RSS feeds are a great way to stay updated whenever new articles (or tips) are posted to your favorite blogs. But the usefulness doesn’t stop there. As you become more comfortable using RSS feeds, you’ll discover all sorts of handy ways you can use RSS to grow your business.
For example, you can turn any search on Craigslist into a personalized RSS feed that notifies you whenever newly posted listings fit your search criteria.
Turn any Craigslist Search into an RSS Feed.
Visit Craigslist.org and chose a nearby city from their growing list. Then type in a simple search you want to be updated on.
In our case, we’ve done a search for “graphic designer” in the Jobs section of the Seattle-Tacoma edition of Craigslist. Which results in this search result:
Result: seattle.craigslist.org/search/jjj?query=graphic%20designer
On the Craigslist results, scroll down to the bottom of the page where you should find a small orange RSS icon.
Click this icon, and the RSS feed version of your Craigslist search should launch in your default RSS reader. If you happen to be browsing the web with Apple’s Safari browser, you’ll automatically switch to Safari’s handy built-in RSS reader.
Drag the URL of that feed into your bookmarks bar, and Safari will notify you when new posts fit your search profile.
We wrote a short tip two years ago on reading RSS feeds in Safari: Subscribe to RSS news feeds in Safari.
Some Example Craigslist Searches & Feeds:
To help spark your imagination, here is a small collection of RSS feeds for some example searches that might be of interest to a Seattle-area creative professional:
Job Searches:
- All art/media/design jobs in Seattle Area
- Graphic Designer jobs in Seattle Area
- Creative Director jobs in Seattle Area
- Flash Jobs in Seattle Area
- Web Designer jobs on the Eastside
Gig Searches (Potential Projects):
- Graphic Design projects in Seattle Area
- Photography projects in Seattle Area (Omitting Weddings)
- Logo projects in Seattle Area
- Web Design projects in Seattle Area
- Photoshop projects in Seattle Area
Other Types of Searches:
- Mac G5’s for sale in Seattle Area under $1,000
- Seattle Office Space for Rent (500-1500sqft and under $1000/month)
- Free Macintosh Stuff in Seattle
Learn More About RSS:
Still fuzzy what RSS is about? Here are two more tips to clear things up:
Bonus Tip: What is RSS? A Fun (Short) Video.
Bonus Tip: Subscribe to RSS news feeds in Safari.
Source: This tip loosely inspired by our upcoming July 30, 2008 workshop, Blog Your Studio, in which we’ll demonstrate how (among other things) to create an RSS feed of your studio’s portfolio, so interested clients can always stay updated on your latest work.
