How To: you need an RSS feed
Posted by Erica Williams on Tue, Aug 03, 2010 @ 10:49 AM
So you’ve got your blog up and running with all the bells and whistles, 15 blog articles written, waiting in the queue, you are ready to go live with your site! The day before your official launch, you subscribe, via RSS, to a blog you stumbled across. The next day, your launch day, a light bulb goes off! I DON’T HAVE AN RSS FEED ON MY SITE! Don’t panic! Ok panic just a little bit. You NEED an RSS feed, it’s the easiest, most convenient way for your fans to subscribe to your blog. And it’s the easiest way for you to promote your content and distribute it across the web.
Ok that’s enough panicking. Calm down now, geez! We can help you. Here are a few, quick steps to get an RSS (real simple syndication) on your website. It’s really easy. So take a sip of water, a deep breath and let’s get started. Ready? Set? GO!
I hope you have a Gmail account like we told you last week. If not, stop here and go get one! Then come back!
- Go to feedburner.google.com and sign in using your Gmail account (see why you need Gmail?)
- Enter your website address
- Identify your domain name is correct.
- Presto! All done! If you want to add more statistics follow the prompts and u can add stats for clickthroughs, how often people clicked items back at your site and more !
- Not sure how to get the actual RSS box or graphic? click the publicize tab at the top and scroll down until u see “friendly graphic”, click there and choose the graphic you would like to use to promote your RSS. Then copy and paste the code into the coding for your website. If you don’t know where to post the code for your website, call your webmaster. If you don't have a webmaster, shame on you, call us!
Sidenote: If you want your information to be well received across the board, be sure to add a signup for email subscription. Although RSS feeds are widely used they aren't the only form people use.