WP RSS Aggregator is a freemium based WordPress plugin designed to provide your website with a “regular flow of fresh and relevant content”. In short, this popular plugin helps you share content from external, third-party websites in the simplest of ways.

However, adding unlimited number of RSS feeds to your website, placing them in pages, posts, or even a custom post type using a simple shortcode, and configuring the type of content you want displayed on your website for readers to enjoy is just the beginning.

In the past we have shared with you how to build a WordPress autoblogging website using WP RSS Aggregator, ways to supplement your existing website content using WP RSS Aggregator, and have even offered you multiple alternatives in the form of other content curation plugins (though we still believe WP RSS Aggregator is the very best option).

But did you know WP RSS Aggregator is capable of so much more than just adding RSS feeds to your website?

Well, if you didn’t, you are in luck. Today we are going to look at how to build your very own sports news network website using WP RSS Aggregator to show you that this awesome plugin is more than just a simple content curation tool.

Building a Sports News Network WordPress Website using WP RSS Aggregator

To start the process of building a sports news network website with the WP RSS Aggregator plugin, you have to have a plan. Know that you will use the core plugin, WP RSS Aggregator, as well as several premium add-ons that are available for extending the functionality of your website. For today’s explanation, we will be using the following WP RSS Aggregator add-ons:

• Feed to Post. Import feed items from third-party websites into any WordPress post, page, or custom post type, displaying them anywhere your theme allows.
• Full Text RSS Feeds. Connect to WP RSS Aggregator’s Premium Full Text Service and import full content from the RSS feeds that typically only import excerpts.
• Keyword Filtering. Filter your imported content based on keywords, phrases, or tags of your choosing.

The great thing about the developers of WP RSS Aggregator is that they love to give their customers a good deal. That’s why they have created some helpful add-on bundles for website owners looking to create something above and beyond what the core WP RSS Aggregator plugin can do.

In the case of our sports news network, you might consider investing in the Advanced Feeds Bundle as this is the best value for the add-ons needed to create a sports news network website.

Step 1: Install, Activate, and Setup WP RSS Aggregator and its Add-ons

To start, install and activate the free WP RSS Aggregator plugin.  The plugin is easily found in the WordPress Repository or on the official WP RSS Aggregator plugin website.

Next, install and activate any add-ons you wish to utilize to create your sports news website.  Again, we are going to use the Feed to Post, Full Text RSS Feeds, and Keyword Filtering add-ons.

After all of the add-ons are installed, finish setting up the WP RSS Aggregator plugin by adding the license keys for each add-on in order to activate them.

Navigate to RSS Aggregator > Settings > Licenses, input the license keys, and select Activate.

Lastly, to configure a few general settings, navigate to the General tab under Settings and select the age limit for feed items, how many items per feed you wish to display, and the interval you want your feed to fetch new content. Note that you can set each of these configurations on an individual, per feed basis.

For example, I have selected a 6 month age limit, have left the number of items per feed at zero to keep it unlimited, and wish to have new content fetched every 12 hours.

Step 2: Import Content from a New Feed Source

Now that your general settings are secure, let’s begin importing content from other websites into your WordPress website that relate to the sports news you want to share with your readers.

Navigate to RSS Aggregator > Add New from the WordPress dashboard to add your first feed source. Next, create a name for the new feed source.  For this example, I will be importing sports news from ESPN.com and will name it ESPN Sports News.

Note that the URL is the RSS feed source from ESPN’s website (I have chosen to include the top headlines URL). In addition, I have limited the amount of posts to import and store at one time to 10. This means that if an eleventh post is published on the external source that I am pulling from, then the oldest post will be deleted once the new post is imported, in order to comply with this limit.

Click on Validate feed if you are not sure whether the URL you have entered is a valid feed source. The Feed Validation Service is a quick and easy way to make sure you are pulling content for your sports news website from the correct place.

Step 3: Configure Your Keywords

To make sure you import content that is relevant to your website, utilize the Keyword Filtering add-on. This add-on can be configured by navigating to RSS Aggregator > Settings > Keyword Filtering or in the RSS Aggregator > Add New section where new feed sources are added.

