RSS – What The Heck Is An RSS Feed?

• RSS is an acronym for “Really Simple Syndication” or as I read recently on one bloggers blog “explained the Oprah Way” RSS stands for: I’m “Ready for Some Stories”.

• If you are not familiar with RSS, it would be assumed you aren’t using RSS to keep track of your favorite websites.  When you come across a website you want to keep track of, you most likely “bookmark it” with your Internet browser so that you can later return to that site and stay up to date on it.  What if you didn’t have to return to the site until you KNEW there was new information of interest posted? With RSS technology there is no need to bookmark, you simply subscribe to the RSS feed offered on the website and updates are sent to you shortly after they are published!  How cool is that?

• Another way to explain RSS is to think of it as a subscription to your favorite magazine, newspaper or periodical.  When you have a subscription to any of these, they show up on your doorstep or in your home mailbox and you read them or possibly let them stack up in your bathroom!  Maybe you read them while in the bathroom!  RSS is basically the same, except it is an electronic subscription to your favorite websites, web content, web pages, or weblogs and it is delivered to you via your RSS Reader (I will get to RSS Readers, not to worry) .  The other difference being that you receive updates via your RSS Reader anytime something is updated or changed on your favorite sites.

RSS Readers

Listed below are three easy to use RSS Feed Readers to help you get started with subscribing to your favorite websites. 

• One of the most popular RSS Feed Readers is Google Reader, it is free and very user friendly.
• If you use Yahoo!, for email or frequent Yahoo! and have an account, Yahoo’s RSS Reader is also great and very easy to use.  You will find the ability to add the feeds in “My Yahoo!”
• Microsoft Outlook also has an RSS Reader included that you have most likely not paid much attention to.  If you have Microsoft Outlook, there is a folder that is automatically installed called RSS Feeds and has automatically subscribed you to receive updates from Microsoft.  You can add other feeds to your Microsoft RSS reader that are of interest to you.

Subscribing To RSS Feeds:

• You have most likely noticed when you visited some websites or blogs an icon in your browser address bar or on the site that looks like one of these:

• There are many different versions of RSS icons people use on their various websites, but this should give you a good idea of what they look like and what to look for.

• When you see this icon in your browser address bar at the top, if you click on it, you will receive a drop down menu asking you which type of feed you would like to subscribe to.  Choose RSS Feed, which will then take you to a screen showing what the feed will look like in your RSS Reader.  You will also see a drop down menu asking you where you would like your RSS to be fed to.  Choose one of the options and that is it!  If you choose Outlook, you will get an email in your inbox which will automatically be put in your RSS Feed folder.  If you use My Yahoo!, you will see it listed in your custom “My Yahoo!” page.  If you choose Google, it will display in your “iGoogle” page, this is my favorite method, all article headings in one place make it easy to choose what I want to read.  All three are easy and I encourage you to get started on it right away!

• By subscribing to the RSS Feeds on your favorite websites, you will soon begin to understand the importance of having an RSS Feed on your own blog.

• Here is what the RSS subscription button looks like in the address bar.  By clicking on the little orange icon, you can subscribe to your favorite sites.

• Sometimes websites also have something like this to make it easy to subscribe and you just click it and follow the prompts.  Give it a whirl…it’s easy and you will be so glad you did.  I didn’t include any links on this page directly to the RSS feed so you can practice by either clicking on the orange button at the top OR on the RSS feed on the left.  Let me know how it goes.

P.S. Thank you for taking your time to visit and hope you find the information useful. I hope to help you learn everything you want and need to know about blogging. I welcome your questions (site specific is good) and definitely your suggestions. I hope to answer your questions before they come up or when you find that you have one. By clicking on the Orange RSS Feed button on the left side of the screen, you will be automatically updated of new information available without having to "check in" to see what's new. It's the easiest way to keep up to date. Thanks again for stopping in, I value your time!