How to Use the FeedBurner Ping

If you have a blog, you want readers to read it. Among other things, the FeedBurner ping makes it easier for your subscribers to know what's going on in your world. It republishes your RSS feeds and makes the feeds more powerful and useful. It also pings Technorati any time you update your blog. The basic service is free and easy to use.

Instructions

1. Make a copy of your existing blog. This is good practice any time you make alterations to the blog.

2. Duplicate the URL to your blog's native feed. It's the subscribe link. Paste the link into the form on the front page of FeedBurner.

3. Set up your FeedBurner ping account. You need to answer a few basic questions in order to start.

4. Optimize your account as much as you can to use the free account. If you wish, you can also upgrade. Turn on the Pingshot service under the "Publicize" tab. Also, turn on the email subscription option.

5. Copy and paste the email option code into the sidebar of your blog's template. You can choose the position in the sidebar.

6. Grab the code for your RSS subscription option link from the "Chicklet Chooser" page. A FeedBurner "chicklet" is a new subscriber button. Place that code in your blog's sidebar template as well. Delete any other RSS subscription links found in your sidebar.

7. Change the header section of your blog, if you have access to it. For maximum effectiveness, whenever your blog gets a ping it should read .

Resources

• Get your free FeedBurner ping account here.
• View blog posts as they're published on Technorati.