How to create an RSS feed

An RSS news feed can be used to communicate with your target audience. It is an ideal means of notifying people of new content on your website without need for them to keep on visiting your site. You can send newsletters to your readership without having to use email and risk being accused of spamming. You will be comfortable in knowledge that people who request your feed are actually interested in it because they have actively subscribed to it. This article will explain just how to create your own RSS news feed.

There are a couple of ways to create an RSS file, you can use an editor designed for purpose or you can create a file using a simple text editor. The latter will require you to learn some XML whilst former will do hard part for you. First off I will describe an RSS file, there are several versions and I will be showing you version 2.0, latest RSS version.

An RSS file looks just like an HTML file except it has different tags and files end in .rss or .xml rather than .html. The file is made up of header information and item information, item information contains actual news items.

The first section of file contains header information. This states that file is XML and which version, encoding used and version of RSS that you are using. This part of file is mandatory. Next up is channel tag, this encloses whole of rest of file. This is followed by a title, description and link which explain what feed is about and what website it is associated with. The final part of header is optional image information. If you use this software that is used to parse or read your file can display a small picture such as a logo.

Steps to Create and Promote RSS Feeds

RSS, or Really Simple Syndication as it is commonly known, is a technology that gives webmasters ability to easily distribute and publish syndicated content on Internet. It seems like all Internet businesses now have RSS feeds available; at least your competitors do. You have finally made decision that you have to have one. Where do you start?

Steps to Creating an RSS feed

1.) Build a Feed

There are a number of desktop and web applications available that make feed creation easy. I would encourage anyone creating a feed to use one. Though not overly complicated, hand-coding an RSS feed can become a bit confusing and time-consuming. Most desktop software applications for building a feed include a wizard and contact-sensitive help, simplifying process of creating a feed. Following a few simple steps in a wizard generally will produce an RSS feed in just a few minutes.

Publishers control what information is syndicated in RSS feed, so ultimately it is publisher's decision as to whether to include teaser copy or full articles. Consider what you are trying to accomplish and who your target audience is when building feed.

Software to Build a Feed - http://www.feedforall.com Tutorial for Creating Feed by Hand using XML - http://www.make-rss-feeds.com

2.) Transfer Feed Onto Your Server

Once you have constructed an RSS feed you will need to transfer feed to your server. This can be done using a standard FTP client (if it is not built into feed creation software). The feed is usually placed in domain's root directory like this: http://www.mydomain.com/nameoffeed.xml , but as long as you know where it is it doesn't really matter.

3.) Display Feed on Your Website Using a Graphic of Some Sort

In order to signal to website visitors that an RSS feed containing content related to website is available, include a colorful graphic on website. It has become a standard that nearly all websites that have RSS feeds available use colorful graphics such as flags as indicators that RSS feeds are available for specific content. The flags were initially bright orange rectangles but as popularity has grown, webmasters have bent rules a bit. NotePage has made a free online RSS graphic tool available that allows users to quickly customize buttons by selecting text on button and color scheme of button. Once color and text is entered, a custom graphic is instantly created. Webmasters can easily match style of RSS button to a website's theme. Graphics experience is not required. Simply select alternative colors and insert text to personalize RSS feed graphics. The RSS graphics tool can be used by clicking following URL http://www.feedforall.com/public/rss-graphic-tool.htm or choose ready made graphics fom: http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-graphics.htm .