Author Topic: Existing XML feed into PowerPress  (Read 6529 times)

campsean

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Existing XML feed into PowerPress
« on: October 03, 2013, 11:47:34 am »
What's the most efficient way to take an existing XML feed (43 Episodes - registered with iTunes) and move it into PowerPress?

Right now I'm using Libsyn (with a redirect to Libsyn in my XML file hosted on my server)

http://www.cascadeinsights.com/wp-content/uploads/CILife/cilife.xml

But I want to move off of Libsyn and go with a purely Wordpress integrated solution - i.e. PowerPress.

Also I already have a bunch of blog posts up already on the blog that reference each podcast episode.

So I don't want to have to recreate all of those if I don't have to.  Although I do plan to swap out the player on those posts (moving from the Libsyn player to the Powerpress 1 pixel player).

Thoughts?

angelo

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Re: Existing XML feed into PowerPress
« Reply #1 on: October 10, 2013, 03:08:59 pm »
1, make sure the feed has the links to the media in the blog post content (in each <item> include a <a href=""> in the <description>.

2, import that RSS feed into WordPress using the RSS2 feed import tool.

3, Go to PowerPress > Tools menu, click the option to import from "Import from other Blogging Platform". This will give you the episodes you linked in the <description> of each item in the feed. Do the import, then you're good to go.

campsean

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Re: Existing XML feed into PowerPress
« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2013, 02:43:16 pm »
How will this interact with existing blog posts that reference the podcasts.

For example in our case we have been posting blog posts aligned with each episode of the podcast for the past two years.

Sean

angelo

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Re: Existing XML feed into PowerPress
« Reply #3 on: October 14, 2013, 03:44:59 pm »
that is an important detail.

If you wrote the show notes into WordPress already (blog post for a podcast is sometimes referred to the podcast show notes), then you would be causing more harm than good importing the feed. Importing the feed will create duplicate blog posts which will harm your SEO.

Your only option is to edit each blog post and copy/paste the URL to the media file for that episode into the Media URL field. Don't forget to save changes to each post you edit.

angelo

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Re: Existing XML feed into PowerPress
« Reply #4 on: October 14, 2013, 03:46:29 pm »
I should say, the logic of editing the existing blog posts to add the media URLs to them is easy, but execution will be tedious. But 43 episodes will not take that long. We've helped clients in the past who have hundreds of episodes, it takes a long time in that case.

campsean

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Re: Existing XML feed into PowerPress
« Reply #5 on: October 14, 2013, 03:57:30 pm »
Right now we're using the Blurbrry player on each post but we haven't leveraged the rest of the toolset for publishing new podcasts, etc.

So I'm still a bit unclear as to what we would need to make the transition, etc.

Sean

angelo

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Re: Existing XML feed into PowerPress
« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2013, 04:00:51 pm »
You need a URL to your media file.

Code: [Select]
http://example.com/path/to/file.mp4
Then you edit the blog post that the file corresponds with.

Browse to the bottom where it says "Podcast Episode", find the field titled "Media URL". Paste the media file URL into that Media URL box. Then click 'Update' in WordPress to save the blog post.

That's it, pretty simple.

campsean

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Re: Existing XML feed into PowerPress
« Reply #7 on: October 15, 2013, 11:54:30 am »
So assuming I add a link to the podcast in the Blurbrry options for each existing post, what happens next?

Is a new feed automatically created, and I need to link iTunes to that new feed?

In other words what's the purpose of adding the link to the podcast in the blurry options.  I can see (after trying it) that it adds a player to the post but we've already done that manually on each post.

angelo

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Re: Existing XML feed into PowerPress
« Reply #8 on: October 15, 2013, 01:30:10 pm »
Okay I see why you are confused. Let me backtrack and explain blogging and WordPress.

WordPress is a Blogging and CMS system. The idea is you write once, and the application (WordPress in this case) does all the work for you. So when you create a blog post in WordPress, it creates the page, site navigation, categories, tags, manages your blog posts assets such as images, as well as generates your RSS feeds.

As you can imagine, adding a podcasting plugin to WordPress means that you want your blogging and CMS system to manage your podcast as well.

So essentially, WordPress with PowerPress means that not only do you enter your blog post and related meta data for the blog post, but also you add the URL to the podcast episode and then WordPress with PowerPress creates your feeds and podcasting players in your pages for you.

Just remember, blogging and podcasting are the same thing, except for one tiny little detail, the URL to the media file. Without a Media URL (and optional meta data that can optionally go with it) it's just a blog post.

Does this answer your question?

Here are some resources as well.

WordPress Documentation: http://www.wordpress.org
Podcasting Manual: http://create.blubrry.com/manual/
Blubrry Resources: http://create.blubrry.com/resources/

campsean

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Re: Existing XML feed into PowerPress
« Reply #9 on: October 15, 2013, 01:42:36 pm »
Almost.  :)

But if I have an existing feed, what's the interaction at that point? 

what's the benefit to using powerpress if I already have an existing feed?

