Optimize And Personalize Your Feedburner Email Rss - Video Post

Email subscriptions are an option every blogger simply must provide and there is one service that dominates Email Rss.The Google owned feedburner does it better that anyone else.In this post we are looking at how you can get the most from the Email Feed offered on your blog.If you have not got a Feedburner Feed or Email Feed check out How To Create A Feedburner Feed For Your Blog.This is a video post and in the video we will be covering the three main areas of your Email Feed and how you can optimize and personalize them.
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Polaroid Icons Blog Subscription Gadget With Rollover Effect

The other day i posted 3 very cool sets of icons you could use to let people subscribe to your Rss Feed, Twitter and Facebook Page.In that post i gave you the code for the icons ready to use, you just had to add your URLs then copy and paste.Two of the icon sets were very similar both having a Polaroid Picture Design.One was fresh and bright while the other had a vintage worn look.This lead me to thinking wouldn't it be cool to have the worn vintage Polaroid icons in your sidebar and when someone hovers over them they switch to the bright clean icon.This is called a rollover effect. I'm sure you have seen image rollover effects before and this is a great way to use it.
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Three Cool Blog Subscription Gadgets With Unique Icons

This week while doing a few jobs on blogs i added some very cool subscription icons to the sidebars.The icons link to the Rss Feed and Facebook and Twitter profiles for the blog.Pop the new Blogger Follow By Email Form gadget below the icons and you have all the main subscription options offered to readers.Anyway the icons look great one set is in the design of Polaroid photographs, the second set is the Polaroid Photograph Design but with a worn vintage feel and the third are very bright and colorful with a slight 3d look.I thought some readers of Spice Up Your Blog might like them so i have the code here and instructions to add them to your blog.The demo icons are connected to our Rss, Facebook and Twitter so you can check them out and subscribe, Like and Follow if you ain't already.

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Easy Way To Remove Subscribe To Posts Atom Feed Links On Blogger

I'm sure you all have noticed the feed links below the posts on Blogger with the "Subscribe To Posts Atom" message.To be honest i don't care for them and many other blogger users seem to feel the same, Atom lost the war with Rss and anyway the link is in a poor position taking up space.So unpopular are these links (Feed Links are the proper name) that there are tutorials on almost every Blogger Tips Blog showing how to remove them.That's the reason i haven't covered it previously if you looked for how to remove them you would have no trouble finding instructions.
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New Subscribe By Email Rss Form For Blogger

In the last post we got a sneak preview of the New Blogger Design coming in 2011, Blogger had also promised lots more new features.And just a day later they have added an Email Rss Form to the Gadget Directory so you can easily provide the option for your readers to get your latest posts delivered to their inbox.By coincidence i also published a post this week about how Google connect their other services with Blogger and the Email Rss Form is connected with the Google owned Feedburner.

Email Rss has been provided by Feedburner for a long time and before you had the option to "Burn A Feed" for your blog, Activate Email Rss, Grab The Code For The Email Form and then paste it into a Html/Javascript gadget on your sidebar.Now this whole process has been cut down to 3 clicks without the need to leave Blogger.

"...The Follow by Email gadget provides blog authors a simple way for their readers to subscribe to the latest hot-off-the-press updates, which are delivered directly to the reader’s inbox. When new blog content is published, all subscribed readers will receive a daily email notification of the new published posts, which includes a copy of the new content as well as links back to the actual posts..."

So lets first look at a screenshot and then how you add the Email Rss form to your blog.

Screenshot Of Email Rss Form

Add The New Email Rss Gadget To Your Blog

Step 1. In your Blogger Dashboard Click Design > Add A Gadget





Step 2. You will see the new option "Follow By Email" at the top of the list, click the plus.




Step 3. You Will now be brought to a Page with options for your feed and the title of the gadget.If you already have a feedburner feed you can enter it were shown below, if you don't have a feed one will automatically generated for you.



Step 4. You can now save the gadget.

Options - I would highly recommend you take advantage of some of the other options available on feedburner.Remember once you add this gadget to your blog a Feedburner account is automatically created for you.You can log into this account with the same Email and Password as you log into Blogger - Log Into Feedburner.

That's your new Email Rss form, i may look at some Css options to Spice It Up a bit so keep an eye out for that.Check out some more Feedburner Tips and Blogger Gadgets on Spice Up Your Blog.

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Stay Connected Stylish Rss Feed And Social Gadget For Blogger

In a previous post i published 5 Full Subscribe Sections with Email Rss Form, Social Icons and Feedburner Subscriber count.In this post i will show you a much more simple way to display the Subscription options for your blog.The gadget has Three icons for your Rss Feed, Twitter Profile and Facebook Page proceeded by a handwriting Follow message with arrow.The icons are the standard design but with a caption, so along with the follow arrow this will be an eye catching addition to your blog.

