RSS enters the fray: metrics and analytics
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an emerging content delivery channel for marketers and content managers. Its adoption rate is on the rise. Here, we look at what it involves, and how you can set up metrics around your RSS feed.
Due to its pull-nature, RSS offers a greater anonymity to the end-user, much more so than email. However, it is not a substitute for email marketing. It is an additional content delivery channel that promises an extra level of convenience to the end-user.
RSS is suitable for public websites, intranets and extranets. It is possible to customise RSS through setting up individual feeds for different purposes such as news, press releases, events, product / program updates, classifieds, etc.
Another plus is that it increases search engine rankings. By having your website links on many RSS readers, the link popularity of your site will increase, which in turn positively impacts search engine ranking.
It is relatively easy to set up an RSS feed for your website, requiring basic XML knowledge. However, in order to get your target audiences to keep using your RSS feeds, you must continually supply new content.
An RSS reader is needed to read the RSS feeds. This market segment is, though, far from mature. There are so many options available with varying degrees of sophistication and functionality. Of the standalone RSS readers, NewsGator, for instance, allows users to set-up persistent searchers to continually monitor important keywords such as your company name or brands. Firefox incorporated RSS technology into Mozilla. The next version of Microsoft Internet Explorer is expected to include this technology. iPod users can read RSS feeds via the podcasts provided on iTunes.
Like any other online initiative, if you are setting up RSS you should consider the metrics for its measurement too. There are two main RSS metrics:
- Feed subscribers - new subscribers, cancellations
- Click-throughs from feeds
To further understand the RSS user behaviours, you should also consider:
- RSS usage patterns. This is the study of viewing versus clicking times and patterns to determine the best times to publish content. According to a research conducted by Pheedo - an RSS-WebLog marketing solutions company, users tend to read more in the mornings but click more at night.
- Site usage patterns for RSS traffic. This is the study of RSS user behaviours on your site via segmentation functionality provided by your Web Analytics tool.
Keywords: RSS Analytics, RSS metrics, RSS measurement, RSS resources, RSS effectiveness