How to set up a feed for your blog

You've all seen the feed buttons (they are usually orange) on people's blogs I'm sure. Those feeds are there to allow people to read your blog in a reader, follow your feed on their homepage and several other things (I'll tell you tomorrow how to set your feed up to automatically post to your Twitter account whenever you write a post, for example.) This is what they usually look like:

Today I'm going to tell you how to set that feed up.

1. Go to your Blogger dashboard (for Wordpress users just go here and then skip down to #4.)

2. In the upper right hand corner there is "My Account". Click on it. It will take you to your Google account page.

3. In the lower half of that page there are products. Select "Feedburner". (There is a little flame next to it: )

4. In the box, look for the words "Burn a feed right this instant. Type your blog or feed address here:" Type your blog URL into the box and hit NEXT.

5. Follow the directions. It's pretty easy. Just do what it tells you to do.

6. When your finished it will go to a page with your blog name at the top of it. It will say something like "the bubble wrap isn't off your feed yet. Come back later for your stats" (I'm paraphrasing that but it's pretty close...)

7. Just underneath your blog title is a little black and white feed button like the orange one above. Click it. It will take you to your blog feed in a new window.

8. Copy the address from the address bar at the top of your screen. (For example, the feed address for THIS blog is http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/RPVV) Just right click on the address bar and select "copy".

9. Go back to your Blogger dashboard

10. Go to "Settings" on the blog you just set the feed up for.

11. Now go to "Site Feed".

12. Find the box that says "Post Feed Redirect URL" and right click and select "paste" to put your feed's URL into that box.

13. Go to the bottom of the page and select "Save Settings".

That's it! Your feed is now set up! Congrats! You can go back to Feedburner at any time and see things like how many subscribers you have, your blog traffic and where your feeds were viewed from. I'll tell you starting tomorrow other ways you can use your feed :)