After much searching for a solution on how to import an RSS feed into a Wordpress blog, I decided to use a feature from Feedburner called BuzzBoost which converts an rss feed into html.

So… my overall approach was as follows:

1) Create show dates (gig listings) on reverbnation.com, a site dedicated to helping musicians promote themselves.
2) Enter the RSS feed url from the Reverbnation gig calendar into Feedburner
3) Utilize the Feedburner BuzzBoost feature to then import the RSS feed into the Calendar page on his Wordpress website.

Clear as mud? All my client needs to do is update his gig calendar on Reverbnation and it will be automatically reflected on his Wordpress calendar page.

Here is a step by step tutorial on how to accomplish this:

1) Assuming you have a Reverbnation account, enter upcoming show dates.
2) From within the Reverbnation, copy the RSS url.

Reverbnation show dates screenshot - click to enlarge

3) Then enter this RSS feed url into your Feedburner account. See this blog entry on how and why to use feedburner to pomote your rss feed.

Above – Reverbnation RSS feed URL as viewed in RSS reader

4) After entering the rss feed into your Feedburner account, click on the “Publicize” tab and then the “BuzzBoost” link under the left hand services listing.

Fedburner screenshot, showing BuzzBoost link

5) There is a wizard to help you configure what you want the resulting html listing to look like. Editing these options will affect how your rss will be viewed when converted to html.

6) Once you are happy with the elements of the listing (they provide a preview), you can then copy the code FeedBurner generates

Feedburner BuzzBoost Code

7) Enter the code from step #6 into the Calendar page, entering them between the [code][/code] tags within the Wordpress page content area

Feedburner code entered into Wordpress - Click to enlarge

8 ) Style the Calendar listing using css

Converted RSS feed displayed as HTML/CSS

div.feedburnerFeedBlock ul {
margin-bottom:15px;
margin-left:0;
padding-left:0;
list-style-type: none
}

div.feedburnerFeedBlock li {
margin-bottom:15px;
font-family: Georgia, “Times New Roman”, Times, serif;
}

div.feedburnerFeedBlock .headline a {
font-family: Georgia, “Times New Roman”, Times, serif;
font-size: 11px;
font-weight: bold;
color:#0B5249;
}

div.feedburnerFeedBlock .headline a:hover {
font-family: Georgia, “Times New Roman”, Times, serif;
color:#006699;
}

div.feedburnerFeedBlock p.date {
margin:0 0 0 0;
padding:0 0 0 0;
color:#666666;
}

The above example uses a Reverbnation RSS feed, but really you could import any RSS feed using the same approach. While it is possible to embed a Reverbnation Widget which displays the gig listings, I feel this approach is a little cleaner and more professional looking. Obviously this approach would also work with any blogging system (blogger, etc) other CMS systems (Drupal, Joomla) as well as a file based (html) website.

To see this in action, please visit:
http://www.chrisgamper.com

Since it is also possible to use the Reverbnation “My Band” Facebook application to pull show dates into a Facebook “Artist Page”, updating the show dates within the Reverbnation will also update the listing on Facebook AND the above mentioned website.

This listing appears before the other “organic” search results, including yelp and yellow pages and is therefore very helpful if you can get your business to appear there. Sometimes this is difficult in a competitive business area such as Real Estate Agent.

But it can be very powerful. I often get people who find me there when doing a search on ” Web Design Oakland ”

To get listed, gather information about your business in a document that you can cut and paste with your contact information, a short description about your business and perhaps a photo or two.

Then go to the following url:

http://www.google.com/local/add

You will need a google account, so either sign in if you have one or register for one. Once that is done, then you may begin to “create a profile” within your Google account.

You can even include coupons for users who find you on the web, have clients write reviews, and include information about street parking and hours of business operations.

Once you get listed you should begin to see more traffic to your website and hopefully more phone calls as well!

We’re a featured Oakland web design company in California web design company directory at Finders – US web designers directory

Here’s a visual example of the title tag for Deep Healing Acupuncture:
title tag = Deep Healing Acupuncture, East Bay, Emeryville, Geraldine Shute, Pain Relief

Example of Title Tag - click to enlarge

Another reason the title tag is important is that it also shows up in search engine search results pages as the title of the entry. Here’s an example of how that looks:

Title tag in google search result - click to enlarge

Notice the title tag appears in blue as a link in the search result.

According to a April 2007 seomoz.com survey, who know a thing or two about SEO, “placing the targeted search term or phrase in the title tag of the web page’s HTML header” was the most important search engine ranking factor.

Anyone know what the most common title tag is? If you guess “untitled” you are correct!