Syndicating RSS Feeds

In this lesson we take a look at RSS, what it is, andSyndicating RSS feeds to improve your returning readership!

What is RSS?

RSS, or 'Really Simple Syndication', is an invention that automatically brings you news on topics of interest, doing away with the need to exert yourself surfing the Internet.

Basically, RSS is a tiny bit of code that is automatically included in all WordPress blogs (and many other content management systems), and can be added manually to websites. The code allows people to 'subscribe' to the blog through what is called a 'Reader'. When the Reader sees that a site you have subscribed to has been updated, it grabs the headline, and sometimes part, or all of, the content and displays it to the subscriber.

Once you set up a feed, you've got a direct, permanent, and constantly updated connection to a source of content.

Setting up RSS on your blog

Although RSS code is built-in to every Wordpress blog, you'll still need to set up Feedburner to make it easy for people to subscribe.

What is FeedBurner?

FeedBurner puts a nice button on your blog saying 'Subscribe', so that signing up to your blog feed becomes a fool-proof process!

It also ensures that your content is properly formatted for all the major RSS directories and readers. And finally, it lets you analyse your subscribers and find out how many you have, where they're coming from and what articles take their interest.

Setting up Feedburner is a two-minute job:

Login to your Blog Admin area
From the Dashboard, click Plugins and 'Add New'.
Search for Feedburner
Choose a plugin you'd like to install (you may have to try a couple before you find one that does exactly what you want)
Now just follow the instructions to create a Feedburner link, which you'll then be pasting into the second field. Save, and you're done without working up too much of a sweat!

Syndicating your blog content to other websites

Apart from giving your readers a reminder to return to your blog on a regular basis, RSS can also be used to keep your other websites fresh.

After all, if you are going to all the effort of writing great content for your blog, then you may as well make the most of it!

One place in particular that can benefit from your RSS feed is your Squidoo lens!

Why use RSS feeds on Squidoo?

For one, RSS means content is added to your lens automatically and, as we know, search engine spiders just love to see regular updates and fresh content.

Secondly, if you are still in the process of setting up your lens, adding an RSS feed is an easy way to fill out one or more of the required four modules — and much faster than writing articles!

How to add RSS feed to your Squidoo lens

Login to your Squidoo account and click 'Add Module'.
Find the option "RSS: Add Your Own Feed" and click Add.
Save and return to main module editing page.
Click 'Edit'
Give your RSS feed a title such as "The Latest Health Supplement News" or "Weekly Insights and Advice on Health Supplements". You also have the option of providing a subtitle and description if you've got more to say.
Now enter your blog URL. This isn't just the regular URL of your blog. The RSS feed URL is special. You can track it down by clicking the RSS link which, for Wordpress blogs with Feedburner enabled, displays as an orange box saying 'Subscribe'.
Copy the link from the address bar of the new browser window that opens. For example, the Affilorama RSS URL is http://feeds.feedburner.com/MakeMoneyOnlineWithAffilorama
And now for some display options: How many headlines do you want to display in your module? Three is the default, and what we recommend. However, you can experiment with more, or less, depending on how much space you want the module to take up.
The next decision is whether to include an excerpt. Again, we would go with the default option — a short excerpt of 100 words. This is enough to get people interested and make them click through to your blog.
And while we're on the subject: it's important to bear in mind how critical this first paragraph (or first 100 words) is when writing a new post. These first sentences are what will grab the attention of people using readers to get your updates.
Now decide how frequently you want to update this module — or in other words, how often are you going to update your blog?
Finally, decide whether to display HTML in the excerpt. Not something we recommend.