Add an RSS data feed

Depending on who you talk to RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site Summary or RDF Site Summary (if you're interested the history of RSS can be found here on Wikipedia).  Whatever you call it, RSS is a simple process that allows users to subscribe to a 'feed' that you publish on your site.  Using a special program known as a 'feed reader', users can read the latest entries and, if they are interested, they can click them to visit the website concerned.

Until recently RSS has been used heavily by bloggers but retailers are slowly embracing the technology.  This is for a number of reasons: firstly, it's permission-based so you shouldn't have anyone accusing you of spaming them, and secondly it's a 'pull technology'.  That's a fancy way of saying that you don't need to send your customers anything, instead their feed readers pull the RSS files from your server.

Many on-line shop programs support the creation of RSS files, offering the ability to create RSS feeds for new additions or reduced items.  However, if your eCommerce package cannot generate RSS feeds it's still possible to use them.  The most costly option would be to get your web developer to write a simple program that connects to your database, requests the newest or reduced products and assembles the feed for you.  Alternatively you could create the feed manually although this is fairly tedious so it's best to use some software to make this process less error prone.

Once such progam is RssPublisher.  It's free, runs on Microsoft Windows and can be downloaded from www.rsspublisher.com.  This tutorial will show you how to create your feed, add items to it and publish it to your website.  First we'll need to download and install the application.