The Feed.Us Blog RSS feed

Use Google Docs to update your website

Rick Stratton — Thu, 2 Feb 2012 11:02:00 CST

The beauty of Feed.Us is utlizing the cloud and writing the content for your site where you feel most comfortable. Feed.Us imports from WordPress and email and RSS. And then feeds those posts to your site.

And Google Docs has been our white whale.

The “Documents” version of Google Docs used to support an RSS-like export called Metaweblog. Feed.Us used it to import documents from customers’ Google Docs accounts. It worked remarkably well.

Unfortunately, when Google updated Google Docs, they turned off the Metaweblog support. Which meant Feed.Us customers lost a very nice way to update their sites.

But they also added an API. And finally we implemented their API so that once again, our customers can use Google Docs to update their sites. YES.

Which is what I’m doing right now. Writing in Google Docs, much like WordPress.com, is a nice experience. I need extra motivation to keep posting to the Feed.Us blog, and writing in a Google Doc “Document” is just that kind of motivation.

When I’m done, I’ll just “share” the document with Feed.Us (FeedUsImport@gmail.com) and Feed.Us will import the article and add it to our blog.

There are a few negatives:

1. The API does not let us import Apps Google Docs users easily. It has something with the way the Apps users are username@domain.com. We're working on this and should have this fixed soon. (Update - this is fixed!)

2. Google puts a lot of crappy formatting around the text. We’re working to strip it all out so it’s just nice, clean HTML. (Hey everyone has issues, don't blame Larry & Sergey. Microsoft does a lot worse with Word and Wordpress doesn't do any formatting at all.)

3. Right now it's not two way, eventually if you update it in Feed.Us, it'll change it back at the original document.

4. It's just Google Docs Documents. You can't use a Spreadsheet to create a table.

Screenshot video:

Use Siri to Write a Blog Post on the iPhone

anonymous — Tue, 8 Nov 2011 13:11:00 CST

When we heard about Siri, on the new iPhone, we were interested to find out whether it would allow Feed.Us customers to post blogs using their iPhone by just simply talking.

So we finally got ourselves an iPhone 4S with Siri ready to go. It works pretty great for text messages but how does it work for making a blog post?

We sent an email using Siri to our unique email address at Feed.Us and then Feed.Us relayed to our blog.

It worked ok. It needed some serious editing but overall, it's usable.

And I think that over time we'll learn some tricks to make it work a little better. For example, Siri does not like "um" and "ah", so you need to be pretty clear. Also, Siri stops working if you take a long pause... so keep talking.

Here's the way the original post looked (We added paragraphs because Siri doesn't know how to do that):

------------------------------

When we heard about Siri I'm new iPhone we were interested to find out whethe=r it would allow feed us customers to post blogs using their iPhone by just s=imply talking.

So we finally got ourselves an iPhone 4S and this one has Siri ready to go it works pretty great for text messages but how's it work for making a blog post.

We send and email using Siri to our unique email address Anvita's and relay= it into our block.

Sent from my iPhone

We Love WordPress

Thu, 3 Nov 2011 21:11:00 CST

WordPress is a beautiful environment for adding words to a website. It's not easy to sit down and write, but when you use WordPress, inspiration comes naturally.

We're not the only ones who think so; Lots of people agree. We here at Feed.Us admire WordPress. The interface is so clean and it's easy to use, especially for less-technical writers.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em: we just integrated WordPress.com with Feed.Us so that our customers can create and edit posts from WordPress and have it automatically update their Feed.Us-powered websites.

I'm writing this post on my WordPress.com account. We setup Feed.Us to use WordPress's "WebHooks" API. So, when I publish this post here, on WordPress.com, it'll automatically show up in Feed.Us and then get published to our Feed.Us blog.

Unfortunately, the normal way to add WordPress to a Website is not quite as inspiring as the software itself. Download, unzip, install, customize, plugin, update (rinse, repeat). With Feed.Us you can avoid that hassle - Feed.Us works on any site, server or platform all via "the cloud"... and not just PHP. Some examples of using WordPress.com with Feed.Us:

A publisher integrates Feed.Us into existing site. No separate site and hosting just for WordPress. And the writers are happy - they get WordPress.com.
A web developer replaces a block of text with Feed.Us. Client uses Wordpress.com to make changes without bothering the developer.
A documentation writer for a Rails Web App uses WordPress.com and the web developer integrates Feed.Us within the Web App.

