How to Use RSS Feeds Want to make sure your marketing message doesn't end up in your customers' spam folders? Get the word out with an RSS feed.

RSS isn't just for news junkies. Creative marketers are feeding readers everything from special offers to product promos--without risking a trip to the junk-mail folder. And this in-the-know audience is more likely to research products for purchase online--40 percent of RSS users do research online, whereas only 18 percent of non-RSS users do, according to Forrester Research's "Consumer Technographics 2005 Benchmark Study." How can you get your product in front of these hungry shoppers?

E-mail spam has ignited RSS adoption because RSS is 100 percent opt-in. Users subscribe to a reader such as Bloglines, Newsgatoror Pluck, then choose the feeds they want to receive--no spam allowed. And although Forrester estimates that only 2 percent of U.S. adults use RSS, this number is climbing quickly.

Your first job is to decide what information to syndicate as an RSS feed. Blogs, special offers, company news, events, product announcements and articles make compelling RSS content.