RSS Feeds : Creating the RSS Feed URL : Create Hubpages RSS Feed

An RSS feed is your method of promoting your regularly updated web content to an audience that wants to see that kind of content.

My article: What is an RSS Feed? :: How does an RSS Feed help with website promotion? explains what it says in the title.

In "RSS Feeds ::Creating the RSS Feed URL" I will be giving examples for Hubpages but each method can be adapted to your own particular circumstances if you have access to a generated list of your own or a group's web content. The tips I am sharing will get more complex as you read down the list of tips.

In order to promote your web content to it's best advantage you must be able to generate RSS feed URL's that aggregate similar content into a category-based list or index (feed). On Hubpages you have been given a starter-for-ten RSS feed that will allow you to promote all new content that you produce. This can be found by going to your profile page and clicking the icon (as represented here to the right). The RSS feed URL can be found where all URL's usually reside and that is in the URL entry box at the top of your screen.

The RSS Feed URL that has been created for me looks like this:

http://hubpages.com/author/humagaia/latest/?rss

The /humagaia/ bit is the bit that will be different for each of us. It is my username or alias.

This basic, personal feed is the basis for generating all of the RSS feed URL's that you will ever need. And the great thing is that by adding the feed to my hub, my hub will be updated as soon (or as close to damnit!) as I publish any new hubs and the search engines will love this as they think it is new content on this hub.

So the first tip is that if you just happen to want to promote someone else's hubs you don't even need to go to their profile. All you need to do is enter their username in place of your username. Here I have replaced /humagaia/ with /healthyhanna/:

http://hubpages.com/author/healthyhanna/latest/?rss

This is the RSS Feed URL for HealthyHanna. I am sure she won't mind me giving her a little promotion. She has been giving me little plugs and commenting on my hubs so it is time to give something back. The example below show HealthyHanna's latest three hubs. An the great thing is that as soon as she publishes a new hub this hub will show the updated list AND the search engines will think I have updated my hub!

Simple but effective!

The second tip is that Hubpages also offers lists (feeds) of your content in two other categorisations for your personal feed structure: 'Hot' and 'Best'. These are powerful tools for promoting your content both externally and internally on your own hubs. They produce what looks like, to the outside world (search engines in particular, but also your feed subscribers), new, regularly updated content without you having to produce any new content. You can adjust your personal RSS Feed URL to incorporate these additional categories by substituting /latest/ with either of /best/ or /hot/.

My RSS Feed URL's look like this when the original /latest/ has been substituted with /best/:

http://hubpages.com/author/humagaia/best/?rss

An example of this can be seen to the right.

Again for /healthyhanna/ this would be:

http://hubpages.com/author/healthyhanna/best/?rss

If /hot/ is substited for /latest/ then the feed will look like this:

http://hubpages.com/author/humagaia/hot/?rss

This time an example can be seen below.

For /healthyhanna/ this would be:

http://hubpages.com/author/healthyhanna/hot/?rss

Please note that at no time did I need to go anywhere other than editing this hub to generate these RSS feeds. Everthing can be done in the comfort of your own hub! In addition please also note that the content of each feed is different and that any changes in the categorisation of /hot/ or /best/ will generate a new list for each and we are back with the search engine favourite - new content!