Talk to us about how we can help you use WordPress on your site.

Call of Duty MW3 Priority Maintenance 11/8/11

anonymous — Thu, 3 Nov 2011 13:11:00 CST

Subject: Feed.Us Priority Maintenance Tuesday, 11/8/11

To: Feed.Us customers

From: Rick Stratton, Founder of Feed.Us, the content management app.

On Tuesday, November 8, 2011, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 will be released.

As a result, your Feed.Us staff will be performing a critical maintenance upgrade to our entire Call of Duty Xbox game environment.

This maintenance window will begin on Tuesday, November 8th at 12:01 AM and will complete whenever we have achieved Prestige status (at least once).

This maintenance will not affect the Feed.Us platform. You will still be able to make changes to your sites and apps just as quickly and easily as you always do.

However, Because of this maintenance's scope, all Feed.Us staff will be required to remain in front of their Xbox for the entire maintenance window. Your calls, emails, skypes, and instant messages will go unanswered as we attempt to knife opposing players in the back, find hidey holes, snipe from exceedingly long distances, and lay sneaky claymores just inside doorways.

If you have any questions concerning this maintenance, please do not hesitate to contact a member of our support team (as long as it's before Call of Duty MW3 drops on Tuesday).

Thank you for your patience during this important upgrade.

Kindest Regards, Rick Stratton Founder, www.Feed.Us

(** Please note this is a joke... we'll still be here for you. but we will definitely have some sleepless nights during the next couple of weeks!)

We may not be the best marketers

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 19:10:00 CST

By Rick Stratton, founder

Received a Skype Text and then a phone call from a web developer today. He is taking over a website that uses Feed.Us and called to learn more.

The conversation started with "Feed.Us sounds interesting but I don't quite understand it." (We get that alot.)

The conversation ended with "Feed.Us sounds like just the solution when I don't want to install an entire CMS." (We get that alot, too.)

Initially he thought he'd remove Feed.Us and just use static text. Now that he knows more - I'll bet he uses Feed.Us on other projects.

This happens often. We have worked a long time on this website. We're on Twitter, Facebook, we've got a blog. But all of it can't replace a simple conversation about Feed.Us. It seems that we have to have a conversation to make it click.

We really enjoy speaking with people. And we wish more people would give us a call. Maybe we're not the best marketers.

Feed.Us is incredibly useful, especially when you don't want to run a CMS. If you'd take a few minutes to speak with us, we think we can help you understand how.

So Please, please... if you're reading this post, you create sites or web apps and you want to learn why/how Feed.Us can be useful, please contact us. A 5 minute call will help you learn how to make your life (and your client's) a little easier.

Email: contact@feed.us

Call: (414) 949-5111

SKYPE: Feedussoftware

Feed.Us Custom Fields are extremely useful

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:10:00 CST

by Rick Stratton, founder

We regularly help people setup Feed.Us on their websites. We try to get involved as much as possible to make sure that our customers get the most out of our service.

And one of the Feed.Us features that continually impresses me - and makes it easy for our customers - is our custom field feature.

For example, check out a recent customer's blog post, in Feed.Us:

EmbedCode: for the youtube embed code.

Publication: two fields for the publication that is cited.

Attachments: an image upload option, or a field for an image URL (this customer uses a CDN for images).

All of these fields are setup to specifically handle the content that this customer is posting. This makes it easy(er) for content producers who are less technical.

It's also useful for developers, setting up the site: aspects of an article are now separated out of the content and can be placed on specific places within the website. It's not all trapped within the body of the blog post, like Wordpress does (we get a lot of customers from Wordpress).

Now that you know a little more about Feed.Us, please keep in mind... we're more than happy to help you with your Feed.Us installation! Contact us today.

My Faith in Email Newsletters Restored

anonymous — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 12:09:00 CST

Our previous company made a lot of different software for publishers, CMS, ecommerce, classifieds, etc. But by far the most frustrating was our email newsletter business.

Every client wanted an email newsletter. There weren't any newsletter services in 2001, so we made our own. And it was ok. Eventually the whitelisting and spam issues killed the product. Luckily, Feedburner and Constant Contact started up and we switched most of our clients off of the 1871 platform (some still use it.)

But for me, email newsletters were dead. RSS made it easier to get what you want. Spammers made it easy to get what you didn't want. And Bacn clogged my inbox.

