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The first two elements are the minimum expected by nearly all sites that carry headlines. The description field is optional, as some syndicators will ignore this field altogether, posting only the item headline. Because of this, Kalena's RSS file does not include item descriptions. Below that, you'll see two news items listed, "Google Defines Ethical SEO" and "Yahoo Offends Gay Community in UK". Additional news items would follow the same format and be listed directly below within <item> </item> tags. Finally, the last two lines of the feed are closing tags - XML, like HTML, requires opening and closing tags.
To preview what Kalena's RSS feed looks like when syndicated, click here: High-Search-Engine-Ranking.com You can create your own simple RSS file with just about any text editor - I set up the sample above with Notepad. Once you've created the text file, do the following: 1. Save the file with .rss as the extension (example: mynews.rss) and upload it to the main folder of your website. 2. Validate your RSS feed by running it through the RSS Validator to make sure it's set up correctly. 3. Display the "valid RSS" logo on your site (available from the link above) and provide a visible link to your feed (link: http://www.example.com/mynews.rss) from your site page/s. You could say something like Kalena uses on her site: Webmasters! Click below to feature our Search Engine News Blog headlines on your site. RSS Feed For This Page.
4. (optional) Create a javascript version of the RSS feed to enable other webmasters to syndicate your content on their sites. The Wytheville Community College News Center provides this service for free. 5. Submit your feed to content aggregators. Some sources are provided below. 6. Update your feed regularly by adding new items to the .rss file and ensuring each item has it's own link on your web site. To keep your feed fresh, try to keep your channel items to a maximum of five, deleting older items from your feed as you update it. The dates next to your news items will adjust depending on when content aggregators pick them up. So, that's the basics of RSS! We have only been able to scratch the surface in this short lesson, but it's enough to get you started. A complete description of the RSS 0.91 format can be found at http://backend.userland.com/rss, and more resources on creating your own newsfeed can be found here: RSS: Lo-Fi Content Syndication Content Syndication With RSS (Blog about RSS)
[Kalena] Thanks Dan. Ok, so your feed is created, you've verified it works and you've set up the code and Javascript on your site so that webmasters and content syndicators can grab it easily. But you're not finished yet! Now you need to spread the word about your feed. Here are a few content aggregators where you can register your newsfeed:
You only need to do this once and then syndicators tracking your feed automatically pick up your news feed items as you update them. You can also download one of these RSS readers to examine your own newsfeed: So there you go. Not as difficult as you thought huh? With a little effort, your site can be rubbing shoulders with the big players on major news portals. Enjoy the traffic! Copyright (c) Kalena Jordan & Dan Thies 2004
Dan Thies is the author of "Search Engine Optimization Fast Start," a concise, step-by-step guide to search engine positioning for the beginner to intermediate level webmaster - available now at SEOResearchLabs.com.
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