Google's Web Clips Allow You to Add RSS Feeds to Your Gmail Account

...and What it Means for the Internet Marketer...

Googles new web clips service allows you to scroll RSS or Atom feeds above your inbox and messages. With Web Clips you can track your favorite blogs (like this one!!!), news, sports or anything else that has a feed attached to it. (NOTE: Don't know what RSS - Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication - is? Then click here for an easy explanation or here for a little more detail.)

It's easy to do; took 5 minutes to add a feed for my blog. What's the benefit? Not sure yet -- it's a periphery of your conscious type thing. You're checking your mail or composing messages and there's this line of text that maybe catches your attention. Kind of like a highway billboard or a magazine ad that you scan as your reading an article. One of those 8 marketing impressions you need to make before a prospect will do business with you. Anyhow, Web Clips comes pre-populated with a number of prominent feeds and as I said above, it's simple, although not intuitive, to add your own. It's got a nice forward|back button as well so you can easily scroll all of the feeds you subscribe to.

Like most things Google, it's kind of cool and if you RSS and Gmail, check it out...

The Internet Marketer's Challenge?

As always, getting noticed. As a marketer it's neat to see all of these new channels for your content popping up but there's still the issue of how do 'I' get anybody to notice 'my dinghy' in an ocean full of big hummin' cruise ships? How do I get Mr. Prospect to subscribe to 'my blog' let alone trust that he or she is savvy enough to hook 'me' into their Gmail feed. Because unless you're CNN, Yahoo, ESPN or the like, it's not going to happen automagically.

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, the answer is.... no, no, no, that's Bob Dylan's answer. Anyway, how? Let them know. Tell everybody and make it easy. Let 'em know it's there and show 'em how to get it.

Here's an idea... In your email signature promote your Blog or other RSS/Atom enabled content and include a link to a tutorial titled, "How to Subscribe to My Blog Feed" that links back to your web site for instructions.

Thanks for reading...

tom.gray@gemsolv.com
GeMSolv.com