RSS Feeds 101 : What, Why & Where

Posted on January 5, 2012 by niko

If you are running a blog, you have probably seen this symbol (or something very similar) somewhere. Or, you have seen mentions of an “RSS” or a “News Feed” or simply your “Feed”.

Too, the new Bridal Network site probably keeps asking you for your RSS Feed address.

What does it all mean? Why should you care?

News Syndication

The idea is that if you are bothering to write a blog, presumably you want as many people and other websites to subscribe to it. Your blog should seamlessly ”broadcast” your latest stories to the rest of the world. Like those streaming headlines at the bottom of a TV newscast.

That’s exactly what your RSS (“really simple syndication“) feed does : it continuously serves your latest story headlines (+ a short summary) out to anyone who cares to request them. And it does so

  1. In a simple,  standardized, generally accepted format
  2. After stripping off all the formatting, like text colour, font size, background colours etc etc. The feed serves pure text, so any/all receiving devices can make sense of it.

Continue reading →

Posted in Internet Marketing, Network Help | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

QR Codes 101 : What, Why & Where

Posted on January 5, 2012 by niko

Scan me with your Phone..

QR Codes are becoming absolutely ubiquitous. You see them on ads, business mailings, supermarket shelves. (here is one of our own, on the right). What exactly are they? Why should you care? And how do you get one?

What Are They?

Essentially, a QR Code is little more than a square barcode, that can be “read” using a digital camera (if you are interested, check out the technical info on Wikipedia).

What makes them so special, is exactly that:

  • you do not need a laser scanner or other fancy technology to read them. Any smartphone with a camera can do it, instantly.
  • ..meaning that you can encode all sorts of neat instructions in a QR Code, stick it on your print ads, or your business cards, your flyers etc and anyone with a smart phone can buzz it and look up whatever you wish them to look up: your current specials, your website, your portfolio page on Flickr, your full contact record.. – whatever.

Why Should You Get One?

Continue reading →

Posted in Internet Marketing, Network Help | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Bridal Network 2.0 (beta) is Live!

Posted on January 4, 2012 by niko

The New Standard for Digital Wedding Marketing

Since 2001, over ten years and two recessions ago, the original Bridal Network “click-engine” has served 1,000,000+ brides, processed 9,000,000+ transactions and grown to 40,000+ member vendors. It was finally time for a major product update. Our mission statement:

Create the most complete, affordable & effective internet marketing “bundle” for wedding vendors.
If you should subscribe to a single internet product, it has to be Bridal Network 2.0. Everything else is optional

  1. New website – faster, smarter, easier.
  2. New services - SEO, blogging, social media, deals, QR Tags.
  3. New membership – separating essential from click products.

Continue reading →

Posted in Network News | Tagged | Leave a comment