If you’re a publisher or create content in the digital space, you probably know about RSS feeds. Today, RSS feeds are being used on virtually every platform and in every type of content, including blogs, videos, podcasts, and more. RSS feeds help online algorithms curate content and provide personalized and more relatable content to the user.
It's crucial to understand how RSS technology works if you’re looking for ways to enhance your content’s reach and boost monetization. Keeping it in mind will help you plan and optimize your content, thereby reaching a wider audience and increasing engagement.
This blog post will walk you through everything related to the RSS feed. We'll specifically focus on video monetization and help you understand how your RSS feed can boost the revenue you earn from videos.
What is an RSS feed?
RSS is short for Really Simple Syndication. RSS is a technology that helps website owners and content creators publish notifications about the new content posted on their websites.
An RSS feed is a web feed that enables applications and their audiences to access content updates automatically. An RSS feed collects information from various sources and consolidates them in one place.
For example, it takes summaries, headlines, and updates and links them back to the content on the website’s page. This enables the user to be up-to-date with everything their favorite websites have published without needing to find it on their own.
Also in the case of BoardingArea, the RSS feeds generated an additional 200k sessions a month. This improvement is further highlighted by 12M video player loads with an average dwell time of 3 minutes.
RSS feeds use simple text files to extract crucial information from XML (extensible markup language) to streamline the content. The content is then put into an RSS feed reader that converts them into a digitally readable format.
The best thing about RSS feeds is that the content is constantly getting updated, so the users always get the latest content from a website. An RSS feed example can be as simple as alerting users that you've published a new blog post.
By tapping into RSS feeds, you can drive traffic back to your website and promote your top articles. Since the demand for visual content is increasing, you can also turn your existing top articles into videos and promote them on the RSS feed.
Benefits of RSS Feeds For Website Owners and Content Publishers
There are several benefits of RSS feeds for website owners and content publishers. These are just three of the great improvements you'll be able to implement with RSS:
Automate content delivery
The biggest benefit of an RSS feed is that your content gets updated and delivered to the end-user automatically. When you update your site, there's no guarantee that your audience will find it organically. Yes, you can send them emails about recent updates, but that can be an added hassle. Otherwise, you're relying on users to be constantly checking your site, which isn't the most realistic form of engagement.
The RSS feed helps you avoid this problem by automatically delivering the updated content to the user. And because RSS feeds update in real-time, your audience will easily see any new changes or published content on your site.
Reach a wider audience
You can reach a wider audience base through the RSS feed and boost engagement on your content. Many people feel reluctant to share their email addresses on websites. However, they usually don’t mind subscribing to a feed.
Moreover, when you have more subscribers to your RSS feed, you will also get more opportunities to drive traffic back to your site, promote your blogs, and sell products.
Repurpose and promote content
Another great benefit of the RSS feed is that it allows website owners to reuse and repurpose their old content.
If you have an old but relevant blog post, article, or newsletter, you can easily convert it into a video and promote it on your RSS feed. It also helps in boosting your website’s revenue through video ads.
What is an MRSS Feed?
Along with the RSS feed, as a website owner, you should also have an understanding of the MRSS feed. MRSS is also known as Media RSS. It is an RSS extension that syndicates multimedia files, like videos, audio, and images, into an RSS feed.
If you want to provide pure video content to your RSS feed subscribers, you must add MRSS extensions to your RSS feed. This type of feed also supports video monetization via ads.
What is the difference between RSS and MRSS?
The major difference between an RSS feed and an MRSS feed is that RSS allows you to syndicate simple text-based content to your feed while an MRSS feed allows you to add other media files to your RSS feed, making it more enriching for your subscribers. Video RSS and even audio RSS are all possible because of the MRSS extensions.
An existing RSS feed can be turned into an MRSS feed by simply adding the MRSS extension.
Final Thoughts
The RSS feed is a popular way for website users to consume content online and allows publishers the benefit of monetization. By subscribing to RSS feeds on various websites, users can stay updated with all the latest content their favorite website has posted.
RSS feeds are not dead, and they won't be disappearing anytime soon. This is a fantastic opportunity for publishers to promote their content on the RSS feed and boost the traffic and revenue of their website.
If you want to know more about how to monetize an RSS feed, contact us below.