RSS Feed Importer

Automatically import content from an RSS feed and convert it into audio.
This guide explains how to use our RSS Feed Importer. This allows you to automatically import content from an RSS feed into BeyondWords and convert it into audio. You can then automatically embed audio versions into their source pages.
You can use a single RSS feed for a whole website or a single RSS feed for each section of a website. RSS integration is faster than integrating with our API as it doesn't require any development on your side, other than structuring the RSS feed.
🔒 This feature is available on Pro and Enterprise plans only.
Structure your RSS feed
The BeyondWords RSS Feed Importer can be adapted to accommodate any RSS structure. However, we suggest including specific RSS elements in the <item> structure to ensure the best outcome.
Please include the following elements in each RSS feed <item>:
<author>
This is the author of the article. This element will be stored as metadata.
<guid>
This is the globally unique identifier. The JavaScript player can use this to match audio assets in your BeyondWords project with articles in your RSS feed. This allows the audio version to be automatically embedded alongside the text version.
<title>
This is the article title. This element will be processed into audio, so we recommend using HTML.
<description>
This is the article description. We recommend using HTML.
<link>
This is the article URL. The Player code can use this to match match audio assets in your BeyondWords project with articles in your RSS feed. This allows the audio version to be automatically embedded alongside the text version.
<pubDate>
This is the publish date. If pubDate is updated — for example, when you edit the source article — BeyondWords will automatically reprocess the audio.
<enclosure>
This refers to multimedia content such as images. These elements will not be processed into audio.
<content>
This is the body content. This element will be processed into audio, so we recommend using HTML.
Content format
Plain text is sufficient, but we recommend that the <title> and <content> elements use HTML. This is because HTML provides additional context that enables better conversion into speech synthesis markup language (SSML) and therefore better conversion into audio. We also recommend using HTML for the <description> element.
This content should ideally be in a CDATA section and include HTML:
<content><![CDATA[<p>The first paragraph text</p><p>Second paragraph text.</p>]]></content>
Or escape the contained HTML:
<content>&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The first paragraph text.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Second paragraph text.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;</content>
An <item> that uses CDATA for the <title>, <description>, and <content> elements should look like this:
<item>
      <author>author</author>
      <guid>id</guid>
      <title><![CDATA[This is the article title]]></title>
      <description><![CDATA[This is the article description]]></description>
      <link>article_url</link>
      <pubDate>Thu, 01 Oct 2020 16:50:02 +0200</pubDate>
      <enclosure url="image.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" />
      <content><![CDATA[<p>This is paragraph one</p><p>This is paragraph 2</p><p>etc</p><div class="related_articles"></div>]]></content>                
</item>
Set up your BeyondWords project
1.Sign into your BeyondWords account (don't have one? Create your free account)
2.Go to your project dashboard (don't have one? Create a project)
3.Go to the 'Content' section then select 'RSS Feed Importer' under 'Connect your CMS' (already created audio? You will need to navigate to 'Settings (Integration)' instead)
4.Make sure the toggle is switched to 'RSS Feed Importer enabled'
5.If you want, change the default voices for titles and body content, making sure to save your changes (please note that this will also change the default voices for the TTS Editor)
6.Copy and paste your RSS feed URL into the corresponding field, then select 'Test' — you should get a 'Success' message
7.Make sure the toggle underneath is switched to 'Enabled'
8.Select 'Save changes'
Optional:
​Disable automatic publishing if you would like to review your audio before it is distributed.
​Set an intro and outro in 'Settings (General)'.
​Add custom text-to-speech rules. You can add aliases in 'Settings (Aliases)' or request more complex rules from our text-to-speech team.
BeyondWords will now import content from your RSS feed and convert it into audio, using characters. Processing usually takes a few minutes — you can check the status of your audio in the 'Content (Audios)' section of your project dashboard.
FAQs
Will my old articles be converted into audio?
Yes, the RSS Feed Importer will import all existing articles from your RSS feed and convert them into audio, as well as future articles. This will use characters.
What happens when I update an article in my RSS feed?
If you update an article in the RSS feed, BeyondWords will automatically reprocess the audio. Reprocessing usually takes just a few minutes and will only use additional characters if you add paragraphs or change voices.
If you wish to disable automatic reprocessing:
1.Go to the 'Content (Audios)' section of your project dashboard
2.Hover on the audio you would like to disable CMS updates for
3.Select '⋮' to open the submenu, then select 'Disable CMS updates'
If you wish to edit the audio without editing the article, you can do so using the TTS Editor. You can edit the wording, change voices at a title and paragraph level, and insert your own audio clips. See our guide to editing audio for more information.
How do I distribute my audio?
If you wish to make your articles listenable, we recommend that you set up automatic embedding.
However, there are many other distribution methods available. All of your audio will be available in the 'Content (Audios)' section of your project dashboard, where you can:
​Copy the shareable URL​
​Copy the iFrame embed code​
​Download as mp3​
You can also distribute your audio via playlists, which can be embedded, shared via URL, or distributed via podcast feed.
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Last modified 2mo ago