Subscribing to Blogs

Blogs are so much easier to read if you use an RSS reader. Having a reader means that your favorite blogs come to you ... you don't need to remember to go to them.

I've added a subscription button like this one to the right side of this blog window. Click to subscribe to Laurel Connections using a cool blog reader. I use Bloglines for reading all my favorite blogs because it's free and effective. But there are many good readers available. Google RSS readers for additional information.

Bloglines is a website that collects all of your favorite blogs into a single page. Sort of like your very own personal magazine. But this is a magazine that is always fresh and it remembers what you have already read. So no more stale magazines littering the bathroom floor.

If you go to Bloglines by clicking the button, you'll be invited to create an account. It is really quick and easy to do. Then all you do is subscribe to your favorite blogs. Whenever you want to read blogs, the reader site will have all of the most recent posts. No more clicking around seeing who has new posts. You can even download a notifier tool that lets you know immediately when anything is posted.

I have also included my blogroll on the sidebar. A blogroll is list of your favorite blogs, podcasts and video podcasts that offer RSS subscriptions. My favorites run the gamut from geeks to personal productivity gurus to management Czars, with Dilbert and local politics thrown in for laughs.

Not every blog site offers RSS subscriptions, e.g., Mike Sarich's and John Giannetti's campaign blogs do not. So I have try to remember to visit them.

RSS and Bloglines give me an easy way to skim a ton of information in the shortest amount of time.

Good luck and please let me know if you set up your own blogroll. I'm always on the lookout for cool blogs.

rick - driving in the fast lane on the information highway.