How to follow this site
November 3rd, 2007 by matt
Since I moved over to my own blog from MySpace, I’m sure people aren’t reading my entries unless I cross link on my MySpace blog. Why? Because there’s no email notification like there is on MySpace.
Ah, but there is a much better alternative: RSS feeds.
RSS feeds have changed the way I view websites. Instead of me navigating to the site and maybe finding something new or finding that nothing has changed, my RSS feed reader will go out and check the RSS feed for the website for any new content. It’s like getting an email anytime a new blog is posted, but better.
There are many RSS feed readers available, some free and some paid software. I use Google Reader, mainly because it’s free and I can access my feeds from anywhere (which is why I also use Gmail and Google Calendar). If you don’t have a Google account, there are other free alternatives, such as Rojo and Bloglines.
After you have your feed reader, you can subscribe to my blog by clicking on the Entries (RSS) link at the bottom of any page. You can also subscribe to the comments RSS feed by clicking on the Comments (RSS) link. Depending on your feed reader and web browser, you might have to copy the link and paste it into your feed reader manually.
Next, go to websites you check often and look for an RSS feed link. Most websites have one these days, and the website probably isn’t updated much if they do not have an RSS feed at this point. As you add more and more feeds to your reader and you navigate less and less to the websites, you’ll find you spend less time on the web and stay better informed about the topics you’re interested in.
Eventually I’m going to stop cross-linking to MySpace, but I don’t want to lose my meager audience. I also don’t want to make it any more difficult than it needs to be to read my blog. That’s why I highly recommend using an RSS reader. A month from now, you’ll thank me.