Writing RSS Feed Help Required

Have read up loads since first posting this thread and still no further forward

Hi Jane,

I've not used Mirabyte so I can't be specific but I'll try to give you some answers based on my own feeds.

1) I'm not sure what you mean by this but what I usually do when I'm creating a new feed is to add a few items to start with. The next day I'll add one or more additional items and do that for as long as there are things to post - be creative here

2) The important thing, in my opinion, is that the bots can find your feed, exactly where it is is unimportant in my experience. From Mirabyte's online help file they suggest something like:

http://www.your-domain.com/feeds/myfeed.xml

My own I usually do like this:

http://www.your-domain.com/keywordrichtitle.xml

Which I think answers number 3 as well. I don't say it will make huge differences but it can't do any harm and it should make your feed more appealing to people looking for your type of site.

As to what you should include, I think you need to decide what you're looking to achieve with the feed. If you're trying to get the bots to find every page then include everything. If you're trying to use it as advertising for humans then I would suggest you make it more attractive with offers etc.

I hope that helps you, or at least doesn't add to your confusion!

Nigel

Hi Jane,

1. Does anyone know what the difference is between writing a new feed for a site and adding everything as opposed to adding a multitude of items ?

If you're talking about adding only few pages VS adding all the pages of your site into the RSS feed, then think of it like selecting which pages to put into the RSS feed. That's all.

2. To keep things tidy, should I use the following structure: /rss/feed.xml or /feeds/rss.xml ... or does it not matter ?

RSS file name doesn't matter. Where you put it doesn't matter too. Whichever convenient for you. However, do check your RSS feed here at Feed Validator for Atom and RSS
(Note: it doesn't have to be perfect. Sometimes, there are a few errors here and there. And not all feed validators out there will give you the same result. I've been using this one and it works fine)

3. Should I name my .xml file something which is keyword rich - i.e. keywordphrase.xml (from an SEO point of view) or does that not matter ?

I guess you are overthinking this? I may be wrong. But I don't think this is necessary. However, if you insist on the keyword rich RSS feed file name, do it so you can sleep better at night.

Hope this helps.

Its best if I explain by example.

Example: Its best to have a feed for all your articles on your site, each item in the feed would be a different article. You don't need a new feed for each article they are each items.

You can find a bunch of tutorials and good information about RSS feeds and promotion at FeedForAll Newsletters and Articles

Hi Everyone,

Still in need of help (I think) ... built my first ever feed using mirabyte Feed Writer which is now online at e-contracthire.co.uk - trouble is, I'm not really sure if I'm happy with it.

Should I have made it (or make it) more general to my site covering a mix of pages on the .xml document ?

Should I place links for different offers off to say the special offers and to the non status offers ?

Do you put a kind of intro at the top of the .xml document etc ?

Does anyone have a good 'template' for setting an RSS feed up, what to include in it etc ?

Many thanks in advance all ...