Posts Tagged ‘Google’

Every now and then we like to experiment with the Internet and we created a little website to track 4Networking members using Twitter on Google Maps.

It’s rough and ready at the moment but shows a way that the various APIs can be used to link different parts of the Internet together.

Take a look at the 4Networking Twitter Tool and see who you can find!

The previous article about RSS explained what RSS is and how end users should use the feed.  This time we are looking at how website owners might make better use of their feed.

CMS  and blogging solutions like WordPress generate a feed from the posts and comments automatically.  This website has a feed http://zedoarydesign.co.uk/feed/ and using that is fine and will ‘do the job’.  There are services out there however that can help you make more of the feed.  One of these is Feedburner.

Feedburner is a service that was snapped up by Google in 2007 and provides a range of services including traffic analysis and an advertising system.

This allows you to discover  how many people have subscribed to your feed and with what service/program they subscribed with.

In addition you can link Google AdSense to the feed to choose to include advertising.  This does not put any adverts on your website only in the feed, so when it is being read in Google Reader for example at the end of each article there are a few adverts.  Unless you have a massive readership you are unlikely to get rich from AdSense but as a supermarket says, “Every Little Helps”.

Adding your feed to Feedburner is pretty simple:

1. Find the URL of your feed – normally you can do this just by clicking on the RSS symbol.
2. Go to Feedburner and log in with your Google account.
3. Paste the URL in the box that says “Burn a Feed Right This Instant”, click next and follow the instructions.

Then in Feedburner it give advice and hints on optimising, publicising and monetising the feed.  The final step is to go back to your website and make sure the RSS symbol is changed to point to the Feedburner version of you feed.

If you use a system that generates a RSS feed we recommend you use Feedburner to make it better.  And if you need any help… you know where to ask!

PS – Click on our RSS symbol to see the Feedburner feed.

In many ways RSS is the forgotten tool of the Internet – unused and unloved by many people.  The little icons sit on websites, like the one at the bottom of this page, but how are they best used.

This is really the first article of two – the second will deal with how website owners and businesses can make the best use of the RSS feed.  This one however will look at it from the aspect of a visitor to a site with RSS and answer the simple question – “What is it for?”

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and put simply it’s a way of feeding articles from a website.  If you click on the RSS symbol below it will take you to the feed generated by WordPress of the articles.  This feed is in a format called XML which can then be read by other sites.  It all sounds technical and dull and doesn’t really explain why you’d want to use it.

Various sites offer RSS Readers – I personally use Google Reader (http://www.google.com/reader/) and when I find a website I find interesting I add it to the Reader as a subscription.

If you want to try it’s easy to do:

• Click on the RSS symbol in the footer of this website to view the feed.
• There will be a box on the right of the new page give a list of different readers.
• Pick one, doesn’t have to be Google, that’s my choice but you have free will!
• Choose subscribe to this feed and that’s it – every time you go to the RSS Reader the feed will update with the latest articles.

So, what’s the big advantage?

If you regularly read loads of article sources or blogs it can be a pain having to go to each one to see what, if anything, is new.

By using Google Reader I can see instantly what is new from all the feeds I follow and quickly read them, star favourites and  share interesting articles with people that follow me on Google Reader.

If you want to follow me to see what I’m sharing feel free to add me in Google Reader – admin@zedoary.net is our email.  Just go to shared items and click on the “I’m following 0 people”.  If you would like us to follow you drop us a line.

Another year has come and gone, and Google has taken a moment to look back at the happenings of 2009—the people, events and memories that made this year unique.

Each year they examine the billions of queries that people around the world have typed into Google search to discover the zeitgeist—the spirit of the times.

As we welcome the new year, we hope you enjoy this glimpse at the past.

The results for the UK show that there were mixed feelings as we headed online this year to search for our favourite online tools, to learn about celebrities new and old, and to find a good bargain.

Facebook, eBay and Spotify all featured in the year’s fastest rising searches. People searched to learn about new sensations like Lady Gaga and Susan Boyle, but they also turned to the web to learn about the deaths of Stephen Gately, Jade Goody, and Michael Jackson.

Meanwhile, the recession ensured that bargain hunting was alive and well with people searching for cheap holiday options in particular.

See the full results here: http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/press/zeitgeist2009/regional.html#united-kingdom