RSS is a great way to link to blog content with a feed reader such as Microsoft Outlook, Google Reader, MyYahoo, NetNewsWire, SharpReader, or even the customizable feed panels on the MyCopper portal home page. 

Definition: RSS means “Really Simple Syndication”

Setting up Microsoft Outlook to receive RSS feeds:

1) Select menu item Tools > Account Options…

2) Select the RSS Feeds tab. Click New…

3) Enter the URL for the blog feed you want to receive. Click the Add button.

4) In the RSS Feed Options screen, the Feed Name should auto-populate with information Outlook receives when it connects to the feed. You can change the Feed Name if you desire. This will be the name of the feed folder under the Outlook directory: Mail Folders > RSS Feeds.

Click the OK button.

Setting up Google Reader to receive feeds:

1) Log in to Google Reader  with your Google account or select Create an Account. You can log in using your Gmail account if you have one.

2) Click Add a Subscription and enter the RSS feed URL in the textbox and click Add.

Note: Further help can be found at http://www.google.com/support/reader/?hl=en.

See CopperBlog article “Customizing your MyCopper Feed Panel”

Note: When adding the URL for an RSS feed, be sure you are viewing the XML document. Your browser will recognize this as a feed and display a yellow feed panel at the top of the page. MyCopper blog feeds will end with “?feed=rss2” example:http://www.mycopper.net/blogs/CopperBlog/?feed=rss2.

Ping Services, also known as Update Services, are a way for you to let other people know when you have updated your blog. Each time you submit a blog post, MyCopper will submit a notification to any of the Ping Services listed in this interface. This can help your search engine ranking by having multiple sites referencing your blog. People browsing a Ping Service site like Technorati or Sphere will be able to find your most recent blog posts.

To add a Ping Service, simply enter the service URL in the text box and click “Add Service”. Once added, a ping service can be updated or deleted.

Note: Each Ping Service will need to be added individually.

There are many Ping Services available. Here is a list of some of the most common or widely used XML-RPC Ping Services:

http://api.moreover.com/RPC2
http://bblog.com/ping.php
http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2
http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php
http://ping.feedburner.com
http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php
http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/
http://rpc.pingomatic.com/
http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
http://topicexchange.com/RPC2
http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates
http://xping.pubsub.com/ping

When creating posts, if you are confused about how to use Categories and Tags, perhaps this post will help.

By selecting Add Post or Editing an Existing Post, you will see the following interface:

Here you will have the option to select Categories your post belongs to as well as declare several Tags. This can be confusing to the beginning blogger, but using Categories and Tags correctly can greatly improve the experience of your blog’s visitors.

Categories are a useful way to provide thoughtful structure to your blog. Posts of similar content should be categorized under the same Categories.

Example: If you were to post many recipes on your blog, you could have each recipe belong to a category such as “Main Dish”, “Side Dish”, “Desserts”, “Drinks”, “Salads”, “Soups”, etc. and every recipe could belong to a general “Recipes” Category.  This way someone interested in finding a good dessert recipe could view at just your post under the Dessert category.

Tags are keywords found in your post content. 

Example: A recipe post for Banana Cream Pie may use the keywords: banana, pie, dessert, award winning, easy bake, low calorie.

Note: Tags will appear in the Tag Cloud view in the sidebar of your blog.

Navigation:

This contains basic link information for your blog to help viewers return to your blog’s Home page or to link to your blog using an RSS reader. This is also where your Avatar is shown.

Admin:

Add Post – Use this link when you want to add a blog post.
Unpublished Posts – This displays a count of unpublished posts. This occurs as you write posts and save them without having the "publish" checkbox checked.
Categories – this is a link to a page that displays the Categories you have set up for your blogs. Here you are able to add, update, and delete categories.
Blog Settings – This link takes you to an administrative settings page for your blog where you are able to edit settings such as Blog Name, URL-Friendly name, Description, Theme, Contact Email, how to handle Comments, and Pingbacks.
Ping Services – This link takes you to an Administrative Services page where you can add, update, and delete Ping services that should receive notifications when you add new posts to your blog.
Unapproved Comments – If your blog allows for comments and you have moderation set, you will see a count here as you receive comments on your posts. Clicking this link will take you to a page where you can review comments that are cued for moderation where it can approved or deleted.

Blog Search:

This search box allows you to do a word search for the blog you are currently viewing.

Tag Cloud:

As you apply tags to your blog posts, the tag cloud will be populated with all of the tag words your blog uses. Tags that occur more frequently will stand out more by being a larger size. Clicking on a tag word will display posts that are tagged with this tag.

Categories:

When you create a blog post, you assign it to one or several Categories. These categories appear as a list in this view with a count of the number of blog posts in that category. Clicking one of these Categories will open all of the posts within that Category. Usually a blog belongs to a few number Categories but have multiple Tags.

Archives:

This is a listing of your posting activity by date. The number of posts published by month will be displayed here. This gives viewers of your blog a useful way to see what blogs are recent or to go back in history to view earlier blogs.

Note: Your Blog Avatar is the same one used for the MyCopper Forums.

Warning: Changing the Avatar will change both the Blog Avatar and the Forum Avatar .

To add or change your avatar, you will need to be logged in.

1) Select Forum from the Site Navigation Menu.

2) Select the My Profile link from the Forum Submenu.

If you do not see the My Profile link in the Forum Submenu or you see the message “Welcome Guest”, you are not logged into the portal.  Log in and repeat step 2.

Note: The forum submenu is at the top of the forum content window and displays your log-in status along with several forum links.

3) Under Personal Profile, select Modify Avatar.

4) There are several options when selecting an avatar:

Option 1) Select your Avatar from our Collection

Select [ Click Here to Select an Avatar ]

Choose an image gallery folder of a category that interests you. Click on an avatar image to select it or click the “Up” folder to select another image gallery. Once an Avatar is selected, you will return to the Modify Avatar control panel. You should see your newly selected Avatar displayed under Current Avatar.

Option 2) Enter URL of Avatar on Remote Server to Use

Simply enter a URL for an image hosted elsewhere on the internet. Be sure to include the full address, ex. http://bestphotooftheday.net/qdig-files/converted-images/med_funny-cat.jpg.

Warning: Keep in mind that the full-sized image is loaded each time the page loads and is displayed at a maximum size of 100 x 100 pixels . Large images may greatly slow down the load time of your page. You may find it a better practice to save the file to your hard drive then upload the image using Option 3. This will ensure that the image will be resized for optimum performance.

Warning: If the image is moved or deleted, the link will be broken and a red “x” will appear where your avatar should be.

Note: MyCopper.net does not condone the use of copyrighted content and is not responsible for images and links chosen by it’s MyCopper portal users.

Option 3) Upload Avatar from Your Computer

Click on Browse and navigate to the location of the image in your directory that you would like to use as your avatar.

Select the file and click open. 

Click on Update and the file will be loaded to the MyCopper server.

Note: Images larger than 100 x 100 pixels will be resized by the forum engine. You will receive a notification popup if the uploaded image has been resized to fit.

5) That’s it! Return to My Blog and you will now see your avatar shown within the Navigation Menu Panel.

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