If you operate a blog, you have an RSS feed.  Every time you post new content to your site, your RSS feed updates with that new post.  Just having an RSS feed does not push your content to users, though. To push content to users, you must give them a way to subscribe to your feed. There are many benefits to offering an RSS subscription option to the users of your site, with Feedburner as one of the most popular RSS subscription forms available.

Set Up Your Feedburner Feed

1. Visit http://feedburner.google.com to begin the process of setting up your Feedburner feed (If you do not already have a free account, you will need to first create one.).

2. Enter your homepage’s URL in the box and click “Next.”

3. Enter a title for your feed (most likely your website name).  After doing so, click “Next.”

4. Feedburner now gives you the opportunity to add some additional tracking information to your account.  Make your desired selections, then click “Next” to finish the process.

5. You have now successfully burned your feed!

Once you’ve completed the process of burning your feed, you will need to add your new Feedburner feed address to your blog.

If you use the Blogger platform, choose Settings –> Site Feed –>and enter your Feedburner feed address into the “Post Feed Redirect URL” box.

WordPress users will typically need to first download a Feedburner plugin like FD Feedburner by John Watson before adding their Feedburner feed’s address to their site.

Once you have your new Feedburner address in place, be sure to update any sidebar widgets, social media buttons and the like, too.

One of the benefits of using Feedburner as your RSS subscription option is that it provides you, the site owner, with many additional tools to customize your feed and how it publishes to your subscribers.

*This is the 1st in a multi-post series on how to set up and customize Feedburner for your website.