SYNDICATE YOUR CONTENT WITH RSS

When You Syndicate Your Content with RSS Feeds, You Reach More People...And Get More Website Traffic.

syndicate your content with rss

Syndication of your content through XML-formatted RSS feeds is a needed component of a website. They can serve as a poor man's newsletter. Here is what you need to know in order to use RSS to put your content into syndication:

Syndicate Your Content with RSS: Brief History

RSS is generally recognized to have been created in 1999 by engineers at Netscape. However, earlier attempts were made. The RSS acronym has had several meanings over the eyars. It is said to stand for RDF Site Summary, Rich Site Summary, and Really Simple Syndication, among others. It was around the year 2005 when use of the technology became widespread.

Syndicate Your Content with RSS: What Is It?

XML or RSS is basically a way to let a website author publish content once and then send links to that content out to be read by whomever choses to do so. Feed aggregators categorize feeds which are then loaded by individuals into RSS readers (like Google Reader). These readers pick up the feeds that the person wants to follow and displays them through an interface to be read.

Syndicating your content is a good strategy for increasing traffic. Anyone interested in your conent can sign up for your RSS feed, and they then get your updated content sent directly to them.

To get your feed out there for people to find and read, you usually have to submit it to feed aggregators. These function as directories for RSS feeds. One of the biggest is Feedage. But, there are thousands of them out there.

Syndicate Your Content with RSS: How Do You Get It?

So, how do you get an RSS feed set up to syndicate your content? It depends. If you use a blog, there is a good chance the functionality is built in already. You may not even have to turn it on. WordPress is fully compatible with and includes RSS automatically (see how to get your Best Blogging Site set up).

Also, many website creation software packages like XSitePro 2.0 have scripts to automate the entire process for you. If you prefer to do it by hand, this is the step-by-step process by which you do it:

1. Indicate that the webpage is an XML page.

2. Specify the RSS version you want to use.

3. Indicate that your channel is beginning.

4. Enter a title, a description, and a link for your channel.

5. Enter an item. Items are the main part of an RSS feed. They contain the title, description, and link for each of the webpages you are syndicating. Each item must have its beginning and end signaled before beginning and ending another item. There are usually between 15 and 20 items in a channel. The earlier versions of RSS are limited to 15. Some aggregators allow end users to specify how many items from your channel will show up no matter how many you put on there.

6. End the channel.

7. End the RSS feed

8. You are finished!

Ok, easier said than done. Here is the code you will need to do what I just said. Change the wording to be specific to your RSS feed. You can copy and paste the code below into your file and then personalize it.


	<?xml version="1.0" ?> <rss version="2.0"> <channel> <title>YOUR TITLE HERE</title> <description>YOUR DESCRIPTION HERE</description> <link>http://www.YOURURLHERE.com</link> <item> <title>ITEM 2 TITLE</title> <description>ITEM 2 DESCRIPTION</description> <link>http://www.ITEM2URL.com/ITEM2</link> </item> <item> <title>ITEM 3 TITLE</title> <description>ITEM 3 DESCRIPTION</description> <link>http://www.ITEM3URL.com/ITEM3</link> </item> <item> <title>ITEM 4 TITLE</title> <description>ITEM 4 DESCRIPTION</description> <link>http://www.ITEM4URL.com/ITEM4</link> </item> <item> <title>ITEM 5 TITLE</title> <description>ITEM 5 DESCRIPTION</description> <link>http://www.ITEM5URL.com/ITEM5</link> </item> </channel> </rss>

Change the capital letters so that it represents your specifics. This feed would have 5 items. You can add more, just copy and paste the code for additional items. Once finished, save the file. You could save it as rssfeed.xml. Then, upload it to your root directory. It should be accessible at www.YOURURLHERE.com/rssfeed.xml.

Whenever you want to update the feed, you simply add an item. If you already have several items, just delete the bottom one and add the new one to the top. Once you have your RSS feed created, be sure to validate it using the RSS Validator.

Syndicate Your Content with RSS: Conclusion

Once you have created your XML or RSS file, you should submit your feed to directories so that people can pick it up and follow your content.

The easiest way to do this is to automate the process. Plugins have been developed for WordPress that allow automatic and continual submission of your RSS feeds to the aggregators. These usually are not free (I don't know of any free ones), but they will likely be worth the investment and help your WordPress-based site move up the ranks.

Onwards! It is time to begin Marketing Your Website.