A now "deceased" website on RSS marketing and RSS publishing - a look at the history of internet marketing

Rok Hrastnik

A Note from the Author: The RSS Diary is Closed

rssdiary.marketingstudies.net was built to help marketers get the most from RSS. However, much has changed since the site was last updated in 2007 - and it's pretty fair to say that it's now completely outdated.

Since I've moved on to other interests in internet marketing years ago, the site is now officially closed, and only remains online as an archive of a part of internet marketing's past. This is how we used to see RSS between 2004 - 2007. We don't, anymore, but there's no harm in having a small part of our past available online.

With that, I'm also making the e-book that started all of this, Unleas the Marketing and Publishing Power of RSS, available for free download.

Rok Hrastnik [to contact and/or follow me: LinkedIn l Facebook]

 
[31.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

RSS Continues to Make Our Lives Easier

Lots of interesting news this week, all pointing to the fact (and demonstrating) how different RSS applications are actually making our lives easier. Yes, RSS is not only a tool for publishers to deliver their news and other similar content to their readers, but a tool that can profoundly help consumers in making their lives easier. And it just started ... Let's take a look at what went down this week ...
 
[31.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

RSS Won't Effect E-mail Marketing?

David Daniels, in a recent ClickZ article, states that 'RSS won't be immediately effective as an alternative to e-mail marketing'. The first thing to notice is that it seems that e-mail marketers as well do not see the 'integration path' ...
 
[31.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

FeedSpring: New Free Desktop RSS Publishing Tool

Here's another desktop RSS publishing tool and it's actually free. FeedSpring does provide some basic publishing features, and although it won't satisfy the needs of more demanding users, it's a great tool for those wanting to start testing the world of RSS.
 
[31.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

RSS For Internal Communications: It's Starting

Shel Holtz shares that the Amsterdam-based ING Groep got the early lead in using RSS for internal communications when it launched a pilot test with 200 employees early this year.
 
[29.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

Receiving Feedback Still Feels Good

'Man, you have left no stone unturned with this one-of-a-kind manuscript. Unless someone has been on another planet vacationing the last year or so, they have heard about the power of RSS and what it means to the future of content distribution and communications.'
 
[28.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

John Jantsch on Corporate Blogging and Referral Marketing

I interviewed John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing to get the "how-to" on corporate blogging and referral marketing. The interview reveals excellent pointers on how to integrate business blogging in your business strategy, the differences between the buying patterns of e-mail and RSS subscribers, and a complete referral marketing system.
 
[28.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

Gnomedex 5.0 Coming Soon!

This is the technology event for the grassroots of RSS, Blogging, Podcasting, BitTorrent, Media, taking place in Seattle in June 23-25. Chris managed to pull toget an incredible array of speakers, starting with the Adam Curry keynote ...
 
[27.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

Being Trashed For Your Work

Being trashed for your international work in your own country always feels good. Being trashed for your marketing insights by a programmer feels even better. And having your work trashed by someone who hasn't even seen it (doing the trashin' based on your sales letter) makes you feel even better. And it's even better to have your work trashed by someone falling under all three of the above criteria, while your work is praised by the leading international people in the industry. [Update 2005-03-28]
 
[24.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

The First RSS Seminar Ever?

App. 36 blogs on a national level, app. 2-6 companies publishing content via RSS, and probably not more than 100-500 RSS end-users. Call us crazy, but we still did a seminar on RSS. I'm just wondering if this was the first seminar ever (in the world) dedicated almost exclusively to RSS?
 
[24.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

Mobile RSS and RSS Advertising Going Strong

This week faced us with research negating the power of RSS, a pro-RSS survey, and much interesting news in-between. And now, latest reports indicate that RSS advertising and mobile RSS are continuing to grow strong.
 
[22.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

Slashdot Survey Predicts Dramatic RSS Growth, While RSS "Wars" Continue

Contrary to the Jupiter report, the Slashdot survey predicts dramatic RSS growth, as 73% of respondents plan to increase their use of RSS feeds next year (hmmm ... how can you plan to increase your content consumption channel habits?). Now, is it just me, or are we really reaching the RSS tipping point, as demonstrated by the huge increase of research, clashing opinions, vendor battles, sponsorhip deals and venture capital investments?
 
