You've seen the little orange and white icon before, but not everyone understands how to use it or what it can do for them. RSS stands for "Real Simple Syndication." It essentially allows you to subscribe to a "feed" and receive updates through a feed reader. So, if you have a blog you love to read, you can click on this button to configure automatic updates so you don't have to go to the blog site each time.
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Feed readers are easy to come by these days. They can be based online, on your desktop, in e-mail clients such as MS Outlook, and even on mobile phones. Do a quick search for "feed reader" via any search engine and you can take your pick. Popular ones include Google Reader, RSS Feed Reader, NewsGator, and Bloglines. Here are a few more suggestions for Windows and for MACs.
Once you have a feed reader established, you can easily add sites and blogs that feature the RSS icon. Obviously, you should activate this feature on your blog as well. This makes it super easy for your readers to keep up with your entries, and they'll be more likely to particpate by adding comments or links to your blog.
It's also a great way to monitor what's going on in your industry and other areas of interest. By reading, or at least browsing, other blogs each day, you can find new topics of interest to blog about yourself.
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