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Blog Reading and Following Tip

by | Aug 14, 2010 | blogging

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Blog Reading and Following Tip

I haven’t shared any blogging tips for quite some time, but I have a quick one for you today!

It might not be a new idea for you, but it is a lifesaver for me. Everyone has their own method for keeping up with blogs and this is mine! Someone mentioned this week in my comments that they had “lost” me for awhile … well, this is one way to ensure you do not lose track of your favorite blogs.

Do you use an igoogle home page?

If you don’t, I would encourage you to set one up. There are instructions here, as far as I remember the set up part was easy.

I now keep most of my favorite blogs right on my iGoogle Home page, which you can see in the above image.

It is so EASY for me to keep up with the blogs I follow every day! I LOVE this method for reading and keeping track of blogs. My google reader is filled with 3,000 unread blog posts which induces heart palpitations — the google home page makes blog reading feel a little less daunting. I still have the google reader but it is just not my go-to every day place due to the stress I feel in seeing so many blogs at once.

Now I can see all of my most frequently read blogs on my home page so when they update I can keep up (don’t worry, if your blog is not visible in my picture above, it is probably there, just lower on my page, I PROMISE!  lol!). And the best part is it only lists the most current posts from each blogger, so if I can’t keep up, I don’t feel quite so guilty. I can click through to read the blog right on their own blog page and comment or I can read it in the reader.

Keep in mind I find and read blogs from a variety of places, I always find your posts via my comments (LOVE those links, THANK YOU for leaving comments), I see posts to read on twitter and facebook too. The home page is just where I store the main ones I want to make sure I am keeping up with daily.

Try it for yourself!

Once you have set up your igoogle home page, you can start adding blogs.

Blog Reading and Following Tip

When you hit an “RSS subscribe button”or a “feedburner link” from your favorite blogs, it will open up a page that looks like the image above. Select the one that says Google.

Blog Reading and Following Tip

Then it opens up a screen like the one above and then choose “Subscribe with Google”.

Blog Reading and Following Tip

Then you will hopefully see a screen that looks like the image above. From there you select “add to google home page” and you’ll be able to read the posts easily and conveniently on your google home page.

Hopefully these instructions make sense. Play around with this and see if you like reading blogs this way as much as i do!

How do you read blogs?

This post shared with Works for Me Wednesday at We are THAT Family!

Blog Reading and Following Tip

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58 Comments

  1. Kristi

    That is a neat little trick I never knew about! I use the Google Reader but only because it DOES keep track of how many un-read I have! If it’s a lot or I always keep clicking ‘mark all as read’ on a particular blog then I know it’s time to unsubscribe. :) I get both my reader & my gmail to zero everyday and it’s satisfying to see ‘no un-read items’ in both ;)

    Reply
  2. Becky K.

    For the most part I read from my sidebar. It isn’t foolproof though as I still end up missing things. I’ll have to check out your suggestion. It sounds like a good one.

    Becky K.

    Reply
  3. Jeanne

    Hi Melissa,

    This is great, thanks for taking the time to set this up for us. I use Google Reader but have so many I find it a bit overwhelming. I have a long Blog Roll list but I often forget to add new ones and end up missing people. I often just comment quickly after receiving a comment or save the comments in a file and go thru them when time permits.
    I like your idea and will look at it now!

    Thanks :)

    Jeanne

    Reply
  4. Emily

    Oh Melissa!! I have seen this option before but never knew what it meant. I use IGoogle but all that is on there is my email and my reader. I love how this is laid out, I may have to give it a try.

    AND how flattering to have made your iGoogle homepage! xoxo

    Em

    Reply
  5. linda

    I do it the old fashioned way….from my sidebar…and from comments. I need the visual I guess.

    Reply
    • Melissa

      I still read blogs that way too, and I read them from facebook and twitter…but the home page just keeps track of my main ones I need to keep up on regularly.

      Reply
  6. tammy

    I do have an igoogle homepage but I have not used it for my blogs. Great idea.

