User:Bill Flanagan/Feedburner Integration

Quick Start for WordPress

Create your FeedBurner feed and use it with self-hosted installation of WordPress 1.5 or WordPress 2.0. (Using WordPress.com or WordPress MU? Switch back to WordPress self-hosted steps.) FeedBurner FeedSmith

For the best results using FeedBurner with your self-hosted WordPress site, we recommend the FeedBurner FeedSmith plugin (originally authored by the awesome Steve Smith). The plugin will detect all ways to access your feed (e.g. http://www.yoursite.com/feed/ or http://www.yoursite.com/wp-rss2.php, etc.), and redirect them to your FeedBurner feed so you can track every possible subscriber. It will forward for your main posts feed, and optionally your main comments feed as well.

   * Download the plugin and then follow the instructions below to begin forwarding all WordPress feed traffic to your FeedBurner feed.

Installation

  1.

     Copy the plugin file, FeedBurner_FeedSmith_Plugin.php into your default WordPress plugin directory, wp-content/plugins/ .
  2.

     Activate the plugin by logging into your WordPress administration area, clicking Plugins, then clicking Activate at the end of the “FeedBurner FeedSmith” row.
  3.

     In the WordPress administration area, begin the configuration by clicking Options and then the FeedBurner sub-option.
  4.

     Follow the links to create your FeedBurner feeds, or if they already exist, simply fill in their URLs in the boxes provided.

     NOTE: If you currently use the old, 2005-vintage version of the Ordered List FeedBurner plugin that generates a FeedBurner-specific URL (an example: www.yoursite.com/feedburner_838196/), that URL is no longer available or necessary. You will have to reset your FeedBurner feed’s Original Feed address to now use your standard blog feed address. Additionally, you should examine any .htaccess files that control access to your WordPress installation's content and remove any existing references that forward or redirect your feeds, as these references will no longer be necessary.
  5.

     Verify your URLs in the text entry fields, and click Save.
  6.

     Now, all of your WordPress feed traffic should be redirected to FeedBurner.

Deactivation

To deactivate automatic forwarding of your feed traffic to FeedBurner, deactivate the plugin via the Plugins section of your WordPress Administration control panel. For WordPress, we recommend the following set of services:

   * Browser-Friendly Burner. It makes your feed easy to view and subscribe to when viewed in a web browser.
   * Podcasting with WordPress? Then you should use SmartCast™. It will ensure maximum compatibility for your WordPress podcast feed. (Be sure to check your feed settings if you plan to podcast with WordPress.)

Verifying WordPress feed settings for podcasting

Are you using WordPress for podcasting? If so, it's important to know that newer versions of WordPress will automatically convert linked MP3 files to RSS enclosures, but using our SmartCast™ service will guarantee maximum compatibility and reliability for your podcast. Either way, you will need to make sure you're publishing a "full text" feed so your links make it into the RSS feed. Here's how to verify your original WordPress site feed's format:

  1.

     In a new browser window, sign in to your WordPress account.
  2.

     Once logged in, click the Options tab in the upper right part of the screen.
  3.

     Click the Reading sub-tab.

     You should see the "Reading Options" settings page for your site.
  4.

     On the "Publicity and Feeds" settings page, locate the "Syndication Feeds" section and make sure the "Full text" option is selected.

  5.

     Click Update Options.

     You should see the message "Options saved."

Creating Your Feed

  1.

     Enter your blog's web address in the "Ready to Burn?" form found on FeedBurner's home page and at the bottom of the pages in the Blog and Podcast sections. If you plan to publish a podcast with your WordPress feed, check the "I am a podcaster" box. Click Next ».

     The "Identify Feed Source" page should appear.
  2.

     On "Welcome", make sure the title and FeedBurner address (URI) of your new feed are values you prefer.

     The "Create or Sign In To Your FeedBurner Account" page should appear.
  3.

     Also on this page, create a FeedBurner account by picking a username and password and supplying your email address.

     When you've supplied all the required information on this page, click Activate Feed ». A "Congrats" page should appear.
  4.

     Read all of the information on "Congrats", then click Next » to continue with the setup process.
  5.

     If you selected "I am a podcaster" on the home page, configuration options for our SmartCast™ service will appear. Here you can supply categories and other informataion for iTunes, append a copyright message and submit your podcast to Yahoo! Search.

     When you are finished, click Next ». Configuration options for FeedBurner stats services should appear.
  6.

     On the stats configuration page, select the level of feed stats detail you want. If you select TotalStats PRO, you will be asked for a credit card in the next step.

     Click Next » to finish the setup process and enter our feed management interface.

     You're now ready to make your FeedBurner feed available on your WordPress site!

Promoting your FeedBurner feed on your WordPress site

You will now use FeedBurner's Publicity Tools to select a "chicklet" image to display a link to your FeedBurner feed from your blog's home page.

  1.

     Click the Publicize tab.

     A list of publicity-related services appears.
  2.

     Locate and click the Chicklet Chooser service.

     The form shown below loads into the right side of the screen:

     This form contains several options for buttons that promote (and link to) your FeedBurner feed.
  3.

     Click the radio button next to the button you want to display on your site.
  4.

     Copy the HTML shown in the bottom section of the Chicklet Chooser. You will paste this HTML into your WordPress site template.

  5.

     From the WordPress Dashboard, click the Presentation tab and then the Sidebar Widget option.

  6.

     Drag the text widget from the Available Widgets area to your Sidebar.

  7.

     Click the right side of the widget to expand it
  8.

     If you would like to give this widget a title you may, but it is not required. This title will show up on your site.
  9.

     Paste the code you copied from FeedBurner in an earlier step into the content field.

 10.

     Click the "X" in the upper-right corner to close the widget box.
 11.

     Click Save Changes.

     After the code is saved, you should immediately be able to view your chicklet in your site's sidebar.

Offering Email Subscriptions To Your Blog

FeedBurner also offers our Email Subscription service, which uses your feed to send an update once each day that you make new post(s) to your blog. If you want to offer a link to subscribe to these email updates to your readers, you may do so by following a procedure very similar to the one outlined in "Promoting your FeedBurner feed on your WordPress site," above. Just visit and activate the Email Subscriptions service in the Publicize tab for your feed, and then pick up the code-copying process at step (5).