RSS - The easy way!

Imagine you watch 4 news sites each day - CBC, MSNBC, CTV, BBC. You would have to go to each site in turn and search for the new content - right? Well, not if they offer RSS feeds (which these guys do - and so do we).

RSS is a system which "feeds" your computer with the newest content when it is posted on a site. You need a program called a "Feed Reader" to do this - and there are loads of them around [link]. Basically, the "Reader" checks the sites every few minutes to see if there's anything new - if there is, the reader tells you and allows you to look at the article/content (in our case, listing).

We use RSS to allow buyers to always see what's new to the market on FREE2LIST.ca. Buyers can "subscribe" to our feed in the same way as they subscribe to their news feeds. When there's a new listing, it pops up on their reader - easy eh? Of course, people will limit the range of what shows to province/territory, city etc. rather than get them all - it's up to the user/buyer/subscriber.

To use a feed, you simply add it to the reader - the reader then knows to check it. This is called "subscribing to the feed". You can subscribe to as many feeds as you want. RSS is better than email newsletters/content as you only get what you ask for - there's no possibility of spam. Blogs and podcasts rely on RSS to tell people when the new content is posted.

Really, RSS allows us to keep people advised of your listings without them even having to log-on to one of our sites. Using a reader is pretty easy - it's a bit like using email - but with only the content that you subscribe to. If you're really interested: RSS [wikipedia]

Fred was looking at his computer and suddenly, his feed-reader tells him that there's a new story on CBC Canada, one on BBC World and his favourite blogger has just posted a new article. Also - there are 5 new property listings from free2list.ca in his area as he is looking to buy a new place. Let's hope your listing is one of them!

RSS Reader Examples: