Note: This post has been superceded by the Using DualFeeds With FeedBurner article.

People have asked if the DualFeeds plugin can be used with FeedBurner. DualFeeds does work with Feedburner, although there is a potential issue if a plugin such as FeedSmith is in use. This is a guide to using DualFeeds with FeedBurner, including an explanation of the FeedSmith issue.

Adding The Second Feed To FeedBurner

To use DualFeeds with FeedBurner, you will need to add the second feed to FeedBurner. You must know the URL of the second feed to do this. This is explained fully in the Usage section of the DualFeeds plugin page, but here is an example (remember to replace yoursite.com with your domain):

• http://www.yoursite.com/feed/?dualfeed=2 (if you use permalinks)
• http://www.yoursite.com/?feed=rss2&dualfeed=2 (if no permalinks)

To add the feed, go to FeedBurner’s home page and enter the URL for the second feed in the space provided, then click Next. Alternatively, if you are already logged in to Feedburner, you can use the Burn a feed right this instant field from the My Feeds screen.

You will then be walked through adding the feed. Make sure you use a different Feed Title and Feed Address than you used for your first feed. When you complete the process, you will be provided with a FeedBurner URL for the second feed.

Note: this guide assumes you’ve already added your first feed to FeedBurner. If you haven’t, you will have to add both your first and second feeds to FeedBurner (see the Usage section of the DualFeeds plugin page for the URL for the first feed).

Making The Second Feed Accessible To Readers

You should now have 4 feed addresses: the default WordPress URL and a FeedBurner URL for both the normal feed and the ‘second’ feed.

The normal feed should already be available to your readers on your site. How you make the ‘second’ feed available to your readers will depend on how you chose to make the normal feed available.

If You Don’t Use FeedSmith

If you do not use a plugin such as FeedSmith, then you probably edited your theme manually and changed the URL (for the normal feed) from the default WordPress one to the FeedBurner one. If this is the case, you simply add the second feed below the normal one.

Instructions on how to do this can be found in Adding A Link To The Second Feed on the DualFeeds plugin page. Just use the FeedBurner URL for the second feed instead of the default WordPress one and you’re done!

If You Do Use FeedSmith

If you use FeedBurner’s FeedSmith or a similar plugin, such Flagrant Disregard’s Feedburner Plugin, things are slightly more complicated.

You probably didn’t change the URL for the normal feed to the FeedBurner one, meaning your site still provides users with the original WordPress URL. The FeedSmith (or similar) plugin will pick up feed requests to the WordPress URL and automatically redirect them to the FeedBurner URL.

It is possible to setup the second feed manually using the FeedBurner URL, as described above in the If You Don’t Use FeedSmith section. This will work right now, but means you are providing one feed using the normal WordPress URL and another using the FeedBurner URL.

It would be better to be consistent and use the normal URL for the ‘second’ feed (eg http://www.yoursite.com/feed/?dualfeed=2), as per Adding A Link To The Second Feed on the DualFeeds plugin page.

The problem is that at present, FeedSmith and similar plugins are not aware of the ‘second’ feed that DualFeeds creates. They will redirect any feed requests made via the normal WordPress URL, including those for the second feed, to the FeedBurner URL for the first feed.

I am looking into ways of making DualFeeds work with such plugins, so that requests for the second feed are correctly redirected to the FeedBurner URL for the second feed. I hope to release a new version of DualFeeds, which addresses this, in the near future.

The Final Word

The DualFeeds plugin does work with FeedBurner. If you don’t use FeedSmith or a similar plugin, then there is no problem.

If you do use FeedSmith or something similar, when you set up the link for the second feed, you have the choice of:

• Using the FeedBurner URL (works now).
• Using the WordPress URL (more consistent, but you will need to wait for the next release of DualFeeds).