June 16th, 2010
Everyone agrees that SPAM is a growing problem on the Internet. And with estimates that we will soon have over 1 billion people worldwide surfing the net, this problem will only continue to grow worse.
The worst part of this situation is that spammers are very clever people and they are using all of their knowledge to get their message onto our desktops whether we want it or not.
For example, this week hidden among all of my usual get-rich quick schemes and penis enlargement information was an email from a porn site that literally took control of my desktop.
As soon as the email message was highlighted in my Outlook Express window, it launched a web page that took up the entire screen of my computer.
There it was on my 21″ monitor, for the whole world to see it if they were looking over my shoulder, a lusty, busty women crouched on her knees with her arms pressing together her breasts to overly exaggerate the obvious and her legs spread so far apart you could see her most intimate body parts in all of their powder pink glory.
I am a man with a healthy love for women but I do not appreciate having this sort of thing forced on me because someone wants me to give them my money in exchange for pornographic pictures.
As far as I am concerned, these are “Terroristic Tactics”.
My computer and I were held hostage by the use of HTML source code that includes script language that launches a window to view their web page.
Worse still, the window is one that takes up the entire computer screen and does not have the usual buttons on the upper right hand corner to minimize or close the window.
And, it might even include the command to keep popping open even more windows on your desktop at set intervals that can literally freeze up your computer!
What can you do to fight back?
Whether this problem occurs via reading your email or if you are trapped into it while visiting a web site, there are a few things you can do short of ripping the power cord out of the wall.
First of all, the Federal Trade Commission, FTC, http://www.ftc.gov/, takes a very dim view of anyone that tries to force you to view any material you do not wish to view, be it advertising or pornography.
In a recent action by the Federal Trade Commission, they
“asked a U.S. District Court Judge to halt a Internet scam that clones everyday Web sites and uses the copycat sites to barrage unsuspecting consumers with pornography. According to the agency, the scammers copy existing Web sites and insert coded instructions in the copycat sites which automatically redirects unwitting consumers to adult sites operated by the defendants. Then the scammers disable the browser’s “back” and “exit” commands so that Internet surfers trying desperately to escape the pornographic images face screen after screen of similar material and advertisements for other adult sites.”
“These operators high-jacked Web sites, ‘kidnapped’ consumers and held them captive,” said Jodie Bernstein, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “They exposed surfers, including children, to the seamiest sort of material and incapacitated their computers so they couldn’t escape. They copied as many as 25 million Web pages from sites as diverse as the Harvard Law Review and the Japanese Friendship Garden. When consumers used search engines to find subjects as innocent as ‘kids on the net,’ ‘news about Kosovo,’ or ‘wedding services,’ they risked being exposed to a torrent of tawdry images. This scam is outrageous and we want it off the Internet. We’re confident the court will help us arrange that.”
The Federal Trade Commission is a powerful regulatory agency and they will accept complaints from consumers on both SPAM and also a Web Page or Web Sites that are using deceptive or terroristic tactics.
You may forward unsolicited commercial e-mail (spam) to the Commission, by sending it directly to them at: mailto:UCE@FTC.GOV
I would suggest you not bother them with ordinary run of the mill SPAM but rather limit your complaints to email like the one I described above that literally takes control of your computer.
You may also file a complaint with the Commission online by visiting their web site at: http://www.ftc.gov/
Scroll to the bottom of their web site where you will see the link to “File A Complaint Online”.
On a more immediate basis, it is important to know at least a few of the handy Windows “Shortcut” commands that will allow you to regain control of your computer without the need to shut it down all together.
For a more extensive list of Window’s Shortcuts delivered to you FREE via Auto-Responder, send a blank email to: mailto:shortcuts@emailexchange.org
Perhaps one of the best commands to know by heart is: ALT + F4 = Quitting the open program
That command comes in very handy when you have a window open that takes up your entire screen area and does not show the customary Minimize/Restore/Close boxes that are found in the upper right hand corner of all Window’s programs.
Another good one to keep in mind is: ALT + SPACE = Display of the System Menu that allows you to Restore-Move-Resize-Minimize-Maximize or Close a window.
And as a last resort, if nothing else seems to be working, you can always try: CTRL + ESC = Opens the Start Menu from which you can properly shut down your computer.
Until the powers that be take direct action to stop SPAM at every possible opportunity, we will all have to put up with the nuisance of deleting junk email from our inbox. But at least we do not have to tolerate the invasion of our computer with code meant to make us a hos
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March 24th, 2010
In the last few weeks, I have noticed an increase in tools or methods devised exclusively to fight the Spam fight. I applaud the originators ideals and their ingenuity, but I must voice my concern about the way in which such concepts can often backfire, sometimes in the nastiest of ways.
I abhor spam. I hate it with a vengeance and would do ALMOST anything to rid the Internet of it entirely. The worldwide financial consequences alone run into billions of dollars annually.It is comparable to the disruption that the propagation of viruses causes and is responsible for creating a completely independent niche market for the sale of tools and software programs designed simply to combat it. Although, I would imagine that even those engaged in this area of marketing would also welcome it’s demise, however unlikely it might seem at the moment.
The latest is a web page that we are all being asked to link to which, as I understand it, will result in the email addresses listed on that page, which are ‘known’ spam originating addresses, being inundated with so much spam, generated by their own ’spiders’ (entities which crawl the Net looking for email addresses) that their data will be effectively useless due to the spider being effectively sent on an endless ‘loop’. A simple but brilliant little idea - But is it safe?
What if an innocent email address should find it’s way onto that web page? What if one is maliciously placed there? Does that email address get caught up in the vicious circle of unsolicited email? Maybe not, but even if the method precludes this particular ‘backfire’, more to the point, is it right to spam the ’spammer’? If you rob a thief, doesn’t that make YOU a thief too, regardless?
The fact remains also, there hasn’t been a means of stopping spammers that has worked yet. Will they be somehow able to turn this idea around and use it against the Internet population?
I can understand the anger, frustration and the sometimes, sheer desperation that some may feel after having been an especially badly ‘bashed’ spam victim, but doesn’t this type of ‘payback’ solution smack of ‘Internet vigilantism’ or ‘taking the law into one’s own hands’ (something that is wrong and dangerous, no matter how justified and tempting it may seem to be)?
Apart from the obvious ‘dragging down to their level’ in which this method results, isn’t it illegal? Are the people who have put together this web page and promoted it’s use in danger of the authorities deciding that they too, are contributing to the daily plague of spam? I do hope not, as I know their intentions are based in a sense of fighting a huge, common evil.
I heard that the first ‘high profile’ case against a spammer in the U.S., resulting in a hefty jail term, concluded only last week. I know that the wheels of ‘justice’ do turn slowly, in almost everything but I believe the reason for that is so that mistakes and more injustices do not result.
That is my concern with Internet citizens deciding to, as I said, take the law into their own hands and perhaps overlooking where their actions may backfire, or worse, give the spammer an even more powerful tool with which to assault their victims. I shudder to think what spammers, especially those who fall victim to this new idea, might do if they find the identity or email addresses of the devisor/s of this idea.
We have relatively new laws to deal with spam and it’s perpetrators. As I said, there has been, to my knowledge only one ‘notable’ and ‘highly publicized’ instance of the law at work, where the Internet community has been able to feel a sense of ‘justice’ and, yes……payback, revenge, whatever. Give the Law a chance.
Again, I do understand the need for action and I know exactly how people feel about those who would spoil one of the communication, information and media marvels of this, and the last century. However, I think we need to, at least, give the law a chance to make a difference before we even think about resorting to such means to dissuade spammers from plying their trade. If to no one else, we owe it to ourselves.
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November 13th, 2009
Britain has not been very receptive about the decision of the Pirate Party to contest the UK general election. The party is known for its strong support for file sharing of music and opposition for strict copyright norms. It has some political power in Sweden, and has recently been in the news for proposing an amendment in copyright laws to reduce the duration of copyright from 50 years to 5 years. Industry experts fear that the party will ruin the economy of the music industry in the UK if it comes to power. Rick Falkvinge, the head of the Pirate Party, argued for positive support to file sharing in his speech at the In The City music conference, held in Manchester recently. His ideas were opposed vehemently by the other participants, and one of them went to the extent of saying that he was being manipulative. However, Yvette Livesey, the organiser of the conference, recognised the need for debate on the issue. In response to a question regarding her decision to invite Rick Falkvinge to the conference, she said that it is about time these issues are openly discussed. She added that if the discussions had been initiated a decade back, there would not have been so many problems and complications as there are now. However, whether the party will get any support in the UK or not is still not clear, considering the vehement opposition it is facing from the entertainment industry. For an insight into the various ISP’s, take look at a dedicated broadband comparison website for the latest broadband news.
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May 21st, 2009
Everyday, e-mail users find their inbox overflowing with messages from people they don’t know offering things they don’t need. Due to spam, e-mail users waste time everyday deleting junk mail from their inboxes. Sometimes, important e-mails get lost because the capacity of the e-mail account has reached its maximum due to the unsolicited messages.
Even if e-mail users ask the senders of unsolicited messages to stop bothering them, some spam just won’t go away voluntarily. The good news is, you can fight spam. There are several techniques available to defend your inbox from unsolicited e-mail including blocking addresses and tracing key words that are generally included in unwanted messages. There are techniques that work automatically and techniques where the user has to train the filter. Listed below are common ways to filter spam and keep it away from your inbox.
White-list and Blacklist:
In this system, also known as blocking, the user organizes a list of trustworthy addresses or domain names and these white-listed e-mails go straight to the user’s inbox. On the other hand, the user can blacklist addresses or domain names that send unsolicited messages and make these e-mails will be blocked and go directly to the trash folder. These lists can be maintained at the mail server or on the user’s computer.
Fingerprint:
With this technique an algorithm assigns all characters in an e-mail a numeric value, which it uses to calculate a numeric representation. This “fingerprint” is checked against the database of known spam fingerprints. The algorithm also accounts for whether an e-mail is identical to others received multiple times, generally a good indication of spam.
Heuristic filtering:
This kind of filter checks e-mails against a list of spam like keywords and phrases. The more words or phrases are found, the higher the e-mail score.
Bayesian filtering:
This filter is trained by the user, who categorizes received e mails as spam or not spam. The filter assigns probability values to each “token” (a word, a phrase, a symbol, or HTML code) based on how often it occurs in spam as opposed to regular messages. An e-mail’s score is an average of the token scores. This mechanism has a high rate of success as a filtering technique.
Summary:
Currently, you cannot completely eliminate receiving spam, but you can utilize spam filters to reduce the amount of messages you get every day. The #1 way to fight spam is to enable a mail filter which will watch your incoming mail, search it for indications of unsolicited content, and help you keep you inbox clean.
ITX offers a robust spam filter that will enable you to manage e-mail more efficiently and effectively. Unlike traditional spam filters, ITX’s filter utilizes a combination of mechanisms: advanced statistical analysis based on Bayesian filtering, blacklisting, and anti-virus scanning.
About ITX Corp:
ITX Corp is a business consulting and technology solutions firm focused in nine practice areas including Business Performance, Internet Marketing, IT Staffing, IT Solution Strategies and Implementation, Technical Services, Internet Services, and Technology Research. To learn more about what ITX can do for you visit our website at http://www.itx.net or contact us at (800) 600-7785.
About Jonathan Coupal:
Jonathan Coupal is the Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of ITX Corp. Mr. Coupal manages both the day-to-day and strategic operations of the Technology Integration Practice Group. Mr. Coupal and his team build a high level of trust with clients, establishing ITX as their IT partner of choice.
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May 1st, 2009
Today we see the Internet as a global catalog of information, and the Internet thrives on information. But information, which is fresh and new, is more valuable than out dated content. And that’s the reason why most of the Webmasters try to keep their sites updated.
In the recent years we have seen webmasters trying different methods to keep their content updated. However, a new face of online marketing is gaining popularity all over the web. It’s called RSS and its helping webmasters spread their content all over the web, like wildfire.
RSS (”Really Simple Syndication” or “Rich Site Summery”), is widely used to deliver content to your website users without any restriction.
