RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an increasingly popular marketing method to syndicate real estate website content for clients and prospective clients. RSS enables distribution of website content to third-party websites and RSS news readers.
Newsreader (or feedreader) use is growing rapidly. Newsreader software allows users to grab RSS feeds from various sites and display them to read and use. If you have a My Yahoo! or My MSN page, then chances are, you are already using RSS! The customized items you choose for those pages are syndicated RSS feeds from various news and information sources.
For real estate agents and professionals, RSS has many uses. For example, someone looking for a house or a place to rent can simply use an agent's RSS feed to keep up with the latest listings. If they see an interesting item, they can click directly to the website for more information. Mortgage brokers can quickly and easily alert RSS subscribers of rate changes or other news.
Some other uses for real estate RSS feeds include: featured homes and commercial properties, rental properties, announcing open houses, virtual tours, mortgage rates, news & announcements, and e-newsletters.
RSS is extremely targeted because it is user-controlled and, unlike e-mail, it has a 100% delivery rate. Unfortunately, e-mail is quickly losing its marketing power due to e-mail filters and recent anti-spam legislation. Also, an RSS feed is simpler to maintian than an e-mail list. There is no address lists to maintain and no software needed to send messages, and no risk of spam problems.
RSS can also help with the marketing of your website though traditional search engines.
Because your website (through RSS feeds) has more "fresh" content, your website will be indexed more frequently by search engine spiders. Therefore, anything that you add to your website will be picked up by search engines that much faster.
RSS is a growing technology that should be taken seriously. Start early and reap the benefits of RSS marketing today!
S.R. Daley is the web developer for http://www.myrealtyfeed.com, a service that allows real estate professionals to create, maintain and promote multiple RSS feeds with a simple web interface.
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