Build An RSS Feed

What the heck is an RSS Feed?

RSS is a family of XML file formats for web syndication used by news websites and weblogs. They are used to provide items containing short descriptions of web content together with a link to the full version of the content. This information is delivered as an XML file called RSS feed, webfeed, RSS stream, or RSS channel.

Yikes, that sound complicated. Don't worry, it's not.

Setting up an RSS feed is super simple. Maintaining it everyday is very easy too.

The following format is what you will use for your RSS feed:

Open a new blank page. Name it feed.xml and save it. Now add this format:

That's all there is to it. Make sure it is named feed.xml. Actually you can name it anything you want as long as the extension is xml. I only suggest feed.xml because it is easy to remember and easy for your visitors to find.

Now add these images to your website:

    Right click and Save Picture As... Save to your desktop so you can find it. Then upload them to your server the same as you do for any image files.

Link each one to your feed.xml file. If you need help writing the link, use this example:

As you update your feed, always leave your website linking info on top. Move everything else down and add the new article to the top <item> Now when people grab your RSS feed and put it on their site, they will be linking back to you. Anyone who wants to read the articles will have to come to your site to read it.

Can you see how this is going to build traffic?

Make sure you only add quality articles to your feed. Update your feed on a regular basis. Once or twice a week at least. You don't want people removing your feed once they have it installed. They want fresh content, not the same old links week after week.

You will have to have at least three articles before you can offer the feed. If you have a web page that reads like an article, use that to get started. You don't have to create a separate page for the article, just link the feed to the existing page.

People who use Feed Readers will pick up your feed and every time you update it, they will get the new information on their computer. If you want to know more about RSS feeds and Feed Readers, do a search on Google or the search engine of your choice.

You DO NOT need to know anything about how this works for it to work for you. I have an RSS feed on my website AllNaturalCures.net that I put on there when I first created the site. I didn't know why I was even doing it. I read something about RSS feeds bringing traffic so I thought, Why Not! Well, I get more traffic to that page than any other page on my site every single week.

I think of it like this, I don't know how electricity works but I know it works so I use it. Build an RSS feed and don't ask why.  J