Is it Possible for Me to Have More Than One Site For My Google Adsense Account?

Yes. The more sites you have displaying Google Adsense ads the more money you will make with your sites. You don't even have to notify Google of the new sites. A useful tool is to create a Google Adsense 'channel' so you can track ad impressions and what sites and adsense placements are making the money.

Login to your Google Adsense account and create ads that match the colour schemes of your website. Then, simply copy and paste the adsense code into different parts of your website. The adsense code will detect your sites keywords and page content to display relevant website links.

You can have upto 3 ads on each page. Its a good idea to add an Google Adsense Search box to your sites as well. This is a great way to make money as you can get multiple clicks with one search! Once again use the 'channels' feature so you know where the clicks are coming from.

When creating new sites with adsense make sure it conforms with the Google Adsense Program Policies. If your account gets terminated for any reason, you would not be able to display the Google Adsense ads and would make no money.

To further expose your website to search engines you'll want to create an .xml Sitemap file that includes a list of all pages within your website. This website provides a simply solution for creating a sitemap www.sitemapspal.com. Create and upload this file into your websites root directory. This enables Google's webcrawler to detect and index all of your pages!

Is it Beneficial to Buy Google Adsense "Secrets" E-books and Reports?

The fact is Google Adsense will tell you everything you need to know for free. They have a support site that covers virtually everything you would need to know about the program and experience will teach you the rest, although there are some interesting books on amazon.com.

As with any money-making venture, there are pitfalls, pros and cons and some outright cons. Google Adsense has become very popular so it's no surprise there is a wealth of information for sale.

There are a lot of people out there in cyberspace who will gladly answer your questions for free and there are many forums where you can post questions. You can even email the Google Adsense Support Staff if you have questions that their Support Site doesn't answer.

Experience will probably be your best teacher anyway. And the good news is the Google Adsense program makes that experience painless in that you have nothing lose. So just take a chance on yourself for now. Learn everything you can to maximize your earning potential.

If you follow the links below you can purchase 'Google Adsense Firesale' which is a package of 40 websites that are made especially for Google Adsense, Amazon.com and Clickbank revenue! Simply insert you affiliate ID and start making money online today..

To read other articles, discover more on designing websites, internet promotion and making money with your website please visit the following sites: http://www.makemoneyonline.co.nz | http://www.xweb.co.nz | http://www.moneynz.com - You have free rights to use this article on your website as long as you include this resource box & links.

Is it Possible for Me to Have More Than One Site For My Google Adsense Account?

Yes. The more sites you have displaying Google Adsense ads the more money you will make with your sites. You don't even have to notify Google of the new sites. A useful tool is to create a Google Adsense 'channel' so you can track ad impressions and what sites and adsense placements are making the money.

Login to your Google Adsense account and create ads that match the colour schemes of your website. Then, simply copy and paste the adsense code into different parts of your website. The adsense code will detect your sites keywords and page content to display relevant website links.

You can have upto 3 ads on each page. Its a good idea to add an Google Adsense Search box to your sites as well. This is a great way to make money as you can get multiple clicks with one search! Once again use the 'channels' feature so you know where the clicks are coming from.

When creating new sites with adsense make sure it conforms with the Google Adsense Program Policies. If your account gets terminated for any reason, you would not be able to display the Google Adsense ads and would make no money.

To further expose your website to search engines you'll want to create an .xml Sitemap file that includes a list of all pages within your website. This website provides a simply solution for creating a sitemap www.sitemapspal.com. Create and upload this file into your websites root directory. This enables Google's webcrawler to detect and index all of your pages!

Is it Beneficial to Buy Google Adsense "Secrets" E-books and Reports?

The fact is Google Adsense will tell you everything you need to know for free. They have a support site that covers virtually everything you would need to know about the program and experience will teach you the rest, although there are some interesting books on amazon.com.

