I’ve created a new feed for my blog via Feedburner.
The only issue with this is that WordPress.com doesn’t let me override the default feeds that it generates. I’ve added the Feedburner information to the sidebar, and removed the links to the default feeds. If someone enters my blog URL into their feedreader, they will still get the WP.com-generated feeds – but that’s one of the trade-offs with having a blog hosted here.
There are a number of benefits to the reader, including the ability to see the number of comments or inbound Technorati links, or to email or bookmark an entry on del.icio.us. There are hopefully going to be some benefits to me too, but I’ve not used Feedburner before so I’m waiting to see how it turns out.
I realise I can’t compel anyone who has already subscribed to move over, but if you feel inclined, you can change your subscription to point at http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheLostOutpost.
You can also now subscribe by email, if that’s your bag.
Nice move Andy 🙂
I am now a subscriber of your FeedBurner feed.
So am I, I like the fact comments are shown on it too, but I have yet to see if I can get the post to pop up as new when it has a new comment, so I still subscribe to the comments feed…
Yay, feedburner! I like it, in spite of the fact that I have one, count ’em, ONE subscriber.
Nowhere to go but up! 🙂
Happy to subscribe, I love Feedburner, it’s my default feed on my site.
I’ve been avoiding Feedburner. For some reason, a lot of people who use Feedburner end up with Del.icio.us links in their feeds, that I really find annoying.
I use the Email Notification Plugin (see http://watershedstudio.com/portfolio/software/wp-email-notification.html ) to provoke the majority of people who don’t use a feed reader (and still live in the push e-mail world). Since my blogging is sporatic (i.e. nothing for three weeks, and then 6 blog entries in two days!), I’ve learned to not trigger the e-mail notification on every entry.
I see, however, that you’re keeping your blog on wordpress.com , so this plugin probably isn’t an option for you. I migrated all of my old blog entries from wordpress.com over to my personal domain at http://daviding.com , but have since evolved this to primarily become a personal photoblog, and the more professional content is over at http://coevolving.com .
In my experience, under full control of WordPress on my own domain, I don’t understand why Feedburner is still popular. Most of the features that made it distinctive 1 to 2 years ago now seem to be handled in other ways.
David, thanks again for visiting my blog.
The reason that people end up with del.icio.us links in their feed is that Feedburner gives you the option to “splice” your del.icio.us feed into your main feed. Personally I do like that feature – I often find hidden gems from people whose blogs I read – and that was one reason why I’ve just signed up to del.icio.us myself. I’m sorry if that annoys anyone – in which case they have the option of subscribing to my default WordPress feed without the added bookmarks. I haven’t enabled the del.icio.us option to post a daily summary of my bookmarks to my blog, as I think that would be overkill!
You’re right to note that plugins are not an option for me 🙁
I find Feedburner’s information very useful – see who is visiting my feed, how often, with what reader… is that information available from the default self-hosted WP setup? The Feed Stats in WP.com don’t seem so comprehensive.
Personally, I’m happy with having my content here right now. I may migrate to a domain and service of my own in the future, but I like the simplicity of WP.com.
I’ve gotten to like the Del.icio.us feeds too, although I don’t use Del.icio.us myself. People who subscribe to my feed through Feedburner have to put up with my Flickr picture splice 🙂 I think I only have it set to 5 per day or something like that.
I do wish that it would also splice in Blinklist, which is what I use instead of Del.icio.us…my preferred bookmark site.
My original interest in Feedburner came in the way Feedburner presents RSS to a user. It makes the file more readable and user friendly, explains what RSS is and gives options for different services. Being a usability person I thought this was a better way to present a feed to somebody who had no idea what a feed is. I also like the stats, it does give a general idea of how many people are subscribed to my site…if not completely accurate. It is a nice service 🙂
Oooo – not come across Blinklist – must check it out. Thanks, Heidi.
I see you’re just like me 😉 Can’t help trying out everything that comes your way…
I added “Add to Blinklist” to the Feedburner flare – doesn’t help you with splicing, but if you and/or others use Blinklist and subscribe to the Feedburner feed, it might be helpful 🙂