RSS Feeds Explained

Last week I was in a coaching call and the subject of RSS Feeds cropped up. I was asked to explain what an RSS Feed is and how does it work, hence this post.

Firstly, RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Basically, this is published content from a website or blog with a feed enabled. In order to be able to receive this feed, you will need to have an account with one (or more if you like) feed reader or aggregator. There are many options available and I will tell you about these later. Let’s take a look at what an RSS Feed is in this Slideshare presentation.

RSS SOS | A How To Guide

View more presentations from Renee Lemley.

Let’s recap Renee’s points in this presentation.

We have established that an RSS Feed is published content which is made available via a website or blog and in so doing, distribution is automated.
Before you subscribed to a feed, you would have to seek the content yourself via google search, visit sites and/or find it in newsprint.
After you have subscribed to a feed, you can read the content of interest to you via your feed reader.

Now it’s time to explore the wonders of Google Reader.

Google Reader

Google Reader is the most favoured of readers to have your chosen feeds delivered right to your desktop everyday. When I open mine, all my favourite blogs are updated and fresh for me to read. Not only can I read the feeds, Google Reader also allows me to share, share with a note or email any posts I feel would be useful with my friends.

This image is linked to my public shared items which you are welcome to browse through and subscribe to in your reader.

Social Networking has allowed me to make connections from all kinds of Social Media sites and the one thing I have found in common is that they all have a Gmail account. What this means is when I add them as a contact in my GTalk, they are automatically added to my sharing friends in Google Reader. To connect with me and share your items, add me, angesbiz[at]gmail.com and send me an invite.

Clint Maher, WordPress specialist who is also an author on this site has made two tutorials on How to Use Google Reader which I have embedded here. These videos explain how to set up your reader and the options available.
How to Use Google Reader Part 1

How to Use Google Reader Part 2

Like Clint mentions in his video, you may want to subscribe to your Social Media feeds for various reasons. I discovered when I went into my reader and searched for Ange Recchia the feeds which were available on this list included not only my Social Media sites such as Twitter and Friendfeed, but also any blogs I had added comments to. This can be a very useful tool for Internet Marketers. You can tack almost anywhere you have been on the web!

How To Decide Which Feeds To Subscribe To

You may want to subscribe to hundreds of feeds. If you think this sounds messy then don’t worry because with any feed reader, you can sort your subscriptions into folders. If you are organised, the minute you subscribe to a feed you can automatically add it to an existing folder or create a new folder for it. This way you can immediately find the feed you are searching for, and take my word for it, it really is a good idea to sort your feeds.

My interests lie in many areas and if you’re like me, you find most of your information on the internet in which case, I have a category folder and file each subscription into the relevant folder. Much like I do with my bookmarking sites.

In my case, my categories are split into the following folders:

Travel and Fabulous Journeys (who doesn’t love to travel?)
Regular Everyday Recipes (always in need of new recipes)
Investing in the Stock Market (I know how to hand chart a stock!)
SEO (for my own sake as a blogger)
Web Business/Internet Marketing/Affiliate Marketing
Scrapbooking (so I know what latest items to buy for my niece’s hobby)
Social Networking/Social Media (this goes without saying)
Personal Development/Self Improvement/Mindpower
Health and Wellness (because no reader is complete without some health topics, especially if it’s about chocolate )

I even have a friend who’s an Aussie Cop and blogs his experiences so I like to keep up with how he copes on the job. Makes for an interesting read.

Feel free to visit these blogs and subscribe to them if they are to your liking. Now that you know what some of my interest are, please feel free to suggest some blogs that are your favourites for me to subscribe to in the comments below so I can add them to my reader.

RSS Icons

rssicon RSS Icons have become more fanciful since they were born. My Billboard icon at the top right of this page is where you need to click in order to subscribe to the Social Networking News Daily feed, so if you haven’t already, please do so to keep up with the latest trends in Social Networking and WordPress.

I found a variety of icons you can download and use on your site depending on what kind of site you have if you want to be a little more creative. This RSS Button Collection is one of the most comprehensive I’ve come across. You’re bound to find the right one for your blog here.

RSS Directories for Content Publishers

As a content publisher, you will want to syndicate your quality content over a far reach. In other words, reach as many readers as you possibly can. Here is a list of 55 directories to promote your RSS feed to. I didn’t want to add the whole list here so please visit Mahesh’s site to grab this. He has done a fabulous job so there’s no need for me to duplicate it here.

I hope you enjoyed this post. If you did, you know what to do and remember to leave your links in the comments for me to subscribe to. TTFN!