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Syndicate Your Headlines Using RSS
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RSS is quickly becoming the standard choice for delivering
syndicated web content. Have you ever wondered how some of the
large content sites deliver their headlines? Or, have you ever
wanted to display news headlines, but didn't want to display the
standard "Content Provided By..." info? Or, have you ever wanted
to syndicate your own content? RSS may be the answer you've been
looking for.
RSS stands for Rich Site Summary. It is an XML format
specifically designed to share content. Netscape originally
developed RSS to drive channels for their Netscape Netcenter.
Formerly known as RDF, RSS was developed in 1999 and has quickly
evolved into the dominant format for syndicating content. Well-
known sites such as, CNET, ZDNet, CNN, Wired and many more
utilize this powerful means of dynamic content delivery.
Distributing your content using RSS will involve creating one
file that contains your content. This file will reside on your
server to enable other web sites to display your channel. You can
update your channel simply by updating your file.
Once you've created your file you can submit it to web sites like
Netscape to enable other web sites to subscribe.
Creating an RSS File
Your first step will be to identify your file. To do this, place
the following code at the top of your text file.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE rss PUBLIC "-//Netscape Communications//DTD RSS
0.91//EN" "http://my.netscape.com/publish/formats/rss-0.91.dtd">
<rss version="0.91">
Your next step will be to create your channel header. The
"channel" tag indicates that you are beginning a new channel.
<channel>
<title>Web-Source.net Syndication</title>
<link>http://www.web-source.net/</link>
<description>Web Development article syndication feeds!
</description>
<language>en-us</language>
The "title" tag indicates the name of your channel. The "link"
tag will contain a link to your web site. The "description" tag
describes your channel and the "language" tag indicates that
you're writing in US English.
In addition to displaying text, you can also display a small
logo. The image should be 88 pixels wide and 31 pixels high.
Displaying an image is optional. If you're not going to include
an image, skip this step.
<image>
<title>Web-Source</title>
<url>http://www.web-source.net/image.gif</url>
<link>http://www.web-source.net/</link>
<width>88</width>
<height>31</height>
<description>Web Design and Development</description>
</image>
Now, you're ready to create your headlines. Each new "item" tag
represents a new topic. The rule of thumb is to include between
five and fifteen items. You can include a description, but it
isn't required.
<item>
<title>Moving Up From Classified Ads to Display Ad</title>
<link>http://www.web-source.net/biz_tips_feed.htm</link>
<description>Display ads are the standard advertising tool of
print media. You can impress your carefully targeted audience
with a colorful display ad that spreads across the page of your
favorite magazine, trade bulletin, or newspaper.
</description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Creating A Customized Marquee</title>
<link>http://www.web-source.net/web_tips_feed.htm</link>
<description>Learn how to create a customized marquee for your
web site</description>
</item>
Your final step will be to close your channel by adding the
following tags:
</channel>
</rss>
Save your new file with a .rss file extension and upload it to
your server.
If you'd rather not create your own RSS file, RSS Channel Editor
is a free Web based tool that makes it easy to create and
maintain RSS files. You can find the script here:
http://www.webreference.com/perl/tools
Now, you're ready to share your content. Visit the following web
sites to submit your new channel and enable other web sites to
display your content:
http://my.netscape.com
http://my.userland.com
http://www.xmltree.com
If you'd like to display RSS content on your web site, you'll
need a script to fetch the content. RSS Fetcher is a free script
that will fetch content, format it as HTML and store it in a file
on your server. The content can then be displayed on your web
site.
You can locate RSS files to display on your web site at the
following web addresses:
http://my.userland.com
http://www.xmltree.com
http://my.netscape.com
http://w.moreover.com
For further information about RSS, read Jonathan Eisenzopf's
tutorial entitled, "Using RSS News Feeds."
If you have content that you regularly update, give RSS a try.
Providing free content is an extremely powerful method of
increasing your web site traffic.
Article by Shelley Lowery - Copywrite 2004
Shelley Lowery is the author of Ebook Starter - A complete ebook
design kit. Subscribe to Etips, for a wealth of quality
information to assist you in Web Design, Internet Marketing &
Ecommerce. All new subscribers receive a free copy of the highly
acclaimed ebook, "Killer Internet Marketing Strategies."
http://www.startupinternetmarketing.com/wdm
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