I’ve created a MONSTER! A Google Reader Monster! I’m having a devil of a time with it! I add blogs that I enjoy to my Google Reader, and sit down with a cup of coffee each morning to read. My problem is that I’m not good with organizing. If you have noticed that already, you can keep that comment to yourself!
I’ve only made one folder, and that’s called “Tech Blogs.” It comes up first. Now, if y’all have read many technical blogs, you’ve noticed that they give a lot of good links. I follow them, and before I know it half the morning is gone and I haven’t written the post for my own blog that day! Do any of y’all have that problem? If so, how do you solve it? I could use some suggestions for increasing my efficiency.
I also notice that I don’t get to the blogs of my friends and regular readers (especially if the blog begins with a “W”) because they are in alphabetical order. I guess I need to make a folder called “A list bloggers” and put my main reads in that. Comment and tell me if you belong in that list, because I’m going to make it this weekend, and I don’t want to leave anyone out. We don’t need no stinkin’ Technorati! You can be on MY “A-List.”
This morning, I found several things that interested me, and thought some of you might want to check them out. If you aren’t interested in being a better blogger, increasing traffic, or possibly making any money doing what you love, then these links aren’t for you. Come back tomorrow and you know I’ll have something different for you.
Blog About Your Blog is usually my first read of the morning (by virtue of its placement in the alphabet). I enjoy this blog, because I can never guess what the topic of the day will be. It has more than 20 bloggers involved, writing articles on their own area of expertise. It claims to be about “Quality blogs, quality bloggers, and quality people.” And, that’s what I have found there.
You might check out the site if you are interested in writing for another blog. They accept other writers and are looking for ways to get those writers paid! One thing I noticed in today’s reading is that they will sell you an advertising link on their site for $6.00 (This is for free, but if they see it, they are welcome to pay me $6.00. I accept PayPal!).
A post that caught my eye this morning was called Increasing Blog Traffic by Using HTML in Comments of Other Blogs. If you have been here before, you know that I think comments that you make elsewhere on the web are important. I have several people who have come to my blog, and are now regular readers, because of comments I’ve made on someone else’s blog. If you are wanting to increase traffic to your site, this might be of help to you.
Reading at Blog About Your Blog sent me to another site:
Kumiko’s Cash Quest is a site that is blatantly about making money on-line. That’s fine with me, as long as the writing is good. From what I have read so far, hers seems to be.
Kumiko has tips on successful blogging, on increasing traffic, and she writes sponsored reviews of sites. She has a Blogging for Cash Carnival listed, as well. I enjoyed a post she wrote called MyBlogLog Avatars As A Promotional Tool – Free Sex? No, friends, it’s not a porn article. But, you might notice that if you use the word “Sex” in a title you get a lot of hits to the post! They may not be people you want regularly commenting on your site, though.
One thing I find interesting is that Kumiko sells reviews for $40 a pop! Her reviews are good, and she gives an unbiased accounting of them. But, hey, hold on a minute! I’ll give you a review of your blog for just a little link love! Most people don’t even give me that! Or, you can pay me $10, if you want. Sorry Kumiko, I have to pay my rent on the World Wide Web.
Armen at iFFECT.NET is one of my favorite blogs of his ilk. Today’s post Do You Blog To Live, or Live To Blog? is a must read for blogging addicts like me. I enjoy his insights into blogging, and the links he gives. Here are three I have bookmarked:
- TOP 30 Wordpress Plugins in Blogosphere
- 21 Tactics to Increase Blog Traffic
- 21 Surefire Tips for a Successful Blog Launch
Can y’all see why I’m having trouble getting any of my other work done? If you visit these sites and comment, tell ‘em who sent you, please. If YOU have any sites that you think others might enjoy, please leave a link in the comments (even if it’s a post of your own). And, if you can tell me how YOU get your reading organized, I’d love some tips.
Related posts:
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
I wannabe an eclectic A-Lister!!!!
I’ve been trying Google Reader, too!! Seems to be ok, although, for me, it does seem just as easy to bookmark the sites and just click and see if they have a new post. I find myself still doing that, even with the reader set up. I’m not good at change!!! LOL
I have the same problem with getting caught up in the reading!!! I’ll check back for tips in the comments you get because I need help with that, too!!!!
Jessica
You ARE an “A-List,” sweetie! You already knew that. Hey, here’s another “change”: you can subscribe to comments, and then you don’t have to keep checking back! Of course, then you have to delete all those e-mails you didn’t want to read
~skt
We are all in the same boat. The only suggestion I have for reading your regulars is start with (A) one day and (Z) the next. That way if you get sidetracked you won’t completely ignore the botton of your blogroll. Today I started with (Z) and see, I’m visiting you early.
Guess I need to start with the middle somedays, too. ~skt
That’s a good suggestion, Sandee…but what about those in the middle
While I’ve been using Google Reader as my RSS reader, I have found that I do best by making a lot of good categories. So I have a group of people that I actually know and have seen and talked to face to face. I have a group of people I’ve “met” and now read in the blogsphere (you are in that category if you must know
). I have categories for more strictly programming topics, tech-based news, real news, digg categories I’m interested in, and a couple of others. And basically I look at GReader (coined just now 
) and go through the posts that I’ll least likely read completely (tech news, news, digg, etc) up to the most likely posts that I’ll read (you’ll also be happy to know that yours was one of the last today!). I look at the subscriptions in the “expanded” view so that once I look at something, it is marked as “read,” and I also use the shortcut keys to speed everything up (find out what they are by typing “?” when you’re on the page). All told it probably takes me about 20 or 30 minutes to get through all of my subscriptions. Now granted, I may not have as many oft-update subscriptions as you, but I have found it to work for me.
