What is RSS?

Most of us love to surf the Internet and visit all the Web sites we like to follow. It’s fun to see what’s new at our favorite web sites!

 

However, visiting all these Web sites can be very time consuming.

For example, if you have 10 Web sites you like to visit each day, then you’ll have to surf to each Web site and look around to see if any new content has been added that catches your fancy. The process of surfing and perusing these 10 Web sites can take up a big chunk of your time, and it can be frustrating too.

• Using RSS feeds to aggregate all of the most recent news or posts, from all of your favorite and regularly visited blogs and Web sites in one convenient reader can make your Internet surfing life a lot more enjoyable. With RSS, it will be easy for you to see what’s up and new at all of the Web sites you like to follow, and you can do this in just one place.

• RSS stands for Rich Site Summary, or Really Simple Syndication. It’s a way for Web sites and blogs to publish their content or posts in a Feed that can be read by another Web site or other software called a Reader. This means you can stay up-to-date with the content changes of the many blogs and Web sites you monitor by looking in just one place instead of actually visiting each one of the blogs and Web sites individually. You can quickly review and read all the new content from all of the blogs and Web sites you enjoy by following their RSS feeds in Reader. This saves you time and effort.

• A blog or Web site will most likely make available to its visitors an RSS feed. An RSS feed is in the form of a link. You Subscribe to these blogs and Web sites using the RSS feed so you can receive updates of their content, meaning new posts, in your chosen RSS Reader.

 

You will often see an RSS icon or button on the pages of the blog or Web site you want to subscribe to that looks similar to this example:
RSS Subscribe Icon/Button


Subscribe

These RSS icons/buttons provide the link you need to subscribe to the blog or Web site’s RSS feed. The RSS icons/buttons will often have a text link too. You will find the RSS icon/button for this blog located near the upper right-hand corner at the top of the page. There is another much smaller RSS icon along with the word "Subscribe" found in the right-hand sidebar.

 

If you click on this RSS icon, then one of two things will occur. You will either see a web page displayed with a dialog that allows you to Subscribe to the blog or Web site’s RSS feed in a Reader, or you will see a web page with a lot of code shown. If you see a web page with code, then you should copy that page’s URL (the URL will be displayed in the browser Address Bar) and then add that URL to your Reader. It’s really not as complicated as it might seem.

 

Here is a video that explains RSS and demonstrates the process of RSS subscription:

 

 

You will need an RSS Reader to take advantage of RSS feeds supplied by blogs and Web sites. One very popular RSS feed Reader is the free and online Google Reader.

 

Google Reader is my favorite RSS Reader, I currently follow over 120 blogs using Google Reader. I like to follow the RSS feeds of blogs with subjects such as; blogs and blogging, Web site design, running a small business, small business marketing, Civil War history, and some blogs about writing.

 

Having a place where I can check on all of these blogs and see what has been newly posted is a great time and work saver for me. I’ll check on my Google Reader account two or three times a day to see what’s up with the blogs I follow. I like Google Reader a lot, and recommend it as your RSS Reader.

 

A video to help you learn the basics of Google Reader:

 

 

So, if subscribing to RSS feeds is something new to you, and you like to keep track of multiple blogs or Web sites on a regular basis, then give RSS and Google Reader a try. I think you’ll appreciate the time you’ll save, and the convenience RSS provides.

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