Blogging Basics: What is RSS?

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication”. RSS documents are referred to as ‘feeds’ or ‘channels’. RSS is a way of displaying a web page in a different format that allows web users to aggregate the latest content from their favourite blogs. It’s tempting to ignore the whole ‘RSS thing’ just because you can, but believe me that was one of the biggest blogging mistakes I ever made.

How do I use RSS?

A Feed reader is similar to an email inbox. You subscribe to the feed of your favourite blogs with a few clicks, and the new posts from that blog are sent straight to you.

Really Simple Steps to get Started with RSS

I use a Google Reader, which I recommended (all this is free by the way).

1. Create a Google Account and sign-in.
2. Click on ‘Google Reader’
3. Start adding subscriptions! This can be done by visiting the blog you want to subscribe to and clicking on their RSS button, or by manually adding the feed address.
4. Subscribe to Blogging Fingers (of course)

Below: A screenshot of my Google Reader Inbox, you can see I’m having a read of Dosh Dosh’s RSS feed.

Why should all bloggers use an RSS reader?

Creating a Subscribe-able feed for your own blog using FeedBurner

This has never been easier than it is now. Simply visit Feedburner.com and enter the URL of your blog in the big box and click “next”. Be sure to read through all the sections such as “optimize” and “publiscize” and carefully chose the options you want.

Technorati Tags: Really Simple Syndication, Feed reader, Google Reader, RSS feed, FeedBurner