    Reply
  7. Mary Joy

    I have been wondering how to do this! I had been subscribing by email but now my email inbox is SO full that it is overwhelming for me to go through and I don’t want to delete when I don’t have time to read them all. Then I put them on Google Reader and I don’t know how to use it once I have put them there. I am going to try to set it up now. Question for you Melissa. Do you have to do something special if you have followed them on the Google Reader in order to move them over to the I Google Home Page? Thanks for the help!

    Reply
    • Melissa

      There must be a way to do that but I just subscribe again if I want them to show up on my homepage :-)

      Reply
  8. Michelle

    I use Google Reader, but I installed the Next button on my taskbar, so now I don’t see 3,000 unread blog posts… I can sit down for 20 minutes and click through as many blogs as I want. It takes me to the next unread blog post, added bonus, I get to hop to the site directly in one click instead of reading in a reader, then clicking over to comment. One of the things I didn’t like about Reader was that I missed the personalization of actually visiting the site instead of reading in generic reader.

    Reply
  9. Diana Horel

    I follow on twitter. I may try this though.

    Reply
  10. Pam

    I use blogger which shows the latest updates. I also use google reader since it lets me star certain blog posts.

    Reply
    • Melissa

      That is a great feature of the reader, which is not on the igoogle homepage! I use my tumblr a lot for remembering and sharing posts I love.

      Reply
  11. anne

    Hi Melissa .. I have both at the moment .. the old google reader and now just got igoogle,.. yes I used to freak out a bit when I had been away and came home to find hundreds to read ..

    Reply
  12. Vee

    Sidebar in my blog for blogs. Nothing is foolproof, but that’s as close as any. Your method looks good, but I even had to give up Google Reader so I don’t think that I would keep up with that either. Thanks for the tip!

    Reply
  13. Fiona Sanders

    I may have to check this out! Thank you for posting it! I’m not so good with all the techie stuff, so I didn’t even know this exhisted.

    But I am learning, what a huge learning curve though! wow!

    Reply
  14. Leah

    I am a die hard Google Reader user. I never use “All Unread Items” though. I usually go one blog at a time. That way I can read all the most recent from one blog and then save the others for another day. Or, I just sometimes have to click to a blog and choose “mark all as read” after I’ve read the latest couple if I can’t keep up. I usually try, though.

    Reply
  15. Andrea Cseh

    This is a lifesaver! Thank you a million times over! I had NO idea you could do something like this! THIS is the reason I read all these great blogs – to LEARN from others!!! Thank you, thank you!

    Reply
  16. Madigan at madiganmade

    I just started reading blogs this year (and had to join in!). My google reader is already a bit overwhelming. Definetely plan to try this now. Thanks for the tip!

    Reply
  17. Tammy

    I love that you posted this! I use iGoogle and love how I can keep up on all the recent posts of the blogs I most enjoy. I think all of us who write blogs should post this information every once in a while! Thanks, Melissa.

    Reply
  18. Debbie

    Melissa, this is exactly what I do for many of the WordPress blogs that I enjoy reading. I have them on my igoogle home page so I never miss a post.

    I think it’s great to share with others what you learn and know. You’re so good at doing that too. :)

    Love,
    Debbie

    Reply
  19. Beth

    Thanks for this great idea. Blogging has been such a chore lately with trying to set up a new computer and not being able to access pictures etc. I have lost so many favorite blogs.
    I have been doing it the old fashioned way also with the sidebar and google reader which gets over whelming.
    Melissa, Thank You!
    Enjoy a wonderful weekend!