As with any money-making venture, there are pitfalls, pros and cons and some outright cons. Google Adsense has become very popular so it's no surprise there is a wealth of information for sale.

There are a lot of people out there in cyberspace who will gladly answer your questions for free and there are many forums where you can post questions. You can even email the Google Adsense Support Staff if you have questions that their Support Site doesn't answer.

Experience will probably be your best teacher anyway. And the good news is the Google Adsense program makes that experience painless in that you have nothing lose. So just take a chance on yourself for now. Learn everything you can to maximize your earning potential.

If you follow the links below you can purchase 'Google Adsense Firesale' which is a package of 40 websites that are made especially for Google Adsense, Amazon.com and Clickbank revenue! Simply insert you affiliate ID and start making money online today..

To read other articles, discover more on designing websites, internet promotion and making money with your website please visit the following sites: http://www.makemoneyonline.co.nz | http://www.xweb.co.nz | http://www.moneynz.com - You have free rights to use this article on your website as long as you include this resource box & links.

Introduction and Background

Viral marketing is the holy grail of marketing. The goal of any successful marketing campaign is to generate buzz and awareness about the product or service being offered. If done correctly, the campaign will generate expansive reach, strong brand-building, strong sales, all at a relatively low production and distribution cost.

Viral marketing can occur through many mediums, but the Internet is currently the reigning champion. Cheap resources (always-on internet access), efficiency in building contact networks (email, messengers, blogs, websites, etc.), and an abundance of new content (think Youtube.com) means that there is always something interesting and easy to share. Videos and websites are probably the most effective internet platforms for internet viral marketing.

The caveat of viral marketing is that since you are leveraging other people's resources (their time and effort, their email lists, etc.), they will be on the lookout for signs of commercialism. A person will not spread a company's message because there is no benefit for him. He actually suffers because he is losing credibility among friends. On the other hand, if the same person told his friends to give to an orphanage or other charity, he will be well received and appear magnanimous.

So assuming that your target viral marketer - the person who sees your ad and must spread the advertisement to his acquaintances - falls somewhere in between the extremes of shamelessly plugging a company and expounding upon the virtues of charity, you must balance the inherent commercialism with his desire to spread your message. You must produce something so interesting and compelling that your target marketer has no choice but to share it, marketing message payload and all.

So here is where we strike upon the most difficult challenge of creating a successful viral marketing campaign - finding the balance of creativity and uniqueness while not diminishing the purpose of your marketing in the first place. The challenge is stiff: too commercial and it will not spread beyond the first marketer, too radical and your brand image may no longer match the content of the advertisement. However, do not despair. It has been done with impressive success, and as long as there is an audience of willing consumers, many more impressively successful campaigns will manifest.

Examples of Successful Commercial Viral Videos

The Superbowl is the largest television event in America. Every year, 40 percent of America households, or approximately 80-90 million Americans, are tuned into the Superbowl at some time. The 30 second Superbowl commercial, the most revered spot in American broadcasting, sold for a reported $2.5 million in the 2006 Superbowl.

With viral marketing, the same level audience can be reached, but at a fraction of the cost. The best viral marketing is not blasted at once to a large audience, but once seeded to a few individuals, will grow until many millions of people will have heard of it. Importantly, these people are not just receiving a television broadcast, but they are telling their friends about it, discussing it, joking about it, and making a mental impression of it. One person who tells others about a video he saw is more valuable than 10 who see your video and forget about it.

One successful viral video shows 2 men dressed in lab coats demonstrating the befuddling Diet Coke and Mentos chemical reaction. Apparently, if you drop Mentos breath mints into Diet Coke, it creates a reaction akin to mixing baking soda and vinegar. Many videos were produced, but this particular video was probably the best produced, including a musically choreographed demonstration of over 100 Diet Coke and Mentos fountains. After being featured on CNN, it was revealed that the video's creators had already made several tens of thousands of dollars selling the advertisements at the beginning and end of the video.

