If e-mail continues on its self-destruct course, RSS could very well become the new standard, either replacing e-mail subscriptions or, more likely, supplementing email. What are RSS Feeds? An RSS feed is a Web-accessible XML file containing a listing of web pages with related news or information. RSS is basically a stream of raw data: content entirely separated from presentation. The XML-based RSS feed contains content information, such as the headline, description, an excerpt, and the URL where the subscriber can find the content in its entirety. Once uploaded to a website, the RSS feed should be validated for comprehensiveness and accuracy. Once it is validated, the feed can then be submitted to engines that ping RSS feeds.

In the RSS Business Model, content publishers need to determine how to make RSS content distribution profitable. Just as there are paid e-mail newsletters, there can be paid RSS news feeds. It's just another file that resides on a web server, so it can be served from a password protected web site. However, with a paid RSS newsfeed, readership is reduced, as subscribers are limited to using RSS aggregators or news readers which support authentication. It is much more profitable to keep your RSS feed free. Use it much like you would your e-mail marketing by providing articles, product release announcements and so forth. Remember, the big difference is that the subscriber chooses to receive your feed and have taken steps to make that happen, therefore, it cannot be turned off by anyone but the subscriber.Whether you decide to convert to RSS full force or simply offer RSS as an alternative for your subscribers, it's important to realize that e-mail is starting to lose its luster, and now is a very good time to include RSS in your publishing arsenal