    Beth

    Reply
  20. peg

    Thanks for the tips. Maybe you could share with me how you get the four old posts (you also might like these) on your blog and then the previous posts partially on the bottom. That is really cool! Peggy from PA

    Reply
    • Melissa

      Yes, the four posts at the bottom (or three, whatever) “you might also like” is a special plugin called “Linked Within” and the previous posts is a link I think is just something my blog designer put there…not so sure on that one :-)

      Reply
  21. Tammy S

    I read mine from my side bar/Favorites Bar. I have limited time to read and comment since I try to only do my blog reads when my kids are sleeping or at school so I try to keep it simple by only following a few. By the way – Keep in mind ladies that there are twisted people out there that have nothing better to do than to “STALK” your name and literally read your comments on other people’s blogs and twist words around. I guess its a good thing that you and I know each other Melissa and that you are not some “stranger”…hee hee. Have a blessed weekend. Email me when you get a chance girlie.

    Tammy Stonebrook

    Reply
  22. Sandy at Teacup Lane

    I mostly use my blogger sidebar and sometimes my Google Reader. However, I have noticed I can miss some of my blog roll by using the blogger sidebar so then I go to Google Reader. I also set my comments to go to my gmail account which is a handy and quick way to reply (if the blogger has entered their email address). Thanks for the information on the iGoogle home page. I didn’t know one could follow their blog roll here too. You have a great blog and I enjoy reading it!

    Reply
  23. Elizabeth

    Hi, Melissa!
    Thanks for this tip! Hey, will you be doing Fall Nesting this year? I just love that and it gives me so many great decorating ideas. Don’t you just love Fall? I say that as I’m enjoying 80+ temps right now. :) If you are doing Fall Nesting, when will it begin?

    Have a great one!
    Elizabeth

    Reply
    • Melissa

      Yes! :-) Announcing it on Monday! Thanks for asking!

      Reply
  24. Fiona Sanders

    I decided to make this my homework assignment for tomorrow! It looks so easy!

    Reply
  25. Bernadette

    I follow you via Bloglines. It can be somewhat daunting to see (23) in the paras telling me that I have 23 unread posts, but I love that I CAN go back to those really old posts and not lose out. I also sort mine by category so that when I sign in there, I only sign in when I have time to read however many posts per category. my DIY blogs are always a Saturday treat.

    Reply
  26. Kelly

    I use Google Reader for all of my favorite blogs, too. It’s weird, though – sometimes when I add a new blog, the reader seems to drop an existing one. There are some blogs that I *know* I put in my reader, but they aren’t there right now…hmmmmm. I also save a lot of blogs in my favorites on my browser. These are usually ones I come across in comments or on someone’s blogroll. Often, I like them so much, I put them in my reader, too!

    I have a pretty good memory for website names/keywords, so I can usually start typing in a blog name and it will come up in my address bar. But I do love the feature in Google Reader that lets me see who has a new blog post each day. It saves me from typing in an address or searching my favorites for new posts and finding nothing when I get there!

    Kelly

    Reply
  27. Kelly

    Hmmmm. I guess it’s iGoogle I use instead of Google Reader, now that I think about it. I have a homepage that looks like your example. I cannot keep up with all the internet/website/bloggy vocabulary out there!

    Reply
    • Melissa

      :-)

      Reply
  28. Heather

    So funny, my iGoogle looks almost exactly like yours! Just yesterday I added a bunch of new blogs to it. I’ve been using iGoogle for a couple of years now and love it, but I didn’t know I could add a blog that way. I always went to “add stuff” in the top right corner and then typed or pasted in the blog address in the box halfway down on the left. But your way is simpler!

    Here’s a question – do you notice that on some blogs the list of posts gets stuck on some date in the past and won’t update with new ones? Like, Dreamy Whites is stuck on May. I can still click through to the blog to see the latest post, but I like having a preview!

    Reply
  29. Heather

    YAY!!!! Never mind!!!! I answered my own question – by adding things to iGoogle the way you described, those blog feeds are updating properly again!!! And I was able to add one that I couldn’t add through the “add stuff” button. Thank you thank you thank you!!

    Reply
    • Melissa

      Glad you figured it out! :-)

      Reply
  30. Marianne

    I use Google Reader and it sometimes is a daunting task to read alle new updates. Untill recently I sometimes didn’t get to read my favorite blogs. a few weeks ago I labeled them favorite and now they are in one file (on to of the list on the left). I read those everyday and the rest whenever I have the time.
    Your tip is great too though!

