How to Set Up an RSS Feed

Every hour, millions of new web pages are added to the Internet. It won't be an exaggeration to say that the Internet is flooded with information all the time. If it wasn't for search engines and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds, we would have been drowned in information and still be left thirsty for real knowledge. Two of the best ways of driving traffic towards a website are search engine optimization and set up of RSS feeds. Information is a commodity on the Internet and users looking for specific information need pointers and links to latest information generated every hour. This function is served by an RSS feed.

What are RSS Feeds?

RSS stands for 'Really Simple Syndication'. It provides a way to collect fresh updates from your website, collate them and display in a listed form. An RSS feed is an XML file with a list of links to all the fresh pages added to your blog or website. Every website including Buzzle, continuously generates an RSS feed, that includes the list of all the new web pages generated, along with short descriptions of its contents and a title. Visit the Buzzle RSS feed to get an idea about how RSS XML files get displayed. Setting up an RSS feed for your website or blog helps visitors bookmark your site for future reference.

How to Set Up an RSS Feed For a Website?

Setting up RSS feed is basically writing an XML file in specific format, using XML tags to list the title, description and link of every newly added web page. Each RSS file describes a specific 'channel', which is the main page, where new links are added. If your website has various sections or subcategories, where fresh articles are regularly posted, you can have a separate RSS file for each of these 'channels'. The beginning of an RSS files starts with the specification of the RSS version on which its based followed by the opening of the RSS tag (<RSS>), followed by the channel tag (<channel>).

Within the channel tag, first the main link of the page whose updates you are providing is given along with a title and description. This is followed by a list of opening and closing 'item tags (<item>)' with the link of every new page listed within. There is a separate title tag (<title>) and description tag (<description>) to describe each link within the item tags. Once the list is over, you finish with a closing channel and RSS tag.

Once such a file is created, it needs to be placed on your site's web server and a hyperlink to the file must be created. This link can be shared anywhere on the website. Visitors can click on this link to open the feed as a webpage or add the link to an RSS feed aggregator. In the next section, I provide you with an example RSS file from live Buzzle feed. Most sites use the RSS icon displayed above in the image and link it to the RSS feed file. If your site published live data regularly, you will have to write a code using server side scripting, to automatically generate live RSS feeds. You can submit your files to RSS validation websites to check if they confirm with the standard RSS code.

Example

Here is an example of an RSS file in the most basic form. It contains two listed items from Buzzle's Computers and Internet channel.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>

<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>Buzzle: Computers & Internet</title>
<link>http://www.buzzle.com/chapters/computers-and-the-internet.asp</link>
<description>Get the latest news about computer technology and the Internet. Stay current with computer trends and what's new on the Internet.</description>
<item>
<title>Long Range Wireless Router Reviews</title>
<link>http://www.buzzle.com/articles/long-range-wireless-router-reviews.html</link>
<description>The long range wireless router reviews presented in this article, will help you choose a new wireless router, that provides extensive coverage range. Read to find out which is the best long range wireless router for home.</description>
</item>

<item>
<title>Dual Band Wireless Router Reviews</title>
<link>http://www.buzzle.com/articles/dual-band-wireless-router-reviews.html</link>
<description>Here are some dual band wireless router reviews that will help you decide which router is the best option for your home or office. There are several choices available today, and it is recommended that you pick a dual band router over a single band one.</description>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>

All creation of RSS feed takes is a bit of simple XML coding. Study the RSS feeds designed by websites and you will understand and right click to 'view source' the coding of an XML file. Setting up an RSS feed helps bring in regular visitors to your website or blog as the feed is collected and displayed in a web page format by other websites or bookmarked by users for regular reference.