For marketing your website and promoting it to target audience, you need creative strategies that build brand awareness, increase site traffic, and ensure that you are the best around in giving quality content. And RSS lets you do it with conviction.
Using RSS for marketing can help you integrate your website with your other marketing initiatives, develop winning strategies to drive targeted users to your site and in the process increase overall traffic and sales.
RSS today is getting very popular. It has changed the face of online marketing because with this technology webmasters can deliver their new latest content which is published on there website to his/her targeted users and also display it directly on their web page.
RSS Feeds are made in XML format, this XML file can be made very easily all by your self if you’re a programmer, as I’m sure XML is much easier then any other programming language. But if you don’t have any idea how to go about with the programming part, there are websites who can help you in making your own RSS Feed for your website, all you got to do is make an account on there website, they will guide you thorough some sequence of steps and your RSS Feed will be ready to get published.
RSS can increase your website traffic very rapidly here are some benefits listed below:
Stop your messages from getting blocked by strong spam filters
Provide New and Fresh Information on Your website, which encourages users to return to Your website.
Automate content delivery to your website users.
The Content can reach your Targeted Users with out Fail.
Drastically improve your search engine ranking and reach your target audience with ease
Boost your lead generation, easily add new subscribers and zoom past your competition that continues to use email.
As the name “Rich Site Summary” suggest that the RSS Feed is the summary of the actual content, without overwhelming the reader with superfluous details. If the reader is interested and wants additional information they can click on the item in the feed to accessing the website which contains additional details about that feed Item, RSS readers aggregate multiple feeds, making it easy for individuals to quickly scan information contained within each feed. Feeds are generally themed, allowing users to opt-in for the feeds that are of interest to them.
So if your website is not having this new technology, get started and join this new revolution.
Ibrahim Quraishi is the co-founder of http://www.rapidfeeds.com, a free online service that helps anyone deliver targeted content to their subscribers through RSS. Sign Up for your FREE account on his site to put an end to blocked messages and add more subscribers.
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April 3rd, 2009
5 Ways Spam Is Affecting Your Business And what we can all
do to prevent it.
If you had only just got online, and received your first
few emails, you may be forgiven for thinking you had hit
paydirt.
You would already have heard how you won millions on a
foreign lottery, then some benevolent foreigner wants to
give you more millions because a relative has died and he
needs help to get his inheritance, and you’re someone he
can trust. And as luck would have it, those personal body
parts you don’t discuss with anyone are actually too small,
but a few people can help you with that for a very low fee.
And you have all that Cas.h coming so…..
But you’re a seasoned veteran, and none of that is worth
your time, it’s just so much spam.
You probably don’t even see any of it.
Don’t give it a second thought.
Maybe you need to.
It is because it is so easy and cheap to send email that
you as a marketer want to use it,and spammers selling dodgy
pills want to exploit it. They send out a million untargeted
messages in a few hours, and rely on the fact that even if
only 1 or 2 % of the people they sent it to bu.y their wares
they will be in Profi.t.
You try to send a more targeted mailing, but due to the
spammers all email is being vetted more carefully, and spam
is hurting all of our businesses, even responsible marketers
like you who wouldn’t even think about using it.
Here are the 5 reasons you should consider the
implications of spam more carefully.
1 The time it takes to sort your emails is increased, but
you can always use filters or antispam software. Which
brings us to
2 False positives in antispam software means, if you don’t
check the filtered out spam, you may miss a valuable
contact from a customer. So you have to check it all
anyway.
3 Your customers use spam blockers, or their isps do so you
need to rethink your newsletter or email to your list of
prospects so you don’t trigger theirs.
4 Due to the amount of people you can reach with email, you
are more likely to encounter someone who reports you for
spam even after they signed up and double opted into your
newsletter. Result:- your domain gets blacklisted, and you
spend time undoing the damage.
5 People are more wary about giving their e-mail addresses
out so it’s harder work getting them to sign up for your
newsletter in the first place. You need an easy to find
privacy promise on your site.
Because so many people have used spam to sell their
products, we all suffer.
Even with all these spam related problems, email remains a
viable and usable option for Online marketin.g, but it needs
a bit more care than it did before.
