What is RSS feed and How to Use it in WordPress?
Almost everyone who is involved in the world of blogs or known as bloggers is certainly no stranger to the name RSS Feed. Why? Because RSS feeds are usually displayed on a web page. What is RSS Feed ?
RSS Feeds appear with their distinctive color, yellow with the text “RSS”. Have you ever seen a website that uses RSS? I am sure I have.
If you want to find out how to use RSS Feeds to develop your website, this is the right article to read.
In this article we will discuss about what is RSS and what is the use of RSS in online sites.
First, what is RSS Feed?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary. Sometimes called a feed or RSS feed. RSS is a type of web feed that allows users and applications to receive regular updates from the website or blog they choose.
In the past, before the RSS feed feature, if you want to get the latest information from your favorite websites, the step that needs to be done is to bookmark the website page then open it manually to see the latest updates.
RSS feeds provide a solution to deal with that problem by giving users permission to get the latest information from favorite websites that they frequently visit without having to open it manually.
RSS feeds also allow bloggers or publishers to automatically distribute their content so that visitors / subscribers can read the content in e-mails, feed reader applications, or other devices.
So simply, RSS feeds are applications or technologies that are used to read content from a website without the need to open the website in a browser.
All WordPress blogs are made with RSS Feed support. By default, every page on a WordPress site has a meta tag that points to the website’s RSS feed location.
You can disable RSS feeds on WordPress. However, before doing that, I suggest to continue reading this article until it’s finished. Because most likely you will change your mind not to deactivate it.
Benefits of Using RSS Feed
RSS makes it easy for users to subscribe to content. When using RSS feeds, they (visitors / subscriber / user) can receive the latest updates from blogs or websites directly to the feed reader, desktop applications, or other devices.
Users who subscribe (posts) on your website do not need to remember the URL address because they can already bring content to the same location, where they can read it all directly. Your content also becomes more portable, and subscriber can store it offline.
RSS feeds help you build and maintain loyal followers following your blog page. Could be, RSS subscribers will more often share your content on social media, such as tweeting from every article they read.
As a user or subscriber, you can read your favorite websites and save them in one place. This makes it faster for you to browse the latest news from blogs or websites that you like. In fact, you can leave a comment if you like one of the articles in the blog directly from the feed feeder application.
Most feed readers currently do a reading list by category or group. Of course this will increase and maximize your reading time.
How RSS Feeds Work
RSS feeds work by publishing your latest content in an XML document structure. This feed contains your article in full or only its summary, and metadata for each item, such as date, owner, category, and so on.
This XML document can be retrieved and read with an RSS feed reader. You can find tons of RSS feed reader applications available on the internet. RSS feed reader is not only in operating systems like Windows, but almost all operating systems from various desktop devices, including mobile devices.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" > <channel> <title> Comments on: The “Rule of Three” Technique for Creating Good Writing </title> <atom:link href="https://matob.web.id/random/1001/the-rule-of-three-technique-for-creating-good-writing/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>https://matob.web.id/random/1001/the-rule-of-three-technique-for-creating-good-writing/</link> <description>Random Creative</description> <lastBuildDate>Mon, 19 Aug 2019 23:16:18 +0000</lastBuildDate> <sy:updatePeriod> hourly </sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency> 1 </sy:updateFrequency> <generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=5.2.2</generator> </channel> </rss>
The above is one example of XML used by RSS feeds from the Random Creative blog. You can access it using the URL https://matob.web.id/random/1001/the-rule-of-three-technique-for-creating-good-writing/feed/ .
rss feed url wordpress
Install the RSS Feed Widget on WordPress
You can also install RSS feeds on WordPress in the form of widgets. This widget can display RSS feeds for your website and others. The steps you can take are quite simple.
First, login to your website page then go to the Widgets menu in Appearance »Widgets.
What you need is the URL (website) address of the feed you want to add on the website. This widget will display each feed from the URL that was added.
Below is one example of an RSS Feed from our blog added to a web page.
How to Use RSS Feeds to Read Your Favorite Blogs
You can subscribe to RSS feeds using an application called a feed reader. This application is easily found in application repositories such as Apps Store, iTunes and the like. Examples of applications that you can use such as Innoreader, Feedly, The Old Reader, and Bloglovin.
Among these applications, Feedly is one of the applications available in the browser add-on or in the mobile application.
Feedly can connect RSS subscriptions between your devices and mark the location of the last time while reading. Adding your favorite website is very simple, just copy the website feed URL and click the “Follow” button to subscribe.
Most feed readers can search by topic according to the user’s wishes. You can also categorize your favorite sites according to topics. Feed readers such as Feeder provide features such as print and share.
Promote RSS Feeds
As a WordPress user, your website is ready to publish RSS feeds. You can easily add / feed / at the back of the website address. For example https://matob.web.id/random/feed/. You can also add and increase visitors to subscribe to RSS feeds by adding the RSS feed icon to the sidebar or other sections.
In addition, you can also connect RSS feeds to email marketing services and allow users to receive blog posts directly in their inbox.
To be more optimal, take advantage of social media websites like Facebook and Twitter to help you develop website traffic. However, to maintain an active social media account, you need consistency to regularly share content. It might sound complicated, because sometimes you have to share it manually. Is there no other way? The answer is there.
You do not need to worry, because at this time there is an application that can help you to share content shortly after the content was published. Just look at IFTTT, this application automatically shares new blog posts to all social media profiles without you having to do it manually.
Conclusion
Seeing some of the reviews above, of course the use of RSS is enough to provide a positive effect on the development of the website. Visitors who want to follow developments or the latest articles from our website do not need to open it first manually. They can subscribe to RSS feeds and collect them into one application using a feed reader.
Hopefully this article on Understanding RSS and How to Use it in WordPress can provide an overview of the meaning of RSS, what is RSS, and how RSS works and its benefits. It doesn’t hurt to try to develop our website using RSS. Of course, with the support of a reliable web hosting service.
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