- Coca Cola and Mentos

The Diet Coke video is an example of how viral videos can make money. But a company that wishes to get exposure needs a different approach. One way is for the company to sponsor the creation of a new video (or the sequel of a previously popular video), and then intersperse the company's logo and website throughout the video. A good example of this is Stride gum's commission of "Where the Hell is Matt" - a video that shows Matt dancing for a few seconds at dozens of places around the world, all set to funny music. The video is novel and ridiculous at the same time - just how many airports, customs, and taxis did Matt and his crew have to go through just to shoot a few seconds of Matt's dancing? Anyways, the video took off, and Stride cannot be disappointed with their return on investment.

- Where the Hell is Matt?

However, the Matt video still only straddles the line of balancing commercialism and content. The perfect video would both integrate the company's product with content so compelling that the commercial aspect is no longer a concern. To remove the commercial aspect would destroy the very fabric of the commercial. Below, I have included the links of 2 successfully circulated videos, one for Coca-Cola and one for Carlton Draught. These ads are classics of viral marketing because of their power, their persuasiveness, and elegance in weaving together commercialism and content.

- Carlton Draught Big Ad
- Coke Happiness Factory

A Case Study for Successful Web Marketing

Viral videos excite on a visual and auditory level, but have limitations in spreading your company's message. Unless you are making a branding video, and can pull of something like Coke or Carlton Draught, the user may not even know what your company does unless he goes to your website or otherwise tries your product. A website can be a successful viral platform that not only generates visitors, but can also deliver your company's message. In this case study, we will look at a service called AdCubes that combines all the elements of successful viral web marketing.

- AdCubes

The first element that of a successful viral website is to have an idea that is at once unique and creative. The website must offer something the visitor and the visitor's friends will need. In the case of the AdCubes, the product is mundane - it is an advertisement that is sold to anybody who wishes to purchase it. However, the concept is unique. Each ad cube costs $1 more than the previous one. As more and more people visit the site, the ads become more valuable, and the price is naturally driven up by purchases made by the same visitors.

The payoff for buying an ad is huge - the person who purchased the first ad for $1 has received hundreds of clicks for his investment. As the value of the ads increase, people will return to the site often, morbidly curious how much advertisers would pay for the same cube that others have purchased for less. Will the price top out at $100 per cube? Or will it be nearer $100,000?

The beauty of this system is that it is self-reinforcing. People will come and buy ads, and tell their friends about the site. As more and more buzz builds, traffic increases, advertisers increase, and the price of the ads increases. The increasing price drives more buzz, and eventually will garner media attention. Then when buzz is peaking, the price of ads will peak as well, driving higher and higher interest in the concept. In the end, the payoff to the site's owners could be millions of dollars. The payoff to advertisers could be millions of impressions and thousands of clicks. The payoff to visitors would be to witness a web phenomenon in action.

Of course, there is a lot of seeding that must be done before a site can successfully become a viral property. However, once the seeding process begins, a well-planned site will grow closer and closer each day toward critical mass. Once the critical mass is satisfied, then the site truly becomes viral, growing more and more popular without any input from the creators. This process can be facilitated by improving distribution channels. In the case of AdCubes, a links page allows webmasters and blogs to easily post about the site. Each sales confirmation email also contains a request for the advertiser to tell his acquaintances about his new AdCube.

There are many approaches to making a successful viral web site, but the basics are the same. You must have compelling content, it must be accessible for free or at low cost, and it must be easy to transmit. Once the basics are in place, the only thing left is seeding the first visitors until you reach the critical mass.

Conclusion

It is essential for marketers to understand viral marketing. Why spend resources on getting your company message out when you can recruit others to do it for you? You will need to have creativity in spades to find that all-compelling idea that people cannot help but spread, but find that idea, and you will be well on your way toward profiting from the holy grail of marketing.

