If you’re asking yourself “what the heck is RSS?”, you can see why this event was created. RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication.” It’s a quick and easy way to keep up with your favorite blogs without having to visit each individual site to see what’s new. Here’s an excellent short video from Common Craft that explains how RSS works and why you might want to use it.

If you’re ready to jump in, the RSS Day website has some additional info on how to subscribe to your favorite blog’s RSS feed.

A website splash page generally contains a large graphic or Flash animation that serves as an introduction to the site and invites the user to enter. Unfortunately, most visitors and search engines don’t like them.

From a visitor’s point of view, a barrier has been erected to the information they are seeking. They’re expected to view a “commercial” for your business before they can visit your site. Many people will skip the intro (if that’s an option) or simply leave, especially if they have a slow connection and the page takes too long to load. And since splash pages are typically heavy on graphics and light on text, search engines find very little content to index.

Tempting though it might be to have a attactive splash page, the effort is better spent developing a beautifully designed, content-rich home page your visitors (and the search engines) will love.

(Flickr photo from Peter Kaminski via Creative Commons)