[22.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

The Jupiter RSS Report Scrutinized

The Jupiter RSS report is creating quite a response from marketers and publishers already using RSS. Here's a quick run-down on the conversations going around the Web ...
 
[21.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

RSS Advertising, RSS Metrics and RSS Consumption: Interview With Scott Rafer of Feedster

We interviewed Scott Rafer of Feedster to get the scoop on the future and present of RSS advertising, RSS metrics and RSS consumption habits. Scott provides unique content and insights of great use and advantage to all advertisers and RSS marketers.
 
[21.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

RSS Adoption Not Really Simple: Marketers Show Poor Understanding of RSS

The latest JupiterResearch report claims that RSS will not have a significant effect as a supplemental alternative to e-mail marketing. While the report does serve some relevant obstacles to wide-spread marketing adoption of RSS, it mostly shows a poor understanding of RSS by marketers. Actually, as you can see from this article, many of the points made in the report are invalid ...
 
[17.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

When There is Too Much RSS

Are we on the out-break of RSS content overload? Probably not just yet, but people still subscribe to too many feeds, and there are still no adequate content filtering solutions. But does all this mean that RSS is 'useless'?
 
[16.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

The RSS Wars

While 'the search war' is already in full swing, signs of an already underlying "RSS war" are all here, as further signaled by recent Microsoft MSN market moves. After all this is over, the marketing world might never be the same again.
 
[16.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

The Power of RSS For High-Importance Updates: RSS via SMS

You can now receive crucial information, which requests immediate attention, via RSS --> SMS. As this new development proves, RSS it not just for news, but provides applications that really improve our lives.
 
[15.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

The Custom Reader Branded RSS Aggregator in Action: Branded for MarketingStudies.net

One of the recent players to enter the branded RSS aggregator market, Custom Reader, just launched the beta version of their branded desktop aggregator, and gave me a shot at doing my own branded edition. Read on to see how branded aggregators work in action and to get your own branded MarketingStudies.net edition ...
 
[14.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

Hard-core Bloggers, RSS Marginal and Podcasting Overhyped

In one sweep, a survey conducted by BlogAds deemes RSS marginal (my words, not theirs) and podcasting overhyped. Looks bad for RSS publishers and podcasters? By all means no. At least for RSS publishers, these figures could mean great news ...
 
[13.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

The RSS NewsMaster Toolkit is Finally Available

Robin Good, after much work, finally launched the fully updated version of his RSS NewsMaster Toolkit. Having read a preview copy myself, I can certainly say that this is the ultimate guide for all companies and webmasters looking to achieve market leadership by providing highly focused streams of niche content from all concievable and relevant online content sources. Find out how you can get the Toolkit at a 50% discount ...
 
[13.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

Enterprise RSS: Interview with Greg Reinacker, NewsGator

How can companies leverage the power of RSS for internal communications and information/knowledge management? The impact of branded RSS aggregators: how to implement them and why? And "watching" RSS feeds on your TV ... Find out more in this interview.
 
[13.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

RSS Metrics - Unique URLs Might Not be the Best Choice: Interview with Fergus Burns, Nooked.com

I spoke quite extensively with Fergus Burns of Nooked while attending the International Direct Marketing Fair in London. In this interview, recorded on-location, we discuss the technology approaches to RSS metrics and the corporate RSS marketplace. The interesting thing is that Fergus believes that using unique URLs to track RSS subscribers might not be the best solution, since it puts a higher bandwidth strain on online RSS aggregation services.
 
[10.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

Blogging: The Movie

Yes, that's right. Robin Good and Marco Montemagno are 'shooting' a movie about bloggers, with bloggers and for bloggers, to evangelize blogging. The starts are, who else, but real-life bloggers. And everyone can be one ...
 
[09.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

Setting the Record Straight: Rok Hrastnik on RSS Marketing & E-mail

I'm noticing that quoting me out of context has become quite a small trend among technology news sites. To set the record straight: I never stated that e-mail marketing doesn't work anymore. Quite on the contrary: e-mail marketing still works, but it is burdened with delivery, security and credibility issues. Furthermore, I never suggested anyone replace e-mail marketing with RSS, but actually emphasized in my book that RSS and e-mail should be used together, giving concrete tactics on how to do it best.
 