Mark Li is an independent marketing professional who offers web development and marketing consulting services. Please email markli57 at gmail dot com to get in touch with Mark.

Introduction and Background

Viral marketing is the holy grail of marketing. The goal of any successful marketing campaign is to generate buzz and awareness about the product or service being offered. If done correctly, the campaign will generate expansive reach, strong brand-building, strong sales, all at a relatively low production and distribution cost.

Viral marketing can occur through many mediums, but the Internet is currently the reigning champion. Cheap resources (always-on internet access), efficiency in building contact networks (email, messengers, blogs, websites, etc.), and an abundance of new content (think Youtube.com) means that there is always something interesting and easy to share. Videos and websites are probably the most effective internet platforms for internet viral marketing.

The caveat of viral marketing is that since you are leveraging other people's resources (their time and effort, their email lists, etc.), they will be on the lookout for signs of commercialism. A person will not spread a company's message because there is no benefit for him. He actually suffers because he is losing credibility among friends. On the other hand, if the same person told his friends to give to an orphanage or other charity, he will be well received and appear magnanimous.

So assuming that your target viral marketer - the person who sees your ad and must spread the advertisement to his acquaintances - falls somewhere in between the extremes of shamelessly plugging a company and expounding upon the virtues of charity, you must balance the inherent commercialism with his desire to spread your message. You must produce something so interesting and compelling that your target marketer has no choice but to share it, marketing message payload and all.

So here is where we strike upon the most difficult challenge of creating a successful viral marketing campaign - finding the balance of creativity and uniqueness while not diminishing the purpose of your marketing in the first place. The challenge is stiff: too commercial and it will not spread beyond the first marketer, too radical and your brand image may no longer match the content of the advertisement. However, do not despair. It has been done with impressive success, and as long as there is an audience of willing consumers, many more impressively successful campaigns will manifest.

Examples of Successful Commercial Viral Videos

The Superbowl is the largest television event in America. Every year, 40 percent of America households, or approximately 80-90 million Americans, are tuned into the Superbowl at some time. The 30 second Superbowl commercial, the most revered spot in American broadcasting, sold for a reported $2.5 million in the 2006 Superbowl.

With viral marketing, the same level audience can be reached, but at a fraction of the cost. The best viral marketing is not blasted at once to a large audience, but once seeded to a few individuals, will grow until many millions of people will have heard of it. Importantly, these people are not just receiving a television broadcast, but they are telling their friends about it, discussing it, joking about it, and making a mental impression of it. One person who tells others about a video he saw is more valuable than 10 who see your video and forget about it.

One successful viral video shows 2 men dressed in lab coats demonstrating the befuddling Diet Coke and Mentos chemical reaction. Apparently, if you drop Mentos breath mints into Diet Coke, it creates a reaction akin to mixing baking soda and vinegar. Many videos were produced, but this particular video was probably the best produced, including a musically choreographed demonstration of over 100 Diet Coke and Mentos fountains. After being featured on CNN, it was revealed that the video's creators had already made several tens of thousands of dollars selling the advertisements at the beginning and end of the video.

- Coca Cola and Mentos

The Diet Coke video is an example of how viral videos can make money. But a company that wishes to get exposure needs a different approach. One way is for the company to sponsor the creation of a new video (or the sequel of a previously popular video), and then intersperse the company's logo and website throughout the video. A good example of this is Stride gum's commission of "Where the Hell is Matt" - a video that shows Matt dancing for a few seconds at dozens of places around the world, all set to funny music. The video is novel and ridiculous at the same time - just how many airports, customs, and taxis did Matt and his crew have to go through just to shoot a few seconds of Matt's dancing? Anyways, the video took off, and Stride cannot be disappointed with their return on investment.

- Where the Hell is Matt?

