Syndicating your blog via a feed is a great way of allowing your readers to be automatically notified of new posts without them having to keep checking your site. If you don't know what a feed is or how to publish one, then read on for further information.
What is a feed?
A feed a is a new method for easily distributing online content, two types of feed are RSS, which stands for Really Simple Syndication and Atom. RSS and Atom are based on XML, a widely used standard for textual information exchange between applications on the Internet. Feeds can be viewed as plain text files, but they're really designed to be viewed in a reader.
How are feeds read?
If you want to browse and subscribe to feeds, there are many choices. Today, there are more than 2,000 different feed reading applications, also known as “news aggregators”. There are lots of free readers available, a search for "Feed reader" or "Feed aggregator" at popular search sites will yield many results. A typical interface for a feed reader will display your feeds and the number of new (unread) entries within each of those feeds. If you prefer, you can use an online, web-based service to track and manage feeds. Online services give you the advantage of being able to access your feed updates anywhere you can find a web browser.
How do I publish my own feed?
If you are using blogging software such as Blogger (like me) then you are most likely already publishing a feed, without even realizing it. Blogger for example can automatically create the file atom.xml (you will need to check your Blogger settings to see if this feature is turned on), this is your feed.
What's Feedburner then?
Feedburner's services allow publishers who already have a feed to expand on the features provided by the basic feed.
Feedburner offers the following services:
- Feedburner allows your readers to easily subscribe to your feed no matter what reader they are using, subscribe via email and display how many subscribers you have on your blog itself.
- By burning your feed it will be properly formatted for all directories and readers and give you the option of adding additional functionality to the feed.
- You can analyse your traffic to see how many subscribers you have and where they are coming from and what readers they are using.
How much does it cost?
It's free, although you can upgrade your account to get even more functionality, but the free account offers more than enough for most peoples needs.
Are there other companies offering the same or similar services?
Yes there are, Feedburner is just the one that I use, if you perform a search on feed burners I'm sure you will find many more.
Tags: feedburner, feed, rss, atom, syndication
2 comments:
Feedburner is just great, theres so much stuff you can do with it
Yeah, I was amazed at how much you can do with feedburner, the number of services they offer is brilliant.
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