How to Supercharge Your Website By Installing An RSS Newsfeed Widget
Karl Kasca
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By installing an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) newsfeed widget your website will always have fresh content with great keywords which are relevant for your website and industry. This is great SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for your website and should increase your page ranking as well.

This is really just an "action item", so just jump in and get going!

Skip to Video
 - Note: Since there may be more info of interest/use on the page below, you should at least skim it quickly in addition to viewing the Video below.



Action Steps


Part I - Create and Install the Widget


  1. Go to FeedZilla (a free resource for creating and installing RSS news feeds on your website or blog).


  2. Choose the Topic ("Art" is the example used in the Video below).


  3. Choose the Sub-category (e.g., "Literature")


    1. Or click on "Search by keywords..." and you can create your own search for the type of news stories you'd like to have shown on your site.


    1. Note: Whether you use the drop-down menus or not, you'll want to choose keywords which result in news stories which are related in some way to your site and/or your industry that visitors might find in a Google search for your site and/or Google and the other search engines will index as fresh content which would be similar to and representative of the content on your web page or your web site.


  4. After you choose your Topic & Sub-category and/or keyword search, look at the Preview on the right side of your screen and see if the articles are the type of articles you feel would be benefit your site (or be of interest to) visitors or those searching for your site.


    1. Adjust the Topics/Sub-categories and/or keyword searches until you find the type of news stories you want to show on your site.


  5. Customize your news Widget.


  6. Choose HTML, because these feeds should be the most easily indexed by Google and the other search engines (even if the HTML option doesn't automatically scroll the text of the stories as Flash does).


  7. Choose "more methods" if you are installing the news feed on Wordpress, Blogger, etc.


  8. Choose "Advanced customization options" and adjust as you wish.


    1. Note: I added a Title for the news feed and just used the defaults for the rest of the parameters.


  9. Open your HTML text editor (e.g., KompoZer) or website software programs, e.g., MS-FrontPage, Dreamweaver, etc.


  10. Click the red "Copy Code" button (in Step 3 on FeedZilla) to copy the code for the newsfeed widget.


  11. Navigate to your HTML text editor/KompoZer or web software program.


  12. Click on the "Source" tab (or HTML-editing viewing window, rather than "Normal").


  13. Hit <Ctrl> + V to paste the widget code into KompoZer or your software (Command + V for Macs).


  14. Then preview the code to see how it looks.




Part II - Insert Widget into Table (so it will appear on the right side of the Text on your page)


Note: You may wish to view the Video below before doing Part II.

Remember that you can "fast forward" to this section in the video by dragging the video slider to the right.
  1. In the "Normal" view: Insert a 2 column Table in your HTML Text editing program (like KompoZer) or FrontPage or Dreamweaver.


    1. E.g., click on Table > Insert Table


  2. Choose 2 columns (or 3 columns, if you want 1 column in between your Text and your widget).


  3. Click in the left column and type some "placeholder text.


  4. Click in the column on the right.


  5. Then switch to "Source" (or HTML-editing) view. Note where the cursor is.


  6. Go to FeedZilla's webpage where you've already created your news feed (in Part I above).


  7. Click the red "Copy Code" button (in Step 3 on FeedZilla) to copy the code for the newsfeed widget.


  8. Go back to your HTML text editor/KompoZer or web software program.


  9. Make sure your cursor is still located in the same place as in step #___ above.


  10. Hit <Ctrl> + V to paste the widget code into KompoZer or your software (Command + V for Macs).


  11. Switch back to Normal view.


  12. Drag the Table box's border/outline to the right, to the size you want your viewable webpage content to be.


  13. The drag the right border of the first column to the width you'd like your text to be.


  14. And if you used 3 columns, also adjust the 2nd/middle column to the width you prefer.


  15. Hit the Preview button to assure that your webpage looks the way you want it to.


  16. NOTE: See the Example in the Related Articles below to see how this might look.




Part III - Upload your new (or edited) web page to your website's server


  • Note: This process will vary, depending on the software you're using and how you've set it up to run.


    • For instance, if you use FrontPage, you may have it set such that any changes you make to your webpage will be automatically made on your website server and shown/reflected there when you Save the changes.


  • IMPORTANT NOTE: If this is the case, make sure you save a copy of your Default (or Index) webpage BEFORE you make any changes to it.


    • This way, if something happens when creating your news feed widget, you'll always have a working copy of your web page available.


  • If you're using KompoZer, then you'll need to FTP (transfer your file) to your web server.


    • Please see the Related Article below for example instructions on how to do this.



Video of How to Supercharge Your Website By Installing An RSS Newsfeed Widget





Resources


FeedZilla - Homepage

FeedZilla profile on Crunchbase


ARTICLE DATE: 05/19/09
REVISED DATE:






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 Related Articles
·  RSS Newsfeed Widget Installation - EXAMPLE
·  How to Upload/Transfer/FTP Files to Your Website Server


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