July 19, 2010

New Version Of iJoomla RSS Feeder Out Now

When we released iJoomla RSS feeder a few years ago, it was right after Google had bought FeedBurner, and the API still allowed developers to do a lot of neat stuff. Unfortunately, since then Google has changed the API so much that it’s now pretty limited. We’ve tried hard to make iJoomla RSS do all the things that it was supposed to do with FeedBurner but it’s become clear that’s not going to happen.

So we’ve decided to change iJoomla RSS into a basic RSS feed generator, and we’ve added a new feature allowing FeedBurner integration without performing the burn or monitoring stats on the iJoomla RSS backend itself.

You can still do everything you could do before. You can still set up a feeds page, like on USA Today’s site. You can still provide up to 30 RSS readers, maintain full control over the layout, control the sections and categories you want to include, and integrate FeedBurner feeds.

But now you get to do it all on the FeedBurner site itself — which is no bad thing because it comes with all sorts of juicy features:

Analytics – Unlike a regular RSS feed, Feedburner keeps track of your subscribers. It doesn’t just tell you how many subscribers you have though. It also tells you how many of them are reading the feeds they’ve subscribed to.

Customization – Feedburner lets you customize and improve your feed in all sorts of fun ways, including submitting your article to Digg directly from the feed itself.

Publicize – Let subscribers receive your corporate blog by email and you’ll have turned your blog into an easy company newsletter.

Monetize – Because Google owns Feedburner, it’s no surprise that the company also offers feed-optimized AdSense units. You’ll need to optimize them but they can bring in a little extra useful cash.

Here’s a video that explains how to burn feeds on FeedBurner and integrate them into iJoomla RSS Feeder: