Happy Monday! I had a great time at The League of Utah Writers Conference and I promise to tell you all about it tomorrow, but today I wanted to talk about organizing your blog reading list.
First up, if you haven't already meet, let me introduce you to Google Reader.
I came into the blogging world already knowing about this gem. Therefore, I assumed everyone else did. (I'll give you a hint, I was wrong) This, my friends, is a life saver when it comes to reading blogs. It's almost like having an e-mail inbox just for the blogs you follow.
I like to keep all the blogs I'm reading in list style (not expanded view) so I can quickly scroll through and see what each blog is offering. There was a long time when just scrolling through and reading worked for me, but now that I'm following 400+ plus blogs, the whole thing can get a little overwhelming.
So last weekend I was bemoaning this to new blogger and next-door-neighbor Krista at I Take the Pen. Now, Krista is a computer person, her job is in computers, she understand things we casual bloggers take for granted.
So when she told me that you could organize your Google Reader into folders I said "I tried that, I couldn't figure it out."
Since Krista is a very lovely person, she told me how she did it, and now I'm here to pass the knowledge onto you.
I went through each blog on my list and separated them into six categories. First was my Favorites - these are blogs I like to read everyday and keep a good relation with it's my biggest folder :) The Second is New Blogs, these are blogs I just started following that I will keep track of to see where they fit.
The Third is Once a Week, these are bloggers who only post once or twice a week. I stick them in there and pick a day to go through them all. The forth is Once a Month (same idea) and the fifth is Never. I only have a never folder because some people who I began blogging with no longer blog, therefore there is no need to check them. My Guilty Pleasure one is blogs that have nothing to do with writing, but I still like to visit.
The way you put your blogs in these folders is by clicking the little arrow you see on the right side on the blog name.
But after that you can just click on whichever folder you want it to go in. Happy blog reading!!
On another note I just want to let you all know about some exciting stuff going on this Friday. The Life List club is doing a progress update day with lots of prizes. Every blog you see on my left side bar (under the tag life list club) will be giving away something, so be sure to stick around!
First up, if you haven't already meet, let me introduce you to Google Reader.
I came into the blogging world already knowing about this gem. Therefore, I assumed everyone else did. (I'll give you a hint, I was wrong) This, my friends, is a life saver when it comes to reading blogs. It's almost like having an e-mail inbox just for the blogs you follow.
I like to keep all the blogs I'm reading in list style (not expanded view) so I can quickly scroll through and see what each blog is offering. There was a long time when just scrolling through and reading worked for me, but now that I'm following 400+ plus blogs, the whole thing can get a little overwhelming.
So last weekend I was bemoaning this to new blogger and next-door-neighbor Krista at I Take the Pen. Now, Krista is a computer person, her job is in computers, she understand things we casual bloggers take for granted.
So when she told me that you could organize your Google Reader into folders I said "I tried that, I couldn't figure it out."
Since Krista is a very lovely person, she told me how she did it, and now I'm here to pass the knowledge onto you.
I went through each blog on my list and separated them into six categories. First was my Favorites - these are blogs I like to read everyday and keep a good relation with it's my biggest folder :) The Second is New Blogs, these are blogs I just started following that I will keep track of to see where they fit.
The Third is Once a Week, these are bloggers who only post once or twice a week. I stick them in there and pick a day to go through them all. The forth is Once a Month (same idea) and the fifth is Never. I only have a never folder because some people who I began blogging with no longer blog, therefore there is no need to check them. My Guilty Pleasure one is blogs that have nothing to do with writing, but I still like to visit.
The way you put your blogs in these folders is by clicking the little arrow you see on the right side on the blog name.
The first time around you have to click on New Folder.
***
On another note I just want to let you all know about some exciting stuff going on this Friday. The Life List club is doing a progress update day with lots of prizes. Every blog you see on my left side bar (under the tag life list club) will be giving away something, so be sure to stick around!
25 comments:
I'm bookmarking this! It's genius! I wish I would have thought about it earlier... but no, instead I've been blogging retardedly for a year and a half!!
I have homework tonight!
You know, I'm on Google Reader, but I haven't organized it yet. I just scroll through the new items, but I should get it all in order. Thanks for showing me how!
Organizing my google reader has been such a huge time saver I couldn't believe people didn't do this. I don't know how I would have managed to do the campaign without having a folder of my campaign group.
Great tips! I use an iPhone app that shows me my RSS Feed, so that I can scroll through the newer blogposts and see which one I want to read and comment on right now. But my Google Reader is not organized, and your tips will help me make it more manageable. THANK YOU!
<3
I like your folder ideas! I need to reorganize mine in a little bit more detailed way.
I did also add a folder for the blogs of people in my writers group. I also plan to start another folder for bloggers who follow my blog. I am keeping their blogs in other categories as well - but it helps me separate out where each blog belongs.
I started this, then got too busy. I really need to go back and finish organizing. It will make my life easier. Can't wait to here about the confrence!
That is ingenius. I'm going to have to try it cause it takes me forever to bloghop. Thanks for sharing. :)
Excellent idea, I will have to get organised!
Holy organized! Look at you! :D I'm going to have to do this. Seriously. This is so awesome :)
Great instructions. I didn't know you could do that. Very helpful!
The Write Soil
Thanks for these great tips. I'm ultra unorganized and need all the help I can get. I like the categories you've broken your blogs down into. Thanks!
This is soooo helpful! I'm pretty new to the blogworld and I had no idea you could organize blogs like that! Definitely a life saver, especially because since the campaign I've been feeling a little overwhelmed! Too many good blogs, too little time, you know? Thanks so much for posting this!
I'm so lame. I still scroll through the dashboard every morning. Not very efficient, and it takes forever.
Ahh!! I'm so happy you posted this!! MUST...GO...ORGANIZE!!
You're a master at this! I mean. You got rid of my Twitter jitters. That's commendable. This is just fantastic! Thanks for the advice!
And it was super awesome to meet you yesterday. You can still the pictures from my post, if you'd like. Or still email them. Whichever. :)
Holy coolness! I am going to have to figure this out! LOVE IT! And great directions. I think I might be able to manage it.... hopefully. :)
This is awesome...now I just need to figure out how to create folders. (my husband is techy guy in the house)
That is awesome advice.. I'm bookmarking! :)
You are so organized! Good for you. I have a few I visit everyday, and some I visit when they come to me.
I too was at a writer's conference this past weekend! I picked up a lot of great tips.
Joyce
http://joycelansky.blogspot.com
Oh my gosh, you have SAVED my life! I just started playing around with Google Reader and I couldn't figure it out at all! Folders, sheesh. It's really as easy as all that? I can't wait to get back there now!
what a great way to stay organized! I'll have to do that. What I love about googlereader is that you can see people who are posting at around the same time you are and making the rounds at the same moment you are. It's kind of neat. So glad to have discovered your blog!
This is good to know, I'll definitely give my blog roll a second look to organize it all. Thanks for sharing :)
Thanks for doing this, and letting me know about it from a comment on my blog.
Dude, you have no idea how much this helps me. I'm so behind in blog reading, it's crazy.
Also, you and Krista are neighbors? Get out!
You know, I'm embarrassed to admit I thought Google Reader was something else entirely, so this post was incredibly helpful; thanks! I love organizing things into folders, LOL.
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