i talk about my reader a lot and it’s one of those things that I assume is common knowledge and then realize isn’t when so many ask me, ‘what the heck are you talking about?’ so, i figured i could just say it here and it might help clear things up.
google reader (or any other reader program you chose) compiles all of the blogs you like to read into one place. i read a lot of blogs (wayyy too many, really) and it just wouldn’t even be possible without having a reader. if you don’t have a reader, and say you have 5 friends with blogs, then you have to go to each of their blogs and see if they maybe have or have not updated since you were last there. with my reader, i can go to one place (reader.google.com) and i can see which of my blogs have new posts. then, i can either read the new post right from there or I can click the little >> arrows and it will take me to the actual blog. i usually just read within my reader, but if you want to leave a comment, you’ll need to go to the actual post. got it so far? as a visual, here is a screen shot of what my reader looks like:
you can see my folders on the left, but you can organize your blogs into folders however you’d like. i have 91 blogs currently in my reader (i know, out of control…) so I’ve divided them into folders for: family, friends, design, photography, wedding, and misc. (and just ignore the folder named ‘avocado’ – that is just me being weird.)
i also subscribe to the comments of my own blog. so, instead of updating me on when my blog is updated (which i don’t need to be alerted to, since i wrote the post…) it alerts me when someone has left a comment. the alternative would be looking through each of my posts to find if someone had written anything. that would be dumb. google reader is smart. 😉
again, you don’t need to have this ridiculous amount of blogs in your reader… even if you just have 2 people you’d like to keep up with, I think you’ll like it!
need suggestions on who to add?
check over on the right side bar of this blog and there are links to the blogs of some of our friends and family.other blogs you might like…
misc./life:
pioneer woman – lives on a ranch in the middle of no where. writes about photography, cooking, home schooling her 4 kids, and life on a working cattle farm. (this is a huge blog – meaning she has a GIANT readership.)
nienie – she was already a very established blogger (blogs about family, faith, cooking, etc… daily life) when she and her husband were in a plane crash last year. The one year anniversary of that crash was just a couple of weeks ago. She is still healing and writes about her recovery and getting her life put back together. Sometimes its heartbreaking, but more often, uplifting.
photography:
jessica kettle – a favorite photography blog. vintage-y, creamy, dreamy.jodie – a photography blog but posts about all parts of her life, not just her thriving photography business (for a while she had three kids under the age of 3. eek)
serena gene – super fun, colorful, quirky, stylish family and wedding photography. and i like her extra a lot because she reads my blog too! 😉
design blogs:apartment therapy (you’ll never keep up, but you can try! they post a LOT.)
design*sponge (love)
(interior designer, turned mom, turned blogger)now go set up a reader!!!
it’s free! and you’re reading this so I know you follow at least one blog! and as much as i’d like to think i’m the only person in the whole wide world you come online for, i’m sure there are others!!!