I have been telling clients and customers to stop with the newsletters. And when they want them, I've recommended the old, unchanged Feedburner RSS-to-email system or MailChimp service (which is overly confusing).

I thought newsletters were dead... but now I'm not so sure.

If you can treat your email newsletter as a direct letter to your readers, you can cultivate an audience. Even publishers can do this. The newsletter can't just be an afterthought, it needs to be a focus. The readers are usually your most dedicated readers, you should treat them that way. Jason Calacanis does a great job of this with Launch.

And you can do that with just about any email service. I still recommend MailChimp, mostly because it's free for small lists. (I wish they'd improve their interface).

Also, there's SailThru. They've got a pretty fabulous email newsletter system (and recently announced new funding). I never miss the BusinessInsider.com email that they send and always open it. There isn't another newsletter that I can say that about.

I bet that their open rate is much higher than other providers.

Also it looks like they provide some content targeting service, both for the newsletters and on their clients' sites.

So don't give up on newsletters... checkout SailThru.

Please get some personality

anonymous — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 09:07:00 CST

This post is about a lack of personality. Specifically websites that lack an identity.

BringaTrailer.com is the ultimate example.

"BAT" is one of my most favorite sites. I check it daily and wish that the site would post more often. I also email the owner weekly - suggesting cars that should be included on their site.

Despite my attachment and my frequent emails - I have no clue who the people are. It could be one guy in his mom's basement or it could be a notable car collector. The site has a complete lack of identity. There isn't even a name of the guy on the contact page! They (he?) signs the reply emails "BAT". This type of stuff makes me ragey!

Every site needs to be personal and have a personality. Your site needs a voice and the site needs an identification with you. This is for any site - not just blogs.

Sofware maker? Same thing. Microsoft and SAP are impersonal corporate dominions - you are not. You live and breath your products and your customers should know this. A personal connection will help sell your software.

Your future customers (readers, users, etc) crave a connection with you. And they will become better and regular customers if they feel that connection.

Need a little proof? From our landing page service experience, we know that landing pages that are written personally and signed by the author perform significantly better (more "actions") than those written with no personality. (LPs with photos of the author perform even better.)

Some suggestions:

1. Write your content from the first person as much as possible (even product descriptions).

2. Each post should use the name of the author.

3. Your team should be identified on the site, with bios.

4. Answer your emails directly. Even the automated messages should come from someone and should be able to be replied to (no "noreply@" google crap).

5. Support system: you're not Google. Your support people are actual people who have names and email addresses and should be able to be reached directly. (If you are Google, I'd suggest the same thing.)

So try it - I think that you'll find that you develop more personal relationships with your customers.

- Rick Stratton

Why does your copyright say 2010?

anonymous — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:06:00 CST

Look down - way down - at the bottom of your site (or your app). It says 2010, doesn't it? Maybe it even says (gasp!) 2009.

Yes, it's a very small, stupid thing and there are hundreds of more important things about your site/product/service. But it looks sloppy and it sticks out.

Yet, a casual perusal of websites shows that it's a pervasive issue.

Why does it happen? Well, because it's not easy to change it. It's almost never in your CMS. Your CMS wasn't built for that. So it's hardcoded and that means the developer has to change it in the code. And there's a dozen of more important things on his/her list.

Feed.Us customers don't have this problem. In the footer/disclaimer/copyright area of their sites, they stick a small Feed.Us script (PHP, asp, .net, etc) and then they can make changes to the copyright (and the other text / links) by logging into Feed.Us and making a quick edit.

But enough about us... isn't it time you updated that copyright date?

Case Study: replace small smidgeons of text

anonymous — Wed, 25 May 2011 14:05:00 CST

by Rick Stratton, founder

I hate it when a client repeatedly asks me to change something on a site that I've built.

It's especially annoying when it's just a small piece of text.

With regular old CMSes, they won't be able to just have small area that can be controlled.

But with Feed.Us, this isn't a problem. Even small smidgeons of text along the side of a page (like "Call us today!" or "Email us at xxx@gmail.com" etc) can be setup in Feed.Us, to be controlled directly by the client (without having to bother you).

This is one of the features of Feed.Us that is really unique and although it seems trivial, it can save a lot of frustrations.

Here's a good example:

The client wanted a bit of text there. I know they're going to change it. If it's hardcoded in the php file, I'll have to change it for them. And they'll probably ask again and again.

