If you are a blogging artist you need to know about RSS. If you are a blog reader you need to know about RSS. If you are a blogging anything you need to know about RSS. RSS is ‘Really Simple Syndication‘ and it is important because it is what keeps bloggers and their readers connected.
So, in english, what does that mean? It means that if a blog is set up with an RSS feed (which most are) you will know when there is new content. This happens one of two ways:
- Posts emailed directly to your email address. If you read only a few blogs, or if you have a few favorites this is a great solution. Whenever there is new post, just as it sounds, it will be sent to you via email.
- You will see new activity through a feed reader.
One example of a feed reader is Bloglines.com. It is the reader that I use but there are others out there as well. To use Bloglines to read your blogs you first need to open account with them. The account is free but they need your information so they can begin to track the blogs you subscribe to. Once you have an account, anytime you see the orange icon shown here, on any blog or other site, you simply click it and it will redirect you to your Bloglines account and you will be walked through the steps to subscribe to the site. If the icon doesn’t redirect you directly to Bloglines, the option to choose Bloglines will be there.
If you do not see the orange icon on a site, login to Bloglines and cut and paste the web site address in to the ‘subscribe to’ field. If there is a feed available for that site Bloglines will find it and give you the option to subscribe.
Once subscribed to a blog, you just sign into Bloglines and sites with new content will automatically show up. Gone are the days of visiting blogs just to find that they haven’t updated in weeks.
How does a blogger get an RSS feed on their site? Without going into all of the details, the simplest way is to use a blog platform that has it built in, and most of them do. Blogger, WordPress.com, Typepad.com to name a few.
If you would like to track your feeds and you are a little more technical you can check out feedburner.com. That is a site that helps you to optimize your feed and track how many subscribers you have plus sign you up for other programs that help you get more traffic.
So, say you wanted to subscribe to this blog. You would simply click the universal orange icon up there in the right-hand corner and it will take you directly to a place where you can choose your favorite reader or sign up for a new one of your choice. You will also be given the ‘subscribe by email’ option.
Go on, try it. Experience a whole new world and save yourself a LOT of time in the future!
{ 6 trackbacks }
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
subscribe me
Hello Lori,
I am excited to read more of your web site as time becomes available. I am currently ready to make a business of my hobbies, set up the web site, do shows, and on and on and on and think you will be a great resource in becoming successful in the process. Nice site.