Governments may be stepping in and passing laws to outlaw
spam, but the spammers themselves will move their servers
to a safe place with a more tolerant government. We need to
do our bit to keep email as an advertising option and play
safe.
Consider putting your newsletters online and sending a
short email with the link to the latest issue in it.
Never bu.y from a spammers email, and despite some advice
you may have seen to the contrary it is unwise to try to
reply to unsubscribe, that just proves they have an email
address which is live.
Be careful where you get leads from if you bu.y them, some
unscrupulous companies will sell you email lists harvested
straight from website mailto links.
CD’s full of 1000’s of names are not a good buy to market
to, they will have been sold and sold again, and the people
whose email addresses are on them will have been sent too
many offers already.
Always email responsibly, and ensure you give people a
plain privacy link, and an even more plain unsubscrib.e link
in every email.
Douglas Titchmarsh runs several websites, and blogs including
http://www.cashinonline.info and
http://www.titchmarsh.com
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March 27th, 2009
According to a recent study conducted by Ferris Research, a market and technology research firm specializing in messaging and collaboration, Spam will cost U.S. businesses over $10 billion in 2003.
Spam not only clogs our servers and in-boxes, but it also costs us hours and hours of lost time in productivity.
Although the estimated cost of Spam focuses mainly on lost productivity, this picture may be much broader than you realize.
Some of the more popular email providers, such as AOL (America Online), Yahoo! and Hotmail, are now utilizing filters to cut down on Spam. These filters are dumping Spam and/or bulk mailings into a separate location. Although this may cut down on Spam in your in-box, these filters are also dumping some legitimate email messages.
What’s more, some hosting services not only filter the email messages, but they’re also blocking entire hosting companies. For example, the blocking host may have gotten some Spam complaints about a few marketers that host with ABC hosting company. (Keep in mind, ABC hosting company may host thousands of sites.) Rather than block the offending marketers, the blocking host decides to blacklist the entire ABC host.
What this means is if you try to contact someone and their hosting company has blacklisted your host, your email will not go through — it will bounce right back to you.
If you suspect you may not be receiving all of your email, contact your host and ask them if they’re using Spam filters or have blocked entire hosting companies.
How Much Will Spam Cost Your Business?
How much time do you spend sorting through the Spam in your email each day? Add it up sometime — I’ll bet you’ll find you spend a lot more time than you even realized — time that could have been spent on your business.
If you’re publishing an ezine or sending out any form of opt-in mailings, how many subscribers are actually receiving your mailings? Most-likely, not nearly as many subscribers as you may think. How many lost sales has this cost you?
How many messages, such as information requests, customer support requests, etc., have you not received due to filtering?
How many messages have you replied to that your customers or potential customers have never received due to filtering?
As customer service says a lot about your business practices, how many customers will you lose?
The list goes on and on. But the point is this, Spam is costing you dearly.
Protecting Your Email Address
So how can you defend yourself? Well, it depends on which side you’re on — how to protect yourself, and/or how to make sure your messages are getting through.
In order to protect yourself against Spam, you first need to understand how your email address is obtained.
There are many unethical businesses online that collect and sell email addresses. They use robots that travel from link to link in search of email addresses. Their customers are led to believe that these email addresses belong to individuals who want to receive mailings. However, much of the time, this isn’t the case.
Never purchase a list of email addresses from anyone other than a reputable company. The only company I can recommend is Post Master Direct. http://www.postmasterdirect.com
To protect your email address from these robots, instead of displaying your address on your site, use a feedback form. Not just any type of form, but a form that doesn’t display your email address within the hidden form fields. The only form I can recommend is Master Feedback. You can pick up a free copy here:
http://willmaster.com/master/feedback/index.shtml
Anytime you’re filling out a form online and you’re asked to provide your email address, make sure you review the site’s “Privacy Policy” to ensure that your email address will not be sold or shared with a third party.
