Category: Tools

Using the Google Reader 3

Continued from Part 2.

Google reader is handy for an number of other reasons, not just for reading RSS feeds from your favorite blogs.

 

Google Reader, being an intuitive Google product, will also make recommendations based on feeds you’ve already subscribed to.

 

For example, if you subscribe to a large number of environmentally conscious blogs, then your Google Reader may recommend a like-minded blog, and could therefore be saving you hours looking for new blogs. It can also help you find ones you have never seen before.

 

For those who have a large number of blogs and websites they subscribe to, Google Reader offers folders and tags to help organize them.  Now you can keep your news on one page, your sports on another, and your entertainment blogs all on a separate page, rather than jumbled together.

 

You can also make these pages public or private. If you are a person who loves to share information with friends and family, this can be very handy. If you are working in a job which requires you to gather competitive intelligence, the private page feature would be an invaluable tool to help you accumulate lists of resources you would not want to share openly with others.

 

Google Reader offers a number of functions which makes it easy to personalize and customize to fit your needs.  And if you’re already using a reader, you can import your feeds into Google Reader, and therefore save time entering them manually.

 

You can access even access Google Reader on your phone if your phone has mobile and digital capability.

 

Therefore, Google reader helps you save time and energy, and helps you to stay informed and one step ahead of the competition.’

 

You can also use it socially by sharing items with friends, family, and associates.   Best of all, all you need is a Google account, which will come with all of the other benefits of being linked to Google, such as Gmail. You can access dozens of free tools all in a single account. So if you have not already done so, head over to Google now to get organized using their reader. It will certainly simplify your life.

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Using the Google Reader, Part 1

Part 1.

When the number of blogs you track becomes too much to manage, it is time to look into installing a reader. One of the best choices too help you manage all of this content is the Google Reader.

A reader is a tool which functions as an aggregator.  It pulls all of your blogs and RSS subscriptions into one single location.  All you have to do is open the reader, and your favorite blogs and websites will be there waiting for you every day, with their most recent content ready for you to read.

A reader is a great time-saving device, eliminating the need to visit site after site to keep up to date, or subscribe to email alerts to help you do the same.  A reader is not only an amazing time saver, it also makes it easy to see at a glance what content is valuable and what isn’t. You can flick through the headlines in the time that it would take you to just go from site to site.

Google Reader is one of the easiest readers to use, and also one of the most popular.  Best of all, it’s free, and easy to install.

To use Google Reader you must use:

* Internet Explorer 6 or above

* Firefox 1.0+ or above

* Safari 1.3+

* Netscape 7.2+

* Mozilla 1.7+

You must also have or create a Google account, which will come with other robust tools like Gmail.  If you already use AdSense, Adwords, Gmail, or any other Google product you already have a Google account, and can access the reader from it.

 

(Continued in Part 2)

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Using the Google Reader, Part 2

(Continued from Part 1)

 

Now that you have a gmail or other Google account, it is time to get set up with Google Reader.

 

To use Google Reader, you have several options.  When you are browsing online and you come across a site you’re interested in subscribing to, simply click on their subscribe button. It is usually a little orange square, or it might say RSS on it.

 

Most often if you have Google Reader installed, your computer will recognize that, and you’ll be given the option to view the blog feed on your iGoogle Homepage or Google Reader.

 

If you have an iGoogle homepage set up already, then it’s time to decide where you want to view the blogs you are interested in.  Simply choose Google Reader and all the information will start being aggregated there.

 

You can also subscribe to a blog or RSS feed by using the subscribe bookmark function.  Simply drag the link to your bookmarks bar.  You can then click the bookmark to view the content in Google Reader.

 

You can also manually add subscriptions to your Google Reader by using the “add subscriptions” function.  By clicking on the add option while Google Reader is open, you can enter the URL of the blog or website of any content you are interested in, and add it to your list.

 

You can also browse the preloaded feed bundles to discover new blogs and websites or search by keyword.  It will make various suggestions for you to check out to see if they will be of use to you. You can do this every few months or so to see who the new movers and shakers are in the blog world in your area/s of interest.

 

In case you don’t know how to find the RSS subscribe button, it is easy. Any site with the little orange widget which looks like an echo, several curving lines and a dot in the upper right hand corner of the address bar of your browser is one you can subscribe to and read through your reader of choice.  You might occasionally see it on a site in blue as well, but orange is the most common color.

 

Once you see it in your address bar,  ust click on it. If you are not logged in, Google will ask you to do so. It is that easy.

 

(Continued in Part 3)

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