LAST EDITED ON Nov-15-08 AT 04:54 PM (PST)
It's easy to create an RSS pheed "by hand".Just go here and fill in the forms:
http://www.toucanmultimedia.com/rssmaker.php
To edit it, just keep a copy on your PC and open it in any text editor that has a "line number" function. (You'll see why in a minute)
Once ou get the basic structure, you can add more items at any time.
Here's the code for an item:
<item>
<title>Title of item</title>
<link>Link to item</link>
<description>Short description of item</description>
</item>
It's really self-explanatory. Remember, the title is your anchor text.
Here's what I do...If I add a silver site/page, like a Squidoo lens, I will create 3 new items, using different Title text (anchor text) and 3 different "chunks" of text, taken from the lens (page, article, etc). This gives a better variety across the network.
You can add a bunch of items to an RSS pheed. Just to be sure, put a limit of about 500 items per pheed, then start another new RSS pheed.
Every time you update and upload your pheed, you need to "verify" it. RSS isn't forgiving at all and you need to be perfect, otherwise it will screw up.
There's about 5 or 6 characters that will mess up your pheed, one is the ' (apostrophe).
After you upload your updated RSS pheed to your site, go here and paste in the URL of your pheed so it can be validated:
http://feedvalidator.org/
This will find the problem and report it to you, telling you the line number and aprox. position of the error. This is why you need to use a text editor that tells you line numbers, like Textpad.
Find the mistake, then use the search/replace function in Textpad to correct the problem throughout your pheed.
Upload and repeat until you get no errors.
At first, this will take some time, but as you go through this a few times, it becomes pretty easy.
Remember, this RSS pheed is really a database of your own resources, allowing you to easily cross link all your stuff. Keep building and updating your RSS pheed and you'll have a tremendous advantage over your competition.
LAST EDITED ON Nov-16-08 AT 05:55 AM (PST)
Thanks Ernie...It was there yesterday. 
Actually, I like this one better:
http://www.webdevtips.co.uk/webdevtips/codegen/rss.shtml
And it includes a link to some of the common characters that give errors in RSS:
http://www.webdevtips.co.uk/webdevtips/html/special.shtml
Another option is to "steal" a working pheed, and just replace the info with your own.
You can also use the RZZ Tuel, but you need to make a slight mod to the output for it to display correctly. I'll post the mod later today.
You can also use Scrubz, subsituting your own info for the info in each item.