Protecting Your In-box
To protect your in-box, you can use a Spam filtering software program. Although there are several available online, the best one I’ve found is Mail Washer. This program will enable you to view all the email on your server without actually downloading it into your email program. Once you’ve reviewed your messages, you can create filters and bounce the Spam messages back to the sender. Although you can pick up the program free, consider supporting the developer and register the software for a small fee. http://www.mailwasher.net
Avoiding the Spam Filters
If you’re sending out a mailing to an opt-in list, there are a few steps you can take to make sure your message won’t trip the Spam filters:
1) Avoid using trigger words, such as Spam, fr*e, r*move, etc. Although the list is far too broad to list here, you can learn more by reading the following articles:
Spam Filters Run-Amuck by Timothy A. Gross
http://www.iprofitsystems.com/articles/spamfilters.html
CLIP & SAVE guide to avoiding Spam filters by Debbie Weil
http://www.imakenews.com/wordbiz/e_article000094161.cfm
2) Avoid using JavaScript within your messages.
3) Avoid using “bad” words.
If you’d like to ensure your messages are getting through, consider opening email accounts with the popular providers. You can send your mailings to these accounts and monitor their reception. If your mailings land in the dump, you can make some adjustments or even contact the company.
If you would like to test your outgoing email messages to ensure they won’t trigger a Spam filter, Ken Evoy offers a great service called SpamCheck. This free service will enable you to send a copy of your publication, or any email message, to a specific address and it will return a report of possible words that will trigger the Spam filters.
Send your publication including the subject and body to:
mailto:spamcheck-websource@sitesell.net
Conclusion
The Spam problem continues to get progressively worse. Although there isn’t a simple solution to the problem, the information provided in this article should assist you in not only avoiding Spam, but also avoiding the filters for your legitimate mailings.
It’s really a shame we’re even in this position. However, we cannot allow Spam to continue to infiltrate our businesses. We must take the necessary steps to ensure our success.
Copyright © Shelley Lowery
About the Author:
Shelley Lowery is the author of the acclaimed web design course, “Web Design Mastery” (www.webdesignmastery.com) and “eBook Starter - Give Your eBooks the look and feel of a REAL book” (www.ebookstarter.com)
Visit www.Web-Source.net to sign up for a complimentary subscription to eTips and receive a copy of Shelley’s acclaimed ebook, “Killer Internet Marketing Strategies.”
You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook, or on your web site, free of charge, as long as the author bylines are included.
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December 22nd, 2008
Over the years, computer programs have evolved from being productive to being malicious. Malicious software programs are rampant these days; some of these are computer viruses, spam, spyware, and adware. Spyware and adware are both classified under malware, which means they are malicious software that changes system and registry settings of the operating system which in turn causes the computer to be unstable.
Adware in its basic form is a program that shows advertisements on your computer monitor. Once a computer gets affected by adware, windows showing advertisements may popup on the display even if the computer is disconnected from the Internet. Aside from displaying popup windows, adware can also add website shortcut links to a webpage browser’s favorites folder and change the setting of your browser’s homepage. Adware also redirects search engine search results to other websites, most often to websites that earn income out of the number of clicks or hits they gather.
Adware is usually installed on a computer system through false pretenses. Adware websites trick users into clicking links that will install the adware program onto their systems. Similarly, adware can also be installed through freeware and bundled software, among these are free FTP or file sharing programs. Users are normally eager to use free software, which made combining adware with freeware software a likely “”package.”"
Adware takes advantage of the gullibility of users when it comes to using free things from the Internet. The most basic protection against adware would be for users to make sure the software they are planning to install comes from a credible source and does not include adware. Synonymously, users are advised to visit only trusted websites. When faced with a dialog box or a popup window during software installation or upon visiting a website, users are advised to read carefully before clicking on the “”OK”" or “”Yes”" option.
Aside from practicing safe web surfing, users may protect their computer systems by making sure the operating system is patched up or updated. Another solution would be to download and install “”Pop-up Blockers”" to stop popup advertisements from showing on the display. Antivirus software also provides protection against adware.
Adware provides detailed information on Adware, Adware Alerts, Adware And Spyware, Adware Filters and more. Adware is affiliated with Best Pop Up Blockers.
