It’s summertime… sunshine, beaches, camping, holidays, and kids out of school… are you missing out on posts from your favorite blogs with all that busyness?
I posted a few weeks ago about how to setup your own blog to allow readers to follow you with RSS but didn’t share how to setup your own RSS reader for you to follow blogs you like. (Scroll to the bottom of this post for a video explaining RSS.)
Why would you want an RSS reader? All your favorite blogs in one place, easier to stay caught up with. It’s a great time-saver and makes it much easier to stay engaged with those you’ve chosen to follow and learn from.
If you’re a GMail user, check out Google’s Reader. This is what I use. It allows you to easily add your favorite blog feeds and then displays them all on one page for you and shows what’s new so you can scan through and read anything that grabs your attention.
Some other popular readers are Feedly, RSS Owl, and BlogLines.
Once you’ve chosen one, here are some small business blogs you may want to follow. These are all RSS feed links. You’ll want to add them to your reader, if you view in your browser they’ll look funny.
- Michelle Shaeffer – http://feeds.feedburner.com/MichelleShaeffer
(well, you didn’t expect me to forget mine, did you? *smile*) - Communicate Value – http://feeds2.feedburner.com/Communicatevalue
- Decisive Minds – http://feeds.feedburner.com/DecisiveMinds
- The Solomompreneur – http://www.melaniekissell.com/feed/
- The Metro Mom – http://feeds.feedburner.com/MetromomBlog
- Solo-E’s Blog – http://www.solo-e.com/blog/feed
(this one collects blog posts from a variety of awesome entrepreneurs) - ProBlogger – http://feeds.feedburner.com/ProbloggerHelpingBloggersEarnMoney
- Seth Godin’s Blog – http://feeds.feedburner.com/typepad/sethsmainblog
- Nicole on the Net – http://feeds.feedburner.com/NicoleOnTheNet
There’s 9 of the blogs I follow. I’ll have to do a part 2 (and maybe part 3) with more blogs later… time to go enjoy the holiday weekend!
Here’s that video again explaining RSS if you missed it before:
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Michelle has been online since the late 80s, creating websites since the early 90s, and has coded thousands of web pages in that time. She's worked as a virtual assistant and website designer for small business owners including marketers, authors, coaches, crafters, and other solopreneuers.
Twitter: joanneluke
says:
Thanks for sharing this great video Michelle. I finally understand what RSS feeds are and how easy it is to use them to save me TIME in my business.
Twitter: SmallBizMuse
says:
You’re welcome! I loved that video – such a clear explanation for yet another internet acronym. :) Thanks for visiting and commenting, Joanne.
OH THANK YOU!!!! I had asked you about this before and not done anything about it. Time to “get to it”. Have my own followers and set up the reader so I can more easily follow my faves, including yours, of course ;-)
Last blog ..Still
Twitter: gjsuap
says:
Michelle:
Another great idea. In order to can keep the pace in the Ultimate Blog Challenge, I set up my RSS Reader… Now, it will be easy to follow up more blogs.
In the previous #Blog30 Challenge, I follow daily four blogs, yours included, and occasionally visit others. Whit this idea, there will be more! Thanks.
Twitter: thewahwife
says:
I love Google Reader. I follow quite a few blogs with that and check it every morning for the latest “news.” I also have quite a few readers that follow me through RSS feed. Nifty little tool!
Last blog ..SEO Blogging- Keyword Research from the Pros
Twitter: MichelleShaeffr
says:
Me too! I could never keep up my favorite blogs without it. :)
And it’s neat to watch my stats and see that my readers are using it, too!
Twitter: SheilaAtwood
says:
Michelle,
I have started to subscribe by RSS Feed, it is a great way to keep track of the blogs I love to visit and it does save time. Especially when I have been off line for a couple of days.
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