In 1994, a man by the name of Dan Winer became interested in online publishing when he took part in the San Francisco newspaper strike that was occurring. By 1997, he had invented XML syndication, the forerunner of RSS. Today, free news feeds are widely used by news junkies looking to keep current with the latest headlines, blog frequenters tired of jumping from site to site, and anyone just looking for more convenience in how they consume internet content.
The best RSS news feeds can be harnessed for other purposes, too. You can spark online conversation by adding free news feeds to your website. Doing this allows your audience to learn more about your industry or area of expertise while they are visiting your site.
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Several websites offer free coding that you need only copy and paste onto your website to add a news feed RSS. The other option is to use a news feed widget, which is likely available from whichever blogging or website hosting program you are using. Be sure to choose a compatible coding or widget for your website or blog.
If you are taking coding from a website, you will need to pick a category of RSS feed. Arts, news, business, pets, games, health, religion, science, sports, and more are available topics, covering seemingly everything that has ever been talked about on the internet. If you are using a widget, then it is up to you to find the RSS feed that you want to stream. You can use special RSS search engines, or pick from whichever feeds you are already following. Check local news websites, or RSS news feeds lists for inspiration.
Now you can spark intelligent conversation online by directing your readers to observe the feed on your website. If your site focuses on business news, you could open up a forum and invite your audience to discuss the big headlines about business news worldwide. It is important to have a purpose for including feeds on your site, so that they do not sit there like weather widgets, or widgets that tell you what time it is. In other words, free news feeds have the potential to be clunky and useless if not used with purpose.
Follow these three simple steps to add news feeds to your website, to both educate your audience and entice them to converse. News feeds are an easy way to syndicate content and share it with your audience without sending your website into disarray, or losing the thread of your content.
