I have been wanting to add RSS to my blog for quite a while now, but am still trying to grasp the concept of it, and figure out how to add it to my self-hosted blog. I found this fantastic article that clearly outlines what you need to know about RSS and blogs. I will certainly use the information provided to try and get it onto my blog, and I hope you find this article as useful as I have:

Copyright © Danny Wirken

Blogs are making it possible for all of the world's information
to be accessible. But keeping up-to-date with the multitude of
information you are interested in can be overwhelming. Wouldn't
it be nice to have the freshest news and content delivered
directly to you without having to surf from one blog to
another? RSS informs you when blogs have added new content. You
can get the latest headlines and blog entries be they text,
audio files, photographs or video in one screen as soon as they
are published.

Figuring Out RSS

You must have noticed the little orange buttons with the icons
XML, RSS, Subscribe, and Syndicate This Site when you visit
blogs. Clicking on the button, all you will see is a heap of
computer codes. This is an RSS feed.

RSS stands for RDF Site Summary, Rich Site Summary or Really
Simple Syndication. The latter is the most popular descriptive
definition. RSS is a feed format that allows blog publishers to
share and distribute content to other blogs or individual web
surfers. Bloggers use RSS to provide updates in the form of
blog posts. If a blog publishes RSS content commonly known as
RSS feed, this feed will include summaries of all the entries
posted on that blog. RSS is written in the Internet coding
language XML, thus some buttons are labeled as such.

The first part of an RSS feed is a descriptive detail about the
"channel" or the source that is publishing the content. The
"channel" may include the title of the source, a short
description, its blog address, date the information was last
updated, name and e-mail address of the blog author. The second
part is the list of items. Each "item" represents one published
piece of content. Each "item" includes the headline of the
entry (title), a two to three sentence summary of the entry
(description) and the URL address to read the full entry.

RSS feeds are meant to be read by a software or web-based
application known as a feed reader. Feed readers understand the
data contained in RSS feeds and translates these data and make
available to Internet users or customized blogs,

Subscribing to RSS Feeds

To receive updates or view RSS feeds, you will need a feed
reader. A feed reader is an application that allows you to
subscribe (add a feed) to a blog and receive quick summaries
when that blog is updated. This application is also referred to
as RSS reader, news aggregator, news reader or feed aggregator.
When you subscribe to RSS feeds, the feed reader collect from
different blogs and organize them in a convenient place for you
to read rather than you visiting individual blogs looking for
new content. Whenever new content is posted from one of the
feeds you are subscribed to, the feed reader displays the new
headlines. You can go over the headlines and if one is
particularly interesting, you can click the headline and you
will be brought to the original source where you can read the
entire content.

There are primarily two versions of feed readers - web-based
and stand-alone applications. Web-based or online feed readers
provide a quick start for RSS subscriptions. They let you read
your RSS feeds from any computer. Some of these readers are
free while others with advanced features are offered at a cost.
Some examples of web-based feed readers are Google Reader, My
Yahoo and Bloglines. Stand-alone or downloadable feed readers
are applications that you install on your main computer just
like the Microsoft Outlook e-mail program. These feed readers
are usually run in the background. A sound or pop-up window
notifies you of any updates. SharpReader is a free feed reader
for Windows. For Mac users, a preferred feed reader is
NetNewsWire.

Once you have a feed reader, you can choose what you want to
receive in your feed reader. You can also add feeds through the
RSS buttons of your favorite blogs. Clicking on the RSS orange
icon, you can subscribe to the feed by dragging the URL of the
RSS feed into your feed reader or by cutting and pasting the
same URL into a new feed in your feed reader. Most blogs offer
RSS feeds using the orange RSS, XML button. Conversely, you can
also create your own RSS feed.

Creating an RSS Feed

You can also create you own feeds. It is a pretty easy task.
The hard part is creating the content itself. The feed part is
usually just using the standard RSS format that notifies the
feed reader which sections of your blog entry relates to the
RSS title, description, date, link and other pertinent data.
This is done using XML format, the standard method of
surrounding the significant parts of the content with tags that
the feed reader understands. Once content has been set up with
an RSS feed, then it is ready for the reading public.

Publishing an RSS Feed

You can add RSS syndication as a publishing option in your
blog. In some cases, this is done automatically, without you
having to set up anything. If you are using a blogging tool
software like Blogger, TypePad or WordPress, publishing a feed
is one of their built-in features plus some other feed-related
options. Other types of feed readers may require programming
skills to add RSS syndication. Once you have created an RSS
feed with your blogging software, pipe it through your feed
reader and voila, a whole stream of benefits awaits you.

Benefiting from RSS

The most compelling use of RSS is that it lets you take hold of
information you are interested in and have it updated for you in
one place where you can read it within the shortest possible
time. RSS has been embraced by individual users, blog
publishers and businesses as well.

For individual users, RSS feeds keep them updated on news,
information and blog posts. There is no need to visit numerous
blogs. There is no deluge of e-mail newsletters that clutter
the mailbox. Unlike e-mail, there is no spam. Opting out can be
done anytime and there is no need to give any contact
information to subscribe to a feed. An individual user can also
customize content that comes to him and ignore blog entries that
are of no interest to him. There is absolutely no need to check
back for new postings as the feed reader delivers content to
him.

For blog publishers, RSS permits quick distribution of new blog
entries to individual users in a convenient way. RSS feeds when
incorporated into a blog offers a more personalized and
interactive user experience, strengthening blog presence and
maximizing revenue opportunities.

For businesses, RSS feeds enable them to do without regularly
checking blogs for important updates or plowing through a pile
of e-mail distribution lists. RSS provides businesses with
much-needed fresh information. RSS feeds are extremely helpful
for brand marketing, customer service, internal and external
communications and competitive awareness.

In a nutshell, if you want to be informed of the latest news
and happenings around the world and is having a hard time
managing information overload, RSS is the answer.

Hopefully, these basics can help you get started with RSS. It
may be difficult to understand at first, but once you get the
gist of it, surfing the web will be effortless with RSS.

About The Author: http://www.theinternetone.net