WordPress - Automatic Posting Google Reader to WordPress Revisited

Here is an updated version of the original post. A few items have changed so make sure and read through the whole post.

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 findings back to your WordPress site automatically and put your site on automatic.

Here are all the steps on how to do it!

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.

4 Steps to Automatically Posting Google Reader Feeds to WordPress

1. Collect your RSS Feeds in Google Reader
2. Tag Feeds in Google Reader (optional)
3. Get the RSS Feed from Google Reader
4. Add RSS Feed to WordPress (Widget or direct Post)

Tag Your It! - Tagging Feeds in Google Reader (optional)
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
Google Reader automatically sets up RSS feeds for each tag, folder, and Feed. Using FireFox you will be able to get the RSS feed from the address bar in FireFox. Click on the RSS icon beside the URL and you will have the RSS feed for that list. See the image below.

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/033423343311/label/

where is the folder or tag name. 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.

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!

Free: WordPress e-Commerce Plug-in for Internet Businesses

Creating a WordPress E-Commerce Site
Everyone wants to make money off their sites and here is a tool to help you do that.

WP e-Commerce at Instinct Entertainment

The WP e-Commerce shopping cart plugin for WordPress is an elegant easy to use fully featured shopping cart application suitable for selling your products, services, and or fees online.

WP e-Commerce is a Web 2.0 application designed with usability, aesthetics, and presentation in mind. Perfect for:

» Digital Downloads!
» Bands & Record Labels
» Clothing Companies
» Crafters & Artists
» Books, DVDs & MP3 files

Here are some of the features from their website:

WordPress Integration

You will install WP e-Commerce in minutes. Just like all well architectured plugins WP e-Commerce bolts right on. You simply download the plugin, copy it to your Plugins folder and activate it via your admin panel.

More Sales & More Hits

WP e-Commerce integrates seamlessly with the WordPress Update System - so when you upload a new product the world knows about it!

Social Networking

We help ensure your site is a success by providing you with a range of tools that allow you to import your products into the Facebook Marketplace and Google Base. WP e-Commerce also utilizes the popular “Share This” plugin so that your happy customers can bookmark and promote your products too!!!

I am going to try this later this week. It looks great. Here is a site using it now.

Has anyone else out there tried this e-commerce plugin? I’m thinking of trying to sell some of my books with it. Like it, Don’t Like it?

Niche Content Site Ideas- WikiRage (What’s Hot Now on Wikipedia)

Generating Niche Content Ideas

If you can’t come up with new ideas from your niche sites, take a look at
WikiRage. Here is a description of what they do:

This site lists the pages in Wikipedia which are receiving the most edits per unique editor over various periods of time. Popular people in the news, the latest fads, and the hottest video games can be quickly identified by monitoring this social phenomenon. Mouse over items for edit statistics.

It is a great spot to see the most updated topics. I’m going hunting for new site ideas tonight. Maybe you should too!

wikirage: What’s hot now on wikipedia