Here are some of the things you can filter using this WP RSS Aggregator:

• All of these words or phrases
• Any of these words or phrases
• None of these word or phrases
• Any of these tags
• None of these tags

Additionally, you can apply the keyword filters to either the Feed Title, Feed Content, or both so that you maximize this filtering system.

Step 4: Determine the Feed to Post Options

The Feed to Post add-on is one of the most comprehensive add-ons available to those using the WP RSS Aggregator plugin. That’s why it is required for most of the additional add-ons to work.

You can configure all of these settings from the RSS Aggregator > Settings > Feed to Post section or within the Add New post editor when adding a new source feed.

Here is a brief overview of the Feed to Post features:

• Determine the post type of feed sources you are importing – Post, Page, Media, etc.
• Enable commenting on imported feed items
• Force full content to appear (using the Full Text RSS Feeds add-on)
• Allow image imports and determine things like image dimensions and featured image settings
• Add taxonomies
• Enable the Post Author feature to attribute credit to the author of the post in your feed
• Add a customized message to the beginning or end of each imported post
• Remove unwanted content material
• Retrieve data from RSS tags
• Shorten URLs using the Google URL shortening API

In addition, the Feed to Post add-on has a helpful feature called Word Trimming.

This feature trims the amount of original content your site visitors see and links them to the original post on the feed source’s website. This helps attribute full credit to the author of the post and adds validity to you as a content curator.

Simply select Trim the content and choose how many words you would like readers to see before having to click to read more.

Step 5: A Little More About the Full Text RSS Feeds Add-on

As mentioned in step 4, the Feed to Post add-on allows you the option to force full content to show when importing feed items from external sources. This service gives your readers full access to the entire post content that you are importing rather than making them to continue viewing your content elsewhere on the web. More so, it will include any images that come with the content as well.

This feature is convenient for feed items that will only import excerpts for your site visitors or that are missing content or images. It is important however, as noted in the WP RSS Aggregator documentation, that you test your RSS feed’s original sources. This is because not all feed sources will format content correctly if fetched in full. The last thing you want to do is provide distorted content to your site readers.

Step 6: Assign Categories

Assigning categories to your imported feed sources is a great way to organize the type of content that you import. This way your readers can find exactly the type of content they are looking for, based on the categories you have created.

You can find the Taxonomy section in the Feed to Post  settings section.

Start by choosing the main category to group posts in. In my example I chose Featured posts. I then limited my imported content to go into the “Featured” post category if they contain all of the keywords “Athletes” and “Basketball” in both the Feed Title and Feed Content.

You can filter content however you want. For example, limit keywords to only the Feed Title or the Feed Content. In addition, determine whether you want all keywords present in the text, or any of the keywords. The flexibility makes for filtering your content a personal matter. This way your readers are only viewing content that will appeal to them, as decided, and organized, by you.

Step 7: Publish Your Feed Sources

Now that everything has been configured, filtered, labeled, and otherwise set up the way you want, it is time to publish your feed source items onto your website so site visitors can begin to see them.

Since I used the Feed to Post add-on alongside the core WP RSS Aggregator plugin to build my sports news network website, all of my imported content will appear in my WordPress dashboard under All Posts as drafts.

From here, all you have to do is publish the content that has imported from your external sources onto your website. This way of filtering and manually publishing imported content that you want on your website does take more time than automatically posting all imported content directly onto your website. Which you can do if you want to. However, for those who want an additional way to maintain control over the exact content that displays on their website, the Feed to Post add-on makes things super easy.

In the end, the Feed to Post add-on allows you the opportunity to screen the content your readers see so that you can guarantee they see only the best, most relevant content.

Final Thoughts

Altogether, creating a sports news network website for sports fanatic site visitors is a great way to gather tons of relevant and exciting news for loyal readers in one convenient location – your website! Better yet, using a solid plugin such as WP RSS Aggregator makes doing so super easy, SEO optimized, and user-friendly for your readers.

If you are looking for a great way to curate content into a hub for all things sports related, try using the free WP RSS Aggregator plugin. Moreover, check out the awesome add-ons that extend your ability to curate content and allow you to set the stage as the place to go for sports related news.

Have you ever used the WP RSS Aggregator plugin to create a sports news network website? I would love to hear all about it in the comments below!