So I am promoting my feed URL and bringing attention to the many different ways to receive the Friday Traffic Report with feed readers or podcatchers, and my feed is made invalid by one tiny little character!
The mighty FTR rendered feeble by a character I can’t even type here to show as an example!
Here’s what happened and how you can avoid embarrassment yourself…
After mailing my list with directions for signing up for The Friday Traffic Report with the feed URL, I start getting tons of mails back saying the feed is coming up invalid. Not working, caput!
Not the kind of showing you want to have out of the gate with a brand new subscriber!
The Cause, and the Cure:
1. I had posted an article from another source (not me) yesterday. In the article was one little character that doesn’t get along with XML (the code that feeds are made from to distribute post snippets properly to your subscribers’ aggregators or feed readers.)
I can’t even show you the actual character or it will happen again. (It was the ampersand.) If you want your feed to be in good working order, don’t use those!
2. What you need to do as a blogger to make sure your feed is in good working order at all times is bookmark FeedValidator.org and check your feed URL often, depending on how much you post.
This will tell you exactly where the problem occurs and you can go back to your blog and fix the offending post.
XML doesn’t work well with many weird little characters. Avoid using them at all costs, but don’t rely solely on your editing abilities. Check your feed at FeedValidator.org often to make sure your subscribers are getting your feed and not an error message.