 How
to Create & Syndicate a RSS Feed for Your Web Site
What is an RSS Feed?
RSS stands for "really simple syndication". For example
I write articles every 2 weeks and place them on my web site. I
then link to that article from my home page and from my article
headlines page. I make that article available to others as an item
in my RSS file. People who use RSS readers or news aggregators can
read, then link to your article from their web site.
You have nöw syndicated your content for others to view. This
is a great way to improve or maintain your search engine rankings
by naturally getting incoming links. Every time you write a new
article it will be instantly available to 1000s of web site owners.
You have nöw syndicated your
content for others to view. This is a great way to improve or maintain
your search engine rankings by naturally getting incoming links.
Every time you write a new article it will be instantly available
to 1000s of web site owners.
How to create an RSS File
RSS files use the XML language. This is similar
to html except you must be careful to use closing tags and be sure
to validate it before you use it. An XML file contains the information
(Title, Description and Link URL) that your audience will receive
through a RSS reader.
Here is all you need to create an RSS file:
-Title
-Description
-Link
Open notepad on your computer, then copy and paste
the information below replacing it with your own title, description
and link information.
The first part contains information about your web
site. The second part contains information for one of your articles.
You can also include optional information in your headlines such
as language, copyright info, contact email addresses, or an image.
Try to limit the number of articles you wish to include in your
RSS file to 5 or less. Enclose your RSS information with the xml
and rss versions you are using followed by the channel and item
tags. Finish off with the RSS closing tag.
Here's the example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"
?>
<rss version="0.91">
<channel>
<title>Web Site Design | Hosting | Marketing</title>
<link>http://www.isitebuild.com</link>
<description>Affordable Web Design in Maryland</description>
<language>en-us</language>
<item>
<title>How to Add a Search Engine to Your Site </title>
<link>http://www.isitebuild.com/add-search-engine.htm</link>
<description>
When visitors arrive at your web site you want them to find the
information quickly otherwise they will löse patience and move
on. A great way achieve this is to add a search engine or search
box to your web site.
</description>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>
You have nöw created your first RSS file that is almost ready
for syndicating.
How to Syndicate Your RSS Feed
If you syndicate your RSS Feed or advertise it, you will get an
immediate boost in traffic to your web site by others reading
and/or linking to your information. There are 2 ways to do this:
a) Place an XML button at the top of your home page. This is a little
orange image that links to your RSS file. You can see one at the
top of my home page at www.isitebuild.com. Get a copy of the image
(right click, save picture as) and upload it to your website.
Place the image, with your xml link, on your home page. For example,
here's the line of code I placed on my home page:
<a href="http://www.isitebuild.com/rss/rss-feed.xml">
<img
border="0" src="rss/rss_icon.jpg" alt="rss
for maryland web
design" width="36" height="14"></a>
Feel free use this code for your own site but remember to replace
the information with your own link.
b) Submit your site's RSS feed URL to various aggregators
or news readers. This will enable them to start checking your RSS
feed for updates.
Below is a list of some of the most popular news aggregators:
Daypop
Syndic8
Userland
Feedster
Postami
Update your RSS feed regularly - add new articles to your RSS file
on a regular basis. Make sure you link each article to your site
to increase your web traffic. Remember to delete your old articles
because the dates next to your articles will adjust depending on
when news aggregators pick them up.
You only need to do this once and then syndicators tracking your
feed automatically pick up your new feed items as you update them.
Conclusion:
Even though RSS feeds are a relatively new way of marketing, once
you set them up it takes very little time to maintain and provides
another great way to increase the number of visitors to your web
site.
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