Davao Wordpresser

Have you ever wondered what that “Entries RSS” or “Comments RSS” link in your Wordpress Theme really does?

I received an email from an online buddy Dave Aguila, asking me about how to send his newsletter to people who want to subscribe to it. If his newsletter is online, the thing that pops from my mind is the use of RSS feeds as medium of subscription and updates. Here it goes.

RSS which stands for Really Simple Syndication (previously called Rich Site Summary) is actually a page (an xml file) in your site that can display regularly changing web content. That “regularly changing web content” in your case is your blog’s content. Using RSS, you can keep your readers informed by letting them retrieve the latest content from your site. It saves time for you since you don’t need to email your subscribers anymore. It also saves time for your subscribers since they don’t need to visit your site anymore. Moreover, RSS ensures privacy in the part of the subscriber by not needing them to join your email newsletter.

Why the need for RSS Feed if you got the main page?

The reason I see for this is that, as your index page (main page) may vary in terms of actual html code (since blogs very in terms of design and layout), this rss file in your site follows a coding rule which is standard across the web. To illustrate this, click on this link: davao wordpresser rss feed and this link: hugsmiles free blog hosting rss feed . If you clicked both links, you will find two pages that look similar in terms of format. But, if you click their main sites’ pages : davao wordpresser and hugsmiles free blog hosting respectively, you can see that the two sites would look differently. In order for this dynamic content updates to be universal, it has to follow a certain standard format. That format is the file in XML format (*.xml) which is the RSS file included with many website platforms including Wordpress.

How do you allow people to subscribe to your feed

This is where you need an RSS Aggregator. An RSS Aggregator also known as a feed aggregator, feed reader, news reader or simply as an aggregator, is client software or a web application which aggregates (collects) syndicated web content such as news headlines, blogs (your blog in this case), podcasts, and video blogs in a single location for easy viewing. Examples of these online RSS Aggregators are Feedburner.com and Google Reader . As a publisher of your feed, you have to register to an RSS Aggregator of your choice. Depending on the aggregator, you usually register your RSS feed url (right click on your site’s Entries RSS or alternatively Comments RSS if you want them to subscribe to the latest comments on your blog; then copy link location or url) into your new account in the aggregator that you chose. Then, they can provide you details on placing a link in your blog. This link, when clicked by the reader who wants to subscribe, directs them to a page where they can subscribe to your feed.

Aside from subscriptions, RSS feed can also be used to

• Notify people of the arrival of new products in a store
• Weather and other alerts of changing conditions
• Notification of additions of new items to a database, new messages received or new members to a group

These are just some of the many ways an RSS can be used. Try to experiment a little. Who knows, you just might think of a very good use of RSS feeds for your website.