    Reply
  31. mary b

    I do the same, but took it one step further…I added tabs by subject so my home page is not just full of blogs, So I have tabs like “home” “finance” “food” and “deals”.
    I do also use my reader, but it can be overwhelming.

    Reply
    • Melissa

      Very cool, I should do that! LOVE IT!

      Reply
    • Lara Jane

      I do the same, Mary. I have a dozen tabs to sort my favorite blogs and I’ve been reading them this way for about 3 years. I tried Google Reader but this way seems easier for me.

      Reply
  32. Melanie

    This sounds like a great way to keep up with all of the blogs that I read. It is a little overwhelming to see that the feeds are loaded up and you don’t have time to read them. I might have to try this.

    Reply
  33. Kristen

    I love to do this for blogs that don’t update regularly…that way I don’t waste time checking for a new post. Instead, I can easily glance at my homepage and see if there’s anything new. LOVE it.

    Reply
  34. teresa

    Love google reader….that’s how I keep up with all the wonderful things going on here. =)

    Reply
  35. Nancy's Daily Dish

    Thanks for this tip! I am overwhelmed sometimes too by the number of posts in Reader. I admit I usually just look at my sidebar or go from others comments but this is something I think I’ll try!

    Thanks for sharing!

    Nancy

    Reply
  36. Traci Hutcherson

    What a great idea! I have never seen this. I used to keep up with new posts in my sidebar, but since I switched to WP I haven’t been able to do that. It doesn’t show each new post (only the blog title). It’s driving me crazy! I feel so out of it.
    I may have to try this to help me stay on top of my favorite bloggers’ posts.
    Thanks for letting me know that I am probably at the bottom of your igoogle page. I feel much better. (wink) :)
    Again, thanks for the great tip! Hope you have a blessed week!
    Traci

    Reply
    • Melissa

      :-) I knew I’d get into trouble with that screen shot, but OF COURSE you are there, just out of view my dear! :-)

      Reply
  37. melissa stover

    i did not know this. i’m going to try it.

    Reply
  38. Mel

    I am going to try this….thank you for the tutorial. I’ve been going through cleaning up and organizing my Google reader, and this is wonderful, as I have soooooo many blogs in my reader, and there are a few that I really want to make sure to keep up with every single day. Thank you! You are wonderful!

    Reply
  39. Jessica

    This is EXACTLY what I needed! You seriously just wrote this post just for me!! Haha, well I know that is not true; but really, thank you Melissa! Perfect timing!

    Reply
    • Melissa

      I do what I can for you :-)

      Reply
  40. Erin

    I prefer to read mine in my email. But it’s difficult because alot of blogs don’t offer that option.

    I have Google reader, but I don’t like it as much. So, alot of times I just run down my favorites tab and open each one and check for updates.

    Reply
  41. Lesley

    Thanks so much for this great tip. I’ve always used Google reader to keep track of everything but this is great. I’m already setting my page up.

    Reply
  42. Heather

    That is a great idea! Thanks for sharing. I have been keeping them all as favorites, but sometimes I forget about the ones all the way at the bottom. I am going to set up a page today!! I definitely wouldn’t want to “lose” your blog. I love reading it! :)

    Reply
  43. Juliana

    I LOVE reading your website/blog and have had you bookmarked on my iGoogle for quite awhile now. It’s the easiest way for me to keep myself updated as your site inspires me.
    I like that you added instructions on how to do it for those who haven’t. Super easy!

    Reply
  44. Audra Marie

    Thanks for the great tip. I already use igoogle as a start page, so this will add nicely to the set up. :)

    Reply
  45. The Scooper

    Oh how smart! Thank you for sharing this. I am doing this pronto!

    Reply
  46. Eileen

    Thanks, this is great information. Now if I can just steel some time to implement it.

    Reply

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