The Internet is massive and the number of sites offering free content on it is even more so.
Keeping up with the latest posts from websites continues to become more and more difficult as your list of favorite sites continues to grow. There’s so much wonderful content and practically no time to sit down and open up all of the websites.
Really Simple Syndication (RSS) simplifies how we browse, view, and digest the content produced by our favorite sites. In this article, we’ll present a breakdown of how you can use RSS feeds and WP RSS Aggregator. Finally, we’ll wrap up with a section on how you can move content from an old blog site to a new blog site with the incredibly powerful WP RSS Aggregator plugin.
Let’s get started!
Using RSS Feeds in WordPress
WordPress comes with RSS integration right out of the box which makes it super easy to get started with it. In this post, we’ll show you how you can use RSS feeds in WordPress with the WP RSS Aggregator plugin. The different ways you can use RSS feeds can broadly be categorized as subscription use or aggregation use.
RSS Subscription
This is the most popular use of RSS feeds in which your site’s viewers subscribe to your site’s feed. The RSS application they use on their mobile device notifies them when you publish new content. All of the posts and comments can directly be viewed from the mobile device which means that they don’t have to open up your site each time to get fresh, updated content.
RSS Subscription
Subscribing to Categories
By default, most RSS feeds link to all of the categories of the feeds. One of the most useful things you can offer your site’s viewership – especially if you have a large content base – is provide them the option of subscribing to individual categories. All you have to do is add a custom link in the RSS icon that creates the link. The custom link should look something like this:
http://ift.tt/2amOsSs
You’ll have to replace www.your-site.com with the name of your website and insert the category’s name in place of the-category-name.
RSS Feeds for Custom Post Types
Creating a feed for your site’s visitors to be able to access your custom post types through their RSS applications is unbelievably easy. All you have to do is create a custom link that looks something like this:
http://ift.tt/29Pj7ZY
Remember to replace the variable my_post_type with the name of your custom post type and you’re good to go.
RSS Aggregation
From another perspective, RSS feeds can be used by webmasters to aggregate several different RSS feeds from different sources and display them on their site as posts to deliver value. WP RSS Aggregator, for instance, allows webmasters to configure the RSS feeds they’d like to import from a given feed source once and then forget about it – it’ll do the rest!
RSS to the WordPress CMS
WP RSS Aggregator
WP RSS Aggregator is a feature-rich RSS aggregation plugin for WordPress that makes it easy for non-techy webmasters to import, merge, and display RSS feeds on their site with shortcodes. To kickstart things, the free version of the plugin enables users to import however many RSS feeds they’d like directly to their website and display them within posts or pages.
The plugin also comes with powerful, premium add-ons that enhance the basic functionality. The advanced functionality allows users to create posts automatically, include categories, display full text, present excerpts and thumbnails, filter out keywords and much more.
Create an RSS Feed
Creating an RSS feed allows you to set a feed source and start importing content directly to your website.
Step 1: With the WP RSS Aggregator plugin installed, navigate to RSS Aggregator > Add New from the admin panel.
Step 2: Give your feed a name.
Step 3: Add in the Feed Source Details where the RSS aggregator will import the content from:
Add a new feed source.
- The URL determines the feed source.
- Limit allows you to specify how many posts you’d like to import at a time.
- Select Link to enclosure if you’d like the feed items to link to the URL in the enclosure tag.
- Tick the Unique titles only box if you only want to display feed items with unique titles.
Step 4: Once you’re done configuring the settings, hit the Publish Feed.
Step 5: Create a new post by navigating to Posts > Add New. (Alternatively, you can navigate to Page > Add New if you’d like to display the RSS feed on a page.)
Step 6: Use this list of shortcodes to display the RSS feed on your post (or page).
Use shortcodes to add the feed source to your posts or pages.
Step 7: Click the Preview button to view the changes.
Your RSS feed should look something like this.
Step 8: The outcome will be a post (or page) with the imported RSS feeds displayed according to your selected shortcode configuration settings.
Set Up a News Aggregation Site
The WP RSS Aggregator plugin can also be used to create a full-on news website similar to WP News Desk. Check out Mark Zahra’s post on How to Set Up a News Aggregation Site with WordPress & WP RSS Aggregator to see how you can do it in 3 easy steps.
How to Move Content From Your Old Blog to a New One
Moving any kind of data from one site to another can be a daunting task. You don’t want to lose the formatting you’ve spend so long getting just right and you definitely don’t want to lose any data along the way. In this section, I’ll show you how you can move content from an old blog to a new one with the WP RSS Aggregator plugin.
We created a new feed source in the last section which imported some feed items to our website. We’ll move those feed items to a new blog by following a few simple steps. Here’s a preview of the feed items on the old site:
Feed Items from the old blog site.
Step 1: Navigate to Tools > Export from your WordPress dashboard.
Step 2: Select the items to export. I’m going with Feed Items.
From the Export screen, select the item you’d like to export.
Step 3: Click the Download Export File button to continue. The feed items will be exported to an XML file.
Step 4: Login to your new blog site.
Step 5: With the WP RSS Aggregator plugin installed, navigate to Tools > Import.
Click the WordPress link from the Import screen.
Step 6: Click the WordPress link to install the WordPress Importer.
Step 7: Click the Activate Plugin & Run Importer link to continue.
Step 8: You will be redirected to the Import WordPress screen. Upload the XML file you saved to your drive in Step 3.
Upload the XML file with the Feed Items.
Step 9: Click the Upload file and import button.
Step 10: The following screen will give you details on the uploading status. Tick the Download and import file attachments box.
Step 11: Click the Submit button to finish importing.
Step 12: Navigate to RSS Aggregator > Feed Items from the WordPress dashboard.
Step 13: You’ll find that the feed items from the old blog site were successfully moved to the new site.
RSS Feed Items successfully imported to the new site.
That’s all there is to it! By following the same steps you can move your feed sources to the new blog site too. All you have to do is select Feed Sources in place of Feed Items in Step 2.
Wrapping It Up
Moving RSS content from an old blog site to a new one doesn’t have to be difficult. With the right tools up your sleeve you’ll be able to do it all by yourself. We showed you how to move RSS Feed Items from one blog site to another one using the WP RSS Aggregator plugin. Hopefully, you’re in a good position now to take things to the next level.
The WP RSS Aggregator plugin is full of amazing features and functionality that make it super easy to do just about anything related to RSS aggregation. The possibilities are endless! We encourage you to try it out on your own and experiment with different ways to use RSS feeds. There are also free demo sites for both the Simple Feeds Bundle and Advanced Feeds Bundle available.
Were you able to move content from an old blog to a new one with WP RSS Aggregator? We’d love to hear all about your experience with it so get in touch by commenting below!
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