Feeds for thought

Does your site have a feed? If not, you may be missing out on a substantial number of repeat visitors. An increasing number of users are using feed readers to keep up to date with their favorite websites. You've worked so hard to create that quality content, and feeds can help you grow your audience as well as let your current readers take your site with them wherever they go.

Google Reader and the Google Personalized Homepage are examples of feed readers that allow your users to keep track of updates to your site -- and starting today, it's now possible to track the number of users subscribed to your site via these two feed readers.

Here are just a few examples of AdSense sites which also offer feeds:

• Information resources NewsMax and Hybridcars.com publish feeds of their most recent stories.
  
• Taquitos.net, a specialty site focused on snacks, publishes feeds with the newest snack reviews.
  
• Blogs like Inside AdSense publish feeds with the latest posts.
  

There are many resources online to help you implement feeds on your site. You may wish to start with sites for Atom and RSS, the two standards compatible with most feed readers. Many popular CMS and blogging platforms like Blogger.com already have feed functionality built in, so your site may even have a feed without you knowing it.

In order to provide the best experience for your users, the Google Reader team has also put together some tips for feed publishers. This document covers feed best practices, common implementation pitfalls, and various ways to promote your feeds. Whether you're creating your feeds from scratch or have been publishing them for a long time, we encourage you to take a look at our tips to make the most of your feeds. If you have any questions, please get in touch.

Posted by Nick Baum - Google Reader Product Manager