Okay, if you weren't already optimizing your efficiency before with an RSS reader, then you should be now. That is, assuming you read--and followed--the instructions in my post yesterday about RSS. At the end of that post, I promised to show you how to automate your searches by adding keyword search results to your RSS.
First Things First
You need an RSS feed reader set up. If this isn't the case, do so now. Read yesterday's post to find out how. (Uh, no. I wasn't trying for a rhyme just then. It's one of those things.)Now that you have an RSS feed reader going, congratulations! You're doing it right. :)
Now keep it up. Do the following.
9 Steps to Set Up Search Results In Your RSS Feed Reader
1. Navigate to blogsearch.google.com.2. Type your name (in quotes) in the search field. Here's an example.
3. Click the Search Blogs button.
4. In the left sidebar of your search results page, find the link that says "RSS". Right-click it and select "Copy Link".
5. Open a New Tab or New Window in your web browser and navigate to your News/Feed Reader page. (If you followed yesterday's post, this will likely be www.Google.com/Reader.)
6. In your feed reader click the Add Subscription button. (The image below assumes you're using Google Reader.)
7. In the field that appears, Paste the link you copied from Step 4 above.
8. Click the Add button.
9. Wash, rinse, repeat for other keywords or phrases that have interest for you. Here are some suggestions you might want to consider:
- Create an RSS feed for search results using the name of your business in quotes.
- How about the name of your product(s)?
- Create another for a major project (or projects). For example, I've created variations of search results for a book I just wrote. A chapter was dedicated to the topic of Monitoring the Conversation. I can tell you I've already had a couple of readers test me and my co-author to see if we were listening. (Hmm... how'd I know that, I wonder?) :)
- How about the name of your blog?
- Consider search results for causes, charities or activities you care about. In this way, you can be contribute with your own comments and join conversations where they happen online.
Don't Forget Twitter and YouTube
Of course, the steps above only account for instances of your searches that appear on most blogs that syndicate their content via RSS. Since a lot of conversation these days also happen on Twitter, you should consider doing the same steps above, only this time use search.twitter.com in place of blogsearch.google.com in Step 1.
And, if you're inclined, I'll also encourage you to create similar feeds for favorite keywords and phrases for searches on YouTube.
RSS Syndication Doesn't Prevail Everywhhere
Finally, it'll help you to know, too, that not all search engines give the benefit of RSS syndication for all search results. Even Google, for example, doesn't offer an RSS feed for search results for the web in general. i.e., those that go beyond blogsearch.
It's for this reason, that in tomorrow's post, I'll show you how to set up a few key alerts. Alerts are similar in purpose to the steps I showed you above. Like RSS, they help you monitor conversations online that concern you. But, they function a little differently in the sense that alerts come to you by way of email, instead of RSS.
I hope this helps! I'll see ya in the next post.
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