On another note, I’d like to think that I’ve kept your attention and am still in your list of RSS subscriptions.
I know that for the most part you have been very interesting for me to read!
Thanks for the input, Derek (I popped over to tell you that I enjoy reading you, too! I see you in my feed reader nearly every day). I’ve gotta work on the categories! That’s probably why I’m having trouble.~skt
Hi–Michele sent me! I’m sorry that I read your entry. I can see I’m not going to get any thing else done today, because I’ll be reading blogs!
Fun stuff.
Thanks for stopping by, Bev. I’m sorry that I’ve probably ruined your whole weekend with all these links! I can’t help myself.
~skt
I thought of this article when you started talking about too much Google Reader… Scoble is a Feed Ninja. Hope it helps.
I love to read your blog, but I have no help for you on these topics. Blogs that show you how to increase your traffic and to make money from blogging bore me into stupidity.
I’m such a dinosaur that I don’t even use feeds. I just bookmark the blogs I like and try to get to each of them at least every other day, going back in time and reading any missed posts of course.
I usually write a blog idea or even a rough draft, and when I get up in the morning, flesh it out and post it. At work when others go out to take a smoke break, I take a non-smoke break and vistit a few blogs and read and comment.
In the course of a day, I’ve covered most of the blogs I want to see, and had my own post up first.
I know this isn’t much help. It’s not a “system” and I don’t really care about increasing my blogs traffic a whole lot, but of course, the more the merrier.
I just want to put down in writing, ideas and stories from my past. I don’t talk much in real life, but find that writing is a breeze.
JAM, I know that this post wasn’t one that works for you and some of the others. I like it that you blog just for the sake of it. I have a lot of blogs that I like to read, though, and the clicking links wasn’t working. I can’t believe you don’t talk much in real life! I love your stories about your past.~skt
I read posts in the order they were published. In google reader, you do it by clicking on the folder and you can set it to show posts by oldest (or newest). That way I don’t get caught in the alphabet trap and still keep up with the blogs.
Oh, I like that one Shauna! Thanks. I’ll go see if I can set that up~skt
Holy crap, that post would have taken me a week to compose.
You go girl. Hope I’m on the A list.
A week it would have taken because you are on Blogger, Janet, and it crashes
You are and always have been A list around here.~skt
Wow! Thanks for linking to my article in Blog About Your Blog. This is awesome. I have never been to you site before, but it looks lovely.
I use Google Reader too. I am in there constantly, so I end up not that behind on reading even though I have well over 100 feeds. This making me almost current. I have one folder for Real Estate Blogs though that I read last or only when in the mood…aaahhhhh!
Thanks again for the link. I now have you in my reader, so you will more than likely see me around. I am a frequent commenter on most the blogs I read. LOL…
You are so welcome, Jennifer. That was an excellent article. No wonder it got so many “Diggs” ~skt
I have several folders: blogs I read daily, blogs to check out, blogs to read archives, blog services. This way as I’m reading if I see something interesting I will mark it to come back to later. I usually start my reading with the Daily list, and then either go to the read archive or to check out folders. Admitidly, these folders are bursting with stuff I marked months ago and have never gotten around to going back.
(I don’t really mean shock, but I like the way his eyes are bugging out) 
I like
too. I like all the little smileys. My problem in the reading is getting caught up in the archives, but I always want to know more about the folks I’m reading. Good luck on getting everything read!~skt
Ok, you’ve done it again.(in a good way) Now, I suppose I should switch from bloglines to google reader?? ‘Cause your readers are mentioning things I didn’t know I could do. I just started making folders for my feeds and it has helped immensely. Leon and I were just talking about my getting lost following link to link to link. I look up and it is past lunch time and I started at 7, the minute he walked out the door.
I think we need an online speed reading class. . . that’s the only tiny chance I have at coming up for air. . . either that or Leon strong arming me to get the laptop away, but even he is not that crazy. . . would be worse than attacking a woman who just got dumped and has PMS and is withdrawing from coffee and chocolate all at once.
I was using bloglines, Marcia and read an article where people were telling what reader they used. Most folks recommended Google. I was having problems adding people to bloglines (it seemed to take three or four steps). Google might be faster for you (unless you get lost in the links!). Faster reading? Blog About Your Blog had an article. Sorry. couldn’t resist one more link. Leon will shoot me if he ever meets me.~skt
Thanks for the link-love Shelly, it’s always appreciated.
You definately need to categorize your feeds in Google Reader, it helps just to keep things in order.
Thanks, Armen…I did just that
. Everyone was saying it would help, now I’ll see if it will!~skt
The link in your reply to my comment is not working, but, I did start using Google Reader and I LOVE it, the posts show differently in it. Sill have too much to read, but hey, that means there is lots of good writing out there. Thank you!
Google reader seems to work for me…but I need someone to help me do all the reading!~skt