A lot of you still go to each individual website when you want to see what’s new. You have your “Favorites” list of bookmarks and click on each one when in the mood to peruse the interwebs. You have to wait for ads to load and you never really know when there’s new content.
There is a better way! It is sooo much better that it’s worth the small amount of work to set it up.
That symbol up there that you see on blogs and sites? If you don’t know what it is, or have been intimidated by it… don’t worry. We’re going to sort it all out!
There are a lot of RSS readers out there but these two excellent tutorials focus on Google Reader, which I also use. Most everyone has a Gmail email account so, it’s only natural to use Google’s reader but, even if you don’t have Gmail, you can still set one up.
With an RSS reader, you basically get the main content of all the frequently updated sites you like to visit, after you subscribe to them. You don’t get the all the extra mess on the sidebars. No ads. Just pure content. Once you add sites you want in your reader, the new posts will automatically update. You can star items to save them. You can organize sites into categories. Mine are broken down into decor, fashion, art, things that make me laugh, local Richmond blogs, etc. If I just want to catch up on the funny stuff while I’m taking a break, I just click on that category and all the new posts from the funny sites I like come up and I conveniently scroll through them. You can also access Google Reader on a smart phone, which is so great when you’re sitting waiting somewhere.
There are some blogs that update constantly. You may wind up with 50 new posts a day in your reader from just one site, which can be overwhelming. I had to unsubscribe to Apartment Therapy because it was too much. Now, that’s just one of the sites I do end up going to directly and checking out once a month or so to catch up on cool decor ideas. So, finding your comfort level with an RSS reader may take some time. That’s okay.
So, when you have a bit of time, right click and open up >> Google Reader << in a new tab, as well as these two tutorials and follow along. Don’t get overwhelmed by all the steps. Take your time, play with the settings and learn it like you learn a new phone, and thank me later.
Subscribe to my blog while you’re at it! ;)
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May I just add that using Google Reader, you aren’t limited to adding only sites which have RSS buttons and specific RSS addresses. For example, you can follow a Tumblr page, a Flickr account or a LiveJournal page or whatever by adding the site URL via the ‘Add Subscription’ button.
As for high volume pages like Apartment Therapy, you can fine-tune by only receiving the posts with a specific tag of interest, such as ‘small space’ by adding http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/tag/small+space to your reader.
really good tips! Thanks!!!!
I love my google reader. It’s a lifesaver.
I read somewhere that only 7-10% of people who use the web actually utilize a reader! Can you imagine going back to the old days? No way!