If you have an online business and you use email publishing to connect with your subscriber list, raise your hand…

So…that includes me.

Here’s a great question for you: Is email publishing dead?

Many online companies are now preferring the ease of RSS subscriptions rather than newsletter marketing. If you don’t know what RSS is, take a look at this post to find out more.

Welcome to the new way of cutting edge client relationship management. I’m so convinced about this method of content delivery that I’ve decided to switch over.

I’ve decided to transition my email subscriptions over to RSS.

Keep reading to find out why…

So before I go any further…let me just offer you the opportunity to subscribe to this blog’s feed so that you can keep up with our syndicated content via RSS!

In actuality, email was created to be a 2-way communications channel, whereas RSS subscriptions were meant to be a one-way mode of communication between content provider and interested person.

A couple of highly techie people at noosphere believe that email will soon die out as RSS takes its place.

I’m not so sure I’d completely agree with a looming death certificate for email based subscriber management, so don’t go making hasty decisions to halt your current email marketing program.

However, I’d encourage to take a look at what RSS can do for your business. Here are a few reasons switching to (or at least adding an RSS option) to your business may help your long term profitability:

• RSS is always on time. Your subscribers don’t have to continually plug in their email address with each new piece of breaking news your company disseminates. They’re already plugged in to the source content (your feed) and each time you add an update to your feed (your blog), your subscribers automatically receive an update on their end and are able to download your new data. So your “newsletter” is never late. Very nice indeed.
• RSS subscription is typically free. I don’t know of an rss delivery service that charges an arm and a leg…and if you go with basic services it’s at no cost to your business. That means no more paying monthly fees to mailing list provider services, nor do you have to format your layout for text versus graphics. Think about it –this just means less headache for you!
• RSS can be used with an email program or without. It’s fully independent of an email client (all your subscriber would need to do is check their feed aggregator for new content you’ve uploaded to your blog!) It’s also easy to integrate with email. For example services such as FeedBlitz and Feedburner now allow your subscriber to receive your RSS feed updates via email.
• RSS means privacy for your subscribers. It’s quite possible that many potential subscribers never get on board because they are afraid They never have to offer their email address to your company, which may make them feel safer about receiving your content. They simply subscribe to your RSS feed via their feed aggregator (such as NewsGator and FeedReader) and have automatic access to your content without having to worry about their email address.

So, you see, switching over to RSS is a great way to continue connecting with your audience without some of the hassles that email based services can bring.

I’ll have more for you about RSS transitioning and how it can help your business on next week…

For now, I hope you’ll follow me on over to my RSS feed and get plugged in for automatic updates at this blog. In the months and weeks to come, I plan to eventually phase out my paid mailing list service…so if you’re not subscribed via RSS you won’t be receiving my updates.

To stay plugged in:

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Before I begin this post about podcasting, I thought I’d invite you to subscribe to my podcast on podcasting!

The RSS feed url is: http://feeds.feedburner.com/PublishAPodcast

Subscribe in Itunes or your favorite podcast catching software.

Now…WHAT IS PODCASTING??

Podcasting is a buzz word circulating the web, which is becoming increasingly popular by the minute. Many people are listening to podcasts on a daily basis, and some even go so far as to create their own podcasts for others to listen to.

Podcasts are similar to internet radio shows. A podcast is audio content delivered to portable media players such as Ipods, that can be downloaded automatically at a listener’s convenience.

Before podcasting, blogging had become a popular phenomenon. Blogging delivered textual content to RSS aggregators and news readers on portable devices such as Palm Pilots, at a viewer’s convenience. Soon afterward, the syndication of audio was introduced via the same medium. Adam Curry, who is the former MTV media entrepreneur, created an Apple application script to automate the downloading and syncing of audio files to the Ipod.

Podcasting is based on a backbone of code called RSS, or real simple syndication. Think of RSS as a newsfeed.   RSS is a standardardized way of publishing information on the web and uses XML format. The way RSS works for audio content is that it contains enclosures, which are essentially URL references to web content. When an audio clip is uploaded to one’s server on the world wide web, and this URL is indicated in the RSS code associated for that podcast, the audio clip can now be synced automatically as part of the information which is downloaded to a listener’s portable device or podcast aggregator.

According to PodcastingNews.com, the podcasting process works in 4 easy steps:

1.) Publishers create content and post it to a web server in mp3 format

2.) A publisher will then create and publish the RSS file, which will contain meta information on the audio file such as the name and description, and will also contain the URL enclosure of the audio file location on the web

3.) An end user will then check for new updates on the newsfeed, either manually, or will have their podcast aggregator such as Itunes automatically check for the updates on a schedule. The updates can then be synced to an mp3 player or portable device.

4.) Users can now listen to the podcast at their own convenience.

The technical aspects of podcasting vary, as the number of equipment, mechanisms and tools available for podcasting are numerous. Once a podcast is created, however, it gives back one more piece of creativity to the world of online media, gives online users an opportunity to listen to brand new rich content, and provides the publisher with an undeniable sense of pride and accomplishment for sharing his or her interests with the world!

–Demetria

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