What is an RSS feed?
One thing I learned today from reading Daily Web Ideas is that you should never overestimate how knowledgeable your readers are. For example, almost all bloggers offer RSS subscriptions, but did you ever think that perhaps not all blog readers know what RSS is or how to use it effectively, both personally and on their own blogs?
RSS stands for “really simple syndication”. It’s a web format that is used in the publishing of frequently updated websites, such as news websites or blogs. With an RSS feed, you can subscribe to the content of a website and get updates when they happen, thus eliminating the need to trawl back and forth from one site to the next. RSS is particularly useful if you read a lot of blogs (as most bloggers do) and want to keep track of them all in one place. Most blogs offer readers the ability to sign up to an RSS feed.
How do you subscribe to an RSS feed?
If you use Firefox then you’ll probably notice the little RSS button in your address bar – that’s a link to the feed. When you click on it you’ll be taken a page where you can subscribe to the feed. Putting it in “Live bookmarks” will make it easily accessible from your Firefox browser.
In IE7 you can use the same button, to the right of the tabs, to take you to the full RSS feed and then subscribe, Easy.
Make use of an RSS reader
Alternatively, and this is what I do, you can use an RSS reader to manage all your subscriptions. The one I use is Google Reader, although many people prefer Bloglines. I like Google Reader because it makes things about as easy as they can get.
Google Reader is accessible via a website, so you don’t need to install any bulky software to use it. If you use Firefox then install the Better GReader addon and then when you visit a blog, all you need to do is click an RSS button in the upper-right corner of your window to subscribe to the blog straight to Google Reader.
If you have a blog, the you will probably want to get Feedburner to run your feed. Feedburner gives you a way to manage your feed, control it’s look and feel and it provides your readers with an easy interface through which they can subscribe. Many of the top pro bloggers use Feedburner. You can also analyses how many subscribers you have.
As for my feed, well, it’s at the bottom of every post, so if you like what you see on this blog, then go ahead and subscribe.
Like this post? Subscribe to the feedShare:
Digg it for goodness sake! Stumble your heart out!
4 Responses to “What is an RSS feed?”
I recently got my RSS feed to work. Now,all I need is subscribers,,
Well you’ve just added one new subscriber to your feed! High time someone says it like it is.
Thnx for the insight, I’m thinking I’ll be visiting/linking your site on a regular basis!
Well thank you for the nice comments! That really made me smile.
And they are well deserved those comments! Your site looks great and your mission statement is just plain fantastic!