Trying to do something online and you are asked to provide the feed url of your Blogspot blog? Want to use the Blogspot Feed Gadget to create “recent comments“, “recent posts” or a sidebar widget that can display the recent posts of each label(category) of your blog? Whatever the case may be, this post will be helpful.
If you do not know what a site feed is, well, it is a machine-readable representation of your blog that can be picked up and displayed on other blogs and information aggregation tools. Special pieces of software called feed readers, news readers, or aggregators can scan your blog feed, and automatically let your readers know when your blog has been updated.
Examples of Feed Readers include Google Reader, which you can use with your Google Account; XPRSS, which you can use on Blackberry etc. Other options, including both web-based and client-side software, are listed at AtomEnabled.org.
Each blog feed has a link or address where it is located. If anyone enters this link in Google reader or any other aggregator, such person can be reading your latest blog posts via the feed readers without visiting your blog. Feedburner, Feedblitz etc all use blog feeds to deliver blog updates to subscribers.
So, How Do I Get The Feed Url Of My Blogger Blog?
Below are the structure of Blogger Feed URLs:
Full site feed:
Atom 1.0: http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
RSS 2.0: http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss
e.g https://www.ogbongeblog.com/feeds/posts/default — displays latest posts of my blog
Comments-only feed:
Atom 1.0: http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default
RSS 2.0: http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default?alt=rss
eg https://www.ogbongeblog.com/feeds/comments/default —displays recent comments of my blog
Label-specific site feed:
Atom 1.0: http://www.blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/labelname
eg. https://www.ogbongeblog.com/feeds/posts/default/-/making%20money%20tips — this displays my recent posts categorized under “money making tips” label.
Note: Be sure to substitute in the correct blog address for blogname and the label you’re interested in for labelname. Site feeds do not work with private or FTP-hosted blogs.
So, What Can I Do With Feed URLs?
==> You might stumble on sites that will require your full site feed. Generate and provide it for such sites
==> You can use the “Full Site feed” to display “Recent Posts” of your blog on any blog or your blogs’s sidebar using the Blogger’s FEED gadget
==> You can use the “Comments-only feed” to display “Recent Comments” of your blog on any blog or your blogs’s sidebar using the Blogger’s FEED gadget
==> You can use the “Label-specific site feed” to display “Recent Posts” of any post category(label) of your blog on any blog or your blog’s sidebar using the Blogger’s FEED gadget. I used this to add “blogging tips” gadget to the sidebar of www.ogbongetemplate.blogspot.com which updates with every “blogging tips” I shared at Ogbongeblog.com
==> You can use the “Label-specific site feed” to generate a subscription form, so that your blog readers can opt-in ONLY to a specific category of your blog. Check out this example which allows you to opt-in for the “money-making” tips I share on OgbongeBlog.
The possibilities are endless. Just think and get creative with your blog’s Feed URLs.
That’s all.
Are there creative ways you use your blog feed which you will like to share with us? I will like to hear from you. If you have contributions and questions, kindly relay them via comments.
Cheers!
wow! quite informative with some great ideas. I tried viewing your comment and money-making feeds but keep opening a window prompting me to save a file..why?
it seem you created this post because of me cause for some day now i have actually been facing issues like this
Thanks for this timely post
realy helpful. simple and concise. Tanx Jide.
you too much sir,your blog posts keep solving my problem(s)
i like this
Thanks for the post. It's timely and very helpful
Nice work Master.
nice work Jide,my problem has been solved. Thanks
This tutorial is really helpful, thanks for writing on it.