When developing content, site architectures, and interfaces for websites, we focus frequently on helping users get to the content and sections of the site that they are most interested in with as little effort as possible. Extending this mentality to subscription and sharing services allow us to ensure that users are proactively being delivered content that is always relevant to their interests and needs, and via a medium that suits their online lifestyle.

RSS feeds are a great way for keeping users engaged with your site. Users feel like they are being well served with proactive content being delivered to them as they prefer, and sites keep their content in front of users and provide a recurring call to return to the site. Everyone wins! However, like many practices when it comes to the web and user interaction, if not handled properly, users can become easily frustrated and turned off to your site or service. When it comes to RSS feeds, by allowing users to select specific types of content and customize their feeds, we can ensure that users are always only getting content that they are interested in, reducing the likelihood that the users feels frustrated or that the feed is irrelevant. In addition, by providing options for combining subscriptions – even those of multiple types (i.e. text content, multimedia, activity notifications, etc.) – into a single feed, we give users power and control to experience the content they want in a way that they prefer.

An upcoming community site allows users to combine podcast audio and select forum updates and blog posts into a single, unique RSS feed.

Users can also subscribe to specific topics within the forum via email notifications, by adding them to their existing RSS feed, or both.

In addition to subscription services, utilities for sharing content offer a wide range of distribution options, allowing users to share with specific networks of contacts on their social network or platform of their choice, or via email. This is another win-win, as users are able to easily share content they find valuable with their respective communities, while content producers are able to expand their readership or audience exponentially beyond those immediately accessible to them. Tools like AddThis [link to AddThis] can be relatively easily integrated with a website and allow users to share content via literally hundreds of social media sites. AddThis also actively remembers which platforms users share on most frequently and reorganizes its interface to present those options more prominently in the future; and detailed monitoring tools allow site administrators to gain further insight into their site’s users’ habits and preferences.

For more tips on creating a great user experience and keeping your site visitors engaged and coming back, check out my post on meeting marketing goals via lateral site architecture.