However, the Matt video still only straddles the line of balancing commercialism and content. The perfect video would both integrate the company's product with content so compelling that the commercial aspect is no longer a concern. To remove the commercial aspect would destroy the very fabric of the commercial. Below, I have included the links of 2 successfully circulated videos, one for Coca-Cola and one for Carlton Draught. These ads are classics of viral marketing because of their power, their persuasiveness, and elegance in weaving together commercialism and content.

- Carlton Draught Big Ad
- Coke Happiness Factory

A Case Study for Successful Web Marketing

Viral videos excite on a visual and auditory level, but have limitations in spreading your company's message. Unless you are making a branding video, and can pull of something like Coke or Carlton Draught, the user may not even know what your company does unless he goes to your website or otherwise tries your product. A website can be a successful viral platform that not only generates visitors, but can also deliver your company's message. In this case study, we will look at a service called AdCubes that combines all the elements of successful viral web marketing.

- AdCubes

The first element that of a successful viral website is to have an idea that is at once unique and creative. The website must offer something the visitor and the visitor's friends will need. In the case of the AdCubes, the product is mundane - it is an advertisement that is sold to anybody who wishes to purchase it. However, the concept is unique. Each ad cube costs $1 more than the previous one. As more and more people visit the site, the ads become more valuable, and the price is naturally driven up by purchases made by the same visitors.

The payoff for buying an ad is huge - the person who purchased the first ad for $1 has received hundreds of clicks for his investment. As the value of the ads increase, people will return to the site often, morbidly curious how much advertisers would pay for the same cube that others have purchased for less. Will the price top out at $100 per cube? Or will it be nearer $100,000?

The beauty of this system is that it is self-reinforcing. People will come and buy ads, and tell their friends about the site. As more and more buzz builds, traffic increases, advertisers increase, and the price of the ads increases. The increasing price drives more buzz, and eventually will garner media attention. Then when buzz is peaking, the price of ads will peak as well, driving higher and higher interest in the concept. In the end, the payoff to the site's owners could be millions of dollars. The payoff to advertisers could be millions of impressions and thousands of clicks. The payoff to visitors would be to witness a web phenomenon in action.

Of course, there is a lot of seeding that must be done before a site can successfully become a viral property. However, once the seeding process begins, a well-planned site will grow closer and closer each day toward critical mass. Once the critical mass is satisfied, then the site truly becomes viral, growing more and more popular without any input from the creators. This process can be facilitated by improving distribution channels. In the case of AdCubes, a links page allows webmasters and blogs to easily post about the site. Each sales confirmation email also contains a request for the advertiser to tell his acquaintances about his new AdCube.

There are many approaches to making a successful viral web site, but the basics are the same. You must have compelling content, it must be accessible for free or at low cost, and it must be easy to transmit. Once the basics are in place, the only thing left is seeding the first visitors until you reach the critical mass.

Conclusion

It is essential for marketers to understand viral marketing. Why spend resources on getting your company message out when you can recruit others to do it for you? You will need to have creativity in spades to find that all-compelling idea that people cannot help but spread, but find that idea, and you will be well on your way toward profiting from the holy grail of marketing.

Mark Li is an independent marketing professional who offers web development and marketing consulting services. Please email markli57 at gmail dot com to get in touch with Mark.

There is no question that the advent of the internet as an ecommerce hosting tool has transformed the real estate industry. The internet is a particularly well qualified platform for real estate presentation. Today's large real estate websites will sort available properties by area and then present them with a combination of written information, photos and often video segments. Nationwide firms such as Coldwell Banker operate sites that act as national listing services.

A home buyer can now do his initial research seated in front of a computer terminal. The traditional approach of contacting an agent and having the agent arrange for home viewings that may or may not suit the client is no longer the first step. Today, the home buyer can select a range of houses suitable for viewing on the internet and then have a real estate agent arrange the home visits.

This new reality means that the agent is no longer the client's first contact. For that reason, it is critical that active agents establish an internet presence. If a customer is clicking through homes and finds one of interest, it is important that the listing agent be "clickable" on the same page. Otherwise, the customer may call his friend, the realtor down the street and ask him to step in.

