Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
Activity One: “RSS: Feel the Need for Feeds”
Watch the video at http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10088_7-5143656.html
Activity Two: Watch “RSS in Plain English”
Watch the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU
Activity Three: Set up RSS for your Blog Circle
- Go to the Google RSS Reader http://reader.google.com
- Click on "Add Subscription" and enter the URL for each member of your Blog Circle
Activity Four: Set up Feedburner for your Feeds
- (Optional) Read More about Feeds/RSS at http://www.google.com/support/feedburner/bin/answer.py?answer=79408
- Go to http://www.feedburner.com
- Enter your Blog Name
- Select "atom" as the Feed Type
- Important: Note the Feed Address (starts with http://feeds.feedburner.com. You can change the name if you want)
- You will be presented with a page saying "Your feed is ready for the world. Now what?"
- Click "Analyze" to see the type of information that will be gathered
Activity Five: Redirect your Blogger Feed to Feedburner
- Open a New window and log into blogger (http://www.blogger.com)
- From the "dashboard" click on "settings" for your blog
- Click on the "Site Feed" tab
- Enter your new feed name in "Post Feed Redirect URL" (the URL starts with http://feeds.feedburner.com)
- Click on "Save"
- Blogger will now redirect all feed traffic for your blog to your FeedBurner feed
Activity Six: Make it Easy for Readers to Subscribe
- Go back to Feedburner (http://www.feedburner.com)
- Click on your feed name
- Click on the "Publicize" Tab
- Select the RSS icon (large or small) or the specific feed readers to include on your blog
- Change "Use as Widget in" to Blogger and click "Go"
- It will bring up a window to "Import Page Element" into Blogger
- Remove the title (leave it blank)
- Click "Add Widget"
- The new "block" will show up as "HTML/Javascript". Drag & drop the "block" where you want it.