Market Your RSS Feed With Microsoft Windows Live

[mliron]

"RSS" stands for "Really Simple Syndication." And that is exactly what it is... a great way for content publishers (including you) to distribute your content for free.

Over the last year you can not have escaped those RSS buttons all over the Internet, inviting you to sign up for the website owners RSS feed(s)

Apple, Microsoft, CNN, the BBC, even the owner of your local pet shop uses these RSS buttons on their website.

With Internet Explorer 7 now containing a built in "RSS reader" complete with a button that turns orange when it detects an RSS feed on a webpage - RSS is big news for Internet Marketing.

Among the popular RSS buttons seen all over the Internet are the ones with Yahoo and MSN branding on them. Simply click on one of those RSS buttons and if you are registered with either My Yahoo! ( http://my.yahoo.com ) or My MSN ( http://my.msn.com ) you can instantly add that website's RSS feed to your account - Nice and simple.

Well the ever growing Microsoft Windows Live "service" is offering the same thing and with millions of Live.com service users, providing your RSS feed as a simple subscription button is a real no-brainer!

See it in action at:

www.updatexp.com

...just click the Windows Live button on the left hand and side and see it in action. As of writing this article you do NOT even have to have an account with Live.com to see it working.

On clicking the Windows Live RSS button you will see the "UpdateXP.com Newsletter" RSS feed added to the Live.com website.

Simply click on one of the news items "[more]" links and you will see it open up gracefully on the screen - no new window opens.

Now check out the "Send to a friend" option - powerful viral marketing for your website with just one click.

And the code?

Here is the code I use at my website:



You can easily modify this with your own URL.

PLEASE download the Windows Live image and upload to your own website though.

Here is the link:

http://www.updatexp.com/image-files/addtolive.gif

Why should I bother?

As I have already mentioned RSS is a great free tool for promoting your website, Blog or newsletter.

But Microsoft literally has a market place of tens of millions of users. Now with every user of Microsoft Windows Live services (that includes: Live Messenger, Live Mail, Live Search, Live Local etc...) being encouraged to create a free personalized Live.com home page, combined with the massive investment in Live.com and the goliath that is the Microsoft marketing machine, this is one free marketing tool your website can not afford to ignore.

Regards

Marc Liron
Microsoft MVP

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