eAction

This is the fourth in a series on RSS, and we will look at how easy it is to start a blog and have it listed in RSS feeds.

It is generally accepted that most blog sites (you should verify when you sign up) will also list your blog on the directories of blogs or RSS feeds. You really don’t have to go to the bother I described last week, with preparing an .xml or .rss page and changing the information for each item by hand.

There are many sites that offer you free blogging space;
http://www.myblogsky.com/home.php
http://www.blogsource.com/
http://www.blogstream.com/
http://biztalkblogs.com/default.aspx
http://www.bloxster.net/portal.php
http://www.egoweblog.com/
http://www.dablogs.com/home.html

That’s just to get you started. There are plenty more, if you do a search. Before you sign up, explore their site’s links, and consider whether this is the right one for you. They are NOT all equal. Some do NOT get listed on Google, so your chances of being read by millions of people are not as great as they might suggest. But since they are free it is easy to cancel your account, or, if not, desert that blog site, and find another.

If you have hosting for a domain site of your own, you are wiser to install a free blogging software program on the site, such as WordPress, or Navigator, and to use that.

I have WordPress set up on two of my sites, and Navigator on a third. (Not any more, 11/13/06) I’m not sure about the last one, but the WordPress blogs are automatically listed on certain directories whenever I make new posts.

I could go list them on other directories of RSS feeds but I haven’t had time yet, and I’ve deliberately delayed too, so that I could learn the ins and outs of blogging before I made huge blunders for all the world to see.

Just this morning’s research has brought forward some other excellent tutorials. Often one explains one aspect better than another. If you need them, here’s a few for your reference.

Links for further information:
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10088_7-5143656.html (includes a video)

http://blog.contentious.com/archives/2003/10/18/what-are-webfeeds-rss-and-why-
should-you-care (12 part tutorial).

Example of an online web-feed-reader at BlogLines.
http://www.bloglines.com/public/amygahran (this saves having software on your computer to collect all those links, and it’s free).

http://rssgov.com/rssworkshop.html#register (another thorough tutorial on one long page).

My basic advice, if you’re following my example, is to try out free stuff, be alert and learn as I go along. When I’m confident I’ve caught on, I try to move up a notch or two.

These RSS feeds, or webfeeds as Amy Gahran calls them, are not going away. They are going to be part of our lives for a long time, and will continue to develop.

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