Power RSS - New Tool for Automated Web Site Content
In case you haven't heard, one of the hot trends in 2005 has been the use of RSS parsers to produce automated site content.
In a nutshell, these tools "pluck" relevant content from RSS feeds of your choosing, and publish it on your page, usually as a series of links, with a short paragraph describing the article. That can be a great benefit to your site visitors, and is supposed to give you a boost in the search engines.
The same concept was used a while back for "smart pages". Those are machine-generated pages which all revolve around a small number of key words and key phrases, using the same content in randomized order. An RSS parser also creates something like a "smart page" except that the content is constantly changing, since it is being "pulled" from one or more RSS feeds at regular intervals.
The ever-changing content that you don't have to write yourself is the appeal behind this use of RSS parsers, because it provides your site with one or more constantly updating pages, which in turn attract the search engine spiders back for frequent visits.
Some people have even gone a step further, using RSS parsers to provide "content" for blogs. I'm not sure that I agree with the latter use, since blogs, by definition, are supposed to contain new and original content, rather than simply including somebody else's.
On a website, however, providing a "news feed" page is a great idea. It has several major drawbacks, however, all of which are solved by Power RSS, a new release from innovative developer Adrian Ling.
Among the drawbacks of using one of the "first generation" RSS parsers is the fact that everybody who uses the same feeds will have identical pages on their sites, leaving a "footprint" that search engine spiders will soon recognize. Not so when using Power RSS.
It is set up to "randomize" the number and order of appearance of RSS items on the pages it generates, thus making for countless variations. Just to give you an idea how unique these pages are, if one were to display ten items in all possible random orders, the result would be over 3 million unique combinations.
In addition to this terrific feature, which I don't believe exists in any other RSS parser, Power RSS also creates archives of the pages that it creates. You can set up to archive at any interval that you like, and create literally hundreds of new pages for your site in the process, all linking back to your main site, or any other site(s) of your choosing.
There are many more features, too many to list and go into here. You should visit the site and check out PowerRSS for yourself.
OK ... enough about features ... how easy is this thing to use? Fairly simple, actually, although from my experience I'd say that it would help if you have a basic understanding of the folder and file structure on a server. I've set up two similar applications before. One was a bit easier to set up and get running than was PowerRSS, and the other, by comparison, was a nightmare.
The documentation provided with PowerRSS is quite detailed, although a bit lacking in a few places.
In one instance, the instructions called for starting a configuration routine, but the directions did not start the required file, which had to be started from a different file. In another instance, I noticed that the order of presentation of items for setting up the configuration file differed significantly from the order of appearance of the items in the software itself.
I was able to work around both of these, and tolerate the minor inconsistencies, since I'm using the first release of the software and documentation. I would bet that the documentation for this program will be improved significantly in short order, and be on a par with the quality documentation and support that Adrian always provides.
Starting from scratch, it took me around an hour to read through the documentation, upload the files, and get PowerRSS working. I probably spent another half hour "tweaking" the settings, so I could get everything just right, but I was interested in completely integrating the output of the script into my existing page design. Had I been willing to use the page templates provided with the software, I probably could have cut my total installation time in half.
I didn't find the need to email the developer or post to his support forum to get up and running, but I know from my own past experience with him, and from seeing how attentive he is to his online forum, that support will be excellent when needed. I own two of his earlier products, and he has always answered my questions about them quickly, completely, and patiently.
My bottom line on this tool is a solid "thumbs up". It really should be "hats off", since the software has a number of unique features that make it my top choice among RSS parsers. I don't think you can go wrong with PowerRSS, and it will surely get even better over time.
In a nutshell, these tools "pluck" relevant content from RSS feeds of your choosing, and publish it on your page, usually as a series of links, with a short paragraph describing the article. That can be a great benefit to your site visitors, and is supposed to give you a boost in the search engines.
The same concept was used a while back for "smart pages". Those are machine-generated pages which all revolve around a small number of key words and key phrases, using the same content in randomized order. An RSS parser also creates something like a "smart page" except that the content is constantly changing, since it is being "pulled" from one or more RSS feeds at regular intervals.
The ever-changing content that you don't have to write yourself is the appeal behind this use of RSS parsers, because it provides your site with one or more constantly updating pages, which in turn attract the search engine spiders back for frequent visits.
Some people have even gone a step further, using RSS parsers to provide "content" for blogs. I'm not sure that I agree with the latter use, since blogs, by definition, are supposed to contain new and original content, rather than simply including somebody else's.
On a website, however, providing a "news feed" page is a great idea. It has several major drawbacks, however, all of which are solved by Power RSS, a new release from innovative developer Adrian Ling.
Among the drawbacks of using one of the "first generation" RSS parsers is the fact that everybody who uses the same feeds will have identical pages on their sites, leaving a "footprint" that search engine spiders will soon recognize. Not so when using Power RSS.
It is set up to "randomize" the number and order of appearance of RSS items on the pages it generates, thus making for countless variations. Just to give you an idea how unique these pages are, if one were to display ten items in all possible random orders, the result would be over 3 million unique combinations.
In addition to this terrific feature, which I don't believe exists in any other RSS parser, Power RSS also creates archives of the pages that it creates. You can set up to archive at any interval that you like, and create literally hundreds of new pages for your site in the process, all linking back to your main site, or any other site(s) of your choosing.
There are many more features, too many to list and go into here. You should visit the site and check out PowerRSS for yourself.
OK ... enough about features ... how easy is this thing to use? Fairly simple, actually, although from my experience I'd say that it would help if you have a basic understanding of the folder and file structure on a server. I've set up two similar applications before. One was a bit easier to set up and get running than was PowerRSS, and the other, by comparison, was a nightmare.
The documentation provided with PowerRSS is quite detailed, although a bit lacking in a few places.
In one instance, the instructions called for starting a configuration routine, but the directions did not start the required file, which had to be started from a different file. In another instance, I noticed that the order of presentation of items for setting up the configuration file differed significantly from the order of appearance of the items in the software itself.
I was able to work around both of these, and tolerate the minor inconsistencies, since I'm using the first release of the software and documentation. I would bet that the documentation for this program will be improved significantly in short order, and be on a par with the quality documentation and support that Adrian always provides.
Starting from scratch, it took me around an hour to read through the documentation, upload the files, and get PowerRSS working. I probably spent another half hour "tweaking" the settings, so I could get everything just right, but I was interested in completely integrating the output of the script into my existing page design. Had I been willing to use the page templates provided with the software, I probably could have cut my total installation time in half.
I didn't find the need to email the developer or post to his support forum to get up and running, but I know from my own past experience with him, and from seeing how attentive he is to his online forum, that support will be excellent when needed. I own two of his earlier products, and he has always answered my questions about them quickly, completely, and patiently.
My bottom line on this tool is a solid "thumbs up". It really should be "hats off", since the software has a number of unique features that make it my top choice among RSS parsers. I don't think you can go wrong with PowerRSS, and it will surely get even better over time.
posted by John at
12:07 PM
