As a blogger, you’ve probably noticed an orange icon labelled RSS feed. You’ve come to the right place if you’ve ever wondered what RSS is and how you can use it to grow your WordPress site. In this article, we will define RSS, discuss its benefits, and show you how to use it to help your WordPress blog grow.
What Is RSS
RSS stands for Really Simple Subscription Service. RSS is a component of a web feed that enables users and applications to start receiving constant updates from their preferred website or blog. RSS, which stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary, is an abbreviation for Really Simple Syndication. The feed or RSS feed is also another name for it.
To keep track of updates on your favourite website in the early days of the internet, you had to bookmark it and then manually visit to see if there were any updates.
RSS feeds fixed this problem by letting users keep records of their favourite sites without having to visit them manually each time.
RSS enables bloggers and publishers to syndicate their content automatically so that it can be read in email, feed readers, and other devices.
What Is the Function of an RSS Feed?
RSS feeds work by distributing your most recent content in the form of a structured XML document. This feed includes your full articles or their summaries, as well as metadata for each item such as date, author, category, and so on.
This XML document can then be retrieved and viewed using an RSS feed reader. For all operating systems, desktops, and mobile devices, there is a wide range of RSS feed reader software available.
An example RSS feed is shown below:
<?xmlversion="1.0"encoding="UTF-8"?><channel><title>yourblogmaster</title><link>https://www.yourblogmaster.com</link><description>Beginner's Guide for WordPress</description><lastBuildDate>Tue, 02 Dec 2018 14:13:37 +0000</lastBuildDate><language>en-US</language><item><title>How to Fix WordPress Posts Returning 404 Error</title><link>http://feeds.yourblogmaster.com/yourblogmaster/</link><pubDate>Tue, 02 Dec 2018 11:58:18 +0000</pubDate><dc:creator>Editorial Staff</dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Tutorials]]></category><guidisPermaLink="false">https://www.yourblogmaster.com/?p=10968</guid><description><![CDATA[<p>Description of post goes here...]]></description><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Post goes here....]]></content:encoded></item>
RSS feeds are built-in to all WordPress blogs. By default, each page of your WordPress site contains a meta tag that points to the location of your website’s RSS feed.
What are the Advantages of RSS?
RSS makes it simple for users to subscribe to your content. Using an RSS feed, they can receive updates from your blog or website directly in their feed readers, desktop applications, and a variety of other devices.
Subscribers wouldn’t have to remember your website URL because they can bring the content to a central location where they like to read the whole of their favourite sites at once.
Your content also becomes portable, and your subscribers can take it with them for offline reading.
RSS feeds to aid in the development and maintenance of a devoted following for your blog. RSS subscribers are much more likely to share your content on social media. Many of our readers use RSS feeds and IFTTT to automatically tweet each new Yourblogmaster article.
As a user, you could also subscribe to your favourite websites and read them all in one place. This allows users to easily scan through their favourite news and blog sites. If you’d like to leave a blog comment, simply go to the individual article and do so.
Most modern feed readers allow you to organise your reading lists into categories and groups. You can really maximise your reading time if you use RSS effectively.
How Do You Read Your Favorite Websites Using RSS Feeds?
Feed readers, which are apps that allow you to subscribe to RSS feeds, can be used to do so. There are numerous free feed readers available on the market for all popular operating systems and devices.
The following are a few of the best RSS feed reader apps.
- Feedly – (Web, Browser Add-ons, iOS, Android, Kindle)
- Innoreader – (Web, Android, iOS)
- The Elder Reader (Web, Mac, Windows, Android, iOS, and more)
- Bloglovin’ (Web, Android, iOS)
We suggest using Feedly. It’s also available both as a browser add-on and also a mobile app for iOS, Android, and Kindle devices.
Feedly allows you to sync your RSS subscriptions across devices and resume reading where you left off. Adding your favourite websites to Feedly is simple; simply enter the URL of the website and click the Follow button to subscribe.
Most feed readers allow you to search for topics of interest and subscribe to popular sources on those topics. You can also organise your favourite websites into topics. Feed readers, such as Feedly, enable you to print, share, and email articles that you find fascinating.
How to Promote Your WordPress RSS Feed
As a WordPress user, your website already has an RSS feed. You can find your RSS feed by appending /feed/ to the end of the URL of your website. For instance:
https:/www.yourblogmaster.com/feed/
Don’t forget to replace Yourblogmaster with your own domain name.
You could also encourage visitors to enrol on your RSS feed by including an RSS icon in your sidebar or some other prominent location. Here’s how we do it at Yourblogmaster :
You can also connect your RSS feed to an email marketing service, allowing your users to receive your blog posts directly in their inbox.
Try taking Your WordPress RSS Feed to another Standard
RSS feeds are extremely powerful, and you can use them to build a loyal following with minimal effort.
1. Create an email list using an RSS feed.
If you haven’t already started building an email list, you should do so right away. See why you should start building your email list right away in our guide.
This is where OptinMonster comes in handy. It is the most effective lead generation software on the market, allowing you to convert website visitors into subscribers.
2. Increase your social media following by using RSS feeds.
Social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter can assist you in increasing the traffic to your website. However, in order to keep your social media profiles active, you must post content on a regular basis.
You can use RSS feeds and IFTTT to automatically share new blog posts to all of your social media profiles.
3. Use RSS Widget to Promote Your Blog
WordPress includes a default RSS widget that you can place in your sidebar to display the most recent posts from any other blog. This widget can be used to cross-promote your own blogs.
Personalize your RSS feed
You can customise your WordPress RSS feeds with some advanced hacks and tricks.
- Add content to your RSS Feed to manipulate it.
- Include featured images in your RSS feed.
- For categories, use RSS feeds.
- For custom post types, use RSS feeds.
We hope this article has helped you understand what RSS is and how you can use RSS in WordPress to grow your website.
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