If we were to survey 100 bloggers about their biggest blogging gripes, I’d guess that over 90% of them would mention “keeping up with all the blogs I read” as one of their top complaints.
While blog reading really is a personal decision and what works well for 1 person may not be ideal for the next, we’ve put together a list of 5 methods for you to try.
Five Ways to Manage your Blog Reading
- Use Different Follow Methods for Different Reasons If receiving a new post in your inbox is your preferred way to read, sign up via email subscription for your top blog Must Reads. Then, use your RSS reader or Blogger Dashboard to keep up with the rest.
- Subscribe to all the Blogs you Follow in the Same Method Some might prefer having everything in one place. Not having to jump around to 2 or 3 spots to get the latest posts may be easier for some to manage.
- For those Using a RSS Reader, Categorize the Blogs you Follow One option is to group all the blogs you read into Always Read, Usually Read, and Sometimes Read categories. Another idea would be to categorize blogs by type (i.e. Food, Humor, Parenting, Life).
- Read off your Social Media Streams Let your Twitter stream or Facebook wall feed inspire your reading for the day.
- Read based on Comments left for You If you receive a fair amount of comments on your own blog posts, you may want to have your comments be your reading guide. After all, someone took the time to read and comment on your words.
What blog reading method has worked best for you?
I love this site! And I just noticed your social media icons…they are adorable!!
Useful info! I put everything into Google Reader and categorize according to Daily Read, Read Second, Read in Spare Time. After Daily Read is done, I go to my blog comments, then Twitter, if something catches my eye.
This is great! I start with reading the blogs of my commenters and then going to my Google Reader. I love hearing how other people do it!
Like Allison, I use a kind of combo method. I usually try to start with my comments (although the comment system I have isn’t being friendly for that, so that’s changing today). Then I usually midget to my feed reader, which is not very organized (that category tip is going into play today). Beyond that, I usually scan Twitter for anything interesting.
Great tips!
I use different folders in my Google Reader. My priority reads, people I know IRL, new ones (uncategorized), comics, etc.
When my Reader is zeroed out (or at least all my faves are read), I’ll check out my comments for new blogs and I check my Twitter to see if there is anything interesting.
I started out with my Google Reader, but even categorized it’s insane. I have defaulted to #4 and #5 for the majority of my reads. And then there are a few I check on occasionally by personal friends who aren’t big into social media.
I used to use my twitter stream but it’s become too hard to keep up using just that tool. I now use my reader and have found it to be very useful.
Currently I subscribe all my favorite blogs to be sent to my email. Of course this means that I’m getting quite a few emails a day. This is a great post full of useful tips! Thank you!
Thanks for these tips! I categorize my subscriptions so that I won’t miss out on my daily reads.
Great list! I’m just starting to categorize and it has already been hugely helpful. I think I’d also like to hire a personal time management coach. 🙂
Gosh – who doesn’t need this help. I read based on my comments and my netvibes account. If I don’t have time I’ll mark some as read that I haven’t read and wait for the next breathing spell.
OMG. The Google Reader “next” bookmarklet in my has rocked my blog reading world and I get to see everyone’s pretty sites not just their words. http://googlereader.blogspot.com/2007/06/doing-shuffle.html