The predominant website host for non-commercial real property is Realtor.com, the site operated by the National Association of Realtors. Realtor.com carries over two million five hundred thousand listings and for many of them, the listing agent has an ad and a web address right along side. Their use of the web is an excellent example of ecommerce hosting: it is a well-formatted marketing and product presentation tool.

A realtor should have a personal website that is the next stop for the potential customer. An innovative realtor will often set up his page so that it provides additional pictures and information about the property. Contact information in the form of phone numbers and an email template are essential: the key is to make it easy for the customer who has found an interesting property to connect with the listing agent.

Nothing will accomplish this more effectively than an attractive, informative website that personalizes the realtor and connects him or her to the property in question. When choosing a hosting company, the realtor should select one that understands the technology behind "virtual tours" and will provide the bandwidth to include them in the website.

Videos of the various rooms in the home are an enormous enhancement of the property presentation. Real estate website hosting can be something of a specialty, so choosing one with the most advanced technology that allows a potential home buyer the chance to 'view' the home online will go a long way in supplementing the sales presentation.

It is important, also, that the realtor's site provide views and information over and above that provided on any national real estate internet listings. The realtor's personal site should be in-depth, personable, and offer the client as many options as possible.

Here, too, the realtor can work with his personal website host to design a site that will lead the potential customer to other listings in the area similar to the one that has been selected. These properties may be listings from other brokers; the idea is to maximize use of internet technology to bring that potential customer into the realtor's fold, regardless of whose listing the customer ultimately chooses to purchase.

Madison Lockwood is a customer relations associate for ApolloHosting.com. She brings years of experience as a small business consultant to helping prospective clients understand the ways in which a website may benefit them both personally and professionally. Apollo Hosting provides website hosting, ecommerce hosting, vps hosting, and web design services to a wide range of customers. Established in 1999, Apollo prides itself on the highest levels of customer support.

There is no question that the advent of the internet as an ecommerce hosting tool has transformed the real estate industry. The internet is a particularly well qualified platform for real estate presentation. Today's large real estate websites will sort available properties by area and then present them with a combination of written information, photos and often video segments. Nationwide firms such as Coldwell Banker operate sites that act as national listing services.

A home buyer can now do his initial research seated in front of a computer terminal. The traditional approach of contacting an agent and having the agent arrange for home viewings that may or may not suit the client is no longer the first step. Today, the home buyer can select a range of houses suitable for viewing on the internet and then have a real estate agent arrange the home visits.

This new reality means that the agent is no longer the client's first contact. For that reason, it is critical that active agents establish an internet presence. If a customer is clicking through homes and finds one of interest, it is important that the listing agent be "clickable" on the same page. Otherwise, the customer may call his friend, the realtor down the street and ask him to step in.

The predominant website host for non-commercial real property is Realtor.com, the site operated by the National Association of Realtors. Realtor.com carries over two million five hundred thousand listings and for many of them, the listing agent has an ad and a web address right along side. Their use of the web is an excellent example of ecommerce hosting: it is a well-formatted marketing and product presentation tool.

A realtor should have a personal website that is the next stop for the potential customer. An innovative realtor will often set up his page so that it provides additional pictures and information about the property. Contact information in the form of phone numbers and an email template are essential: the key is to make it easy for the customer who has found an interesting property to connect with the listing agent.

Nothing will accomplish this more effectively than an attractive, informative website that personalizes the realtor and connects him or her to the property in question. When choosing a hosting company, the realtor should select one that understands the technology behind "virtual tours" and will provide the bandwidth to include them in the website.

Videos of the various rooms in the home are an enormous enhancement of the property presentation. Real estate website hosting can be something of a specialty, so choosing one with the most advanced technology that allows a potential home buyer the chance to 'view' the home online will go a long way in supplementing the sales presentation.

