Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds have been around since before the 2000's. One of the web's oldest and still active forms of social media, RSS feeds allow you to build your own "virtual newspaper" by pulling new content from your favorite websites and serving it up in an easy-to-use RSS reader (e.g., Feedly). Squarespace recently announced a new RSS support feature. Read on to find out how to add an RSS feed to your Squarespace website.
How to Add an RSS Feed to Your Sidebar
Adding a link to your Squarespace blog's RSS feed on your blog's sidebar is easy. First, identify where you want to place your RSS feed on your site. I have an email sign-up option on my blog. Putting the RSS feed link in this area seems to makes sense.
This is as good a spot as any for an RSS feed link.
Log into your Squarespace website and view your blog. Click on the Edit Content option. Next, click on the plus sign to add a new content block. Click on the Social tab to locate the RSS feed block. Drag it to the desired location on your blog's sidebar.
The RSS feed block is within the Squarespace Social blocks tab.
Next, pick the blog you want to link to. You'll see an option for every different collection you have on your Squarespace site, currently including blogs, image galleries, and events.
Choose from any collection on your Squarespace site.
And that's all there is to it. Upon hitting save, your blog's RSS feed will be featured on your sidebar and will update automatically every time you publish new content on your site.
An RSS feed featured on a Squarespace site.
Is RSS Even Worth It?
The Squarespace RSS feature gives you 95% of what you'd need (i.e., I'd love to be able to customize feed URLs to integrate with Feedburner) to add this great feature to your site, but is it even worth it?
RSS isn't widely used--Google even announced the sun-setting of its Google Reader product--but don't let its low adoption dissuade you from adding an RSS feed to your Squarespace site. People who subscribe to your RSS feed can often be considered among the most loyal followers of your blog because, unlike social media network followers who are exposed to every tweet and status update possible, RSS subscribers elect only to see your new blog content when they follow you.