Here's what it looks like in the PHP file:

Pretty basic... but it's in the PHP file that they don't want to touch and I don't want them to touch.

So I added an entry in Feed.Us for them, and placed it in the WYSIWYG editor, where it looks like this:

Then I replaced the html code on that PHP file with a Feed.Us script, so it looks like this:

Now the client can login to Feed.Us and change the text so that it says something more than just "Text to the number". They could even add an image there or a Youtube video script or Adsense javascript.

All without bothering me.

We're loving RackSpace

anonymous — Thu, 12 May 2011 17:05:00 CST

By Rick Stratton, founder

Way, way back in 2001, with our previous company (1871 Media), we had three servers stuck in the back room at a friend's large data storage company. It was a sweet deal - free hosting and great support from some good friends helped us get off the ground.

But when their ISP had a problem - we found out that free sometimes can be very expensive.

We were out for 3 days - all of our software, our email, and all of our customer's sites and email.

I told myself that I would NEVER go through that again. That sleepless ordeal was kept in mind as we created Feed.Us:

1. If some crazy situation takes out Feed.Us, it won't take down any of our customer's sites.

2. Get the best hosting possible.

With #2 in mind, I am very excited that we are finally complete with our upgrade to Rackspace's incredible cloud hosting system. All of our software and every single piece of Feed.Us customer's content is stored "in the cloud" on the most reliable cloud network money can buy (er, lease).

And we've noticed a huge speed improvement for the Feed.Us app. Pages and javascripts/ajax loads noticably quicker than before.

Talk to us about how we can get your content into Rackspace's cloud.

Facebook's New Pages

anonymous — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 10:04:00 CST

By Rick Stratton, Feed.Us founder

In February, Facebook released a major upgrade to its "Pages" service.

There were several upgrades to the service, including a new design, navigation and notifications.

But one upgrade that we think is signifant: the Page "Tabs" are now created via iFrames. You host the content on your website, and Facebook frames it within your Page.

This is incredibly powerful for brands and companies.

What the hell are Tabs?

"Tabs" were the subpages on a Facebook Page, linked across the top in tabs (thus the name). They were a combination of Facebook "apps" and unique, static pages.

These static "tabs" were built in FBML (Facebook Markup Language) and then uploaded to Facebook. And they are no longer. Facebook replaced them with this new, iFrame based system.

Anything you do on your own website can be replicated within your Facebook Page.

The New Tabs

(I am going to refer to these "New" iFrame Tabs as Tabs even though they aren't really Tabs.)

Facebook has suddenly given us a lot of freedom. You now make a HTML or PHP or .Net page on your website, submit it to Facebook and Facebook frames it within your Facebook Page.

This content exists on your site, you get to track the analytics and you can do a lot of fancy scripting that you could not before.

For most brands, this will mean duplicating their website within Facebook. Some examples:

JCrew can sell clothing directly on their Facebook page, using their own ecommerce system
37Signals could let their users use Basecamp from within Facebook
BusinessInsider.com can display its articles without the RSS App

But basically anything you can do on your site, you can now do within your Facebook Page.

What we did:

We here at Feed.Us just updated our Facebook "Page".

We made four Tabs:. a "welcome" page that talks about the product; a "tour" of screenshots of our products; a "Demo" page where customers can try us out; and we added our Blog.

Each page is very basic with no navigation, no header, 500 pixels wide and hosted on a subdomain (using Feed.Us for content management.)

They all use a CSS that is similar to our website's CSS file.

The Blog worked out well. Each post has its own page within Facebook, the content is the exact same as our normal blog complete with Disqus comments... all within Facebook.

How to make a new Tab:

1. Facebook frames up 500 pixel wide page and places it right in the middle of the selected Tab on your Page.

2. Make a page and host it on your website. This page should be left justified and should not have navigation (Facebook puts the navigation on the left and top).

3. Then you give it to Facebook:

This setup is not simple, unfortunately. (Facebook jerry-rigged the old App system to support these new iFrames.)

You need to create a private "app" and add it to your page... even though it's not an app, it's just a page.

Kim Woodbridge has an excellent description of the submission process.