It is important, also, that the realtor's site provide views and information over and above that provided on any national real estate internet listings. The realtor's personal site should be in-depth, personable, and offer the client as many options as possible.

Here, too, the realtor can work with his personal website host to design a site that will lead the potential customer to other listings in the area similar to the one that has been selected. These properties may be listings from other brokers; the idea is to maximize use of internet technology to bring that potential customer into the realtor's fold, regardless of whose listing the customer ultimately chooses to purchase.

Madison Lockwood is a customer relations associate for ApolloHosting.com. She brings years of experience as a small business consultant to helping prospective clients understand the ways in which a website may benefit them both personally and professionally. Apollo Hosting provides website hosting, ecommerce hosting, vps hosting, and web design services to a wide range of customers. Established in 1999, Apollo prides itself on the highest levels of customer support.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a way for a site to publish it's updates. RSS readers can read these notifications and display a listing of the updates to you, the user.

It's sort of like having a special 'inbox' for emails announcing updates to your selected websites.

Many applications and websites support RSS feeds. You can add RSS feeds to your My Yahoo! page, Firefox has several RSS extensions such as Sage, there are sites that deal w/ RSS feeds such as Feedster and FastBuzz. Thunderbird even allows you to set up RSS feeds similar to your inbox.

There are also stand alone applications for RSS feeds like Pluck, RSSReader and SharpReader.

Different readers allow you to subscribe to a feed differently. Using Firefox w/ Sage, for example, you can drag-and-drop the RSS icon into your RSS feed folder and it's done.

What's the benefit?

You can use RSS feeds to see if there's anything new at a given site before visiting the site. This wouldn't be a big help if you only had one RSS feed. However, if you have several sites you check routinely, this can cut the time down tremendously.

It gives you more of an 'at-a-glance' view of all your monitored sites. Imagine if when you went to click on your bookmark for a site that it also said right then if the site had changed and how.

Also, depending on the RSS reader you use, it can tell you when you have a new update on the site.

Sites with RSS Feeds

There are many sites w/ RSS feeds. To know if a site has an RSS feed, look for an "RSS" link on the site or a button/icon w/ RSS, ATOM or XML on it.

One cool use is to set the RSS feed for a news search on a site. At Yahoo! News you can search on a topic in the news and then subscribe to that feed using the XML icon.

A lot of news/info/blog sites have RSS feeds that can help you keep up to date on the info you want.

It's a collection of tech info that's updated regularly. You can see if/when it's been updated in your reader, see the title of the updates and a short summary and then decide if you want to load the site or that post or nothing.

Bottom Line

RSS readers allow you to see the latest updates to sites (and possibly be notified) at-a-glance without having to go to all your sites and load them. It's like peaking into many sites from a single place.

Bear Cahill is a software engineer in the Dallas, TX area and runs a few websites including: The Armchair Geek (thearmchairgeek.com),
http://www.webpagehostinginfo.com, http://www.gotocollegeonline.com and http://www.videoexchange.org

Publish freely if this resource box is included and links maintained as links.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a way for a site to publish it's updates. RSS readers can read these notifications and display a listing of the updates to you, the user.

It's sort of like having a special 'inbox' for emails announcing updates to your selected websites.

Many applications and websites support RSS feeds. You can add RSS feeds to your My Yahoo! page, Firefox has several RSS extensions such as Sage, there are sites that deal w/ RSS feeds such as Feedster and FastBuzz. Thunderbird even allows you to set up RSS feeds similar to your inbox.

There are also stand alone applications for RSS feeds like Pluck, RSSReader and SharpReader.

Different readers allow you to subscribe to a feed differently. Using Firefox w/ Sage, for example, you can drag-and-drop the RSS icon into your RSS feed folder and it's done.

What's the benefit?

You can use RSS feeds to see if there's anything new at a given site before visiting the site. This wouldn't be a big help if you only had one RSS feed. However, if you have several sites you check routinely, this can cut the time down tremendously.

