Keep Your Website Up To Date With A Flash RSS Reader - By: Flashloaded

A Flash RSS reader can keep your website completely up to date with the latest news on your niche, and also keep the search engines happy with continually updated content: and yes, Google can now read and index Flash pages.

Really Simple Syndication, or the ability to broadcast up to date news feeds on your websites has grown massively in popularity, and if you have a website then you may possibly have considered including a feed on your own web page. However, unless you're using a Flash RSS reader then you may well find yourself either facing a complex problem as far as embedding a live feed into your own site is concerned, or missing out on the valuable advantages of having regular, up to date information on your site in the search engine stakes.

There are very many websites now offering live RSS feeds, and for almost any subject you choose to think of, there are almost certainly a number of live feeds available for this. Whether the updates are to the minute, from global news and media corporations, or weekly updates from private individuals publishing entries every few days, having up to date information on your site that changes regularly is a real advantage.

Visitors like to see a website that looks as though it is still cared for, and hasn't been abandoned. With a live RSS feed on the site, then this immediately gives the impression that the site is relevant and current, even if you yourself haven't done a thing to it for weeks. The RSS reader will automatically collect any updated articles from the sources you chose, and feed them straight through to your website without you having to do a thing.

However, there are some issues with doing this. Basically, as far as incorporating an RSS feeder into your site is concerned, you have three possible choices - either JavaScript, PHP or a Flash RSS reader.

One of the most commonly found ways of embedding an RSS reader into a website is using JavaScript, and this has often been suggested as the best way for beginners. However, besides being fairly complicated to achieve, there is a hugely significant downside to this. A JavaScript reader, unlike a Flash RSS reader, doesn't actually bring the content directly into the HTML of the website. Basically what this means is that when search engines, such as Google, scan the content of the web page, it completely misses out the RSS feed.

This means that your hard work in trying to get your website continually updated and refreshed makes no difference to the search engines who will ignore the relevant stories and remain completely oblivious the fact that you have a live feed at all. The alternative to this has often been to use PHP, but this is very hard to achieve, and unless you're pretty good at programming then it is something of a nightmare to do.

However, there are now a number of very good Flash RSS reader gadgets available, and these manage to achieve a fantastic job, combining the ease and simplicity of including a JavaScript reader into your page, with the advantages of having the actual contents of the RSS feed appearing in the code for a search engine to find. Until recently search engines like Google were unable to recognise or read Flash files, but this has now changed. Search engines can now read Flash files, and if you have a Flash RSS reader on your site, this will be picked up, noticed, read, and will ultimately help to make your website appear as one that is regularly updated and therefore worth ranking higher up the search results list.

A Flash RSS reader is simplicity to install and embed within your webpage - really no harder than including an image on your web page. They're very customizable too, allowing you to choose the sources of the feed, and also choosing the design and appearance of the reader, although you'll probably want to keep this clean and simple. There are often other features as well, many of which are simply not available using the PHP based readers. These features include, for example, the option of scrolling all feeds automatically, cycling through just the headings, embedding links within the feeds and allowing the user to increase or decrease the speed of scrolling, pause or even go backwards through the stories displayed.

When you consider than within five minutes of getting hold of a Flash RSS reader you could have live, rolling, up to date news stories relevant to your website being broadcast, and that every day this will update without you having to do a thing, the benefits are huge. Not only will search engines see your website as being more up to date and relevant, but your visitors will recognise the fact that your site is providing current information, and therefore providing a useful and informative service.

Coupled with the fact that RSS feeds are free, and embedding a Flash RSS reader takes just a couple of minutes, it could well turn out to be the single biggest way of boosting your website's status that you manage to achieve in a long while.

About the Author

For more information on how to use a Flash RSS Reader, check out http://www.flashloaded.com/flashcomponents/rssreader/ where you will find out how to keep your web page content constantly refreshed.

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