You may have heard of RSS, which stands for Really Simple Syndication. And it is – a really simple way of distributing your content throughout the Internet and getting more audience for your Web site as a result.

RSS initially became known as a way for someone to use software called a reader to identify a particular kind of content, such as the Washington Nationals, and pull related stories from numerous Web sites into the reader. That way the person using the reader didn’t have to visit 10 different sites to read every story that week about the Nationals.

In other words, the content comes to you rather than you go to the content.

Then certain Web sites began to build the ability to pull the content directly into their sites. They made it easier than downloading and installing a separate application. All you needed to do was go to one Web site, create an account, identify your 10 sources of stories about the Washington Nationals and display the results right there on that single Web site.

Now just about any Web site can display at least the headlines and first paragraphs from about any other site on the Internet that has an RSS feed. For an example, go to the site of our friends at the Washington Post using this address:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/rss/index.html

Click on one of the buttons that says XML (that’s the name of the file format) and you will see the code for a file that contains a series of stories.

Now, using something called an RSS aggregator (do an online search to find options), you can display the Post headlines and even the first paragraph on your site. When someone clicks on the headline, they will go to the complete article on the Post Web site.

It’s a win-win. You get a more robust site and probably more audience as a result, and the Post gets visitors via your site. We now have a product similar to competitors such as News.Google.com and Topix.net.

The Virginia Press Association is taking an important step in this direction as a benefit to member Web sites by using an RSS aggregator to display their headlines on VPA.net:

http://www.vpa.net/index.php/rss

In addition to providing headlines from member sites that have RSS, visitors to this section will see a Google Custom Search engine that allows someone to search all member newspaper sites in Virginia – and only member newspaper sites. As a result, the VPA has acquired new skills with RSS and Google Search that it can bring to members who want to develop the technology on their own sites.

RSS and Custom Search aren’t big, complicated or time-consuming products to develop. But they do provide new ways to reach more audience and distribute more content online.

For more information, see this useful online tutorial:

http://www.mnot.net/rss/tutorial/