4. Then place the Tab on your Page and give the page a name (for navigation).

Some tips:

Each Tab should have its own icon.
Tabs should utilize a custom stylesheet.
Don't go over 500 pixels wide.
Try to keep the pages short, under 550 pixels tall so it doesn't scroll vertically.
Try to utilize the Facebook font and font size so it fits in.
Don't make it all graphics. That's just lame.
Create landing pages for your facebook ads. They'll perform better.
No navigation, no header (logo, etc) up top.
Link often to your site, it has got to help SEO.
Create new Tabs for your ad Landing Pages.
Feed.Us to manage the content on your Tab.

Some other examples:

There aren't a lot of people using it yet. We'll keep adding to this list:

Facebook's "Journalist" site (here's the source page)

Community Coffee Products on Facebook (here's the source page)

Warning:

Facebook will, most likey, completely change everything around.

Platform and Device Independence

anonymous — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:04:00 CST

I had a chat with a non-techie about the iPad and newspapers.

With his iPad, he has finally moved off of printed newspapers. He reads several newspapers a day, all via the iPad. But never via websites. He uses iPad Apps, he doesn't like browsing for newspapers. (Also he said the USA Today is the best-working newspaper "app"). He wishes that more newspapers and magazines had an app.

The conversation reminded me of one of the core tenets of Feed.Us's conception: content independence. We believe that content should be independent from platform and device. In a nutshell, this means that content should be stored in a central location and then be able to be "fed" to devices and platforms.

Devices and Platforms are always changing and evolving. And it's very hard to keep up. And it seems like right now, publishers need to have content tailored for a variety, like: websites (php, .net, rails etc), mobile devices (iPhones, iPad, Android "apps" and HTML5 mobile sites). Then there's the Kindle and PDF delivery. Soon Facebook's new "Pages" will emerge as a separate publishing platform.

Publishers should NOT have separate depositories for each device. Content should reside in one central location and be able used and reused and accessed and disseminated to any platform and any device. And as new ones come along, content can be easily adapted.

Independence is a good thing.

Feed.Us Case Study: LuLuLive.net

anonymous — Wed, 6 Apr 2011 14:04:00 CST

LuLuLive.net is the website for LuLuLive - a Milwaukee event management agency. Lindsay Stevens Gardner is the force behind this summer's Rock the Green.

LuLuLive is a great looking site. Just one problem: in order to add or edit pages on the site, Lindsay had to pay the designer each time or learn HTML.

Enter Feed.Us:

Feed.Us can be added to any existing site and instantly make that site 'editable'. No more design fees or waiting for changes.

We added Feed.Us to every page on LuLuLive.net. We replaced the copy and photos on each page with Feed.Us embed code. Now, Lindsay logs into www.Feed.Us, makes the changes with a simple Website editing tool and publishes the changes to her site.

She can even add dedicated pages for Press Releases and Case Studies all without help from any developer or designer.

And we didn't have to redo the site - it changed the same. Below are the before and after pics. See any difference? No? The only change is that now it's easy to use.

Find out more about how we can add Feed.Us to your site. And thank you, Lindsay!

I Loathe Software Customer Service

anonymous — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 13:11:00 CST

Why does it seem like customer support is horrible or nonexistent at so many software companies?

I am still waiting for reply emails from 3 different web services right now. It's going on 3 weeks and 10 emails for one name-brand company.

Even Google is awful. Any of their free services, don't even bother. But even Adwords/Adsense where I spend or generate hundreds of dollars every month - I cannot get decent customer service.

I realize that there are plenty of exceptions. But for the most part, software customer service is worse than the rest of the world.

I hate the customer service at my bank, AT&T and at Directv, etc - but at least I can call those people. Google? Forget about it.

Why is it so bad?

At most organizations the customer support people are completely separate from the people who build and manage the product.

This means: the people who make the products do not want to hear from the people who use their products.

How many software CEOs and product managers regularly hear from or speak with their actual customer-users? Very few.

Is it any wonder Google can't come up with anything good besides their search? Do they ever speak with customers? The only ways to reach the right product people is to learn their names through their blog and then send them a message through Facebook.

What you can do:

If you're going to sign up for any software service make sure you can:

1. Contact their customer support. You shouldn't have to dig through FAQs ad knowledge bases in order to contact them.

2. Test them before you sign up. Email them and ask them a question. See if they get back to you ASAP.

3. Before you do reach out, make sure they don't have your answer listed somewhere. It should be easy to find.

If you run a software company, get rid of the walls between customer service and your product. And make sure your customers can contact you. And return their calls and emails.