Sean

angelo

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Re: Existing XML feed into PowerPress
« Reply #10 on: October 15, 2013, 01:54:25 pm »
Your original question was "What's the most efficient way to take an existing XML feed (43 Episodes - registered with iTunes) and move it into PowerPress?".

Is your question now why use PowerPress with a WordPress blog?

Maybe it is time to re-ask your question because I am not sure what the question is.

angelo

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Re: Existing XML feed into PowerPress
« Reply #11 on: October 15, 2013, 01:58:57 pm »
As for as an answer to "what's the benefit to using powerpress if I already have an existing feed?", what is the URL to your current feed now? Once I see it, i can give you specific reasons. If  this is just theoretical, then please search this forum and/or read our documentation about the plugin http://create.blubrry.com/resources/powerpress/

campsean

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Re: Existing XML feed into PowerPress
« Reply #12 on: October 15, 2013, 04:31:48 pm »
Here's the URL to the feed: http://www.cascadeinsights.com/wp-content/uploads/CILife/cilife.xml

Here's what I don't fully understand.

If my situation is this:

A blog that's been running for 2 years

If I import my feed - it creates duplicate posts per the earlier comments.

So I need to modify each post so that the media URL is associated with the post.

But my understanding at this point is that doing so doesn't modify my existing xml feed for iTunes.  I would still need to modify that manually.

And part of my goal in using Blubrry was to be able to use some of the tools that help you to modify the XML file via the GUI that's integrated into WP post the install of the Blubrry add-in.

So how does Blurbrry assist with the maintenance of an existing XML feed then?

angelo

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Re: Existing XML feed into PowerPress
« Reply #13 on: October 15, 2013, 04:54:16 pm »
Blubrry PowerPress does not manage existing feeds, it creates a new feed with the framework set in WordPress.

A WordPress blog feed looks like this: http://example.com/feed/ This feed is XML based, just like the hand written one you have today. It is auto generated by the WordPress platform and out putted in real time. It is not a static file.

In your case, http://cascadeinsights.com/feed/

PowerPress with WordPress adds podcasting to the feed above. In addition, we provide a podcast only feed that looks like this: http://example.com/feed/podcast/

In your case, http://cascadeinsights.com/feed/podcast/

When you edit a blog post, set the Media URL in the "Podcast Episode" box, and save it, WordPress with PowerPress includes that Url to the media file in your main blog feed as an enclosure, looks like <enclosure ... />. In addition, PowerPress includes that blog post in the podcast only feed.

If you want to keep your existing XML file, I have a plugin I can suggest to you. But it does not merge what already exists in the XML file with WordPress, it simply overwrites it. Once you have all 43 episodes into your blog posts in your site though, your podcast only feed will have the same episodes as your static XML file feed so you will not need to do any fancy merging of files. The plugin is called static feed, here is a link: http://wordpress.org/plugins/staticfeed/

Or, instead of using the Static Feed plugin, you can setup a rewrite rule to rewrite your old feed URL to the new one. (I recommend this, much easier to understand what is happening this way)

Another attempt to explain
WordPress creates feeds. PowerPress adds additional podcast feed to WordPress to generate with "only episodes". That feed cannot merge data from a static xml feed. Because of this you have to edit each blog post and tell WordPress with the help of PowerPress "Hey this is a podcast episode, here's the URL, now include it in the podcast only feed".

Last Attempt to Explain
Feed (http://www.cascadeinsights.com/wp-content/uploads/CILife/cilife.xml) hand written
Feed (http://cascadeinsights.com/feed/) generated by WordPress (blog feed)
Feed (http://cascadeinsights.com/feed/podcast/) generated by WordPress for PowerPress plugin (podcast feed)
Feed (http://cascadeinsights.com/feed/podcast/) media must be set by editing each blog post and pasting URL into Media URL box
Feed (http://cascadeinsights.com/feed/podcast/) cannot merge with feed (http://www.cascadeinsights.com/wp-content/uploads/CILife/cilife.xml), but you can have feed (http://cascadeinsights.com/feed/podcast/) overwrite feed (http://www.cascadeinsights.com/wp-content/uploads/CILife/cilife.xml) using Static Feed (http://wordpress.org/plugins/staticfeed/) plugin

angelo

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Re: Existing XML feed into PowerPress
« Reply #14 on: October 15, 2013, 04:58:45 pm »
Throw the concept of editing XML directly out the door. Any modern application will auto generated this for you. Whom ever set you up years ago to edit the XML directly was doing podcasting before 2005. Since 2005 there have been tools to separate the underlying XML code from the user to remove the possibility of syntax errors and complications.

I think your problem is a symptom of bad past advice. You are not the only one, we still see an occasional client who is creating their podcast XML feed external to their web site, it creates double the work and opens the door for errors and mistakes. Plus without an application telling you what's new/changing, you may never know about the new iTunes specifications for image sizes, or the new itunes:order options.