Have you been hearing a lot about RSS recently and find yourself wondering how to add RSS feed to websites that you run? You certainly are not alone. Gary Price of Search Engine Watch points out that there are at least 1.1 million RSS feeds with subscribers around the web. While the sharing format has certainly had its ups and downs recently with the death of Google Reader, it still remains a viable method of growing your web traffic. Here’s how to get it setup on your blog, link it to social media, and make it available for people using RSS applications. After following these steps you will no longer have to ask “how can I put RSS on my website”.
Setup
When asking the question “how do I setup a RSS feed for my website” you first have to consider what web host you are using. For instance, if you are using Google’s Blogger the method to configuring your feed is different than if you have a page hosted by WordPress. Both of these sites, and many others, offer easy to use tutorials on how to use RSS for websites. Many popular web hosts offer a default RSS feed setting for the pages they host. After following the tutorials pertaining to your provider to add RSS feed to websites, you are ready to continue on to syncing your feed with social media.
Syncing to Social Media
Setting up an application to work with popular social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter is not difficult. After learning how to add RSS feed to websites you should know your feed URL. Facebook offers multiple RSS solutions. One of the most popular is RSS Graffiti. You can simply set up an account, insert your URL to link your feed to a Facebook page, and you are done. Twitter offers similar solutions in the form of TweetingMachine and NightOwl. Applications on both platforms allow you to automate part of the process. This way you save time while generating traffic opportunities.
Syncing to RSS Apps
To let the web know you have updated your page you need to use a pinging solution like Ping O Matic. These services update a wide variety of RSS databases that popular feed readers use to update their users. Of course, you need to provide your users with a way to subscribe to your feed easily. Providing them with a RSS button on your page is an extremely effective, easy way for them to add you to their subscriptions without having to worry about manual URL input. Recommending certain web browser applications, like RSS feed Reader for Chrome, will also provide them with an easy way to add you to their daily reading.
RSS has been in use since 1995. Since that time, millions of web content providers have used it as a means of effectively relaying their web pages to the world. Taking advantage of this useful service does not have to be rocket science. Follow these three steps and stop asking yourself “how can I take advantage of a RSS feed on my website”.