Google Reader -Checking the blogs

(I just read this over and it sounds sooooo like an ad. It isn't. I get nothing from Google. I just want to share something that's made my life easier.)

With so many friends and family members blogging now, I’m finding it just a bit difficult keeping up with all the blogs. And checking someone’s blog only to find it the same as the last time I checked is almost as frustrating as getting halfway through the latest post before realizing that it is an old post.

Well, I found the answer -- Google Reader. It's an "In Box" for all your blogs. You may find it more trouble than it’s worth but I found that all the effort I put into it paid off the first day.

First, you must be a Google “member”. If you’ve ever used gmail or customized your Google screen, you are already a member. Even if you aren’t, registering to be one isn’t very difficult. You have to provide a valid email address and a password (which shouldn’t be the password you currently have to access your email). That is it! There are a couple of optional choices but this is all that is required.

Open Google Reader by entering the url www.google.com/reader If you already have a Google Account, enter the email and password for that Google account. If not, click on “Create an account” and proceed to get one. Then sign in with that account. (You may be sent a verification to the email you entered so it does need to be a valid one that you have access to.)

This is the Google Reader screen. You can take a tour of it’s power or start adding subscriptions to web sites and blogs you want to visit regularly. At this time use the Add Subscriptions link on the left hand side of the screen. Note that as you add each blog url, it will show up with the current entries of that blog. Whenever you return to Google Reader, you will see all the current entries of all blogs you subscribe to.

Or you may see the notice “You have no unread items.”. You can now read only the new items or know that you’re caught up to date. Now isn’t that a quick way to check all your blogs?

You can make it even easier by customizing your Google page. Then you can select Google Reader as one of your customize items. And setting up the itemized Google Page as your normal Home Page means that you can always keep track of your blogs and know when a new items item is posted by any of the blogs you subscribe to.