WordPress on AutoPilot - Automatic Posting Google Reader to WordPress

Why use Google Reader with WordPress?

Google Reader aggregates RSS feeds and allows you to read them from any browser. This makes it easy to keep up on your content anywhere, anytime.

I have used Google Reader all over the world and have been able to post to my site as well as keep up with what is going on.

It is great!

Want to make it even better? Then post your finds back to your WordPress site automatically and put your site on AutoPilot.

Here is how.

What do you get?
As you read the content from Google Reader you can “tag” articles. This assigns an identifier for that content. Then you can use this identifier to create an RSS feed. The RSS feed allows you to post content back to your WordPress site.

It only takes a few minutes to set this up and then you have fresh content posted to your sites that will super-glue your readers to your postings.

3 Steps to Automatically Adding Google Reader Feeds to WordPress

1. Tag Feeds in Google Reader
2. Make the Feed Public
3. Add RSS Feed to WordPress (Widget or direct Post)

Tag Your It! - Tagging Feeds in Google Reader
As you read through your RSS feeds press “t” to open the tags window. Then type in the tag you want for the category to post on your blog. For example, I use the tab “blog-writing” for posts that are related to how to writing articles for your blog. Then I send the RSS feed to my WordPress site.

I Want My RSS! - Getting the RSS Feed out of Google Reader

Setting up Tags as RSS Feeds
You need to make the tags public so Google will generate an RSS feed for the tags. At this time Google does not support tags for private feeds.

In Google Reader select Settings to open up the RSS configurations.

Select Tags and select the tag and change it to Public. This will generate the RSS feed for the tag.

Click on “View Public Page” to see all the articles that you have tagged with that specific tag. On the right side of the page is an RSS feed labeled “a feed” with an RSS icon by it.

Click on this link to display the RSS feed for this page.

{UPDATE - Google Reader has removed the RSS icon on the page follow the steps below to get the RSS feed}

Use FireFox browser with Google Reader and you can get an RSS feed.

On the Public Page look for the RSS icon up by the URL for your public page. Click your mouse on the RSS icon and it will take you to a page to subscribe to the RSS feed. Highlight the RSS feed on the page and add this to your Autoblogging software. The feed should look something like:

http://www.google.com/reader/public/atom/user/044789485648142527054/label/

where is the folder or tag name you made public. If it cuts this off on the URL just add it back in by hand.

Now you will have the RSS feed to add back to your Autoblogging software program.

Also, if the RSS feed is not fully displayed in your RSS feed reader then this is what will be posted on your site. You can only post as much as is published and you will see this problem with sites that post limited feed information on their article. Full feeds will post all the text.

{end of UPDATE}

This is the feed that you will copy into your WordPress RSS Feed Reader (ie FeedWordPress or WP-o-Matic).

Adding RSS Feed to WordPress
You have 2 options for adding content to WordPress. You can display the content in an RSS widget or post the content to your Blog or CMS.

Creating the RSS Widget
Create a RSS Widget in WordPress (Presentation, Widgets) and insert the feed in the widget so it will update automatically.

Customize Widget Look
I use the “None” setting for formatting the clip when adding it to WordPress themes. This way the formatting from the clip doesn’t interfere with the theme. Experiment and see what works for you.

Embedding in Posts
You can also store the RSS feeds into Posts in WordPress if you want to keep this information in your Blog, Content Management System, or Static Web Site.

To do this install an RSS WordPress posting program to import your RSS feeds into WordPress. I like FeedWordPress and WP-o-Matic to import feeds and convert them into posts.

Once you have installed the plug-in then add the RSS Google Reader tag feed to your plug-in and it will post the new tags into WordPress. You can use WP-CRON to automate the import process so every time you add new tags they will be automatically imported into WordPress as new Posts.

I use FeedWordPress and import the RSS feed into blog as “draft” posts so I can make any changes I want before making the content available on my site.

The other alternative is to direct post the content. This is a quicker process and populates the site in less time.

All Done!

Want to Create Websites in Minutes with RSS?
Using tools like Google Reader and automated programs you can create focused websites that get clicks, traffic and high conversion rates. We have sites that are Page Rank 4+ in no time at all using these tools. Want to find out more? Here are all the RSS Secrets!

Author Bio
Steve Casey is a serial web entrepreneur and ebook publisher and his upcoming book is WordPress on Autopilot. Visit the site at http://www.chimp-simple.com and subscribe to the Chimp Newsletter.

AutoPilot WebSites - eBook Coming Soon

WordPress on AutoPilot - Using Alerts, Agents, Bots, and RSS to Run Your Web Site

Special Offer - Early Order Pricing
Retail eBook Price - $29.95 (USD) **Early Order Price $20.00 (USD)

Sign Up for the Pre-Order List, we will contact you when the book is ready!

I am just putting the final touches on a new ebook that will be available in the next few months. It has been a long process but worth all the effort.

I set out on this path to try and understand what it takes to create “AutoPilot” web sites. What I mean by this is how do you have a web site that runs on its own?

A lot of people can setup a web site but over time they discover it takes a lot of work maintaining the site, adding new content, processing online orders, updating search engines, etc.

I have made this mistake a few times in the past with sites I have developed as well. Over time you discover making changes is so painful that it is not worth it.

And then your dream becomes a big choir.

Don’t let this happen to you. Design your site so it is easy to update and maintain from the beginning. This book will walk you through these steps and many more so your site runs on it own.

Thanks,
Steve

P.S. You are under no obligation if you sign up for the Pre-Order list. We will contact you and let you know it is available if you want to order. Don’t miss out.

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6 Steps to Creating a Google Reader RSS Widget in WordPress

Want to add an Google Reader Feed to WordPress? It only takes a few minutes and the results are automatic.

6 Steps to Creating a Google Reader RSS Widget in WordPress
1. Setup your RSS feeds in Google Reader.
2. Assign your feed(s) to a folder in Google Reader
3. Set the Folder as Public so Google will create an RSS feed for this folder.
4. Click on “add a clip to your site”. This creates the Javascript code for the RSS feed.
5. Customize the Javascript code and copy the code from the script window.
6. Create a new Text Widget in WordPress and paste the code in the window.

Time to view your site and make any changes if necessary. Could it get any easier than that to add live content to your web site?

Google Reader - Customize Code Details
Here is how you customize the Google code to fit your website theme: