Allowing people to subscribe to your blog through RSS
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I have delayed asking this question as long as possible as it is so basic, but try as I might I cannot sort out the RSS widget on my blog.
I have followed the RSS instructions in the WP FAQ but I cannot make a widget appear in my sidebar that allows people to subscribe to the RSS feed of my blog.
What am I missing?Thanks for your time…
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put this code in a text widget:
<a href="http://yoururl.wordpress.com/feed"><img src="http://faq.files.wordpress.com/2006/11/a64.png" alt="1" />subscribe to my rss feed</a>edit where necessary in the code.
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To provide a bit of background to sulz’ spot-on suggestion:
the term “RSS widget” is misleading. It sounds like a widget allowing subscription to your RSS feed, but it isn’t. It’s a widget allowing you to get stuff from *some other* RSS feed, and have it appear in your sidebar. -
ah yes, rss widget is different than putting an rss button on your sidebar. you can put your own rss feed in the widget by putting your feed url.
thanks for pointing out andrew. =)
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Sorry to be dense, but if I want to allow people to subscribe to my blog posts
(1) Do I need some code in each post?
(2) Do I need only a RSS button?
(3) Do I need an RSS button with some code in it?
(4) Some other combination?
(5) Something I haven’t yet thought of?I’m new here, but I’m not finding the support functions intuitive. The FAQ answers make me feel as if I entered the theater in the middle of the second act of a one-act play!
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Heh! It can all be very confusing when you’re new!
1. No.
2. Yes.
3. Kinda.
4. Hehe!
5. Here’s the kicker! In your sidebar widgets you should find one called “meta”. In there is the code, already formatted, for the RSS feed for both your posts and your comments.Alternatively, there’s a function called a text widget (again, in presentation -> Sidebar widgets).
In there you can put in the code for the RSS feeds manually and position it anywhere you want.
The code will look something like this:
Posts feed:
<a href="http://yourblog.wordpress.com/feed">Posts RSS</a>Comment feed
<a href="http://yourblog.wordpress.com/comments/feed">Comments RSS</a>You can get fancy and put an image beside it too. :)
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Maybe I’m making this harder than it really is, but ……. Cornell’s directions were easy to follow, but it doesn’t look to me as if there’s a way to subscribe yet.
Using the META widget gave me a list of 5 options including administration. I don’t think that’s what I want.
Using the text widget gave me a place to subscribe but no button. I can’t see any place people would leave an e-mail address to subscribe.
Here’s my site URL, if you need to see what I did. http://GreatPenformances.wordpress.com
Linda
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These are the links the meta widget provides (take note of the RSS ones):
Subscribe
* Entries RSS
* Comments RSSNow look at the top right hand corner of the front of your blog theme MistyLook and again you see two rss feeds for readers to use when subscribing to entries (posts) and to comments.
You can also offer readers updates by email through feedburner http://faq.wordpress.com/2006/10/11/how-can-i-offer-email-updates/
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greatpenformances: people usually subscribe to your feed with an rss reader. you could put one where a reader can subscribe via e-mail but you need the code from an alternative site, such as feedburner or feedblitz.
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Second try was a charm. I took part of Cornell’s post and part of Sulz’s post and got something that looks like a RSS feed button!
Now I’ll delete that META widget.
Thanks for the help, folks.
Linda
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I wonder if you understand that the two orange coloured rss icons already embedded on the top right hand corner of the theme you are using (MistyLook) for your blog are fully functional. I tested them and can verify this. So the big rss button you added is actually redundant.
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excuse me for asking, but did you remember to click which web browser you wanted it to appear in and if you have other RSS feeds did you check them to see if maybe it got bundled? I ask because I am a novice and have had this happen to me.
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Ok, I’ve been trying to tackle this same issue: allowing others to subscribe. When I hit one of the RSS icons, I get a page full of gooblty-gook that a layman can’t make heads nor tails of. Is there another piece to the puzzle? How can someone who is non-computer savvy sign up for my feed? (www.tracywall.wordpress.com)
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That IS your feed. It needs to be read in a feed reader, the way web pages need to be read in a browser.
People who aren’t computer savvy don’t subscribe to feeds, ever. The number of feed readers you’ve got relates directly to how many technically sophisticated people read your blog.
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Thank you Raincoaster.
Stupid ? #2: How does one get a feedreader? I am subscribed to numerous other blogs, not completely technically savvy (can you tell ?), and am kinda in the dark.Is the feed reader something from the blog-end or the subscriber-end? Is there a tutorial or something out there I should refer to?
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The feed reader is something from the subscriber end. As for trying to teach your readers to do that, don’t. I hate it when people say “You’re doing this. Stop it. I only want you to interact with me THIS way, so learn it.” Your feed exists and is accessible to people who know how to use feeds, that’s all you really need to worry about.
I hear Google feed reader is good, but I don’t use any myself, despite reading maybe 200 blog entries in a typical day. Scratch that: more like 400. I just read 15 between the time I answered the last thread and this one.
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Okay. Now even I am totally confused. I don’t particularly like WordPress. To me it’s very frustrating. I don’t find it user-friendly and it assumes that people know what the Dickens the instructions are talking about! I too, don’t understand this RSS, how to get it to be on the site, or which instructions to follow in order to make things work. I want a click-by-click instruction to be idiot-proof. Sultz and Andrew were to the point and I THOUGHT I understood. I’d really love to have live web-help, but that’s wishing on a star….
Our initial attempt at blogging is pretty straight forward. I noticed at the bottom of each posting, a person has the option to leave comments. In order to do so, they have to enroll. So, does this then also make it so every time someone posts a comment to that topic, those “enrolled” get an email notification of additional postings? I certainly can’t tell.
Then there’s the whole, “I want them to be notified every time I post something brilliant to the blog” notification. Going out on a limb here, that must be an RSS of some sort. Therefore, what key strokes to I have to do to get this to easily appear and work? Do I have to pay for another hosting site? I don’t understand “feeder” or “feed reader”, how that’s supposed to work?
Here’s what a fellow blogger left for comments:
“Very generic appearance. The pressrow theme is a great choice if you’re using someone else’s design, but for a business I think it’s important to have your own custom made (or at least customised) look.
Make your RSS / email subscription options apparent.”If you’d like to take a look at the initial blog attempt, go to: http://www.FinerSeattleHomes.NET
Oh, BTW, is there a blogger dictionary that explains some of these terms? I have 60 real estate agents in my office all trying to figure out whad-up with the blogging thing…
Thanks for any and all help for this Noviciate to blogging! Rita
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Actually, finerseattlehomes, your site is being used to try and sell real estate and against the TOS (terms of service) for a free blog here at wordpress.com. For commercial blogs you need to hire a host, download the software from wordpress.org and get support over at http://wordpress.org/support/
Trent
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If you want spoonfeeding, try looking at the FAQ sometime.
http://faq.wordpress.com/2006/04/19/feeds-stats-readers-and-more/
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I applogize fineseattlehomes as Mark thinks you are still in bounds of the TOS with your blog. Judyb12 has some great information there for you!
Trent
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