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October 18th, 2008
Every bank or entity which has secure online accounts is threatened by the practice of phishing - fraudsters who create mock emails purporting to be from the bank, which usually start with something like “your account (payment, credit card, etc) info is out of date and your account will be suspended if you do not update it”. The goal is, of course, to get your sensitive financial information so the fraudster can rip you off at will.
This is a form of identity theft, and since some online accounts are linked into other accounts, the damage from one compromised password can be huge.
Virtually every online account company has pages on their site, warning people of how to avoid the dangers of such emails. Without exception, one of the rules that is repeated over and over is:
Never click on an email link to get to your account. ALWAYS type the URL into your browser, or use a bookmark.
Now, here is the kicker:
EVERY SINGLE secure online company that I have that I get emails from PUTS CLICKABLE LINKS IN THEIR EMAILS!
Why do they do that when they just told you NOT to click them? Why do they put in email links, and make it easier for scammers to give the appearance of legitimacy?
If companies were truly concerned about protecting their customers, they’d follow their own rules! And they’d not give such an invite to the unscrupulous to rip off their patrons!
Written by Laura Wheeler
Owner of Tired of Hype - http://www.tiredofhype.com - Laura specializes in bold, honest and simple business startup tools and instructions for people with limited resources. With 8 years of business experience, and 6 years of web design expertise, she is well qualified to teach the things she writes about.
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October 16th, 2008
RSS has been widely used for delivering news headlines by
websites like BBC and CNN. There has been a boom in the blogging world, thanks to RSS. However, this new way of syndicating content is not just limited to blogs and news websites. In the past few months we have seen a lot of companies are using RSS in many different ways. In this article, we see how and in what ways RSS can be used to derive convincing results..
1) Updates and Company News: Now companies no longer have to wait to provide new updates to their customers. Using RSS, they can instantly notify their customers who are subscribed to their feed. This saves a lot of valuable time as well as keeps the updates fresh.
2) Important Announcements: Announcing a new product or a new service, whatever it is, RSS can be aptly used to make announcements on the appropriate time. And since time is a crucial element when announcing a new product, RSS fills in the gap to make sure it turns out to be successful.
3) Affiliate Updates: If you have a successful product, I’m sure you also have an affiliate or a reseller program. And communicating with your affiliates forms a big part of successful affiliate advertising. RSS provides the right platform to send messages to your affiliates, whether it’s about motivating them or letting them know about higher
payments. Affiliates simply wont ignore your messages if they receive them when they really need your advice.
4) Software Downloads: Software vendors can provide their users with latest software updates and relevant downloads. Since new versions of software come out every other day, RSS makes it much easier to let the users know about new upgrades, just as they become available.
5) Audio Content: Podcasting feeds, which allow companies to make their audio available through iPods and other software, can be used to deliver audio content.This can be anything from
interviews to short recorded seminars. Even hosting your own
radio show is possible, as RSS gives direct access to your listeners.
6) Newsletter Publishing: Newsletters have been on the internet for a long time and have mostly been made available via email. But now you have more than one option to send out your
publication. RSS is gaining popularity in the Internet marketing
world, as publishers are using both email and RSS to deliver their ezine. Publishers can actually cross promote their newsletter in the RSS feed and vice versa. This allows them to not only reach their current subscribers in a new way but also helps them gain new subscribers.
7) RSS Autoresponders: Autoresponders have always been used by marketers to build a long term relationship with their subscribers. An autoresponder tends to put your marketing on auto pilot and also helps you get that most wanted sale. Now you can go ahead and schedule messages in your RSS feeds for a future date, so that your marketing takes care of itself. This can work wonders if you are selling a product, as it usually takes atleast 7 exposures before your prospect buys from you.
The above ideas are just a few of what you can actually do with
RSS. You are just limited by your imagination. So start experimenting with RSS feeds and see how you can tailor this technology according to your own needs.
Mustafa Khundmiri is the co-founder of http://www.rapidfeeds.com - A Free online service which helps anyone create, edit, publish and track RSS feeds and podcasts. Sign Up for your FREE account on http://www.rapidfeeds.com and also get a free subscription to “RSS Chronicle” - A Newsletter exclusively based on RSS and syndication.
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