RSS has taken the world by storm. Why? Because it's an ultra-easy, inexpensive way your business can talk to the world – and for the world talk back to your business. The key word in RSS is syndication – the distribution of information. You don’t need to attract people to your Web site any more: when you implement RSS on your Web site, your site's changes plus any other information you want to distribute goes to your subscribers automatically.

Google launched a new blog search engine (http://blogsearch.google.com ) in the fall of 2005. And, Microsoft has announced that XML and RSS will be heavily integrated into the newWindows operating system, Microsoft Vista, and the new version of Microsoft Office, both due out in 2006.

Since RSS will be a part of Windows Vista and the new MS Office, user adoption will follow at a much quicker rate than would normally be seen with an emerging technology. In fact, this takes RSS into the mainstream and RSS and XML will become comfortable and familiar to everyone.

Businesses particularly benefit from user adoption of RSS. When you develop your own RSS feeds, with your own content, you increase your visibility online, because any content which is updated regularly gets the attention of the Web’s search engines. With greater visibility, you can attract a greater number of visitors. You can also attract a variety of visitors – people which you previous had no way of attracting to your site.

And, you increase your brand's awareness when you publish an RSS feed. Once you publish an RSS feed, you give others the opportunity to syndicate your material if they find it useful for their visitors. With other people distributing your content, you increase your brand's awareness. The more relevant and interesting your content is, the greater the likelihood that it will be syndicated.

To increase brand awareness, ensure that at least some of your RSS content is focused on news, and information valuable to your audience (rather than blatant marketing), and even to your competitors, because it increases the syndication-value of your feeds.

You increase the ability to maintain and enhance your search engine rankings. Your search engine positioning will be enhanced if you put keyword-targeted feeds on your site. In addition to developing your own RSS feeds, you can incorporate others' feeds into your own site. This new information, which is constantly updated, helps you to not only maintain your search engine ranking, but also to raise it.

Consider RSS as a must have addition to your site. Don’t underestimate the value and convenience an RSS feed will offer you and your customers.

There are a variety of blog platforms available, but businesses need a professional platform that is stable and convenient and support multiple authors.

View an intro to RSS video.

Robyn Tippins writes on PR and Marketing at http://sleepyblogger.com/