PUBLISHING A PODCAST WITH RSS

RSS Feeds and Podcast Feeds

Make your podcast available to the public by publishing it, effectively creating a means by which listeners can subscribe to your podcast.

RSS Demystified - A simplified overview of RSS

What exactly is RSS? RSS, commonly referred to as Really Simple Syndication, is a subscription mechanism that enables you to receive new content as it becomes available, either downloaded to your PC or media player. This is achieved by using an RSS aggregator, which continuously scans the Internet for updated content that you are subscribing to. In terms of podcasting, you can check for updates at your convenience or wait until your subscriptions update automatically.

RSS Analogies - Comparable services

Let's go over a couple of analogies. In other words, an RSS feed is like a personal delivery service for your podcast or other media subscriptions. RSS feeds are created from links to and from other distribution sites, sending material directly to you instantaneously. This differs from bookmarking a site because if you wanted to see if there was new content, you would have to revisit the website to seek updates. With RSS, new content or updates to a web page are sent directly to you using an RSS aggregator such as Gator. RSS files are one of the most widely used XML formats on the Web. They provide an open format for syndicating all types of content, including podcasts.

RSS Functions - What RSS can it do for you

RSS files let you create complex news feeds that can include headlines, links and editorial summaries generated directly from your website content. As the de facto industry standard tool for distributing electronic media feeds, RSS feeds allow and encourage individuals to subscribe to your news feeds and even incorporate them as content for their own sites.

Not only is RSS used simply to syndicate text, RSS files are now being used to syndicate audio content, more widely known as podcasting. RSS files are used to summarize the contents of the audio programs.

RSS Elements - The four types of RSS elements

RSS files typically contain four types of elements: channel, image, items and text input. Many news feeds use only the channel and item elements.

RSS files define a channel that contains items. The channel provides meta information about your RSS news feed, and describes your show as a whole. Items are the content of the channel, your individual programs. Each item provides information about one program, in MP3 format, located on your web server.

Channel
Building the RSS feed starts with a Channel. Required elements within a channel include biographical information about the origins and author of the podcast, particularly a description, list of keywords, language spoken in the podcast, and the URL where the audio file resides. The URL provided serves as a map to locate the source of the podcast and also may point to the MP3 file.

Image
Including an image in your podcast is an optional element to consider. Generally, the image is the logo for the podcast or company that is producing the show. The image size is 88 pixels wide by 31 pixels high. The image's title, URL, link, width, and height tags allow this section to be displayed on a web browser. Implementing this technique will help to create more visual brand awareness for your podcast.

Items
Items, the most important elements in a channel, contain the content of the channel. While the other elements in the channel are usually static, the news items typically change frequently with each new podcast you produce.

Here are the three elements you will need for your Item: title, link and description. In typical use, the RSS title is usually designated as the podcast headline, the description as a one or two sentence promo, and the URL as a hyperlink to the full article or file.

The title is the name of the unique episode of your podcast.  The link or enclosure URL points to the MP3 file of your podcast episode.  The description should give a brief summary of what’s included in the podcast episode.

Text Input
Although text input can be useful to gather information from your website visitors, this element has little relevance in publishing a podcast.

Creating RSS Files Make your own RSS feeds

If you have limited technical skills, you should use a blogging service such as Blogger to create your RSS feed. Most blogs are formatted into RSS format already and require no extra work on your behalf other than creating a blog journal entry.

If you have a website already, you can turn any web page into a live RSS feed.

Website: http://www.mywebfeeds.com/

RSS for the Technically Minded - Create your RSS file

If you are more technically minded and plan to host your audio on your own website, the following instructions will guide you through creating an RSS file. The RSS code is written in XML, a similar language to HTML. If you are unfamiliar with writing in HTML code, you can use this handy RSS code generator tool to produce the necessary XML code.

Website: http://www.webdevtips.com/webdevtips/codegen/rss.shtml

Creating an RSS file is as easy as taking an example file, opening it up, and entering your own information. In practice, most RSS files are generated by applications automatically. For example, RSS files are generated by almost all blogging programs and services.

Example of an RSS File - Diagram of an RSS file

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE rss PUBLIC "-//Netscape Communications//DTD RSS 0.91//EN" "http://my.netscape.com/publish/formats/rss-0.91.dtd">
<rss version="0.91">
   <channel>
<title>Voices</title>
     <link>http://www.voices.com</link>
     <description>The Voice-Over Marketplace</description>
     <language>en-us</language>
<item>
    <title>Voices.com Goes Podcasting in the iTunes Podcast Directory</title>
    <link>http://www.voices.com/press-release-07202005.htm</link>
    <description>Voices.com and Apple iTunes are proud to present one of the most recent podcasts to grace the iTunes library, the IV Podcast. The IV Podcast communicates directly to voice talents, shares the Voices.com vision, and fosters growth in voice-over businesses worldwide.</description>
</item>
   </channel>
</rss>

RSS Validation - Validate your RSS file before publishing

After you create or generate your RSS file, you should test it to make sure it is valid before publishing it. There are several validation services available online. Just paste in your RSS feed's URL and submit, and the sites will validate your RSS file.

RSS Validator

Website: http://feeds.archive.org/validator/

Publish Your RSS Feed - Start marketing by publishing your RSS feed

After you have created your feed, you can publish it for all to see. Post it to a public area of your site, and provide a link to it. Use the logo to indicate that your visitors can receive an RSS feed at your website.

Because you are making an industry standard tool available for syndicating your podcasts, your published content can be accessed by anyone in the world who subscribes to your feed, receiving your podcast automatically. You now have a syndicated podcast and can share your information quickly and effectively with a global audience.

In order to start the rapid spreading and distribution of your podcast, you will need to promote and publicize it. In addition to using the XML logo on your site and or press releases, you will want to submit your RSS feed to larger RSS directories and niche directories related to your podcast theme. Submit podcasts to podcasting directories and podcasting news sites to get the ball rolling.

In addition to directories, consider submitting your site to aggregators such as the Apple iTunes Music Store. These are services that take RSS content from a variety of sites, collect it and re-organize it into customized formats.

Summary - Key points about RSS

The simplicity of RSS files make them a good way to publish all types of information. This section has outlined the basic concepts behind RSS feeds. Now, let's look services that make your life as a podcaster easier. Enter FeedBurner.

 

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