Adding the gadget is easy and i will show you how to add it to your blogs sidebar or footer.I will also show you how to add it below all your posts, when someone reaches the end of a post if they like it they will often subscribe.The icons along with thousands more can be found on Social Icon Studio.

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Get More Feedburner Email Subscribers To Verify Their Subscription

Most Bloggers Have A Subscribe By Email Rss Option On Their Blog Provided By Feedburner.When A Visitor To Your Blog Fills Out The Subscription Form They Must Confirm Or Verify Via An Email.However Often As Many As One In Five People Do Not Verify, Thus They Do Not Become Subscribers And Receive Your Latest Posts.In This Post I Will Share With You Some Methods That Will Help Get More Verified Email Rss Subscribers.

At the time of writing Spice Up Your Blog has just over 500 Rss Subscribers of which just over 300 subscribe by Email.Of that 300 an Amazing 92 have not verified their subscription !This is 92 regular readers lost, almost all of these people just didn't know they needed to verify or did not understand the Verification Email.
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New - Use Read More Summary's In Blogger Rss Feed

Blogger today added a very interesting new feature to the Rss Feed settings on all blogs.Since the Blogger team added the Read More Jump Break in September 2009 many blogs has used the option to display the latest posts as a summary on the home page with a read more link.Now you can also add a summary and read more link to your Blogs Rss Feed.Until now you could display a full or short version of your posts in your feed but you had no control over the size of the short feed.With this new setting you can choose to display exactly the same summary in the feed as on the home page with the read more link.

"...The challenge with feeds is that it’s never been possible to control exactly how much content is delivered. Up until now, the options have been “Short” and “Full”. Short produces a feed that contains around the first 400 characters of the post, with HTML and images removed. Full produces a feed that contains everything in the post, including HTML and images. But what about those instances where you want to give your users a taste—an image or two with some introductory text—and then have them visit your blog to see the full post? Well today we’ve launched a third option that lets you do just that using Jump Breaks..."

You can enable this feature via your blogs Feed Settings.

Read More Rss Feeds On Blogger

1. In your Blogger Dashboard Click > Settings > Site Feed > Allow Blog Feeds Drop Down.


2. Choose 'Until Jump Break' and save.

Your Blogs Rss Feed will now only display a summary and any images used until the jump break.If your thinking "Paul Whats A Jump Break ?" you can get all the details here - Blogger Jump Break Read More.

A very interesting option and as far as i know Totally unique to Blogger, you can see the official post by Blogger here - Take Control of Your Site Feed.Check out more Of  The Latest Blogger News And Rss Feed Tips Here On Spice Up Your Blog.

Drop Your Comments Views And Questions Below.

Fix The 'Cannot Find A Feed' Problem On Blogger

This is a quick post that I'm sure any of you that have experienced problems with Finding a feed from their blogs URL will appreciate.In fact even if you have not come across this problem you might want to follow the steps to make sure your Blogs feed can be easily found.OK so the problem I'm referring to occurs when you enter your Blogs URL (Home Page Address) somewhere and they try to fetch your Feed but return unsuccessful.Examples would be when you submit to Blog Directories, Add your blog to a Blog Roll or comment on Blogs with Comment Luv.In all these cases they try to find the feed to list one or more of your recent posts but the feed cannot be found.

This is a problem a number of Blogger users seem to be having and it can be easily fixed.Below i will show you a snippet of code you can add to the head of your template that can be found instantly.Sounds good so lets do it.

Add Default Feed Link To Your Blogs Template

Step 1. In Your (New Design) Blogger Dashboard Click The Drop Down Menu For Your Blog > Choose Template > Then Edit Html > Now Proceed as shown in the video Below :

Step 2. Find the following piece of code in your blogs Html (It's Near The Top):

Step 3. Copy and paste the following code Directly Below / Under

Note - You must make the following changes :

Replace YOUR-BLOGS-FEED-URL with your blogs feed address, If you have a Feedburner URL use that otherwise use the default feed(Drop a comment below if your unsure of your blogs feed URL).

Replace YOUR BLOGS TITLE with the title of your blog, for example i would add Spice Up Your Blog.

Step 4. OK Save Your Template, you have added a feed link to your template that can be quickly found and returned by any Programme, Bot, Spider or Aliens from Jupiter.Make sure to check out more of our Posts with Tips To Help With Your Rss Feed.

Drop Your Comments, views and Questions Below.

