Stay in Touch with Your Readers by using an RSS Feed
In this short article, I will discuss what RSS is, what RSS stands for, why blog readers would want to use it, and why blog writers would want to produce it. In a future article, I’ll talk about how blog writers can even earn money from their RSS feed.
“I’ve Heard About RSS, but Don’t Really Understand it… “
RSS Stands for “Really Simple Syndication”, and is a specialized text format, similar to HTML, that allows you to view summaries of your favorite blogs. RSS feed addresses can usually be automatically detected by an RSS reader, such as Bloglines or Google Feed Reader. All you have to do is type in the RSS feed address, and your feed reader will grab headlines from the site.
Alternatively, many sites have a small RSS icon like the one you see in the top right of my sidebar. Typically, clicking on this icon (usually orange with three arcs representing broadcast syndication) will automatically pull the feed into your browser where you may have a choice of clicking a button to subscribe to it. I use Bloglines for all of my RSS feeds.
Why should you use RSS as a blog consumer?
RSS Readers allow you to keep track of all your favorite blog headlines without having to go and visit each site in your web browser. Newly published articles and posts are automatically brougth into your feed reader. If you want more details or want to see the original article, just click on the headline and you’ll be taken right to the site.
Why should you provide an RSS feed as a blog or website Producer?
RSS feeds allow people to ’subscribe’ to your blog much the way they would subscribe to a newspaper. Your headlines are delivered right to their doorstep everytime you publish a new article. Your subscriber simply opens her RSS reader (Bloglines for example), and all of your current articles are available. Your readers no longer have to phyisically (or virtually) stop by your site to look for updates. This saves the visitor time, and keeps you in touch with them at the same time.
How do I create an RSS feed?
Most blogging software will automatically publish an RSS (or similar technology) feed when your blog is created. Simply typing in the domain name (for example, www.newaffiliatediscoveries.com) is frequently sufficient for your feed reader software to find the actual feed and grab it.
You can have more control over your RSS feed, as well as seeing regular statistics by using a service such as FeedBurner. With Feed Reader, once you create an account, you can “burn a feed” by typing your domain name or current feed (the one automatically created by blogger or word press), and Feed Burner will create a new feed address.
Wait, aren’t I simply trading one feed address for another? Won’t my readers get confused?
FeedBurner allows you to track statistics on your feed such as how many subscribers you have, what links feed readers are clicking on, and whether your feed subscription is growing over time.
If you direct your readers to your Feed Burner address by simply pointing the RSS image to the FeedBurner address, then the feed burner address will automatically be used by your subscribers. This gives you a greater understanding of who is reading your feed on a regular basis.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of this series, How to Earn Money from your RSS Feed with Feedvertising.
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Very nice article.
I’ve read it and immediately after that have subscribed with FeedBurner and activated it’s service at my blog.
Ognjen, I’m glad you liked the article and learned something from it! I hope you get lots of subscribers to your own feed.
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It also helps if you edit your wordpress header to direct all feed links to Feedburner. I noticed a while back if someone clicks the RSS button in the navbar it will direct them to Wordpress’ default feed.
I do believe that there is a plugin which forwards your feed stats from WP to FB but I’d just as soon rather get my hands dirty.