Introduction to RSS and Feed Readers

November 25th, 2008 | 18 comments

If you already know what RSS and feed readers are and what they’re used for, then this post probably isn’t for you.

But, I know there are many people out there who still aren’t sure, so if you’re one of those people, I’d like to tell you the basics of a very cool and very popular technology… I felt like saying “new” technology, but RSS has been around for a while now.

I’ve been marketing online for several years now, but I didn’t get started blogging until about 3 years into all of this. When I started my first blog I had no idea what RSS was and to be honest, I barely knew what a blog was

But I started reading other blogs, got mine established and learned the basics… now I’ve been successfully blogging for a couple years.

What is RSS?

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” although other say it’s “Rich Site Summary.” I’m not sure if there is a different between the 2, but for myself and other basic “users” it really doesn’t matter.

I’ll explain with an example. You find a good feed reader, like Google Reader or Bloglines (free.) Then you get the RSS feed from your favorite blogs and/or news sites and add the RSS feed URL to the feed reader and you can keep up with your favorite blogs all in one spot (within the feed reader.) You will be alerted only when there is a new post, instead of manually visiting each site to check for updates.

There are other uses and RSS isn’t specific to blogs and news sites, but they are the main 2 types. An RSS feed is simply a URL and if the site has an RSS feed (almost ALL blogs and news sites do) they’ll have an image, link or both somewhere on their pages for you to grab.

How to Subscribe to a Blog’s RSS Feed

There are a few different ways to subscribe to an RSS feed; an easy way and a REALLY easy way.

The Easy Way - The process is very simple. Just visit the blog you would like to subscribe to and locate their RSS feed. In the case of this blog you’ll see it in the right navigation menu toward the top… a big, orange button that says “RSS.”

In FireFox you can right-click that image/link and select “Copy Link Location” from the drop down menu. If you use another browser and you’re not sure how to copy a URL, just click on the RSS image/link and when it opens a new window, just copy the entire URL in the address bar of your browser. In the case of this blog, you would be copying:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/ez-onlinemoney/KVBf

Once you’ve copied the URL you just need to add it to your feed reader. There are many different feed readers out there, but probably the 2 most popular are Google Reader and Bloglines… both are very easy and straight forward in regards to adding a feed.

The REALLY Easy Way - This is your best option if you don’t want to mess with a feed reader, but unfortunately not all blogs and news sites offer this option. Many blogs do though, including this blog. I’m talking about subscribing to a feed via email. Instead of the feed being sent to your feedreader account, it’s sent to your email.

To subscribe to a feed via email, the site must offer it and it will be a simple form asking for your email. On this blog you’ll see that to the right of my orange RSS image… it says “Email Updates.” You just enter your email address and updates will be sent to your email every time a new blog post is published and you’ll also have the option to click the link in the email to visit the actually blog post.

That’s basically it. RSS is a big time saver especially for those who read a bunch of different blogs and/or regularly keep up with the news. Now go ahead and give it a shot

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Image credit: Matt Forsythe’s RSS Icons… for more cool RSS icons see the Ultimate list of Free RSS Feed Icons.

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18 comments

Cheryl (2 comments.)
25th November, 2008 at 5:10 pm

I just learned about this a month or so ago, too. I love getting my RSS feeds in Google Reader. All of them in one convenient place so no more hopping around the ‘net visiting my favorite blogs and news sites. Also, don’t have all the RSS emails. I just have all of them funneled into GR. Saves me tons of time, too. I can scan the headlines and read in Reader and then “Share” them and Favorite them.
Zach Kong (1 comments.)
25th November, 2008 at 5:27 pm

Great post here. Very informative. Only recently have I just burnt my blog feed using Feedburner. Just to add, if you have a feed, don’t forget to submit your feed. You can also use it as a sitemap for Google in your webmaster area.

Hope it helps. =)
Deb@Wealthy Affiliate (2 comments.)
25th November, 2008 at 6:51 pm

Josh,

I have been around IM since 2004. This RSS thing is something I keep meaning to get around too. Thank you for reminding me…You are the first RSS that I have subscribed too…
Josh Spaulding
25th November, 2008 at 6:53 pm

@ Chery - yeah email updates are nice, but not if you want updates from a bunch of sites. Email updates are ideal for people who follow only a handful of blogs.