It gives you more of an 'at-a-glance' view of all your monitored sites. Imagine if when you went to click on your bookmark for a site that it also said right then if the site had changed and how.

Also, depending on the RSS reader you use, it can tell you when you have a new update on the site.

Sites with RSS Feeds

There are many sites w/ RSS feeds. To know if a site has an RSS feed, look for an "RSS" link on the site or a button/icon w/ RSS, ATOM or XML on it.

One cool use is to set the RSS feed for a news search on a site. At Yahoo! News you can search on a topic in the news and then subscribe to that feed using the XML icon.

A lot of news/info/blog sites have RSS feeds that can help you keep up to date on the info you want.

It's a collection of tech info that's updated regularly. You can see if/when it's been updated in your reader, see the title of the updates and a short summary and then decide if you want to load the site or that post or nothing.

Bottom Line

RSS readers allow you to see the latest updates to sites (and possibly be notified) at-a-glance without having to go to all your sites and load them. It's like peaking into many sites from a single place.

Bear Cahill is a software engineer in the Dallas, TX area and runs a few websites including: The Armchair Geek (thearmchairgeek.com),
http://www.webpagehostinginfo.com, http://www.gotocollegeonline.com and http://www.videoexchange.org

Publish freely if this resource box is included and links maintained as links.

On the Internet we see many local business directory websites out there, some are good, some are bad, but the concept makes sense. Can we make these systems better, so they are more accurate, timely and are easily accessed with low bandwidth wireless handheld devices?

Recently I wrote an article and submitted it to an online article submission website; I titled it "local Mexican Restaurant" my thought was, let's see how well this is picked up in the search engines by Internet surfers. My experiment was done to prove my theory of where wireless devices are headed because of the new GPS systems now have voice activated systems and you say: "nearest fast station" "nearest Starbucks" "Local Mexican restaurant." My thoughts are in studying the CES 2006 Show in Las Vegas that indeed, this is one of the major pushes in electronic devices.

My thoughts are that people will be using these systems personal tech devices to find local businesses. And I believe that in the future all these systems will be linked. Your cell phone will ring a certain tone when you pass by a Starbucks or your favorite "Fruit Smoothie" establishment. When you car gets low on fuel it will start putting local gas stations of your favorite brand on your GPS display in your car.

If and when some smart entrepreneur figures this out and can build a website which can look as if it is designed for an at home Internet Surfer, but loads fast enough for PDA, Cell Phone and other wireless devices then they will have figured out the answer to what is needed for the Business Directory Website Genre. Think on this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

On the Internet we see many local business directory websites out there, some are good, some are bad, but the concept makes sense. Can we make these systems better, so they are more accurate, timely and are easily accessed with low bandwidth wireless handheld devices?

Recently I wrote an article and submitted it to an online article submission website; I titled it "local Mexican Restaurant" my thought was, let's see how well this is picked up in the search engines by Internet surfers. My experiment was done to prove my theory of where wireless devices are headed because of the new GPS systems now have voice activated systems and you say: "nearest fast station" "nearest Starbucks" "Local Mexican restaurant." My thoughts are in studying the CES 2006 Show in Las Vegas that indeed, this is one of the major pushes in electronic devices.

My thoughts are that people will be using these systems personal tech devices to find local businesses. And I believe that in the future all these systems will be linked. Your cell phone will ring a certain tone when you pass by a Starbucks or your favorite "Fruit Smoothie" establishment. When you car gets low on fuel it will start putting local gas stations of your favorite brand on your GPS display in your car.

If and when some smart entrepreneur figures this out and can build a website which can look as if it is designed for an at home Internet Surfer, but loads fast enough for PDA, Cell Phone and other wireless devices then they will have figured out the answer to what is needed for the Business Directory Website Genre. Think on this in 2006.

Lance Winslow