Master New Media’s article, “How to Create a RSS Feed From Any Web Page”, is an indepth look at feeds, in addition to good tips on creating a RSS feed from any web page.
Sooner or later, and maybe without even knowing the technical terms required to communicate this to someone else, you will want to subscribe and monitor web sites, information pages, or online catalog sections on an ongoing basis…
Can do you create an RSS feed for a web page that doesn’t have one?
Can anyone do this on her own?
The answer to both is a resounding YES!
Today, thanks to new “html scraping” services available to everyone, RSS feeds can be automatically generated for just about any web site, no matter what kind of layout, coding or language it is written in. In some situations, to create a standard RSS feed from any web page that does not have one may take less than a minute, while in other cases, where your needs for customization are higher, you may need to spend a little more time.
The process of creating feeds seems to be called “HTML scraping”, the process of automatically generating an RSS feed from an HTML web page. The article includes some examples of “HTML scraping” services to help you create feeds for your website.
If you are using WordPress, you don’t have to do anything. Your WordPress blog comes equipped to handle feeds automatically.
WordPress Feeds on WordPress Blogs
If your WordPress Theme does not obviously feature any feed links, you still may have feeds on your WordPress blog. The WordPress Theme, Rubric, is one that does not feature any feed links unless I include them myself in the sidebar links. Scan any page on this blog with your feed reader and you will find the feeds. So they are there, if not visible.
To create a link to the feeds on your WordPress blog, use the following links if you are using WordPress.com or Permalinks:
http://example.wordpress.com/feed/
http://example.wordpress.com/comments/feed/
If you are using WordPress 1.5 or a WordPress blog without permalinks, the feed links would be:
http://www.cameraontheroad.com/?feed=rss2
http://www.cameraontheroad.com/?feed=comments-rss2
Site Search Tags: feed, feeds, rss, create+feeds, make+feeds, html, scraping
Copyright Lorelle VanFossen
Lorelle on WordPress 
26 Comments
Hi Lorelle,
the form /feed/ versus /?feed=rss2 doesn’t depend on your WordPress version, it depends on your ability to use mod_rewrite or not:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Permalinks
Lorelle, I have multiple contributors on my wordpress blog, and i would like for readers to be able to subscribe to just one if they like. how do i do this?
Here is an example of a link to all posts by one author:
http://pokerati.com/?author=28
I explain how to do this in Blog Herald Feeds and Customizing Your WordPress Blog Feeds on the Blog Herald.
Hmm, I am kind of confused. How do I create a feed from wordpress when I have the site hosted on my own server? Do I need a special plugin? I cannot get it by using the URL you provided… http://bevohead.com/feed/
Thanks,
Mike
it is good stuff but some what confusing please clear how can we get rss feed of any web page
How do we get rss feeds of other websites that don`t have rss
Just to be clear, this article is about creating feeds from any web page, not how to get websites which do not have feeds into your feed reader. I haven’t found a way to do that other than to tell them they are missing the boat if they don’t get feeds. In fact, they are two years past due.
Thank you, I actually found out afterwards. FeedYes has that functionality but it’s only for two weeks unless you pay for it, feedyes.com… I’ll try to find free ones but I think those will come with ads.
So if I want to submit my RSS Feed, i just use the /feed thing? Not the .xml file?
@ Ron into Facial:
Your feed is an example.xml file. Permalinks with words, called pretty permalinks, change the link to the xml file to example.com/feed/
It’s the same thing.
Thanks for this entry. That is exactly what i was looking for… 🙂
Best Regards from Berlin
Tobi
i want to create RSS for my site. any one can help me plz ?
@ mike:
If you are using WordPress, the feeds are created automatically. If you are using another program, please search their help files or support forum for information. If you need to create them manually, there is a lot of information on creating manual XML files on the web.
What’s the URL for a WordPress blog? So I can submit it to Feedburner, or is this not necessary? Newbie, obviously.
@ JL:
You do not have to use Feedburner. The feed for your WordPress blog is already incorporated and working. If you would like to use Feedburner or customize your feeds, see Understanding, Using, and Customizing WordPress Blog Feeds.
I need a way to bring news from another site to the new site automatically codified .
Is there a plugin used for the addition ?
thanks
@ mas:
Yes, and their usage is considered bad manners, unless you use them within copyright guidelines and restrictions, giving full credit and within Fair Use Laws.
Here is a post regarding techniques for ‘Scraping your way to RSS feeds‘ albeit in a non-programmatic (layman) way.
Hi Lorelle,
I am trying to create an RSS feed for this web site: curtis4governor.com. I put this link “http://www.curtis4governor.com/?feed=rss2” in the sidebar of the widgets… but I’m not sure it’s right… what to do…? Thanks for your help!
Please check the feed for your site which should be example.com/feed/ or whatever feed service you are using. It usually shows up in the browser so click it and that will be the link. 😀
Hello.. I tried and I tried.. I have two sites.
I want a widget or something where people coming to my site can click on it and get subscribed…
Then add one. There are many and this is a very old article. If you aren’t using a publishing platform like WordPress that offers feed options automatically, then consider changing. It may mean that your site is out of date and losing in SEO quality and value.
Im sorry, i just dont understand how to show other rss feed on one of my pages. I tried a couple times to do it like the way you say, i just cant do it. For some odd reason the feeds are not showing.
I’m rewriting this whole article. Stay tuned for an update that might help. Until then, either use the feed widget to put the content in your sidebar or a Plugin to put the feed on a post or Page.
LORELLE, i am a little confused.You say wordpress makes your rss feeds automatically if your using permalinks ,which i do,My question is how do you find the rss feed to your different sites, i have 10 blogs on word press some have the icon within the theme and some don’t.I have been getting request from visitors to have an rss feed to one of my site’s. here is what i was shown to use by another post on the codex forum http://www.subdomain.example.com/feed/ should i be using http://example.wordpress.com/feed/ in other words not using my url but wordpress .com feed/directory/
The Feeds are controlled by the Theme. If the feed links created by WordPress template tags are present in the WordPress Themes, feeds are generated automatically, unless you have chosen to replace them with Feedburner or another feed service.
The presence of a feed icon does not validate the presence of a feed. If you are on WordPress.com, the feeds are created automatically. If you are on your own subdomain (and the url you’ve given is very odd – don’t use the www), then that would be the specific feed if feeds were enabled.
This article is a bit archaic. I recommend you see Understanding, Using, and Customizing WordPress Blog Feeds.
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