Let a Blog Reader save you time

If you already know about blog readers, then I’m going to suggest that you browse Problogger’s blog. Here he explains Trackbacks. And if you browse his blog, he has lots of practical advice on writing blog posts.

Today I’m going to talk about blog readers. They’re a wonderful timesaving tool!

Rather than bookmarking blogs & checking them every so often, a blog reader is a one stop solution.

For example, if you read 20 blogs, and visit them each day, maybe only 5 are updated. If you were visiting each blog thru bookmarks, there would be many that would have no changes. With a blog reader you can immediately see the new entries and after you’ve read them, most show that (like email does). At one point I was reading 75 blogs per day, but I’ve cut back now.

How does it work?

Blogs & news feeds have a symbol that looks like a little transmitting icon. And there are usually other buttons that correspond to specific blog readers. Most blogs also have the icons displayed somewhere on the page. Ours are located on the top right of our blog. In Firefox the universal feed symbol shows in the far right side of the toolbar. This indicates that it is a feed that can be subscribed to.

How to read blogs using feeds:

1. Set up a blog reader – some common ones are:

• Google Reader – my favorite but you need a gmail account (I have invites if you need)
• Bloglines.com – I used to use this, but it’s slower to read than Google reader
• Safari – for our Mac friends
• and there are others

• Update – my friend Ernie suggested that I include Internet Explorer 7′s built in feature.
• The Firefox browser has Live Bookmarks (but I mut have deleted mine off my toolbar..)
• And Thunderbird (Firefox’s email) has a Blog Reader that is built in. This is more similar to Google Reader. (Thunder bird is awesome because you can read many email accounts there. My sister accesses EIGHT in hers! and the folders options are great.)

2. When you visit a blog that you want to read in the future, click on the universal feed icon. Your blog reader will ask if you want to subscribe.

3. When the blog is updated, you’ll be able to see that when you visit the blog reader. And you can read just the blogs that have been updated. The great thing is that you won’t miss anything either if you haven’t visited a particular blog in a few days.

Here’s what Google Reader looks like:

And here’s Bloglines.com

Pro’s -

I like how you can see how many people are subscribed. Google doesn’t offer me that.

Con’s -

Sometimes you need to open each entry to read the posts in their entirety like in this example. In others, you can read the whole post without leaving Bloglines. It probably depends on where the blog is coming from.

Some additional reading can be found here:

How to explain RSS the Oprah way (an easy to understand explanation)

So set up your blog reader and spend less time reading more blogs! It definitely puts more joy in a routine thing.

And if you’re thinking of starting a blog or are a seasoned blogger, I’m going to link you to the same blog that I did at the top. He has so many good ideas. Blogging for Beginners And if you’re not a beginner, then try Write a Better Blog

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