@ Deb - wow that’s a long time to ignore it, but I did for the longest time too Glad to be the first you subscribed to!
Doug @ online-marketing-review.com (1 comments.)
25th November, 2008 at 7:30 pm

Hi Josh,

How about the other side of RSS. By that I mean, submitting your own feeds to RSS aggregators like Feedage.com. I have had good results from that.
Steve@Solar Energy Products (1 comments.)
25th November, 2008 at 8:30 pm

I have been looking at rss. In fact I have a plugin for wp that submits a new post to 5 different rss agregators, which gains me some back links for those articles. I do have some feeds that have been picked up, so rss is definetly something important. thanks for another great article josh.
Steve
Genuine Home Based Business (4 comments.)
26th November, 2008 at 4:00 am

Rss feeds are a quick and easy way to spread your blog posts/articles all over the net. I have submitted my blogs rss feed to over 50 plus rss readers.
All newbies should get onto this straight away, i also add my rss feed to any squidoo lens i make.

Jason
Rika Susan's Home DIY News (6 comments.)
26th November, 2008 at 5:29 am

Good post, Josh. I love using RSS feeds. Submitting your RSS feed can be a highly productive use of your time.
Mike Hawkins (2 comments.)
26th November, 2008 at 8:38 am

Personally I use RSS feeds just the way you described it - it is one of the quickest ways to get a quick overview of what is happening in the top blogs and site in any given niche.

They are also a great way to get your own content syndicated all over the place (if you produce good stuff), and I am quite certain that this aspect of feeds is actually increasing in importance.

But I don’t recommend going overboard with feeds like the Black Hats do. Because they seem to consider the acronym to stand for Really Simple Spamming.
Soso (5 comments.)
26th November, 2008 at 8:51 am

I sometimes feel that this online life has a lot of small issues to remember. I am happy to be learning but very grateful to people like you Josh, who make it their business to educate. Thanks for the informative ”how to” post.
Kaye (2 comments.)
26th November, 2008 at 9:48 am

Josh at long last I understand what to do with RSS feeds. I have been frustrated with not knowing exactly how to work it.

Your continued information is very informative and I look forward to your emails.
Thanks
Kaye
Internet Marketing Tips, Tricks & Resources | How To RSS …Basics by Josh Spaulding
26th November, 2008 at 11:31 am

[...] by Josh Spaulding Josh Spaulding does a great job with some refresher info or How to RSS where he discusses some of the basics to using RSS and What Rss [...]
Chazza (3 comments.)
27th November, 2008 at 8:24 am

Thanks for this - I knew nothing and was afraid to ask !
Andy (6 comments.)
27th November, 2008 at 1:06 pm

Thanks for the post Josh. I have been wondering if it would be a good idea to do a little video showing people how RSS works and maybe a readier like Goggle. Do you think this would be worthwhile?
Thanks for the great content.
Prepaid cell phones (1 comments.)
28th November, 2008 at 3:22 am

I have had a blind spot in my knowledge of RSS. I recently read an article saying to start playing with it. I am a heavy user of Google so the Google reader was really simple. I clicked on the RSS orange logo on this blog and a few others. Learning by doing.

Thanks for this post
Rick
Jayden Fellze (2 comments.)
28th November, 2008 at 6:56 am

Thanks for the very informative blog on RSS. Though I have wanted to know more about it, somehow it was getting delayed.
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28th November, 2008 at 7:29 am

[...] I ran across a plr book I had on “How to RSS”. First actually I stumbled on a post by Josh Spaulding on the how to’s of rss, then I ran across an ebook I had and thought I would share some of the information on “How [...]
tkada.com (2 comments.)
1st December, 2008 at 11:58 am

thank for tips about of RSS “Really Simple Syndication” or “Rich Site Summary”.
how to detect the indication of the post received? Using RSS alternative to manual.