Did you know that today is RSS Awareness Day? Due to the occasion, I thought I would post this huge list of RSS-related resources. Feel free to share your favorites in the comments.

Articles

Introduction to RSS
What is RSS? RSS Explained
RSS Specifications
RSS 2.0 Specification
History of RSS
35 Ways You Can Use RSS Today

A few recent blogging tools I've been testing that are worth sharing include Feed Digest and blogbeat. A little info on each and how they can help with marketing your blog:

Feed Digest grew out of the RSS Digest project from Developer/Entreprenuer, Peter Cooper. RSS Digest makes it easy to syndicate RSS feeds from other blogs to your site or blog using JavaScript.

Feed Digest on the other hand, offers many more features including the ability to mix multiple feeds (up to 5 for free). Another plus over it's predessor are the output options which include HTML, JavaScript, WAP or PHP, or an altogether new feed. Upcoming features include RSS to Email (ala FeedBlitz

RSS has become an increasingly important way of engaging with blog readers over the last couple of years - but in more recent times with its integration into web browsers and operating systems it's potential power for bloggers to engage readers has increased.

However - if you're anything like me, you've probably not put a lot of thought into thinking strategically about how to engage with readers through feeds. Most of us simply know we have a feed, ensure we have a link or button to let readers know we've got one and hope that people subscribe.

But is there a way to engage readers more effectively through RSS?

While many tips have been written on how to write blog posts, I've not seen any that focus upon feed readers.

The Problem of Clutter

I have around 700 feeds that I attempt t

This past two weeks I've been talking about how to make your RSS feed 'Pop' - to stand out from the crowd a little - however covering this topic has caused a few readers to ask RSS related questions that don't necessarily relate to improving your feed but which are worth covering.

One of the questions I've been asked numerous times this week is:

How do I get People to Subscribe to my RSS feed?

It's a good question and one that I have a few ideas on (but which it'd be great to get some discussion going on in comments). Of course the first question I ask people saying they want more subscribers is 'do you have content worth subscribing to?' Without something wort

• Why does my Feedburner subscriber count fluctuate so much?
• Are people unsubscribing and subscribing as much as my Feedburner counter says?
• I notice your Feedburner counter goes up and down each day - why?
• My RSS Subscriber Counter Goes Down Every Weekend - Why?

Over the last week I've been asked these and similar questions about Feedburner subscriber numbers a total of 7 times. Each time I've muddled through an answer to the questioner, thinking I knew the answer but not being sure.

So this morning when I woke to the question twice more in my inbox I thought I'd go straight to the font of all knowledge at Feedburner - Rick Klau (Feedburner's Vice President of Publisher Services) and ask him for an official explanati