4 Eye Catching Subscribe To Feed Banners For Below Blog Posts

Hi Guys ! When going through an old Photobucket account i came across a few Rss feed banners i have used below posts on different Blogs.Were you place your Feed options on your blog can have a huge effect the number of readers that take up the option to Subscribe.It's also important that the way your feed options are presented grab the attention of readers.So many websites and Blogs use the standard Rss Icon it has become White Noise.So in this post we will cover both placing a Feed option in Prime position and using a Rss Banner that will grab the attention of the reader.

When Readers reach the end of a post they think 'What Next?' and it's your job to make sure the next step they take is of benefit to your blog.This is why the top blogs have Rss options, Share and Bookmark Options, Related Posts and AdSense or other Advertising Directly below posts, of course they also have the option to comment.Click on any of those links to find out how to add each option below your blog posts, you can also add a Subscribe by Email form below your posts by checking out this post - 5 Stylish Feedburner Email Subscription Forms.So lets look at the three banners and see how you can put them below your blog posts.

Subscribe To Feed Banners Below Posts

Banner 1



Banner 1 Code

http://feeds2.feedburner.com/spiceupyourblog" title="Subscribe To Our Rss Feed">

Banner 2




Banner 2 Code

http://feeds2.feedburner.com/spiceupyourblog" title="Subscribe To Our Rss Feed">

Banner 3



Banner 3 Code

http://feeds2.feedburner.com/spiceupyourblog" title="Subscribe To Our Rss Feed">

Banner 4.



Banner 4 Code

http://feeds2.feedburner.com/spiceupyourblog" title="Subscribe To Our Rss Feed">

Note - You must change the URL in red to your Feed URL.

Place The Banner Below Your Posts On Blogger

Step 1. In your Blogger Dashboard click 'Layout/Design' > 'Edit Html' > Tick the 'Expand Widget Templates' box









Step 2. Find The Following Piece Of Code In Your Blogs Html :
(Click 'Ctrl and F' for a search bar to find the code - More Info)

Step 3. Place the code for your Rss Banner Directly Below / Under

Extra Note - If your Blog uses the 'Read More' or 'Post Summerys' feature you may want the banner to only be on the posts and not on the home page.If so place this snippet above your banner code : And place this below you banner code :

Once you have the banner code in your template Save and your Done !

You can of course use or create your own banner and for future reference remember everything you place below appears below your posts after the last line of text, every thing you place Directly Above appears at the top of your posts before the first line.Check out some of our other Great posts with Rss Feed Tips And Tricks.

Remember to Subscribe to Our Feed and let us know what you think below !

Change The Number Of Posts Displayed In Your Feedburner Feed

Your Blogs Rss Feed by default displays the latest 25 posts.This is true with the default Blogger feed and the Feedburner feed.Most blogs are using the Feedburner feed provided by Google and if you don't you should (How To Get A Feedburner Feed).You can change the number of posts displayed on your feed page to any number of posts you like and in this post i will show you how it's done and why you should change.

You may think the reason for changing the number of posts displayed in your feedburner would be to increase it, but in fact it's the opposite.Most people that visit your blogs feed have got there from your blog so they have seen your posts and are there to subscribe.You want as many Rss subscribers as possible so you want to make subscribing as easy as possible.

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How To Automatically Digg All Your Blog Posts

One of the ways bloggers build links to their posts and attract new visitors is by bookmarking their posts on social bookmarking sites.Perhaps the most popular bookmarking site is Digg.com and a blog post becoming popular on Digg could have a massive effect on your blog.In fact if you managed to have a post become popular enough to make it onto the front page of digg it could turn into hundreds of thousands of new visitors.

Digging you posts does take time and until now there was no way of 'Auto Digging' your latest posts.Some gadgets did claim they would automatically Digg you posts but the submission process make it almost imposable.I think Digg realised most storeys were Dugg by their authors so with the release of the new Digg layout they have included the option to submit your blog to be Auto Dugg.

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Add Fixed Scroll Twitter, Rss And Facebook Icons To Your Blog

One of the things all bloggers strive to achieve is building a following.Be it getting readers to subscribe to your RSS Feed, Email Feed, Follow on Twitter or become a Facebook fan.Here on Spice Up your Blog we have published lots of posts with tips and tricks to make it as easy as possible for people to connect with your blog and get the updates.In this post i have a smart gadget that will display icons for your Rss, Email Rss Twitter and Facebook on the side of your blog.The icons have a 'Follow' message above them and are Fixed so when the visitors scroll the gadgets moves down the page also.