[08.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

Exclusive Search Engine Optimization Strategies and RSS: Interview with Lee Odden, TopRank

In this interview, Lee Odden of TopRank shares his exclusive search engine marketing and optimization strategies, especially those related to RSS and blogs. These strategies are not widely used yet, so Lee's advice is by all means worth gold.
 
[08.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

Podcasting as a Sales Tool

Podcasting is all of the talk right now, but can it perform as a sales tool as well? Recent examples prove that it certainly can.
 
[08.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

Only 0.03% of Blogs Driving Sales & 7 Practical Tactics to Turn Your Blog Into a Sales Machine

According to MarketingSherpa.com, only about 0.03% of the 34.5 million existing blogs worldwide are driving sales or generating relevant business leads. Not especially good numbers, if you're trying to convince your CEO or client in to starting a blog.
 
[07.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

Appcasting: Delivering Software Updates via RSS

MasterNewMedia.org has a great article today on using RSS to deliver software updates to existing customers/users. The premise of appcasting is simple: give your customers/users an easy way to receive and download new software updates, patches etc. for your software, without forcing them to keep a constant eye on your web site to see if there's anything new.
 
[07.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

#3: What Kind of Content Can You Publish via RSS?

To start marketing & publishing with RSS, it helps to first understand what kind of content you can deliver via RSS feeds. This is the key to understanding RSS and taking best advantage of it: if you can break down your internet content in to separate 'stories', you can publish it using RSS. Let's take a look at some practical examples ...
 
[05.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

RSS For Marketers: Feedback From Dick Costolo of Feedburner and Pamela Heywood, Online Business Journal

One of the most rewarding things of writing a book is getting positive feedback from the people that matter the most: your readers and industry leaders. And it's especially rewarding when one of the comments you receive is from someone like Dick Costolo, the CEO of Feedburner, one of the key RSS companies in the world today.
 
[05.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

Branded RSS Aggregator Strategies and New Customizable RSS Aggregator

Branded RSS aggregators are seeing a lot of press this week, in part due to NewsGator's latest release and I'm also hoping that in part because companies are finally starting to see the full power of RSS. And then today I just received a call from a company that seems to have launched a freely customizable/brandable RSS aggregator. And if you're wondering what you could do with a branded RSS aggregator, here are just some of the incredible marketing opportunities.
 
[05.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

Good Day/Week for RSS News and Developements

Two 'new' RSS clients, more media houses launch RSS and just a generally positive feeling about the publicity RSS is getting ...
 
[03.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

Robin Good on NewsMastering and Becoming the #1 Content Source in Your Industry

In this interview Robin explains all the key elements of NewsMastering; ranging from what NewsMastering is, how companies can benefit from it, what it takes to publish NewsMaster RSS feeds (News Radars on specific topics) and the entire process of preparing the content for your feed. His report is coming out next week, but right now you have the unique opportunity of finding out how NewsMastering can help you become the preffered content source in your industry, getting there before anyone else does.
 
[03.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

Important Developements in the Branded RSS Aggregator Arena

NewsGator just announced the launch of its NewsGator Media Platform, a 'Private Label RSS Service for Media Companies', which is practically a branded RSS aggregator that media companies can promote to their visitors to convert them to RSS users and at the same time increase brand exposure and achieve a more personal contact with their readers.
 
[01.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

Debbie Weil's Beginners Guide to Business Blogging

Debbie Weil's manifesto on business blogging gives you the 'what, why, and how of business blogging', on just 41 pages, to get you what you need to know in the shortest possible time. While the manifesto is no longer available for free, Debbie has agreed to give you, the readers of MarketingStudies.net, the opportunity to still get it free of charge. Get it here ...
 
[01.03.2005 l Rok Hrastnik]

Marqui Wasn't Ready for 'RSS Conversations'

Marqui can well be noted as one of the pioneers of relevant, ethic and transparent use of bloggers to publicize a product for a fee. Of course, some will dissagree:) But now that their program is nearing its conclusion, the question needs to be asked: were they ready to flawlessly implement their engenious plan?
Unleash the Marketing and Publishing Power of RSS