, how do you let your customers (both former and future) know? You can email your former customers, but spam blocking software will prevent half of them from getting your message. And keeping track of mailing lists, unsubscribe requests and address changes is nothing short of a nightmare.

Instead, post a news release using RSS. Interested customers will have their newsreader programs watching for your announcements, and will get news as soon as you send it out. The announcement will include a link to new or changed page, and your customer can click on it if they are interested. True, fewer will click through than might read an email from you -- but those who do will arrive at your site in a much more receptive frame of mind. And those email readers still need to click through to your site to see your new page anyhow.

If you make frequent additions or changes to your site you should have your own RSS feed. Check out these sites to learn how to make your own feed:

Making An RSS Feed http://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/article.php/2175271

Publishing Guidelines: We hope that following article, which is an extract from our online creative writing course (formatted to 65 characters) may be informative and helpful to your e-zine readers, or on your web site. If it helps others "out there" in any way, then we're happy. This article (as with all my articles) may be freely published, electronically or in print. "We share what we know, so that others may grow." * HOW TO WRITE A BOOK AND GET PUBLISHED by Craig Lock

This short extract is from my booklet 'How to Write a Book and Get Published' and is written for "off-line" world of publishing. Although it's a very brief look at this huge subject, I hope these pointers may be helpful to aspiring* authors. * What's definition of an aspiring author? A waiter! * Me write a book! A "pipedream" or possible?