The icons are in a great position making it as easy as possible for readers to avail of any of the options.I have also chosen Social icons that are big enough to grab the attention of the reader yet small enough to not get in the way or block any content.So this is the perfect gadget for your blog and it's really easy to add, lets add these fixed icons to your blog.

Screenshot :



Live Demo - Fixed Social Icon Gadget.

How To Add The Fixed Icon Gadget

Step 1. In your dashboard click 'Design' > 'Add A Gadget'



Step 2. Choose A Html/Javascript Gadget



Step 3. Copy the code below and paste it into the Html/Javascript gadget :

TWITER USERNAME/" target="_blank">
FACEBOOK USERNAME/" target="_blank">
http://feeds.feedburner.com/FEEDBURNER ID" target="_blank">
FEEDBURNER ID&loc=en_US" target="_blank">

You now need to add your Twitter and Facebook Usernames and you feedburner ID were shown in red.Once you have made the necessary changes to the code you can save the gadget.

Drop Your Comments, Views And Questions Below.

How To Put Rss Feed Options Below All Your Blog Posts

In a post from last month we looked at a few ways of spicing up you Rss feed options and in particular the Subscribe by Email option.That post showed you five different options and styles you could use instead of the default feedburner Email subscriptions form.If your not totally sure how Email subscriptions work you can check out this post on setting up Email subscriptions for your blog : Maximize Feedburner Email Subscriptions.

In this post i will show you how to offer readers the option to subscribe to your blog under every post.By placing the Rss options under every post in your blog you are sure to see the subscriber count raise.You can use the default Feedburner Email form or link below your posts but i would recommend going to the post i mentioned above and choseing from one of the - 5 Stylish Feedburner Email Subscription Forms.Adding the form below your posts couldnt be easier.





Put Feedburner Email Subscription Form Below All Posts

This tutorial will show you how to place the Email form code below the posts - to find out how to get the code needed check out the links above.

Step 1. In your Blogger Dashboard click 'Layout' > 'Edit Html' > Tick the 'Expand Widget Templates' box


Step 2. Find The Following Piece Of Code In Your Blogs Html :
(Click 'Ctrl and F' for a search bar to find the code - More Info)

The code may be in your blogs html twice if so it the second one you want.

Step 3. Place the code for your Email subscription box Directly Below / Under

Once in place you can save your template and the rss subscriptions option will be below all your blog posts.

Further help is only a comment away.

Add A Feed Icon Beside Your Labels And Give Every Category It's Own Feed

Recently we have been talking a lot about Rss Feeds, Email feeds and Feedburner.In this post we will stay on that subject, the trick i cover in this post has a few purposes but the main purpose is to give readers of your blog the option to subscribe to a category you write on as well as subscribing to your entire blog.Every label on your blog has its own feed by default but there is no easy way for people to access it.Once you have made this change every label in you labels list will have a feed icon beside it.

You can see the effect used in my labels in the sidebar, i have titled my labels list 'Recommended Categories'.If you click any of the icons you will go to the feed page for that category and will have the option to subscribe to all posts i write using that label.

As well as giving the option to subscribe to a single category, i think the icons look great and enhance the appearance of your label list.To that end i will show you how to change the feed icon image from the one i use and i will give you some samples.

Here is a screenshot of the result :





This tutorial involves replacing a section of code and although it's only a small section make sure your template is backed up in case you go wrong, click the 'Extra Help' link at the top of the post to see how.


Adding the icons

Step 1. In your dashboard click 'Layout' ► 'Edit Html' ► Tick the 'Expand Widget Templates' box

Step 2. You now have to find a small section of code in your blogs html.
Dont worry i will walk you through the process.

Here is the section we will be replacing :

The best way to find the section is to find the first line of the code shown below :
(Note: Click CTRL and F for a search bar to find the code - For more info on this click the 'Extra Help' link at the top of the post)

Now from the first line you can scan down to locate the entire section.

The section starts with - .....
And ends with -

values='data:labels' var='label'>

Step 3. Now you replace the section of code with the code below :

Once you have replaced the code save your template and your feed icons have been added.

Change The Image

Remember you can get all these tips sent directly to your email and stay a step ahead.Its a quick and easy service Provided for Free by Google.Just fill in the Email form below the post.
If you need extra help on this or any tutorial just leave a comment, I love comments and feedback so this Blog is Do-Follow - when you comment here it helps Your Blogs Google rank !

You will notice part of the code above is in Bold, that is the URL of the Feed icon being used which is this :



I have a few different images you could use instead, to use one of the images below just replace the URL in bold with the URL provided below.



http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/rss-1.jpg


http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/red-feed-16.png


http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/16-1.png

For more help with Feeds and using them to improve your blog Click Here.

Thats it have you added the Icons ?