Free Website Content
Steps to Creating RSS Feeds
RSS, or Really Simple Syndication as it
is commonly known, is a technology that gives webmasters
the ability to easily distribute and publish syndicated
content on the Internet. It seems like all Internet
businesses now have RSS feeds available; at least your
competitors do. You have finally made the decision that
you have to have one. Where do you start?
Steps to Creating an RSS feed
1.) Build a Feed
There are a number of desktop and web applications
available that make feed creation easy. I would encourage
anyone creating a feed to use one. Though not overly
complicated, hand-coding an RSS feed can become a bit
confusing and time-consuming. Most desktop software
applications for building a feed include a wizard and
contact-sensitive help, simplifying the process of creating
a feed. Following a few simple steps in a wizard generally
will produce an RSS feed in just a few minutes.
Publishers control what information is
syndicated in the RSS feed, so ultimately it is the
publisher's decision as to whether to include teaser
copy or full articles. Consider what you are trying
to accomplish and who your target audience is when building
the feed.
Software to Build a Feed - http://www.feedforall.com
Tutorial for Creating Feed by Hand using XML - http://www.make-rss-feeds.com
2.) Transfer the Feed Onto Your
Server
Once you have constructed an RSS feed
you will need to transfer the feed to your server. This
can be done using a standard FTP client (if it is not
built into the feed creation software). The feed is
usually placed in the domain's root directory like this:
http://www.mydomain.com/nameoffeed.xml , but as long
as you know where it is it doesn't really matter.
3.) Display the Feed on Your Website
Using a Graphic of Some Sort
In order to signal to website visitors
that an RSS feed containing content related to the website
is available, include a colorful graphic on the website.
It has become a standard that nearly all websites that
have RSS feeds available use colorful graphics such
as flags as indicators that RSS feeds are available
for specific content. The flags were initially bright
orange rectangles but as the popularity has grown, webmasters
have bent the rules a bit. NotePage has made a free
online RSS graphic tool available that allows users
to quickly customize buttons by selecting the text on
the button and the color scheme of the button. Once
the color and text is entered, a custom graphic is instantly
created. Webmasters can easily match the style of the
RSS button to a website's theme. Graphics experience
is not required. Simply select alternative colors and
insert text to personalize RSS feed graphics. The RSS
graphics tool can be used by clicking the following
URL http://www.feedforall.com/public/rss-graphic-tool.htm
or choose ready made graphics fom: http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-graphics.htm
.
4.) Include Information in the HTML
of the Web Page So RSS Readers Auto-Detect Your Feed
After publishing an RSS feed it is important
to let visitors know that the feed exists. Aggregators
will automatically detect RSS on a website if you add
a small bit of code in the header field of an HTML page.
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml"
title="RSS" href="http://www.yourdomain.com/rss.xml">
Be sure to replace http://www.yourdomain.com/rss.xml
with the URL to the RSS feed.
5.) Display the Feed's Content on
a Website
Contents contained in an RSS feed can
be added to a website, providing site visitors an alternative
method for viewing the content. The information will
also help increase search engine interest. Displaying
the feed as HTML can be accomplished. Providing fresh
content on a regular basis will encourage site visitors
return.
Tutorial for Displaying Feeds - http://www.small-business-software.net/display-rss.htm
6.) Submit the Feed to RSS Directories
and Search Engines
As a rapidly increasing number of content
sources, new and old, migrate or add RSS as a key distribution
channel, and as more people utilize RSS newsreaders
and aggregators to keep themselves informed, the ability
to maintain high exposure and visibility is gradually
shifted from complete attention to major search engines
and content optimization techniques to an increasing
awareness of RSS feed directories and search tools.
In order to increase exposure of an RSS
feed it should be submitted to RSS search engines and
directories. This can be done manually. Just as you
would submit the URL of a website or web page to a search
engine you will need to submit the link of the actual
feed located on your website to the RSS directories.
There is a large list of RSS directories at http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-submission.htm
. If you prefer to automate the submission process
try RSS Submit at: http://www.dummysoftware.com/rsssubmit.html
. An evaluation version is available.
About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com
software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds
and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for
NotePage http://www.notepage.net
a wireless text messaging software company.
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This article may be used freely in opt-in
publications and websites, provided that the resource
box is included and the links are active. A courtesy
copy of the issue or a link to any online posting would
be greatly appreciated send an email to sharon@notepage.net
.
Additional articles available for publication available
at http://www.small-business-software.net/free-website-content.htm
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