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BMD Technology Offers Podcasting & RSS Feeds

Arlo Mason — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 14:49:40 GMT

You may have noticed recently that many websites now contain little graphical buttons with the word XML on them. When you click on the button, all you see is some jumbled text and computer code [ed: unless you have a newer web browser or an aggregator]. What's this all about? It's an RSS feed, and it's changing the way people access the Internet.

RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is a technical format that allows online publishers to share and distribute their content to other websites or individual Internet users. It's commonly used for distributing headlines on news websites. Bloggers use it to distribute summaries of their blog entries as well. RSS is written in the Internet coding language known as XML, which is why you see RSS buttons labeled that way.

If a website publishes an RSS page, commonly known as an RSS "feed," this feed will contain summaries of all the recent articles posted on that site. For example, Yahoo News publishes news related to world headlines, national news, sports, etc, which you can read by going to the Yahoo website. They also publish RSS feeds for each of these subjects. Each RSS feed contains a summary of the most recent news stories posted.

RSS allows you to see updated content in news aggregators or web browsers (new ones have integrated this feature). It solves the What's New problem for websites by allowing content consumers to subscribe to content that they find relevant. That means its a great way to communicate with a market that has already defined itself as interested in your content by having taken the first step of subscribing to the feed. It also solves the SPAM problem, because your market has already agreed to be targeted. Its permission marketing done right, and with no SPAM filter headaches.

RSS also solves another problem by allowing content to be syndicated (or republished) on other websites. This is how tools like Yahoo or Google News work. They collect RSS feeds from across the internet and then publish the relevant ones on their site. Imagine the traffic you would generate by getting a story published on one of those news portals. This opens up an entire new way to drive traffic to your site.

RSS is probably the most powerful marketing tool emerging in internet publishing today.

For more information on RSS and Podcasting please contact us at 512.912.8200 or info@bmdtechnologyconsulting.com

New Web Design & Development

Arlo Mason — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:36:32 GMT

CommodityDoctor
Impact Marketing
Kobe Japanese Restaurant
Hold'em Wear
AwesomeNet
Holiday by the Bay
Keystone Printing
2X-Treme Performance
The Limousine Company
Premier Auto Sales

For more infomation on web design & development please call us at 512.912.8200 or info@bmdtechnologyconsulting.com

What is Podcasting?

Arlo Mason — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 14:42:46 GMT

What is Podcasting
Podcasting is quickly becoming a buzz word among the techie crowd. So what is podcasting, anyway? Podcasting is online audio content that is delivered via an RSS feed. Many people liken podcasting to radio on demand. However, in reality, podcasting gives far more options in terms of content and programming than radio does. In addition, with Podcasting, listeners can determine the time and the place, meaning they decide what programming they want to receive and when they want to listen to it.

Listeners can retain audio archives to listen to at their leisure. While blogs have turned many bloggers into journalists, podcasting has the potential to turn podcasters into radio personalities.

Podcasting can be used for:

1. Self-Guided Walking Tours - Informational content.

2. Music - Band promotional clips and interviews.

3. Talk Shows - Industry or organizational news, investor news, sportscasts, news coverage and commentaries.

4. Training - Instructional informational materials.

5. Story - Story telling for children or the visually-impaired.

Podcasting is the syndication of audio files using RSS. Podcasting works the same as a standard RSS feed reader or news aggregator, the only difference is that the feed you subscribe to contains an audio file in it. Instead of reading content in your RSS feed reader or aggregator, you can listen to the contents of your feed using a reader or aggregator that supports podcasting, or you can listen to them on an iPod or similar device. While podcasting was named for the iPod, you do not have to have an iPod to listen to a podcast. Podcasts can be displayed on websites with clickable links to audio files and many of the standard RSS readers, like FeedDemon's latest beta, have begun supporting audio enclosures.

The audio file that makes the feed a podcast rather than a standard RSS feed is contained in the 'enclosure' tag. The easiest way to think of this is as an e-mail attachment.

Although the "enclosure" tag is not new to RSS feeds and has been included in the RSS v2.0 specification for about four years, podcasting has only really been around since August of 2004.

Webmasters are finding creative ways to provide media-rich content. The syndication aspect and potential increase in audience size are an attractive lure. Listeners benefit from podcasting because, like RSS, podcasting is a means to publish content that ultimately gives the recipient the control over the information they want to see or hear.

Podcasting Resources -

Podcast Alley - http://www.podcastalley.com
PodcastBunker - http://www.podcastbunker.com
Podcasting News - http://www.podcastingnews.com

It will be interesting to see how this publishing medium develops. Currently, only the technical crowd has endorsed podcasting as a new audio medium, but the potential is real and the process is not overly complex. With a little time I think this field will develop and prosper.