InteractiveWoo

Watch this video first: “RSS in Plain English”

What is RSS?

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a technology that is being used by millions of web users around the world to keep track of new content on their favorite websites. In the old days of the web to keep track of updates on a website you had to “bookmark” websites in your browser and manually return to them on a regular basis to see what had been added. RSS flips things around a little and is a technology that provides you with a method of “subscribing to” new and relevant information (feeds) that is sent to an “aggregator” of your choice, for you to read in your own time. It saves you time and helps you to get the information you want quickly after it was published. As a blogger, allowing your readers to subscribe to your content via RSS helps build longer viewership and lasting relationships.

Is there a way to track who is subscribing to your feed or content?

Yes. Feedburner is the most popular free tool that provides statistics on who is reading your blog through RSS feeds. The Google company also allows readers to subscribe to new content via email updates (important if your reader has not been introduced to RSS yet).

Aggregators or Readers

I recommend Google Reader (google.com/reader) and Bloglines (bloglines.com) as aggregators of RSS feeds. If you like other readers, please feel free to include them in the comments.

If you want more content like this delivered to you, get free Email Updates or subscribe via RSS

Watch this video first: “Blogs in Plain English”

Defining a Blog

A blog is a type of website where content is organized in the form of posts. As described in the video above, posts are usually arranged in chronological order with the most recent at the top of the main page, keeping the content of the blog “fresh” all the time. Blog posts are usually organized in categories and tags so they are accessible from the main page. Blogs also have traditional web pages and archives of older posts. Most blogs have the common characteristics of having a RSS (Really Simple Syndication) “subscribe” button where content can be delivered to the reader as it becomes available. Most blogs also have the ability to for readers to leave comments on the posts, hence creating a discussion over the posted topic. There are blogs on virtually any topic you can think of and bloggers with similar interests or topics are building relationships and building communities like never before.

Main Components of a Blog

• Post - A post is where you write the main content of your blog. Each post has a headline describing the content, the date the post was created, tags associated with the post, and one or multiple categories
• Page - A page is a traditional web page where you want content to remain static. An “about us” or “contact” page are examples of pages
• Comments - Each post can be a topic for discussion using comments. You can set comments to appear automatically or after a review. Comments encourage discussion and increase engagement for future readers.
• Categories and Tags - Posts can be organized through categories or tags. Depending on the breadth of a blog, categories are used for a high level organization of your posts and tags are used for more details. For example, a tennis blog with a post about Roger Federer defeating Andy Murray in the US OPEN Tennis Finals can be categorized as US OPEN and tagged as Roger Federer and Andy Murray.

A great way to learn about blogs is to read a few, bookmark your favorites, and become engaged by leaving comments. The BEST way to learn about blogs is to start blogging yourself. Continue to “How to Make Blog”